7D Korea Golden Rama Tour: Namsan Seoul Tower
Seoul is one interesting city because despite it's being a metropolis, you can still enjoy a bit of a nature like taking a hike toward the mountain. Unbelievable, it may sound. But Mt Namsan is really located just right on top of Myeong-dong area in Seoul. So whenever Seoulites need to do a bit of hiking, they can just go for the hiking trail toward Mt Namsan on any day in their life because the mountain is really located within close proximity of the city centre.
If you are a tour group participant, you don't have to walk all the way up to where Namsan Seoul Tower is located. However, you will still to walk for a bit since the bus can only bring you up to certain point. Thankfully we visited Namsan Park when it is still early in the morning and hence, it is not that hot yet since the sun can be so hot on a summer day. If you are watching Running Man, you may remember this episode where Jong Kook has to sing at the pavilion there. It is one of those early episodes of Running Man where Song Joong Ki is still a part of the Running Man family. Omo, look at how the time flies, Song Joong Ki is about to get married to Song Hye Kyo and I still could not find any man yet. O_o!
Prior to reaching Namsan Seoul Tower, you will the lushful greens of Namsan Park. It is one of the historical sites in Seoul and you will see on the right side of the picture below, the five beacons. The beacons are called Bonghwadae and this is were the center of capital defense used to be. To protect city from invasions, castle walls were built on mountains including Mt Namsan. The five beacons were built to report the news from local governments to the central government with a five signal system. Some kind of beacon coding must have been involved in the signalling system.
One of the famous attraction at Namsan Park and Namsan Seoul Tower is the love padlocks. A lot of couples in Korea "sealed" their love in the love padlocks to the railing and then scribble a lovey-dovey message on the padlock with the hope that their love lasts forever. Few years back, I only see the love padlocks at the ground level of Namsan Seoul Tower. But I guess since it is a very popular activity in Korea, the number of the love padlocks is getting higher and higher every year and the area where love padlocks can be chained to has expanded to the viewing railings at Namsan Park. Love is all around Seoul I suppose.
You can choose pretty much any kind of padlock. Some couples even "lock" their love on mobile phone casing. Well, technically you can write longer message on mobile phone casing. If you break up after locking a padlock together, are you supposed to trace back the padlock and remove it? Hmm, looking at the number of the padlocks locked, I suppose you can just move on from the old padlock together with the old flame. Oh gosh, relationship is hard.
Oh oh, I saw a Gudetama padlock. Does that mean the love is kinda eggciting or just meh? After all Gudetama is a lazy egg and his famous line is "meh" and "I can't". Wait can it even talk actually?
We were somewhat too early for the admission to Namsan Seoul Tower and hence, the only thing we could do around Namsan Park is to wander around and view the scenery of Seoul from uphill. I have been to Namsan Seoul Tower so I guess I did not really care if we can or cannot enter the tower. But if you have not visited the tower before, let me do a brief explanation on the tower itself.
Namsan Seoul Tower is basically an observatory tower where you can view the 360 degrees view of Seoul and its surrounding cities. The tower is 480 metres above sea level and it was used as broadcast tower back in the 60s. Nowadays it is just a popular tourism site in Seoul. Teddy Bear Museum used to be in the plaza level of the tower but I think it has moved to other location.
Other than the observatory, visitors can also go to Ssentoy Museum & Showroom and Hello Kitty Island which both are located at level 5 of the tower. A combined admission package is available for purchase at the ticketing booth. Ssentoy Museum & Showroom is apparently an exhibition of limited-edition toys which I suspect are highly valued for collection purpose. Visitors can buy certain collection too I think. Hello Kitty Island at Namsan Seoul Tower should be pretty much the same if not smaller than the one at Jeju Island.
Some of the trees outside Namsan Seoul Tower have changed its color. The whole park must be quite beautiful on an autumn day.
Namsan Seoul Tower's admission fees:
INDIVIDUAL ADMISSION
- Observatory: Adults 10,000 KRW/ Children 8,000 KRW
- Ssentoy Museum & Showroom: Adults 10,000 KRW/ Children 8,000 KRW
- Hello Kitty Island: Adults 8,000 KRW/ Children 7,000 KRW
PACKAGE ADMISSION
- Ssentoy Package (Observatory + Ssentoy Museum & Showroom): Adults 14,000 KRW/ Children 11,000 KRW
- Hello Kitty Package (Observatory + Hello Kitty Island): Adults 12,500 KRW/ Children 10,500 KRW
- 3 Type Package (Observatory + Ssentoy Museum + Hello Kitty Island): Adults 19,500 KRW/ Children 16,000 KRW
Adults: Older than 13 y.o.
Children: 3 - 12 y.o.
Namsan Seoul Tower's operating hours:
Sunday to Friday: 10AM - 11PM
Saturday: 10AM - 12AM