A Short Walk Around City Hall!

I don’t know about you but I really enjoy walking around, seeing people and places especially in a big city abroad. Today I am going to present you one nice route to take in Seoul to both enjoy the walk and see a part of the city. During this walk you will be able to see the City Hall area (시청), Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁), Jogyesa Temple (조계사) and other places.

Our journey begins on City Hall Station (시청역) (exit 5).

Source: Google Maps

As soon as you walk out you’ll see the old City Hall building. That building served as City Hall from Korea’s liberation in 1945 up to the construction of the modern building in 2008. However, since 2008 this building serves as the Seoul Metropolitan Library (서울도서관).

City Hall, however, is just behind it. It is a modern steel and glass building that is connected to the Seoul Metropolitan Library.

Source: Wikipedia

Although these two buildings are very important and I think that you should see them at least once, there is not much to see inside, so we shall take the main road to the North in the direction of Gyeongbokgung Palace.

On your way notice this cone monument on your right.

The beginning of Ceonggyecheon stream lies right behind it. This is how it looks, but we’ll get back to it later.

Further on your way there are a couple of statues of Admiral Yi Sun-sin (이순신 장군) and Sejong the Great (세종대왕) as well as some of his inventions. This area looks very nice and splashes of a fountain feels refreshing on a hot sunny day.

Keep going forward and you will see the Gyeongbokgung Palace right in front of you.

Source: Google Maps

You can even go inside and enjoy the walk inside the palace. The ticket to enter is just a few thousands won. Inside you will be able to see royal ceremonial hall, a small park, women’s residence and else.

Regardless of whether you decided to visit the palace or not, I suggest you to go South-East next to the Buddhist temple.

Source: Google Maps

I don’t know how good are you in reading maps, but if you face the main entrance of the palace, turn right and go straight till you reach a big crossroad and then take a right turn. You will hardly miss it.

This temple has a nice layout and often decorated with different kind of flower installations or art pieces. As you can see on the photos, the place looks amazing!

Then, I would advise you to go back to a Ceonggyecheon stream (청계천). This place is ideal for walking. It goes very long, it is plain, it looks great and kind of romantic.

Source: Google Maps

On top of all of that, during night it is beautifully illuminated and many artists come to that place to perform. Of course, the time by which you reach this place depend on many factors, but I strongly recommend you to return there at night even on a different day.

Plus, this place is often decorated in some ways and professional artists give their performances there. Recently I accidentally discovered that this stream was decorated in a fire theme, check for yourself how that looks!

As for me, I enjoy long walks, so I usually go down the stream next. I might turn right to visit Myeong-dong area (명동). Then I would turn back and return to the stream and then walk up to the Jongno 5-ga Station (종로 5가역) and turn right to the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station (동대문역사문화공원역) where I would have a dinner at my favorite Russian restaurant (Fortuna, I wrote about it a couple articles back). By the way, there is a beautiful field of “shining flowers” in the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park (동대문역사문화공원) that you absolutely have to see.