Seoul’s Best Nighttime Viewpoints. Seoul has many locations from which you can get an amazing nighttime viewpoint.
From up in the mountains to down in the city, there are so many places to choose from. I’m going to list some of Seoul’s Best Nighttime Viewpoints.
Seoul’s Best Nighttime Viewpoints
In this article, I’m just going to focus on the hills and mountains that surround the city. From those, I’ve narrowed it down to my favorites. This list is no means comprehensive, but I hope you can use it as a guide to start exploring the many awesome hills and mountains that provide great nighttime viewpoints from which to view the city. Read on to find out Seoul’s Best Nighttime Viewpoints.
1 – Ansan
Ansan is the first mountain viewpoint I’ll talk about. It’s pretty simple to get to, the path up isn’t extremely difficult and the views from the old fire beacon station at the top are incredible. From this viewpoint, you can look over a large portion of Seoul, from Gangnam to Yeouido to the far eastern portions of the city. The best though, is seeing the central business district all lit up in front of you and an up close view of Namsan Tower.
To get here, take the Seoul Subway to Muakjae station. From there, take the first street to your right and follow it until you get to the mountain path. Once at the mountain path, start heading up and follow signs for the top, which in Korean should say (모악동봉수대). It should take around 30 to 40 minutes to reach the top.
I highly recommend starting your hike at least an hour before sunset if you are going for nighttime views. Also, be sure to carry a flashlight and extra batteries just in case as the trails aren’t lit and there are rocky sections of the trail.
Here is where the mountain is located on Google Maps
2 – Namhansanseong Fortress
On the SouthEastern side of Seoul lies Namhansanseong Fortress. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is full of historic importance. It is said that the wall was first constructed back in the Silla Dynasty in the 600’s AD. Just for the history alone, the area is worth exploring and spending hours walking the wall and seeing what is there.
The wall though is also located up high and provides great views looking West over all of Seoul. On a lot of evenings, you will see photographers set up their tripods early and get ready to take their night photos here as its a popular places to take cityscape shots.
To get here, you should take the line 8 subway to sanseong station and use exit 2. From exit 2, take city bus #9 to namhansanseong bus stop. From there, follow signs for the fortress wall. Then, just walk along the wall until you find your perfect viewpoint for taking pictures. You can see the general area for Namhansanseong on the map below.
3 – Eunbongsan
My third recommendation for best Seoul Nighttime Viewpoint is Eunbongsan. While this small hill isn’t as tall as my other recommendations and doesn’t have quite the commanding views that the others do, this one is easy to get to and is great if you want to take light trail photos. The viewpoint/pagoda at the top of the hill gives stunning views of the highway running along side the han river and also looks over to Gangnam. It’s a perfect location for photographing the liveliness of the city.
To get here, just take line #1 to Eunbong station and get out at exit 1. Follow the road along the station until it turns to your right and starts to head up hill. Keep going up the hill following signs for Eunbongsan. If you get lost, you can ask people nearby as it’s likely they know how to get there as it’s really close to the station.
4 – Yongmasan
Yongmasan is located in the eastern part of Seoul again and like Namhansanseong, provides great views over the whole of Seoul. This viewpoint though requires quite a bit more hiking than the others I’ve listed and is also a bit steeper and does have some rocky sections with ropes. I wouldn’t say any of it is too dangerous, just know before going and you should be fine.
At the top, there is a nice wooden viewing deck for watching the sunset and nightscape and likely you won’t be alone at the top as it’s a pretty popular place to go for photos.
To get here, take line #7 to Yongmasan station and walk out of Exit 2. Walk straight until you reach Yongmasan-ro-45-gil. At this road take a right until you get to the Yongmasan Waterfall Park. At this park is where the trail starts up to the top. Especially with this hike, I’d advise that if you are going for night photos, to for sure carry a flashlight or headlamp and extra batteries so you are safe coming back down.
5 – Guryongsan
Guryongsan is a lesser known peak for night views, however, it provides some fantastic night shot opportunities of Gangnam and Lotte World Tower. The hike itself isn’t too difficult and the trail has a lot of steps and boardwalks to make it easier. At the top, like so many other mountains and hills in Seoul, there is nice infrastructure with either a wooden platform or boardwalk to view comfortably.
To get here, the easiest way is to take exit #4 from maebong station on subway line 3 and then take bus #4435 or #406 to gaepo usong apartments bus stop. From the bus stop, cross the big road and you should see a path heading up towards the mountain. Take that path until you reach the top.
Where to stay in Seoul?
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Seoul is a huge city with tons of places to stay. So it may be hard to decide where to stay especially when checking out the amazing night views the city has to offer.
We recommend to stay near Gangnam as a majority of the night views we listed are south of the River. However, anywhere around Seoul Station would be good as well because of the ease of access to the subway. Please feel free to use the map and search feature below to look up various hotels and guesthouses in Seoul.
So there you have it. There are a few other locations that I didn’t mention here, that I’ll probably put in a future post. There are just so many locations in Seoul to get awesome night shots. Do you have some favorites? Was it on this list? If so, or if not, let us know in the comments!
Also, if you are ever down in the city of Daejeon, check out our post about Daejeon’s Best Nighttime Viewpoints as well.
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