Namsan Mountain & N Seoul Tower

Weather was beautiful over the Chuseok holidays. Yesterday we ventured up Namsan Mountain along with what seemed to be half the population of the downtown metropolitan area.

The 262m summit of Namsan Mountain is a great for grabbing panoramic views of the city. It’s also the site of Mongmyeoksan Beacon Tower, or Mongmyeoksan Bongsudae (목멱산 봉수대), an old traditional smoke signal station.

The ancient brick chimney stacks were part of an emergency communication system during early times used up until 1985.

Soaring another 236.7m (777 ft) above Namsan Mountain is N Seoul Tower, or Seoul Tower.

Built in 1969, the communication and observation tower opened to the public in 1980 and later underwent a massive 15 billion won remodeling in 2005.

At the base are shops and restaurants, while above there are four observation decks, with the fourth being a revolving restaurant.

Getting there: Bus number 402 from Sejong Arts Center (Gwanhwamun Station, Line 5) takes you to the main entrance.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.