Whether it be a date with that special someone, an outing with friends or even a solo adventure, this cafe/park combo will leave you with many beautiful pictures and lovely memories. This course brings you along the old castle wall, up a small mountain/hill to see various views and traditional buildings as well as to a cafe with multiple themed museum rooms, all with large sweeping views of Namsan Tower.
The Course:
Dongaemun Station -> Heungginji Park – (walking along the castle wall) -> Gaebul Cafe -> Naksan Park -> Hansong University or Haewa University Station
Starting the Journey ~
From Dongdaemun Station (동대문역), line 4 (light blue), exit 10 you are immediately able to see the old Heunginji Gate and the castle wall.
This portion of the wall has a nice garden that has different colors as the flowers that cycle throughout the year. This garden is in Heunginji Park, named after the large Korean traditional gate.
After walking around this little park area, you can follow the trail along the wall. The trail is pretty well maintained, populated by older locals and has a decently steep gradient. The architecture is predominantly small houses with an interesting mix of traditional and 80-90s Korean design.
After about 1km of walking, you come to Gaebul Museum Cafe (개뿔). You can stop here for a coffee, dessert or beer.
Gaebul/ 개뿔
서울 종로구 낙산성곽서1길 26 까페 개뿔 1,2층
https://naver.me/xjN9Xsqk
This cafe complex has three small buildings connected to each other by a small bridge and various staircases. Two of the three buildings have museum displaces (traditional kitchen items and locks) that you can sit among. It’s a mix of traditional Korean architecture and a modern minimalist style, with effective air conditioning!
There are actually two cafes located inside this museum maze, one that is easily assessable from the wall side of the street and the other from the small road on the other side. The seating is diverse, with rooms a bit hidden away and half the seating is located outside. It’s worth exploring to find the perfect spot before your order arrives!
Staff is super friendly and helpful ~ The owners are an older couple who like to make sure you are having a nice time. The dessert selection is fine. The drinks are fine. More of an experience than a 5 star quality cafe. At night they have opted for fairy lights, making for a great atmosphere to enjoy a later night drink as well.
Coming from Dongdaemun, you will first see this cafe on the left hand side, with the majority of it below you. So, don’t miss the small road that’s located on the other side. I’ve been to this cafe a number of times, and this road always seems to draw a steady stream of people looking for their new profile pic~
After enjoying your coffee, Naksan Park’s peak is only 300 meters further, and the course is substantially easier than what you’ve done up to this point. Prior to the peak, the views had been focused on the city ~ a clear day has Lotte Tower visible and Namsan tower is clearly seen even with a haze. Starting at the Naksan Park peak, the new view features Bukhansan and northern Seoul.
There are two major trails in Naksan Park, an upper and lower trail. Both can be taken to get back on the subway, but to different subway stations.
The lower trail has you walking along the wall, now for the first time with the wall towering over you. the lower course brings you to Haewa Gate and Hansung University station (한성대입구역) which is a 1.1~1.2km long walking course.
A benefit to this course is that it brings you to an excellent neighborhood with a channel with larger trees, and the classic Korean outdoor/ red plastic chair restaurants. This place gets pretty poppin on the weekends, as it’s a great place to get a beer with friends.
While the upper trail brings you to additional view points, and curves down to the Haewa University subway station (혜화역). This is the shorter course, only 790-800 meters long. Haewa University has a wide variety of restaurants, and cafe. So the fund doesn’t have to end here~
Hope you have a blast!
-Aurora Krom
