On our first day in Seoul, pollution from China had blown over and the 236-meter N Seoul Tower standing atop Namsan Mountain was barely visible through the smog. When we were greeted with sunshine and beautiful blue skies the next day, we seized the opportunity to admire the panoramas from the tower. While much shorter than other internationally famous towers, its mountaintop location ensures uninterrupted and stunning views. I read that on a clear day you can see to North Korea! To help visitors get directional perspective, the windows of the 360-degree observation deck are helpfully marked with the names of major world cities and their distance from where you’re standing. If this makes you nostalgic for your home country, drop a postcard in the red mail box and it will be sent from Seoul’s highest post office!
One unique aspect to N Seoul Tower is the collection of love locks that adorns the rails of the surrounding platform. Thousands of visitors from all around the world have attached locks to chains that have been strung around the deck. Many locks include notes and are meant to be symbols of enduring love. Unlike other locales, where love locks are periodically removed from public spaces, the proprietors of N Seoul Tower seem to encourage the practice. Locks are sold in the gift shop and there is even a special red box for depositing keys (as opposed to throwing them over the railing into the forest for birds to pick up).
You can reach N Seoul Tower by cable car, a ride that affords views nearly as good as those from the tower itself. The Namsan cable car station is a 10 minute walk from the Myeong-dong metro. Or, you can take the stairs.
I’ve been in Korea for 1.5 years and still haven’t been up the tower! But I think you’ve convinced me… when spring comes, it’s time. Love that couples added cell phone cases to their locks. So Korean! hehe
You definitely should! The benches are sloped in the center so you fall into each other when you sit down. It’s kind of cheesy, but I get a big kick out of stuff like that 🙂
That’s a LOT of locks.
We wrote a similar post on this. It was the first love lock site we’ve been to and I was so amazed at how many locks were there.
Just read your post! The love locks were a highlight for me too, though hubby was just humoring me when we left our lock 🙂 It’s a shame you didn’t have time to check out the view from the top, but you probably had some amazing views from the hiking that you did.
Wasn’t sure what love locks were when I saw the title to your post. I thought maybe people left locks of their hair – ha ha. The views must have been spectacular!