Just behind Seoul Station, walk Huam-dong where low-rise homes climb toward Namsan.

Huam-dong is a lived-in hillside between Seoul Station and Namsan, where older homes, local shops, a market and newer independent spaces share the same slopes. The 108 Steps and residential lanes reveal a Seoul shaped by everyday life rather than a polished attraction.

Seoul Station · Lines 1·4 · 12 min walk

Several eras of housing overlap beneath Namsan

The 108 Steps on the Huam-dong–Haebangchon edge were built in 1943 as part of a route toward the Gyeongseong shrine during the Japanese occupation. After liberation and the Korean War, dense residential areas grew along the slopes below Namsan. Older brick homes, so-called culture houses and later multi-family housing still sit close together. Seoul’s official guided-walk program describes the wider area as a place where colonial-era traces and postwar settlement histories remain visible.

Central Seoul still moves at a residential pace here

Seoul Station is close and Namsan rises immediately above, yet inside the lanes you first notice laundries, long-running shops, small parks and low houses. Independent bookstores and cafés have joined the neighborhood, but they have not turned the whole area into one commercial strip. Old routines and newer tastes sit loosely side by side.

The city viewed from Huam-dong · archive photo

N Seoul Tower above low rooftops

You do not need an observation deck: the tower repeatedly appears between houses and utility lines.

The 108 Steps and an inclined lift

A 1943-era historical trace now sits beside a free lift used by today’s residents.

Continuing from Huam-dong into Haebangchon · archive photo

A local market beside independent spaces

Everyday shopping, independent books and small cafés continue along the same hillside streets.

16:30–19:00

See the houses clearly, then stay as lights begin to come on.

Daytime

Best for reading the street pattern, old homes and the slope toward Namsan.

After 19:00

Small venues glow after dark; keep voices and cameras considerate in residential lanes.

QUICK WALK

Huam Market and the lanes around the rotary

WITH FOOD / CAFE

Add a meal, an independent bookshop or a café

Before you visit

This is primarily a residential neighborhood. Be considerate when photographing people or private homes. Wear comfortable shoes for steep slopes and stairs. The 108 Steps have an inclined lift, but the full route is not step-free.