Exploring Seoul – Daehak-ro, Naksan Park and Toy Street

20 November 2025

The Seoul fortress wall had been featured in many k-dramas and the scenes were so attractive. The original Seoul Fortress walls were built upon the 4 surrounding mountains:

• Bugaksan Mountain: Located north of the city center.
• Inwangsan Mountain: Known for its rocky ridges and picturesque views of the city, often paired with a visit to historic sites.
• Namsan Mountain: Located in the center of the city, home to N Seoul Tower.
• Naksan Mountain: A smaller, gentle mountain famous for its wall hiking trails.

We decided to see Naksan Park since there is a walking trail along the Seoul Seonggwak (fortress wall) stretching about 2 km from Hyehwamun to Heunginjimun, the East Gate of Seoul.

Seoul Fortress Wall at Naksan Park.

Getting to Naksan Park

Naksan Park is located in the Jongno-gu district of Seoul. The most popular ways to get there are through the Hyehwa Station (Line 4) area, which involves walking through the Ihwa Mural Village, or from Dongdaemun Station.

We chose to go via Hyehwa Station and then take the trail to Dongdaemun area. Instead of taking the subway fro Myeongdong, we took a bus instead.

Exploring Daehak-ro

We alighted along Daehak-ro, which is next to the Hyehwa Station and Marronnier Park. “Daehak-ro” means “University Road” in Korean and this road used to be the major road in the middle of Seoul National University's campus before the university is relocated. Now the area had transformed into a major arts and culture street. There is a distinctively youthful and laid back vibe, with shops and F&B places catering mainly to University students and young adults in this area.

For those who like cafe and K-drama, there is a cafe called Hakrim Dabang (학림다방) that is one of the oldest in the city. This cafe is popular with fans since it was used as a filming location for K-dramas like My Love From The Star and The Heirs. Since we came too early in the morning (before opening time), we had to give this cafe a miss.

Instead, we took our time to explore Marronnier Park. There are often performances and events taking place here but it was quiet in the morning. There were some students from the nearby university playing in the park.

Gingko tree with beautiful yellow leaves in autumn.

This red-brick building in Marronnier Park is a theatre.

We saw a couple of road sweepers who took pride in their work and even created an artistic piece using the yellow leaves from the gingko trees.  

4 leaf clover design using fallen gingko leaves. Nice artistic work by the road-sweepers.

Besides the theatres and Art Center, this place is also the site of the 8th US Military HQ during the time of the Korean War.

Walking up to Naksan Park

Walking to Naksan Park from Marronnier Park involves a steady uphill climb through a quiet residential area. We took Dongsung-gil and then Naksan-gil. This relatively quick route took about 15 minutes and there are interesting things to see along the way.

Outside an Italian Restaurant (Di Matteo Daehakro) on our way to Naksan Park.

Instead of taking the stairs up to Naksan Park, we followed Naksan-gil Road till we saw a sculpture of the man with a dog walking to the sky.

Interesting sculpture at the edge of the mural village.

From there, we turned left and walked up a sloping path through Naksan Park towards the summit.

Tree bared of leaves but laden with many birds’ nests.

Autumn foliage could be seen on some trees.

The road up to the summit offered some nice views of the mountains surrounding Seoul.  There are even exercise machines for the local residents (and some crazy tourists) to work out.

View of Seoul city and the mountains surrounding it.

Naksan Park

The first thing that we saw when we arrived at summit of Naksan Park is the Seoul City Wall with views of downtown Seoul. There are a couple of observation platforms and pavilions along the wall.

View of the Seoul City Wall with views of downtown Seoul. Unfortunately, there are many unsightly cranes all over the city.

Sign indicating this part of the Seoul City Wall was featured in the movie K-Pop Demon Hunters.

Walking along the trail next to the fortress wall.   

This view would be even better at night, with the twinkling city lights.

Autumn colours could be seen from Naksan Park.

A selfie photo with help of a mirror.

We took our time to walk along the trail next to the wall. The views of the city with the old fortress walls were quite nice. 

N Seoul Tower on Namsan Mountain as viewed from Naksan Park.

Ihwa Mural Village

Walking down towards Dongdaemun, we entered into Ihwa Mural Village again. This village is a residential area with various murals hidden in its alleys. There are signs informing visitors to keep quiet and respect the privacy of the residents. Apparently some residents were fed up with the constant stream of noisy visitors in the past and had actually destroyed or painted over some of the murals.

One of the murals we saw.

Mural of white angel wings that is half destroyed.

Exploring Naksan Park and the mural village can be tiring and thirsty. There are many cafes in the area for tired legs, hungry tummy and those needing a caffeine shot.

We stopped by Cafe Gaebbul. This cafe only sells hot drinks so we were told to go to the bakery next door to buy pastries.

Baeogae Bakery next to Cafe Gaebbul.

After getting our drinks and snack, we made our way to the upper floor of the cafe. This place is quite popular. We managed to get a couple of seats on the roof terrace with nice views.

Coffee break with a view.

Seoul city and the iconic N Seoul Tower on Namsan.

The street in Ihwa Mural Village where the cafes were located.

I think this is another cafe. Cat-themed cafe.

This street leads down to Daehak-ro. We did not take this street all the way down.

After a brief exploration of the small mural village, we took the road down towards Dongdaemun and walked alongside the Seoul fortress wall towards Heunginjimun, the East Gate of Seoul.

Cafes also lined this road towards Dongdaemun.

 

This stretch of fortress wall towards Dongdaemun is quite nice.

View of Heunginjimun, the East Gate of Seoul.

A stunning autumn landscape in Seoul with the swaying silver grass, historical fortress wall and gate.

There are quite a lot of things to do at Dongdaemum. This includes shopping at Doota Mall, exploring the futuristic Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), and walking along the Cheonggyecheon Stream. We skipped all that since we had been here and done that. Instead we went to a place where most visitors to Seoul would not go.

Dongdaemun Stationery and Toy Street

We really wanted to buy some toys for our grandchildren back home and it has not been easy to find appropriate toys in Seoul. Then we found “Dongdaemun Stationery and Toy Street” from Google Map. This is a vibrant alleyway (21-1, Jong-ro 52-gil, Jongno-gu) in Seoul, home to nearly 120 shops selling toys, stationery, and party goods.

This is the perfect place to buy stationery as gifts and/or souvenirs and all sorts of toys, especially those originating from Korea like Pororo or Tayo the Little Bus. Some of the shops are wholesalers, so we could even get them at lower than retail prices.

Dongdaemun Stationery and Toy Street.

Checking out the Remote Controlled, 4WD Monster Trucks for my grandson.

A bit of nostalgia sets in after seeing the figurine of Astroboy in one of the shops. This is a character from a cartoon TV series I watched as a kid.

Seungjin Toy store - One of the most famous and largest, most comprehensive shops in the area with the giant gorilla figure and bear on the storefront.

Outside Seungjin Toy Store. Posing next to Pororo, with bags of toys that we bought!

Mission accomplished at Toy Street, we took a short bus ride to Ikseon-dong Hanok Village.