Busan-Seoul Day 6: Namsan, N Seoul Tower & Myeongdong

We woke up at 8am and brought our clothes for washing before having breakfast at Cafe Stanford (we timed it in such a way that our laundry would be done by the time we finished breakfast).

Cafe Stanford

Breakfast buffet

Our table

Littlest had cereal and orange juice almost everyday while the Mum-in-law had rice

My choice of breakfast

The variety of food was limited and the taste was so-so, at times terrible. The two older kids felt that it was not worth it to wake up early for it. Since our package only came with breakfast for 4 persons, we allowed them to sleep in for the rest of the mornings while the rest of us went for breakfast.

We returned to the room and got ready for our visit to Namsan. Although the Hubby and I have previously visited Namsan Park in 2013, we wanted to bring the kids and Mum-in-law, as you can't say you've visited Seoul unless you've seen the famous N Seoul Tower on Namsan! It has been featured in many K-dramas, including Kpop Demon Hunters! 😄

We planned to take the Namsan Cable Car as we had done in our previous trip. I guided our group to the cable car base station based on memory from seeing the route on Google Maps (I have very good navigation skills you see, no need live navigation) 😁

We walked past the Bank of Korea Money Museum, which was a super cool building

Slight climb up a slope to reach the inclined lift

There was a super long queue at the lift so I asked the Mum-in-law if she preferred to wait or climb the stairs. She was game to climb the stairs but then regretted later because it was a lot of stairs! 😅

Climbing the first flight of stairs, which was still doable

Halfway point photo with the Namsan Moon;
We wouldn't have gotten a photo if we didn't climb the stairs! #silverlining 😅

We climbed more stairs before we reached the ticketing booth, where we bought tickets for the Namsan Cable Car. It cost us ₩15,000 per adult and ₩11,500 per child under 12 years old.

Lo and behold, we had to climb more flights of stairs because the lift was reserved only for PWDs! 😅 It was not an issue for me (since I exercise everyday and can consider it a part of my usual exercise), but not easy for my Mum-in-law!

Entrance at the 3rd Floor!

Queuing to board the cable car

Managed to find a good spot near the window

View of the cable car station

View of Myeongdong from the cable car

On arrival at the peak station, we found ourselves climbing more stairs before we reached the top of Namsan!

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Love locks were everywhere on Namsan

Photos with N Seoul Tower

Namsan Octagonal Pavillion

Trees at the peak

Enjoying the view

Family photo!

Beautifully painted stones

Geographical marker that indicates the geographical center of Seoul!

Love locks tree and bending bench

View from the top

Lookout to the park below

Family photo taken by a kind Ajumma

I found some nice pins from the gift shop to add to my collection!

The Boy was fascinated by the brick walls, which reminded him of the Great Wall of China

Photo of my kids

We spotted a lift and took it down to the first floor.

This path leads to a bus stop where you can take the bus if you preferred not to take the cable car

Photo with the Littlest

Unsure about the significance of the pandas...

We bought snacks from BHC Chicken

When we have finished exploring, we returned to the cable car station.

Got a good view of the N Seoul Tower on the way to the cable car station

Riding the cable car

Goodbye Namsan! 👋🏻

We decided to take the inclined lift down as the queue was short.

Squeezing onto the lift as we travelled down

We walked for about 5-10 minutes to our favourite Gimbap Cheonguk at Myeongdong for lunch.

Hubby discovered this restaurant by chance and we have loved it ever since

Traditional Korean restaurant

Bibimbap

Gimbap and soups

The gimbap was so good! One of the best I've eaten! 👍🏻 The meal was also inexpensive and definitely value for money! Highly recommended by my foodie family 😃

After a satisfying lunch, we proceeded with shopping! Obviously. We're at Myeongdong! 😆🤭 I couldn't wait to introduce the Mum-in-law to the 12-storey Daiso that we had visited on our last trip! There was long queue for the lift so I made the crazy decision to climb the stairs all the way to the 12th floor (and clock my exercise at the same time)! 😅 While the Mum-in-law and Littlest waited for the lift, the Eldest decided to join me and regretted once she reached the 5th floor... 😬 We made it to the top though and worked our way back down... 😃

Littlest had a lot of fun shopping because this mummy bought everything she wanted (everything was so cheap!!!)

We hauled our Daiso shopping loot back to our hotel so that the Eldest and I can continue our round two of shopping at Olive Young!

The Eldest's favourite store in Korea and possibly the whole world!

Mum-in-law was feeling tired (and a bit unwell) after all the shopping so she didn't join us for dinner. The Hubby decided on a Korean BBQ restaurant near our hotel.