The Great East Gate to Seoul’s City Wall has been rebuilt several times in its 700-year history and, after recent renovations, it's looking majestic. It's stranded in a traffic island, so it’s not possible to enter inside the gate, but there are good photo ops from Dongdaemun Seonggwak Park to the north, which is also where you'll find the City Wall Museum and a trail following the City Wall up to Naksan Park and Ihwa Mural Village.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Seoul City Wall Museum

0.13 MILES

With interactive displays and historical artefacts, this modern museum offers an engaging history of the 18.6km-long barrier that has girdled Seoul since…

2. Dongdaemun Stadium Memorial

0.21 MILES

Forming part of the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park, this engaging museum relives key moments from the former stadium’s history. Built by the Japanese…

3. Dongdaemun History Museum

0.26 MILES

Attached to the DDP, this museum makes up a part of the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park and features archaeological remains from the Joseon dynasty…

4. Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park

0.36 MILES

Designed by the late Zaha Hadid, this neofuturistic cultural complex was commissioned to replace the Dongdaemun Stadium, built during Japanese rule in the…

5. Ihwa Mural Village

0.44 MILES

High on the slopes of Naksan is one of the city's old daldongnae (literally ‘moon villages’) where refugees lived in shacks after the Korean War. Sixty…

6. Gwanghuimun

0.46 MILES

The 'southeast gate' of Seoul's fortress wall, Gwanghuimun is far smaller and more modest than Heunginjimun. It was rebuilt in 1976.

7. Kyungdong Presbyterian Church

0.57 MILES

Built in 1981, this fortress-like red-brick church was designed by Kim Swoo Geun, one of Korea's most acclaimed post-war architects, who also designed the…

8. Lock Museum

0.66 MILES

One of Seoul’s quirkier private collections makes for a surprisingly absorbing exhibition. It focuses on the artistry of locks, latches and keys of all…