6 Best Sights in Yeouido, Seoul

The most popular park in Yeouido, and indeed perhaps all of Seoul, is Yeouido Hangang Park. Running parallel to the Han River for the full length of the island, the park is dotted with picnic areas, stages, bike paths, and convenience stores for grabbing a Hite beer on a hot summer’s day. Other highlights include a public pool with prime city skyline views and whimsical paddleboats shaped like ducks, but it's the statue of letters spelling out “I SEOUL U”  with a background of the river, the skyline, and N Seoul Tower that draw daily flocks of eager Instagrammers.

When the 63 Square building was constructed in the 1980s, it was the tallest building in Asia. While it no longer claims that accolade (it now belongs to Dubai's Burj Khalifa), the gold-tinted, 63-story skyscraper is Seoul's seventh tallest. Although most of the building contains the offices of finance companies, the 57th through 59th floors are home to high-end restaurants including the aptly named eateries Walking on the Cloud and Touch the Sky. Although pricey, these dining options have unparalleled views over the city.

The dome-topped National Assembly Building is home to the legislative branch of the Republic of Korea’s government. Tours of the capitol's Plenary Chamber are offered six days a week and must be scheduled three days in advance. While tours are offered in Korean only, English pamphlets are available and there are informational robots that speak multiple languages. For a last-minute visit, stick to the National Assembly Museum and the charming grounds filled with evocative statues depicting various moments in Korean history.

Yeouido Park bisects the island straight down the middle, creating a welcome pocket of tranquility amid the surrounding high-rises. All backdropped by the Yeouido skyline are walking trails, graceful pagodas, ponds, and cherry trees, as well as more unique features such as a rock acupressure trail, a bronze statue of the 15th-century King Sejong, and a display C-47 plane nodding back to Yeouido’s days as an airfield.

Running along the diminutive Saet River on the opposite side of the island from the larger Han River, this park is much less crowded than others on Yeouido and is an ideal spot for a peaceful jog or bike ride. The park also serves as a nature reserve for the area’s native wetland plants and offers year-round ecology programs. A popular walking route is across the futuristic Yeouido Saetgang Pedestrian Bridge, which spans the park and a major highway before depositing pedestrians in the Singil neighborhood across the Saet River.

In addition to the government buildings and glitzy high-rises, Yeouido is home to South Korea’s largest megachurch, with over half a million members. Yoido Full Gospel Church welcomes the faithful and the curious alike to visit, with smiling white-clad ushers directing traffic into the cavernous 12,000-seat sanctuary. While the congregation is mostly Korean, special sections are reserved for foreigners with headsets translating the sermon into English, Spanish, Indonesian, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese.