Climbing Haebangchon hill in the right order

Right now

1. 1The whole neighborhood is uphill. This is not a route to walk up but one for the Yongsan 02 (용산02) neighborhood bus, which runs from 05:50 to 23:20 every 8 minutes on weekdays and every 10 minutes on Saturdays and public holidays.
2. 2No public source gives the start and end times for the inclined elevator beside the 108 Stairs. If you plan to come down after dark, expect to walk the stairs. The only place that can tell you whether it is running today is the Yongsan-gu civil engineering division (02-2199-7854).
3. 3Both sides of every alley and stairway are homes. Do not point a camera at front doors or windows, and keep your voice down in the evening.

Getting there

• Incheon Airport (Terminal 1 and Terminal 2)

  Take the all-stop AREX train to its last stop, Seoul Station. Change there to line 1 and get off one stop later at Namyeong station on line 1. Leave by exit 1, walk a short way to the right to the stop named Namyeong Station Democracy Movement Memorial Hall (남영역 민주화운동기념관), board the Yongsan 02 (용산02) neighborhood bus and get off at Haebangchon Ogeori (해방촌오거리).

  How long:

  About 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours (the AREX leg alone is 59 minutes to Seoul Station, or 66 minutes from Terminal 2)

  Airport bus 6030, which used to pass through Itaewon and Yongsan, is not running. The operator's notice board carries an extended suspension notice dated August 27, 2026, and the route no longer appears in Seoul's bus information lookup, so do not look for an Itaewon-bound limousine at the airport. The AREX express train has a separate fare of 13,000 won for adults and takes 43 minutes to Seoul Station (51 minutes from Terminal 2). Inside Seoul Station the transfer walk between the AREX platform and line 1 is long. With large luggage, skip the neighborhood bus and take a taxi from Seoul Station or Namyeong instead.

• Seoul Station (KTX, AREX arrivals level)

  Take line 1 one stop to Namyeong station on line 1. Leave by exit 1 and walk a short way to the right to the stop named Namyeong Station Democracy Movement Memorial Hall (남영역 민주화운동기념관). Board the Yongsan 02 (용산02) neighborhood bus there and get off at Haebangchon Ogeori (해방촌오거리). If you are using line 4, get off one stop later at Sookmyung Women's University station on line 4 and catch the same Yongsan 02 at the stop named Sookdae Station Exit 5 (숙대역5번출구), right in front of exit 5.

  How long:

  About 30 to 40 minutes

  Yongsan 02 runs from 05:50 to 23:20, every 8 minutes on weekdays and every 10 minutes on Saturdays and public holidays. The bus ride from Namyeong to Haebangchon Ogeori takes about 15 minutes. It is a small bus with few seats, so anyone carrying a large suitcase stands, and it sways the whole way up and down the hill. The stop in front of exit 7 of Sookmyung Women's University station serves the opposite direction, back down toward Namyeong, so do not board there.

• Noksapyeong station on line 6 (the gateway station closest to Haebangchon)

  Leave by exit 2 and keep climbing Sinheung-ro. The Haebangchon alleys are 1.1 to 1.2 km up. To avoid the walk, go to the Hansin Apartment (한신아파트) stop, 5 minutes on foot from exit 2, board the Yongsan 02 (용산02) neighborhood bus and get off five stops later at Haebangchon Ogeori (해방촌오거리).

  How long:

  About 20 minutes on foot (1.1 to 1.2 km uphill)

  Sinheung-ro climbs from beginning to end. If you are pulling a suitcase, pushing a stroller or using a wheelchair, take the neighborhood bus rather than walking. Yongsan 02 also stops at the Noksapyeong Station Yongsan-gu Office stop, but that is where the route ends, so to go up into Haebangchon you have to board at Hansin Apartment (한신아파트). If you are staying in Itaewon, ride line 6 one stop to Noksapyeong and start here.

What to have ready

• Shoes with grip: The route goes up and down stairs and slopes. On a day of rain or snow, coming down is the slippery part.
• A small bag: The neighborhood bus has few seats, and the alleys above the stairs are hard to pass with large luggage. Leave the suitcase at your lodging.
• The Yongsan-gu civil engineering division's number: 02-2199-7854. This is the only place that will confirm whether the inclined elevator is moving that day. If you are coming by wheelchair, call before you set out.

Phrases you can copy and paste

Step by step

1. 1
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   Haebangchon Ogeori and the Sinheung-ro hill

   Where:

   Haebangchon Ogeori stop on the Yongsan 02 neighborhood bus. If you walk up from Noksapyeong station, it is the top of Sinheung-ro

   Five roads meet here, but it is not a plaza. It is a knot of narrow streets. If you are looking around for a wide intersection, you have already passed it. When you step off the neighborhood bus, the side where N Seoul Tower is visible is uphill, Sinheung Market sits right beside the junction, and the 108 Stairs are at the end of the road running down the other way toward Huam-dong. The city describes Haebangchon as a steep slope at the foot of Namsan, and Sinheung-ro, the road that brings you here, climbs from beginning to end. By Yongsan-gu's count, passengers getting off at this stop rose from 44,905 in May 2023 to 58,225 in May 2025, and on weekend afternoons those people crowd the narrow streets all at once. This is not a place to arrive by car. Yongsan-gu itself notes that the roads are narrow and old houses are packed tightly, which made parking hard to secure. The nearest public parking lot is at 56 Sowol-ro 20-gil. A second deck added in April 2026 took it from 24 to 49 spaces, which is still few for a neighborhood this size.

   Sinheung-ro, Yongsan 2(i)-ga-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea

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   The Sinheung Market alley

   Where:

   From Haebangchon Ogeori, walk along Sinheung-ro and turn once into an alley. The entrance is not visible from the main road

   How long:

   The alley itself is always passable. Each shop keeps its own hours, and there is no official notice setting hours for the market as a whole

   From 1953 this served residents as a market for daily necessities, then declined for a long stretch after the 1990s. It was worked on after the city designated Haebangchon an urban regeneration area in December 2015. For a time it was also the center of Haebangchon's knitting industry. Yongsan-gu's traditional market listing still registers it with 64 shops, 64 merchants and no parking, while a city article describes the alley as lined with workshops, cafes and restaurants. Come expecting a market to shop for groceries and it will not match. Come expecting an empty alley that exists only on paper and it will not match either. Somewhere between the two is as far as public sources can confirm. A transparent ETFE membrane roof covers the alley. Shops close on different days, so aiming for one particular place is an easy way to make a wasted trip. Treat the alley itself as the destination and pick whatever is open that day. It is a narrow lane in the middle of homes, so keep your voice down at night.

   95-9 Sinheung-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea

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   The 108 Stairs and the inclined elevator

   Where:

   From Haebangchon Ogeori, follow Sinheung-ro and turn into the Sinheung-ro 36-gil alley to reach the top of the stairs. About 8 minutes on foot from the junction. The bottom of the stairs is near the Huam-dong terminus stop of the neighborhood bus, on the Huam-dong side

   How long:

   The stairs can be used 24 hours a day. The elevator's start and end times could not be confirmed

   Cost:

   The stairs are a public path, so there is no charge. The Korea Tourism Organization lists the elevator as free too

   These stairs were laid in 1943 as the approach path to the Gyeongseong Hoguk Shrine when it was built. The shrine is gone and only the stairs remain, and they became Seoul Future Heritage in 2015. The inclined elevator near the planter halfway up broke ground in 2017 and was completed in 2018, and Yongsan-gu announced it as the first inclined elevator in a Seoul residential area. It carries 15 people, moves at 60 meters per minute, takes 1 minute from the bottom of the stairs to the top, has landings from the 1st to the 4th level, and is lined with 96 meters of safety railing along the stairs. It is not an amusement ride for visitors but a mobility aid for the residents in the houses on either side. That fact alone tells you how old and how steep this neighborhood is. No public source lists its operating hours, and when the elevator stops, the only alternatives are walking the 108 Stairs or a detour through narrow alleys. The Korea Tourism Organization's barrier-free page marks this spot as having no elevator for disabled visitors while stating on the same page that the elevator can be used free of charge, so the two entries contradict each other. If you are coming by wheelchair, do not rely on the fact that an elevator exists. Check with the Yongsan-gu civil engineering division first. The stairs go by two names, so if a map app does not find Haebangchon 108 Stairs, search again for Huam-dong 108 Stairs.

   Sinheung-ro 36-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea

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   The Sowol-ro viewing deck and the road on to Namsan

   Where:

   From Haebangchon Ogeori, climb to Sowol-ro, the upper road, and walk toward Baekbeom Kim Gu Square. About 5 minutes by the city's guide

   The spot where Haebangchon opens onto downtown Seoul is not inside the alleys but one level up, on Sowol-ro. If you only wander the alleys and head back down, you walk straight past it. The city's guide says that about 5 minutes along the Sowol-ro autumn foliage road above the junction, toward Baekbeom Kim Gu Square, a viewing deck takes in all of Seoul below Namsan at a glance. The deck's official facility name and lot number could not be confirmed, so rather than typing a name into a map app, steer by Sowol-ro and Baekbeom Kim Gu Square. When the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism chose Haebangchon for its second Local 100 in February 2026, one of the reasons Yongsan-gu gave was this view over the city center. Keep following Sowol-ro in the same direction and you enter the Namsan Park area, but N Seoul Tower is on top of the mountain, not within an easy walk. Decide in advance between the walking path, the cable car and the loop bus. Sowol-ro carries traffic going up and down Namsan, so take care stepping out of a narrow alley onto the main road. What you look down on is also other people's yards and rooftops, so do not aim a camera downward. On an overcast day there is almost nothing to see.

   Sowol-ro 20-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea

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The Korean words

오거리ogeori, five-way intersection

Where five roads meet. It is the bus stop name and the landmark locals use when giving directions.

마을버스maeul beoseu, neighborhood shuttle bus

A small bus that loops through a neighborhood's hills and alleys. In Haebangchon it is the Yongsan 02.

경사형 승강기gyeongsahyeong seunggangki, inclined elevator

An elevator that travels at an angle along a slope. It stands beside the 108 Stairs.

하차hacha, getting off

Getting off the bus. Press the stop bell ahead of time.

비탈bital, slope

Sloping ground. One word that describes all of Haebangchon.

골목golmok, alley

A narrow path between houses. In this neighborhood it is usually right in front of someone's home.

Easy to miss

• ·Haebangchon Ogeori is not a plaza. Five narrow roads tangle here, so it is easy to set off in the wrong direction the moment you leave the bus. The side with the tower in view is up, and the Huam-dong side is the stairs.
• ·The Sinheung Market entrance is not visible from the main road. Look around on Sinheung-ro with only a map and you walk past it.
• ·When the elevator stops there is no alternative. You walk the 108 Stairs, and the detour is a narrow alley too. No public source gives its operating hours, so at night plan on coming down by the stairs.
• ·The viewing deck is not inside the alleys but one level up on Sowol-ro. Wander the alleys only and you come down without the view.
• ·Fixing on a cafe with a view by name is an easy way to make a wasted trip. Places open and close often. Climb to Sowol-ro and choose whatever is open that day.
• ·Addresses differ between sources. Sinheung Market appears both as the area around 95-9 Sinheung-ro and as lot number 1-480 Yongsan 2-ga-dong, and the stairs appear under two names, Haebangchon 108 Stairs and Huam-dong 108 Stairs. If one does not come up, search for the other.

You can skip this if

• If stairs and slopes are a strain and you are not in a position to phone ahead about the elevator, leave this neighborhood for another day. There is no flat stretch.
• If you want a market to shop at, this is not it. It is registered as a traditional market, but what opens now leans toward workshops, cafes and restaurants.
• If you are coming for the view alone on an overcast day, the climb to Sowol-ro is wasted effort. Pick a clear day instead.

Where this comes from

• The Seoul alley closest to the sky: Haebangchon (Seoul Love, Seoul Metropolitan Government)
• The birth of a place that draws people in: Haebangchon's Sinheung Market rewrites its liberation diary (Seoul in My Hands, Seoul Metropolitan Government)
• Haebangchon 108 Stairs (Seoul Future Heritage, Seoul Metropolitan Government)
• Haebangchon 108 Stairs mobility facility completed, Seoul's first inclined elevator in a residential area (Yongsan-gu Office)
• Huam-dong 108 Stairs, destination information and barrier-free guide (Korea Tourism Organization)
• Traditional market guide, Sinheung Market registration status (Yongsan-gu Office)
• Yongsan-gu's Haebangchon selected for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's second Local 100 (Yongsan-gu Office)
• Haebangchon public parking lot doubles its spaces (Yongsan-gu Office)
• Yongsan 02 neighborhood bus route information (Seoul Bus Information System)
• Notice of extended suspension of route 6030, posted August 27, 2026 (Airport Limousine)