This area of Songpa-gu in Seoul is best known for the Lotte World Tower, one of Seoul’s most eye-catching and entertaining family malls.
In Jamsil-dong you can go indoor ice skating, visit a mind-boggling 3-D art space where you insert yourself in the paintings, watch a Disney-style show with the kids and take the monorail to an idyllic urban park in the Jamsil Special Tourist Zone.
Like most of Seoul, Jamsil-dong has changed dramatically over time. “Dong” means “district” and “Jamsil” means “place for sericulture,” which refers to the tradition of silkworm breeding in this once rural region.
Gaze up at the architecturally impressive Lotte World Tower on Olympic-ro. Head west, crossing over the Songpa highway to reach Lotte World, an entertainment precinct with the Lotte Department Store, restaurants, hotels, Lotte World Ice Rink and Lotte World Adventure, a giant theme park that includes the Lotte World Folk Museum,.
Try all the rides or spend a few hours in the swimming pools or on the ice rink with the kids. Regular parades, shows and narrated tram rides make the little ones forget all about their sore feet after a morning in the mall. There is also a haunted house for a spooky tour for the braver kids and adults. Still not scary enough? Then how about an indoor bungee jump?
The rest of Jamsil-dong is mostly a business district with offices and residential blocks. You can find most of the area’s restaurants and shops in the maze-like underground mall surrounding Jamsil Station.
If you don’t mind commuting to see all the central Seoul tourist sites, you could stay in one of the Lotte World hotels. This allows you to make the most of the cheaper room rates of the area and heavily discounted evening passes to the Lotte World Adventure theme park. If you’re a keen sports fan, you can watch a game at the Jamsil Baseball Stadium in nearby Olympic Park.
A special side trip is Seokchon Lake Park, which used to be part of the Han River before the land was reclaimed. Seokchon-hosu’s Magic Island isconnected by monorail to Lotte World Adventure, so it’s really easy to get there. The park looks like something out of a fairy tale in early spring, when the cherry blossoms are out.
