As early summer heat ramps up in June, the Seoul Tourism Foundation has rounded up four waterfront spots across the city that promise a cool reset for both body and soul.
For manmade urban waterfalls, Hongje Waterfall and Yongma Waterfall Park top the list. Hongje Waterfall, 25 m tall and 60 m wide, is a standout along the Hongjecheon walking trail. A new cultural complex recently opened across from the falls, featuring a terrace café and the waterfall bookshop Areum-In Library. The media exhibition hall plays year-round footage of the falls, and social buzz has turned it into a quirky, must-see spot for international visitors.
Yongma Waterfall Park showcases the most dramatic waterfall in central Seoul. Built on an old quarry face, it centers on the 51.4 m Yongma Waterfall, flanked by Cheongryong Falls (21 m) on the left and Baekma Falls (21.4 m) on the right, creating three cascading streams. The falls operate twice daily; from June 29 through August 31, an extra run between 5 and 6 p.m. raises the total to three showings a day. The park also offers an artificial rock-climbing wall and a clay walking path.
Cheonggyecheon at night becomes a whole different scene. The media-art installation “Cheonggye Soul Ocean,” installed beneath Gwanggyo, projects images onto the stream’s surface to create a digital sea in the middle of the city. It’s currently running a spring-flower program, and starting the second week of June it will debut a new piece, “Joseon’s Pungnyu,” created in collaboration with the Kansong Art Museum. The installation runs from 7 to 10 p.m. from June through August.
The Sky Path, a media-art space inside the Seosomun Sacred Site History Museum, is another spot worth visiting. This immersive corridor—narrow and sloped with rows of red walls—channels waves of light and color. Paired with the sky plaza that opens vertically from the third basement level to the surface, it’s become a favored place for quiet reflection.
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