By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Majid Mushtaq from Pakistan
Seoul l March 17, 2018

Whenever someone asks how does it feel to live in Seoul, I always reply with this. “Every person should be allowed to love two cities, their hometown and Seoul.”

I've travelled all over the world, from the deserts of Australia to the glaciers of Chile, but if I were to choose my favorite city in the world that offers everything for all kinds of travelers, I’d chose Seoul within the blink of an eye. Seoul has so much to offer, all year round. You can enjoy cherry blossom festivals in the spring, lantern festivals in the summer, fireworks in the fall and ice skating in the winter. It has parks and streams to relax with family, and skyscrapers with breathtaking views of the city’s vibrant lights. When it comes to the skyscrapers, Lotte World Tower beats every other building in Korea.

All the major metropolises around the world have an iconic structure. For example, Paris has the Eiffel Tower, New York has the Statue of Liberty and London has Big Ben. In the same way, Seoul has this building: it's the representative structure of the city. It was opened to the public on April 3, 2017, and since its inauguration has been attracting thousands of tourists every day.

I have always wanted to visit the observatory deck, called the Seoul Sky, located on the 117th to 123rd floors, and wanted to enjoy the panoramic views of the city during both day and night. A few days ago, I was asked by Yonhap News for an interview to talk about my experiences as a Korea.net Honorary Reporter and about my blog, Korea Diaries. They asked me to choose my favorite spot in Seoul that I would like to introduce to tourists, and guess what. Without giving it a second thought, I decided to have the interview at the Lotte World Tower, as that was a perfect opportunity to share my experience visiting this landmark and promoting it among tourists.

On the day of the interview, I went with another Korea .net Honorary Reporter. After the formal greetings and a brief introduction about each other, we went up to the ticket counter.



It was then that I realized that my experience was definitely going to be an unforgettable one. I saw that there was support available in 4 different languages: Korean, English, Japanese and Mandarin. The staff was very kind and welcomed us with a smile. We were later taken to the basement, where we had to take a lift to the 118th floor. In the basement, there was an exhibition that showed the history of the Lotte World Tower using art, 3-D models, pictures and videos. After taking a few pictures, we went to the elevator to go up. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to see Seoul from the world’s fifth tallest building.

Within a minute, we were on the 118th floor at 478 m. I was agape when I first saw Seoul from that height. I couldn’t resist taking out my camera and take even more pictures.

While I was taking pictures, I almost screamed. Guess what. I was standing on a glass floor and I could literally see everything below me from 478 m above ground.

This observation deck holds the Guinness World Record as the highest glass-floored observatory in the world. Although I have a healthy amount of acrophobia, I was so excited that I kept on taking pictures while walking on the glass floor. I was amazed to see that there were little kids running here and there without any fear of heights. That gave me the courage to walk with a bit more confidence.



Then we moved to the 120th floor. To be honest, that was the best spot to have a bird's eye view of the greater Seoul area. You're actually standing in the open air, as there isn’t any roof on top of you. The feeling of fresh air brought calm and relief. If you want to escape the traffic and your busy day-to-day life, and if you want to relax a bit, this spot is perfect. Since it was getting cold and the sun was going down, we came back to the 118th floor to catch a time lapse photo of the sun setting across Seoul. It was amazing.

At night, Seoul's lights look fantastic and make you want to stay at the top of this building forever. The yellow or red snakes of brake lights or headlights showed how developed the city had become over the past few years. If you looked at the Hangang River, you could see the beautiful bridges with lights that give the impression of fire falling down onto the water.

If I were to give you some advice about the best time to go to the observatory deck, I would say the best time is during the evening sunset. You can enjoy the evening view, which is simply breath taking. Another thing that I loved was the installation of touch pads and information screens everywhere at the observatory deck. You could rotate the screens and it would show you any famous landmarks that were in front of you.



We were able to see Namsan Tower, SM Town, the Olympics Stadium and Lotte Adventure Land. Apart from having a bird's eye view of Seoul, you can also enjoy the coffee shop on the 119th floor while sitting in the lounge or in the sky terrace.

We finished our interview and it was time to say good bye to Lotte. I was sad, as I didn’t want to leave and I wanted to keep on enjoying the magnificent view of the city. However, at the same time, I was happy that I could now write about this experience and let others know how beautiful it is to enjoy Seoul from the top of the tower.

Finally, let me confess one thing. I love skyscrapers and towers. I've been to the Petronas Towers, the Empire State Building, Taipei 101, the Top of the Rock, the Sydney Tower and the Costanera Center Chile. Of all these towers, however, Lotte Tower is by far my favorite. In a nutshell, Lotte Tower is one of the top five things to do on your next trip to Seoul.

Admission Fee
Adult: KRW 27,000
Child: KRW 24,000
Fast Pass: all ages 50,000

Address
Lotte World Tower (Seoul Sky Observatory)
29 Sincheon-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Directions
By Subway
Jamsil Station (Seoul Subway Line 2, 8), Exit 1, 2, 10, 11

wisdom117@korea.kr

* This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.