A view on Seoul from Itaewon

This view is special because it links several “Seouls” in one frame, from the everyday streets to the distant skyline. It is taken from a hotel on the hillside above Itaewon in Yongsan‑gu, on the northern side of the Han River, looking down on Seoul’s famous international quarter with its foreign restaurants, bars, clubs and mixed expat–local crowd. We chose this hotel to be just a short walk from Itaewon, known for its energy, yet high enough to see how the city fits together. From the window you look out over central‑north Seoul, with the dense neighbourhoods of Yongsan and nearby districts in the foreground, then, across the Han River, the tall blocks of Gangnam and other southern business areas stretching into the distance. Beyond the city, low mountain ridges close the horizon and show how Seoul sits in a broad basin of hills.