About This Resource
Seoul, South Korea is surrounded by mountains and built on hilly terrain, resulting in extensive stairways both on mountain hiking trails and throughout urban areas. Popular mountains like Bukhansan, Namsan, and Inwangsan feature thousands of stone steps leading to peaks and temples. Urban areas include subway station stairs (often dozens of steps deep) and neighborhood stairs connecting different elevations. Seoul's hiking culture means the mountain stairs are heavily used by fitness-conscious residents. The combination of urban and mountain stairs makes Seoul an interesting case study in how stairs serve both daily commuting and recreational purposes.
