Yongsan Family Park

Yongsan Family Park sits on what was once the golf course of the US Forces Korea headquarters, handed over to the city and opened as a park in 1992. Because it was a golf course, the main lawns are unusually wide and level, and on mild weekends they fill with families, couples and picnic mats. Walking paths with gentle slopes loop around a large pond, a rose garden, a Taegeukgi plaza and nine outdoor sculptures, and there is a 200-meter barefoot path of red clay earth and a playground for children. The park lies between Namsan and the Han River and is reached through the grounds of the National Museum of Korea, so most visitors combine the two: a few hours in the galleries, then a slow loop of the pond in the late afternoon. Midday sun can be strong on the open lawns, so mornings and the hour before sunset are the nicer times. Next door is the partly opened section of Yongsan Park, the former officers' housing with its red-brick American-style houses, if you want to keep walking.