Lotte World Tower
You step onto the Sky Bridge at 541 m — the exact altitude of New York's tallest building, but you're looking down on Seoul.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Seoul offline.
At 555 m and 123 floors, this is the tallest building in any OECD country and sixth-tallest on earth. The Sky Bridge Tour on the roof puts you level with the tip of One World Trade Center. The pale glass exterior was deliberately shaped after Korean ceramics, with metal filigree climbing the facade — so the engineering and the cultural reference are both worth your attention.
What to look for
- The diagrid lantern-shaped roof — a 120 m steel structure covering floors 107–123, engineered to stand without reinforcing pillars and survive a magnitude-9 earthquake
- The pale glass curtain wall with metal filigree accents, designed to echo traditional Korean ceramics
- The Sky Bridge Tour at 541 m — the same elevation as the top of One World Trade Center in New York City
Located in Sincheon-dong, Songpa District; the tower opened April 3, 2017 — book Sky Bridge tickets in advance as capacity on the roof is limited.
Lotte World Tower is one of 28 sights worth the detour in Seoul, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Seoul pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Seoul
- ChangdeokgungThe kings kept skipping the official palace to live here instead — and they had centuries to prove the point.
- Seoul Metropolitan SubwayLine 1 launched in 1974 tracing Tokyo's blueprint; today 24 lines stretch over 100 km beyond the capital into rural Chungnam and Gangwon provinces.
- JongmyoSpirit tablets of Joseon kings still receive ritual offerings here, exactly as they have since 1394.
- Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae)South Korea's seat of presidential power since 1948 — a 62-acre compound so secure it was once called one of Asia's most protected official residences, until the gates briefly opened to everyone.
- Namdaemun (Sungnyemun)Built in 1398, burned by an arsonist in 2008, and painstakingly restored by 2013 — Seoul's southern gate has a complicated relationship with fire.
- National Museum of KoreaDuring the Korean War, staff packed 20,000 objects and moved them to Busan — that collection now fills the flagship museum of Korean history and art in South Korea.