Cheonggyecheon: the Stream Under the City

The stream was always there — it drained the basin the old city was built in, and for centuries it was the boundary between the rich northern half of Seoul and the poorer south.

After the Korean War it became a slum, then a sewer, and in the 1960s and 1970s it was covered over entirely and an elevated motorway was built along the top of it. That road carried traffic through the middle of Seoul for three decades and was, by the end, structurally failing.

In 2003 the city demolished it. The project took a little over two years, removed the elevated highway and the concrete deck, restored the channel, and reopened in 2005 as a public walkway with water pumped in from the Han. It cost a great deal of money and a great deal of political capital, and it is now the standard international case study for taking a road out of a city centre.

That history is the reason to walk it. The water is artificial, the banks are engineered, and none of it is old — but a city that removed a motorway to put a stream back is telling you something about itself.

You drop down a staircase from street level and the noise stops. That is the first surprise: four or five metres below the road, with water running and stone walls on both sides, central Seoul becomes almost quiet.

The path runs on both banks with stepping stones at intervals, so you cross whenever you like. Bridges pass overhead every couple of hundred metres, several of them with the original stonework rebuilt, and a long ceramic mural depicting a royal procession lines one section.

At the western end, Cheonggye Plaza has a fountain where the stream begins and a tall red-and-blue spiral sculpture that people either love or use as a landmark. At the eastern end the stream runs out past the fabric markets towards Dongdaemun.

It is lit after dark and safe at any hour — the whole channel is overlooked, and there are staircases up to the street every few hundred metres. In November the Seoul Lantern Festival floats illuminated figures along the water, which is the one time of year the walkway is genuinely crowded.

Access is by staircase or ramp at frequent intervals; step-free access exists but is not at every entry point, so check the nearest ramp if it matters.

The water is pumped, and after heavy rain the stream can rise quickly — the city closes the walkway during storm warnings and the closures are signposted at the entrances. The channel is also drained periodically for maintenance, which is worth knowing if a photograph of running water is the reason you came.

The most useful thing about it is geographic. The stream connects Gwanghwamun and the palace quarter to Gwangjang Market, Dongdaemun and the eastern districts in a straight line, at walking pace, with no crossings. On a day of palaces and markets it saves you both metro fares and traffic lights.