If you’re looking for one of the best places to visit with kids in Seoul, South Korea, Nowon Train Village’s Swiss Hall and Italy Hall miniature exhibition is such a fun pick.
I finally made it to Nowon Train Village with my 14-month-old, and it had been on my list for ages.
From the moving miniature exhibits to the train-themed restaurant and even a café where a little train delivers your drinks, there’s a lot packed into one place, and it was genuinely fun.
Just a quick note: I visited on a weekday morning, so keep that in mind as you read.
Basic Info
Nowon Train Village is a former Hwarangdae Station that’s been transformed into a cultural complex. If your child loves trains, this is absolutely a place to put on your Seoul itinerary.
Address: 622 Hwarang-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, South Korea (Gongneung-dong)
Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (closed Mondays)
Parking available, strollers are not allowed inside the exhibition hall, capacity is limited to 200 visitors, and Nowon-gu residents get 10% off.
The exhibition hall, Nowon Light Garden, restaurant, gallery, and other facilities all run on slightly different schedules, so it’s best to check the on-site guide for the most accurate hours.
Starting July 16, the 2026 Nowon Fun Water Park will run for one month in front of the train village exhibition hall. When I visited, they were in the middle of getting everything ready.
Parking
For parking, just enter [Nowon Train Village Parking Lot] in TMAP. Parking is free for the first 2 hours, and if you use the restaurant or café, you get 2 extra free hours. Even the additional fee is affordable at 1,800 KRW per hour, or about $1.30.
The parking lot is long and narrow, and the spaces farthest inside are closest to the exhibition hall. There’s a decent amount of parking, but on weekends I can easily imagine it filling up.
Admission
Tickets are 4,000 KRW for adults and 2,000 KRW for children and teens. Babies older than 12 months are charged the child rate.
Nowon-gu residents, national merit recipients, seniors, visitors with disabilities, large families, and weekday group visitors can get 50% off.
At the entrance, you buy your ticket and scan the QR code to go in. Since strollers aren’t allowed inside, we had to park ours at the entrance before entering.
Nowon Train Village Swiss Hall
The first space you see when you walk into the exhibition is the Swiss Hall.
I had already seen tons of photos and videos before going, but in person it was way more impressive. Even though it’s miniature, it somehow still feels grand.
Every 10 minutes, the display shifts from day to night. During the nighttime sequence, the lighting colors keep changing too.
My daughter obviously didn’t know exactly what she was looking at, but she could tell there were lots of fascinating things everywhere. She even let go of my hand and wandered around checking things out on her own.
Since so many families visit, there are step platforms all around the exhibit so smaller kids can climb up and get a closer look.
One thing I really loved about Nowon Train Village was that you’re not just staring at still miniatures. There are buttons throughout the exhibit that let you activate moving trains, people, and different scenes.
If you press a button with a green light, something starts moving somewhere in the display. Trains are easy to spot, but some of the smaller motions can be hard to catch. The staff members stationed around the hall were really kind and would point out exactly where to look.
There are so many interactive buttons that even if it gets crowded, people can naturally spread out while exploring.
I’m recommending this as a kid-friendly spot, but honestly, it’s just as fun for adults. A high-quality miniature exhibition like this for only 4,000 KRW feels like a steal.
In one corner of the Swiss Hall, there’s also a hands-on zone where you can actually drive the trains on the tracks yourself.
A 14-month-old obviously can’t fully understand how it works, but the controls are so simple that my baby somehow got the train moving anyway.
I was definitely the one more obsessed with the miniatures, but my daughter loved turning the levers here more than anything else.
Nowon Train Village Italy Hall
Next, we moved into the Italy Hall right next door. This is the newer section of the exhibition.
Right at the entrance, there’s a sculpture of the Mouth of Truth from Rome. It looks surprisingly realistic, so you can snap a photo that almost feels like you’re actually in Rome.
Maybe because of the lighting, but my photos in this room all came out with a bluish tint.
At 10:45 a.m. on a weekday, it was seriously empty. Once it passed 11 a.m., though, the crowd definitely picked up.
They’ve recreated so many of Italy’s famous landmarks and historic sites here: the Colosseum, the Duomo, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Milan Cathedral, the ruins of Pompeii, and more, all done as incredibly detailed miniatures.
Colosseum gladiator scene
You can also press a button to watch Mount Vesuvius erupt. If you stand nearby, you can even feel the ground shake a little.
If I hadn’t been there with a baby, I would’ve loved to look at everything more slowly. Since I was mostly following my child around, I ended up doing a quick lap and leaving, which was a little disappointing. Next time, I want to come back with my husband too.
This feels like the kind of exhibit that works for a wide age range, from toddlers over 12 months old to preschoolers and elementary school kids. It’s also a great indoor place to visit in Seoul during the hot summer or freezing winter.
After we finished, I spotted an event sign. If you attach a photo of Milan Cathedral and leave a NAVER receipt review, you get a magnet. I checked my photos and somehow I had missed that one landmark completely. So learn from me and make sure you take that photo if you want the free souvenir.
Besides the Swiss Hall and Italy Hall, there’s also a small exhibition on the second floor. We looked around all the way up there too. How Long to Spend HereI moved through everything pretty quickly, so it took me about 40 minutes. For most people, I’d recommend planning for around 1 hour. If your child is really into trains and loves looking closely at details, I think you could easily spend up to 1.5 hours here.
Outdoor Exhibits
Once you come out of the exhibition hall, there’s also an old streetcar displayed outside.
It’s a Hiroshima streetcar, and the moment you walk over to that area, the atmosphere suddenly feels very Japanese.
You can step inside too, but it was so hot that I couldn’t last even 10 seconds.
The waiting room of the old Hwarangdae Station has also been remodeled into the Hwarangdae Station Exhibition Hall, but I didn’t have time to go in this time.
There’s also an old steam locomotive on display. Kids born these days probably have no idea why trains are described as “chug-chug,” so it’s actually nice to show them the real thing.
Train Restaurant and Train Café
Inside Nowon Train Village, there’s both a train-themed restaurant and a café. The restaurant is Express Nowon by Mirage, and the café is Train View Café.
The restaurant has a European luxury train concept and is built inside a remodeled real train car. It’s not one of those overhyped photo spots either—it’s genuinely beautiful and has a great atmosphere.
At the café, a little train delivers coffee right to your table. Apparently kids absolutely love it. The café itself doesn’t really look like a train inside, but prices are reasonable, so it’s an easy stop after the exhibition.
Final Thoughts
I’d been meaning to visit for so long, and I’m so glad I finally made time for it on a weekday morning.
I came here thinking of it as a place to visit with kids in Seoul, but it’s honestly great for adults too. By the time I was leaving, I noticed lots of foreign visitors, and they were all adult travelers.
If you want a fun and unusual experience in Seoul, South Korea, I definitely recommend Nowon Train Village.