Dobong-gu Seoul-Style Kids Café Tour - Orebong Naeribong, Ssangmun Star Explorers, Forest Cruise Ship

Recently I found out about Seoul-style kids cafés, and since then I’ve been visiting them often with my baby.

Once we started going here, we couldn’t go back to regular kids cafés.

That’s because Seoul-style kids cafés are free if you have two children.

1. Reservation

You can make a reservation on the site below.

For reference, if you arrive more than 30 minutes late on your reservation date, your reservation privileges for all Seoul-style kids cafés will be suspended for one month, so be careful.

Just selecting the region you want will show you all the cafés in that area.

Since these are public facilities, the age criteria are strict, so make sure to check that your child is within the allowed age range.

2. Kids Cafés in Dobong-gu

There are a total of seven Seoul-style kids cafés in Dobong-gu.

Usually when a daycare center says they’re going to a kids café, it’s one of these places.

I visited Forest Cruise Ship TtuTtu, Orebong Naeribong, and Ssangmun Star Explorers with my kids.

I’ll upload the photos in order.

3. Seoul-Style Kids Café Tour

1) Forest Cruise Ship TtuTtu

At first I wasn’t sure where it was, so I was a bit confused, but you can just head to the entrance of Choansan Ecological Park.

It’s located right next to the playground at the entrance.

Parking is not available, so please walk there.

After bouncing on the trampoline at the playground with the kids and walking just a bit, you’ll arrive.

One thing to note is that while there is a diaper changing station inside the kids café, there is no restroom.

So if you want to use the restroom, you have to use the outdoor park restroom.

It’s only about 100–150 m away on foot, but it feels quite far when you’re carrying a baby who’s pooped.

From the outside it looked like a building made from containers.

And one side is shaped like a long ship.

The interior concept is also based on navigation, so there are play elements that match that theme.

There were two large heaters inside, so it was very warm.

The game steering wheel didn’t work well, and the touch on the beam projector didn’t register properly.

Since most visitors are toddlers it’s probably not a big issue, but our first child, who is almost fully four years old, was quite disappointed.

Interestingly, there’s also a second floor.

The ceiling on the second floor is very low.

Our first child is about 1 m tall, so the ceiling height is roughly 120–130 cm.

It’s more than sufficient for small children to play.

Near the entrance on the first floor there was also a game operated by a touch screen.

Naeun seemed a bit bored, so she played here for quite a while at the end.

2) Orebong Naeribong

Orebong Naeribong is in the basement of the Dobong District Council building.

Since it shares a building with a public institution, the parking lot is quite spacious.

Still, you should arrive at least 15 minutes before your reservation time to park comfortably.

If you park on B1 and enter the building, you’ll see a sign like this.

Just follow the sign down the hallway.

I took some photos of the inside of Orebong Naeribong starting from the entrance.

The ceiling was much higher and the space much wider than I expected.

My first child’s daycare comes here often, and I understood why.

The first floor mainly has play areas for toddlers, such as play kitchens, drawing, and cushion play.

We played for a bit on the first floor with the child and then went up to the second floor.

The way up to the second floor itself is an obstacle-style staircase, and on the second floor there are many different things to enjoy, such as a suspension bridge, slides, blocks, and screen games.

In terms of ceiling height, size, and things to do, nothing is lacking here.

That’s why it’s really hard to get a reservation on weekends because it gets so crowded.

Our kids especially liked the game where you step on the projected screen with your feet.

They were drenched in sweat after playing that.

The only problem was that they loved it so much they didn’t want to take turns.

When there were about 10 minutes left, we also colored fish with the kids and floated them on the screen.

3) Ssangmun Star Explorers

Ssangmun Star Explorers has a very small parking area.

Even including double parking, only six cars can be parked.

If the weather isn’t too cold, I recommend walking from Ssangmun Station for about 10 minutes instead.

It must have been built recently, because it feels very neat starting from the entrance.

The interior is also really clean.

The first floor consists of a ball pool, block play, pretend play, ball play, and a game area.

Our kids think a place only counts as a kids café if it has a ball pool.

They had a blast on the first floor.

When you go up to the second floor, there’s a facility like a jungle gym.

The kids loved this area too.

On one side, there’s a game where a projector shines on the wall and it reacts when you touch it.

If you look closely at the wall, there’s a LiDAR sensor, which seems to detect your hands.

The kids ran back and forth between the first and second floors and played to their hearts’ content.

An hour and 45 minutes flew by.

4. Kids Café Reviews

1) Forest Cruise Ship TtuTtu Review

Since the age limit is 0–4 years, it can feel a bit boring for four-year-olds.

If you have a child under 36 months, it’s a great place to go together.

The space is small but diverse, and since the play area stretches out in a long line, you can easily watch what your child is doing even from a distance.

It was a real downside that there’s no restroom inside the building.

2) Orebong Naeribong Review

Even among regular kids cafés, there don’t seem to be many places as good as Orebong Naeribong.

The facility is large, but everything is also very densely packed in.

Maybe that’s why, on weekends, there are no slots left if you don’t reserve early.

Make sure to book in advance.

3) Ssangmun Star Explorers Review

The facility is nice and spacious, but for some reason it’s not that crowded.

Sometimes there are open slots even if you book on the same day, so you can go with peace of mind.

It has everything kids love: a ball pool, play kitchen, slides, and more.

According to my child, Ssangmun Star Explorers is the most fun.

It’s probably just a matter of personal preference.

5. Wrap-Up

In the cold winter, figuring out where to go every weekend with small children was a big problem.

The weather was too harsh to be outside, but the kids didn’t really like staying only indoors either.

Regular kids cafés were too expensive.

In the middle of all that, Seoul-style kids cafés turned out to be a fantastic alternative.

They’re free, clean, and the facilities are great.

I’m grateful to the people who run such wonderful facilities.

We plan to keep using them often.