One Day in Seoul - Access Seoul

Visitors crossing the flagstone courtyard of Gyeongbokgung towards the throne hall — Photograph by Craig Nagy, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

One day is the old city on foot: one palace, the hanok quarter above it, the craft street below it, the stream, and the market. It is about four kilometres end to end and it is all within the line of the old wall.

⚠️ Do not attempt this on a Tuesday, when Gyeongbokgung is shut. If Tuesday is your only day, swap in Changdeokgung and start at Anguk instead.

The plan

Before 09:00 — ⭐ Rent hanbok near Gyeongbokgung if you are willing — it makes the palace free and you will want it for the photographs anyway.
09:00 — Gyeongbokgung as it opens, before the courtyard has any shade in it. Throne hall, then west to the Gyeonghoeru pavilion on its lake, then north to the quiet end.
10:30 — The changing of the guard at Gwanghwamun, which happens outside the ticket line and costs nothing.
11:15 — Out of the north-east gate and up into Bukchon. Keep to the quieter western lanes; people live here and the busiest lane has enforced visiting hours.
12:30 — Down into Insadong for lunch and the paper, brush and tea shops. Ssamziegil spirals up with no stairs in it.
14:30 — Jogyesa temple, two minutes west, free and working, hung with paper lanterns.
15:30 — Down to the Cheonggyecheon at Gwanghwamun and walk it east below street level. Fountains, the Jeongjo tile mural, and it is several degrees cooler than the road.
17:00 — Up at Gwangjang Market and eat: bindaetteok fried in a pool of oil, mayak gimbap, and whatever the queue of office workers is queueing for.
19:30 — Either Ikseon-dong for a drink in a converted hanok, or Namsan for the city in the dark. ⚠️ Check your last train before you decide.

A steep Bukchon lane of tiled hanok roofs with N Seoul Tower closing the view — Photograph by Bgag, Wikimedia Commons, CC0

⭐ If you only do one thing on this list, make it the walk from Bukchon down through Insadong to the stream. It is forty minutes, it costs nothing, and it crosses six hundred years without you leaving the pavement.

Stacks of coloured hanji paper in an Insadong paper shop — Photograph by Richard Fisher from London, UK, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

What this plan is built around

Not a list of sights, but the constraints: Gyeongbokgung closes on Tuesday while Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung and Jongmyo close on Monday; Jongmyo is guided-tour-only except on Saturdays and Culture Day; the Huwon garden must be booked ahead and is capped; and the last train goes around midnight, which is the only hard deadline in a city where nothing else shuts.

The packed central aisle of Gwangjang Market between rows of food stalls — Photograph by Stck w This photo was taken with Sharp Aquos R3, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Other lengths

2 daysTwo Days in Seoul 3 daysThree Days in Seoul 5 daysFive Days in Seoul

Checked on 5 September 2026. Closing days, ticket structures and booking requirements change — confirm before you travel. All sixteen sights, one page each, in Landmarks & Sights.