Itineraries & Day Plans

일정 · ILJEONG

Seoul plans by trip length — one, two, three, five days and a week — each built around the palace closing days and the last train.

Traffic streaming past the Gwanghwamun gate of Gyeongbokgung in a long exposure — Photograph by Adam Duckett, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Guards in yellow and red Joseon costume lined up before the Gwanghwamun gate — Photograph by by tiseb, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Plans built around what is shut

Every itinerary here is arranged around two fixed constraints rather than around a wish list: which palaces are closed on which day, and the last train. Get those two right and the rest of Seoul is flexible.

Injeongjeon, the main hall of Changdeokgung, under a bare-branched winter sky — Photograph by Enrique Dans, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The rule that shapes every plan below

Gyeongbokgung closes Tuesday. Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung and Jongmyo close Monday. So:

Monday is a Gyeongbokgung day — and a market, wall and museum day.
Tuesday is a Changdeokgung day, with the Huwon booked in advance.
Saturday is the day to do Jongmyo, because it is the day you can walk it without a guided tour.

The cut stone blocks of the Seoul City Wall with a gate beyond it — Photograph by Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Jeon Han), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

The ladder

Separate plans for one, two, three, five and seven days, each written as a real sequence with the walking joined up rather than a list of sights. The longer ones add nearby cities, with how you get there and how long it takes.

One day — Gyeongbokgung, Bukchon, Insadong, Cheonggyecheon, Gwangjang.
Two days — adds a second palace, the wall at Naksan, and the DDP.
Three days — adds the National Museum, Namsan, and a proper evening in Hongdae or Euljiro.
Five days — adds all five palaces, a full wall section, the Han river, and one day trip.
Seven days — adds Suwon or the DMZ, and enough slack to go back to whatever you liked.

⭐ Do the hanbok on the palace day

If you are seeing more than one palace, rent the outfit in the morning near Gyeongbokgung and wear it all day. Every palace and Jongmyo is then free, and the day pays for itself.

This section is being written. The guide above is the section for now. New guides go up three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so this page grows steadily — it is worth looking in again. In the meantime the sixteen sight pages and the plans by trip length are finished, and they are the best place to start.