Two Days in Seoul - Access Seoul

The Buyongjeong pavilion reflected in its square lotus pond in the Huwon garden — Photograph by No machine-readable author provided. IGEL assumed (based on copyright claims)., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Two days adds the better palace, a section of the city wall, and the modern half of the city. Day one is the one-day plan; day two goes east and up.

⚠️ Book the Huwon before you fly. Changdeokgung’s garden is a timed, capped, guided walk and the English slots go days ahead in spring and autumn.

The plan

Day 1 — The one-day plan: Gyeongbokgung, Bukchon, Insadong, the Cheonggyecheon, Gwangjang.
Day 2, 09:00 — Changdeokgung from Anguk station. The palace first, then the Huwon on your booked slot — forty-five minutes round a wooded valley of ponds and pavilions that was private for four hundred years.
11:30 — Through the connecting gate into Changgyeonggung, which almost nobody uses, and up to the pond and the 1909 glasshouse at the top.
13:00 — Out at Hyehwa and up onto the Naksan section of the city wall. Two hours along the ridge with the old city falling away on your right.
15:00 — Down to Heunginjimun, the east gate, stranded on its traffic island.
15:45 — The Dongdaemun Design Plaza: walk over the roof, round the outside, and then the excavated Joseon wall and floodgate they found under the car park.
18:00 — Namdaemun Market and Sungnyemun — the gate that burned in 2008 and was rebuilt by hand. Eat in Kalguksu Alley.

The Seoul City Wall running along the ridge above the rooftops of the city — Photograph by Jjw, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

⚠️ Two days cannot include both Jongmyo and the Huwon unless one of them falls on a Saturday. If you have to choose, the Huwon is the rarer ticket and Jongmyo is the better building.

The curved aluminium nose of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza against the surrounding towers — Photograph by Dwxn, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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.

A crowded Namdaemun Market alley between stalls hung with goods — Photograph by Smiley.toerist, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Other lengths

1 dayOne Day 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.