Seoul

Small-Group Royal Palace and Seoul City Tour w/ Lunch

Badge of ExcellenceSeoul, South Korea

Full Day Small Group Royal Palace and Seoul Tour

8 hours
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore the highlights of Seoul on a full-day tour with an informative guide. Highlights include Jogyesa Temple, the Blue House, the royal guard changing ceremony at Gwanghwamun Gate, and tours of Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Take in traditional culture at the National Folk Museum, Insadong Antique Street, and at Namdaemun Gate and Namdaemun Market. Includes lunch, entrance fees, and hotel pickup.

Full-day Seoul tour with Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace
View traditional shops and goods at Insadong Antique Street and Namdaemun Market
Learn about Korean dynasties when visiting two royal palaces
Includes lunch, all entrance fees, guide, and hotel pickup

What's Included

Hotel pickup in Central Seoul (9am : tour start time. p/u time advise by e-mail 1 day before)
Local guide
Lunch
Driver/Guide
Bottled water

Gratuities
Hotel drop-off (drop-off at the City Hall or Myeongdong)

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Meeting point

55 Ujeongguk-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
If you don't want us to pick you up, you can meet us at 9 am at the front gate of Jogyesa temple where is the first attractive to visit.

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

09:00 AM

End points

This activity ends in a different location. See details below:

Type to search

Pickup details

Pick-up is provided at most hotels in Central Seoul and subway stations. Please provide us with the name & full address of your accommodation in Seoul. Then we will inform you where & when you can meet us.

What To Expect

After morning pickup at your Seoul hotel, travel in a comfortable vehicle to Jogyesa Temple. Despite its location on a crowded street in Jongno district, the Zen Buddhist temple is serene and picturesque with colorful decorations and large golden Buddha statues.

Continue to the Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae), home to the President of the Republic of Korea. From the outside, view the Blue House along with Mt. Bukak in the background.

Head to Gwanghwamun Gate in time to watch the changing of the royal guards ceremony. Then tour the northern palace, Gyeongbokgung, the main palace during the Joseon dynasty.

Stop at the Korean Ginseng Center before sitting down for a lunch of Korean fare. In the afternoon, tour the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Changdeokgung Palace and explore Insadong Antique Street. Experience traditional culture in Insadong by entering a Korean tea house or browsing in the antique shops.

The final stop on your tour takes you to Namdaemun (aka Soongryemun), which was built in 1396 and is listed as Korea's most important National Treasure. Have time to check out the traditional Namdaemun Market before your tour ends.

Jogyesa Temple

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Gyeongbokgung Palace

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Insadong

50 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Changdeokgung Palace

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Namdaemun Market

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
Not recommended for travelers with back problems
Not recommended for pregnant travelers
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions

Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
Royal guard changing ceremony might be cancelled due to weather conditions
On Mondays, Changdeokgung Palace is closed and you will go to Bukchon traditional Hanok Village instead
This tour is proceeding with minimum 2 people
On Tuesdays, Gyeongbokgung Palace is closed and you will go to Changdeokgung Palace & Changdeokgung Palace Rear Garden (Secret Garden) instead in the morning and Korean Folk Museum, Ginseng Museum and Namdaemun in the afternoon.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

5.0

607 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 607 reviews

A great intro to Seoul!

Sook_H, May 2024

Junie was an energetic and prepared guide. She was enthusiastic in sharing the highlights of Seoul with us. Today was Labor Day and marked by large rallies that closed off the streets and she was great to navigate and modify the itinerary. Highly recommend !! Thank you

Great overview of Seoul with an exceptional guide in Young Mi.

Adi_W, Apr 2024

Exploring Seoul's royal palaces on a city tour was made even more delightful by our incredibly friendly and knowledgeable guide, Young Mi. Her warmth and enthusiasm truly enhanced the experience, providing insightful commentary and interesting tidbits about each palace we visited. Every stop on the tour felt like stepping back in time to Korea's rich history. Young Mi genuine passion for sharing the city's cultural heritage made the tour not only informative but also immensely enjoyable. She’s incredibly personable and funny. It was like meeting up with an old friend from Seoul. She truly made a difference on this tour.

Excellent guide and tour

Sai_J, Apr 2024

Young Mi is a great guide. She is witty and organized. We got to visit many places as mentioned in the tour descriptions and she took great photos of us in all the places.

Great first day in Seoul!

Mike_S, Apr 2024

Perfect way to start a trip to Seoul! Ms. Youngmi is an excellent tour guide! Fast paced and busy, but van travel was relaxing.

Great tour of Seoul

William_B, Apr 2024

Young was a great tour guide and we had an amazing day. So many sights to see in Seoul - wow. And the lunch was great too. Highly recommend.

Great tour even in the rain

David_G, Apr 2024

Seeing the palaces and Buddhist temple was great. Would like to have spent more time at the museum and less time at the ginseng factory. Also would liked to have spent more time in the shopping area where we were for lunch. Our tour guide, Mr Young was very knowledgeable about Korean history and his English was very good. Overall, a very good tour

Great time touring Seoul!

Madeline_R, Apr 2024

Young-mi was so great and made the tour very interesting and fun! She was flexible to the groups wants and needs and gave us great suggestions for additional things to do in the city. Overall great experience!

Excellent!!!

Ignacin_B, Apr 2024

Young was very professional, kind, and funny. Enjoyed my tour except for future ginseng tour should not be included for people who don’t know what it is or do not want to buy.

The heart of Seoul’s past — foundation for the present

Sarah_J, Apr 2024

Our wonderful tour guide, Joo Ee, introduced us to the Buddhist temple in the heart of the city, Palace and Secret Garden (a must-see!) and Seoul’s oldest market, Namdaemun, dating to the 1400s. So much to see and experience in Seoul! Recommend!

A day well spent

TaraPrasad_M, Apr 2024

The places visited were nice. Guide Young was very knowledgeable and explained everything well. I wish we had more time at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Felt too rushed.

Worthwhile

Susan_W, Apr 2024

Our guide, Young, was excellent. He is passionate about his country and its history. He tried to give us as much information as possible in a short time. We enjoyed the sites we visited. We recommend a couple of changes to the itinerary. The half hour of shopping should be scrapped and used instead for free time at the National Folk Museum. The ginseng experience should be shortened by half and the time saved used at the palaces.

Great introduction to Seoul

Sue_G, Apr 2024

A great intro to Seoul, well organised and we had Julee to guide around. Julee brought history to life and was an informative and helpful guide who made our day. Highly recommended tour!

The palace visits were...

George_A, Apr 2024

The palace visits were very informative. Mr Young, our guide did an excellent job bringing the history to life. The Lunch was good,

Great tour of seoul

Jaclyn_Y, Apr 2024

Friendly, good organized guide. Learned a lot about the history and got good overview of Seoul in just a short amount of time. The lunch was very good. We went back to eat at the same restaurant the next day.

Well paced tour with Mr Young

Nimmy_M, Apr 2024

Good tour with Mr Young. Nice pace of visiting palaces and markets. The ginseng stop was unnecessary and a waste of time.

Extremely. Well, planned tour

Chamath_K, Apr 2024

Nu ie was an amazing guide full of knowledge and humour. She made all of us feel very comfortable and she was extremely punctual. The whole tour was extremely well planned and will carry out. I recommend this to any visitor to korea.

We really got to see a...

RitaNaomi_S, Apr 2024

We really got to see a lot in one day. Having a small van was such a convenience. I know time was short but we really ran through some things. All in all, a very rich experience.

Fun day at Seoul

Joseph_Y, Apr 2024

I had a fun and educational day with our tour guide who was knowledgeable and very friendly. Our tour guide took us to all the all the Royal palaces and explained to us the history of each one.

Great small-group tour

Douglas_A, Apr 2024

This was a nice tour, smaller than the massive tour bus groups, which we prefer for a more intimate experience. The guide was great and helped us catch up to the tour after we mistook the start time for the pickup time! We visited a few local sites and had a great lunch. Beyond discussing the tour sites, the guide was super helpful when we talked about the rest of our itinerary and even recommended a great local fried chicken place for dinner.

Thank you Mr Young

Domenico_M, Apr 2024

Mr Young is so very knowledgeable, he was attentive, answered each and every question from anyone in the group. We enjoyed the tour very much, can only recommend it to friends and family.

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