Seoul City Afternoon Tour: Namdaemun & Changdeokgung Palace – Half Day
Seoul City Afternoon Tour: Namdaemun & Changdeokgung Palace – Half Day
Seoul
Highlights
- Spend an afternoon on a City Tour visiting Seoul’s quintessential sights, from royal palaces to colorful markets
- Shop ‘till you drop, eat your heart out, or both at the all-night Namdaemun Market
- Explore the famous Insadong Korea, home to antique shops, art galleries and secondhand bookstores
- Visit the Unesco World Heritage Changdeokgung Palace, including entry to the Huwon (Secret Garden)
About
Asia’s fourth-richest city, Seoul is a dynamic mash-up of markets and K-Pop, palaces and temples, skyscrapers and gardens. This afternoon tour proposes to explore the Unesco City of Design through quintessential sights both old and new:
Changdeok Palace: While the city is home to five major palace complexes, Changdeokgung is said to be the most beautiful. A Unesco World Heritage Property, this “Palace of Illustrious Virtue” was built in the early 15th century and was the primary royal residence from the 16th-19th century. Closed on Mondays.
“This is the prettiest of Seoul's palaces and a lot of it has to do with the secret gardens, which are the highlight. Going on a guided tour makes the place come alive more as you understand the use of the buildings and history of the Korean monarchy.” — Kola, Scotland
N Seoul Tower: On Mondays, we substitute Changdeok with this iconic structure set atop Namsan, the city’s guardian mountain. (Excluding Observatory entrance)
Insadong Arts and Crafts Market: A buzzing slice of life packed with souvenir shops, teahouses, restaurants and small museums – many in converted traditional wooden houses called hanok.
Namdaemun Traditional Market: Allday and night, over 10,000 stores deal in everything from seaweed to sunglasses. There’s loads of delicious street food as well if you’re feeling peckish!
Check out our morning tour of Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple here.