Gyeongbokgung Palace

Gyeongbokgung was founded in 1395, the fourth year of King Taejo, as the main palace of the Joseon dynasty. The name expresses the hope that the new dynasty would enjoy great blessings and prosper. What you walk through today is not the 1395 palace, though: it burned down during the Japanese invasion of 1592, was rebuilt under King Gojong in the 1860s, lost most of its halls under Japanese colonial rule, and has been rebuilt one building at a time since the 1990s. The timeline near the end of this page lays that out.

Admission — check the free list first

From Thursday, October 29 to Sunday, November 15, 2026, Gyeongbokgung is free for everyone during the Korea Grand Festival. The Tuesday closing day still applies.

An adult ticket is ₩3,000, or ₩2,400 per person for groups of ten or more. The free list is long, and the age limits are different for foreign visitors and Korean nationals. A 20-year-old foreign visitor pays ₩3,000; a 20-year-old Korean gets in free.

Free entry is for visitors who can show they qualify. The fee page tells Korean nationals who get in free by age to bring ID. At the September–October 2026 night opening, free-entry visitors showed a passport or ID at Heungnyemun Gate, and walk-up buyers showed a passport or similar proof — so carry your passport.

Parents holding a multi-child family card (Dadungi card), pregnant women with one companion, and registered disabled visitors are also admitted free. The free Culture Day Wednesdays offered at other palaces and royal tombs do not apply to Gyeongbokgung.

If you plan to see all four main palaces (Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung) and Jongmyo Shrine, there is a combined ticket for ₩6,000. It is valid for six months from the date of purchase, good for one entry at each site, and sold at the ticket offices of the four palaces and Jongmyo. The Secret Garden (Huwon) at Changdeokgung is not included; that needs a separate ticket.

Free with hanbok — it has to be top and bottom

Traditional and modern-style hanbok both count, and the rule is the same for foreign visitors. What the gate staff check is whether you are wearing a jeogori (the jacket) together with a skirt or trousers.

• The jeogori needs the overlapping front collar. Whether it closes with the traditional ribbon ties (goreum) or with a knot fastening does not matter.
• A skirt worn at the waist (heori-chima) counts as long as the jeogori is long enough to reach down to the waist.
• Trousers count if they have the wide hanbok cut. A zipper waist or missing ankle ties are fine.
• Ramie (mosi) garments count if they meet the same test.

These outfits are not accepted for free entry.

• A durumagi (long overcoat) worn without a hanbok top and bottom underneath
• Jeans with just a jeogori on top
• Hanbok trousers or skirt with a T-shirt
• A modern hanbok top cut like a T-shirt, with no overlapping collar
• A one-piece hanbok dress worn without a jeogori

Royal guard events — three in one morning

The gate guard captain (sumunjang) and his guards (sumungun) hold three regular events, each twice a day: a public training drill, the changing of the guard, and a gate watch ceremony. The watch ceremony is held at Gwanghwamun, the palace's main gate. Arrive around 9:30 and you can watch the drill and the changing of the guard back to back, take a 40-minute break, and return for the 11:00 watch ceremony.

After the changing of the guard and the gate watch ceremony, guards stay on gate duty (ipjik) at Gwanghwamun. The official page lists this duty as hourly; it is not one of the six scheduled events in the table.

Where to start — the official walking routes

The Royal Palaces and Tombs Center suggests three routes of 40, 60 and 90 minutes. All three enter through Heungnyemun Gate, cross the Yeongjegyo bridge, and begin with Geunjeongjeon, the throne hall.

The 40-minute route ends at Gyeonghoeru, the 60-minute route at Jagyeongjeon, and the 90-minute route at Hyangwonjeong. Last-entry times are in the opening hours table below.

Geunjeongjeon is the main throne hall, where coronations, formal congratulatory ceremonies by court officials, audiences with foreign envoys and state banquets were held. It is the largest and most formal building in the palace. Its courtyard is paved with rough-cut stone slabs (bakseok), split down the middle by three parallel paths (samdo), and lined with rank stones (pumgyeseok) that showed officials where to stand by rank.

Gyeonghoeru is a pavilion built in a pond west of the royal living quarters, used for large banquets with officials and for entertaining foreign envoys. The ground floor is nothing but 48 tall stone pillars, 24 round and 24 square; the wooden upper floor was the banquet hall. Its roof ridges carry 11 japsang, the small guardian figurines, the most on any building in Korea.

The other buildings on the routes, in brief:

• Sajeongjeon — the king's working office (pyeonjeon), where he handled daily affairs with his ministers
• Sujeongjeon — an office hall built during Gojong's reconstruction. In the early Joseon period this area held Jiphyeonjeon, the Hall of Worthies where the Korean alphabet Hangeul was created under King Sejong
• Gangnyeongjeon and Gyotaejeon — the living quarters of the king and the queen. The current buildings were restored in 1995
• Jagyeongjeon — built in 1867 for Queen Dowager Sinjeong, burned, rebuilt in 1888, and still standing today
• Hyangwonjeong — a two-story hexagonal pavilion built in 1873 on an island in a pond, reached by the Chwihyanggyo bridge

Opening hours and closing day

The palace closes on Tuesdays. When a Tuesday is a public holiday or a substitute holiday, it opens that day and closes on the first following day that is not a holiday.

Night opening — a different free list

Night viewing happens only in announced periods. The most recent one, in the second half of 2026, ran from September 2 to October 2, every day except Monday and Tuesday, from 19:00 to 21:30 with last entry at 20:30. The ticket was ₩3,000.

There were 3,300 tickets a night. 3,000 were sold online through NOL Ticket, up to the day before the visit only. The other 300 were sold at the gate on the day, only to foreign visitors who could show a passport or similar proof, up to two per person. Korean nationals had no walk-up option; foreign visitors who had not booked online could still try for one of those on-site tickets.

The free list at night was different from the daytime one. For foreign visitors it had three groups: children aged 6 and under (the accompanying adult needed a booking), visitors aged 65 and over, and anyone in full hanbok. Korean nationals also had groups such as persons of national merit and their spouses, and disabled visitors. Foreign visitors aged 7 to 18, who get in free by day, needed a ticket at night. Free visitors did not need a booking and were not counted against the cap, but had to show a passport or ID at Heungnyemun, and hanbok was checked against the guideline above.

The dates and booking method for the next night opening are posted on the Gyeongbokgung notice board of the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center website.

Timeline — why it is still being restored

1395

Founded as the main palace of Joseon in the fourth year of King Taejo

1592

Burned down during the Japanese invasion

1865–1867

Rebuilt under King Gojong

1915

Most of the halls demolished on the pretext of staging the Joseon Industrial Exhibition

1926

The Japanese Government-General building built, spoiling the palace landscape

1990–

Full-scale restoration begins

1994–

Gangnyeongjeon and Gyotaejeon, the king's and queen's quarters, restored

1995–1997

The Government-General building demolished

2001–2021

Heungnyemun area, Gwanghwamun area, Heungbokjeon and the Chwihyanggyo bridge restored; Hyangwonjeong repaired

2023

Gyejodang Hall in the Crown Prince's quarters (Donggung) restored

Two more buildings not listed above, Geoncheonggung and Taewonjeon, were also restored after 1990. Both were additions from Gojong's time. So the palace you see today mixes buildings that survived from Gojong's time with reconstructions made since 1990.

Getting there and what to see on the same trip

• Subway Line 3, Gyeongbokgung Station, Exit 5 — a 2-minute walk
• Line 3 Anguk Station Exit 1 or Line 5 Gwanghwamun Station Exit 2 — a 6-minute walk

The National Palace Museum of Korea is free until further notice. It opens 09:30–17:30 Monday to Friday and on Sundays (last entry 17:00), and until 21:00 on Saturdays and on the last Wednesday of each month (last entry 20:30). It closes on the last Monday of the month (the next day if that Monday is a holiday), on January 1, and on Seollal (Lunar New Year's Day) and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day) — so on most Tuesdays, when the palace is closed, the museum is open.