This full-day tour of Seoul offers an in-depth look at Korea’s rich cultural heritage. With your guide, tour the gates and pavilions of Gyeongbokgung Palace; browse historical exhibits at the National Folklore Museum; and visit the Korean Folk Village and Jogyesa Buddhist Temple. Enjoy a Korean lunch and comfortable round-trip coach transport from your hotel.

Guided Korean heritage tour in Seoul
Marvel at Korean architecture as you explore grand palaces by foot
Browse museum exhibits displaying the fascinating history of Korea, from ancient times to today
Immerse yourself in traditional Korean culture and at the Korean Folk Village
Enjoy a traditional Korean lunch
Round-trip hotel transport by air-conditioned coach included

What's Included

Hotel pickup and drop-off
Professional guide
Air-conditioned vehicle
Lunch

Gratuities

Meeting And Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

08:30 am

Pickup details

We provide hotel pick up only in Seoul area. If you put your hotel information, the tour operator will give the pick up time with exact meeting time. You MUST get the meeting time from the tour operator

What To Expect

Start your heritage tour of Seoul with hotel pickup and meet your guide aboard the coach. Listen to informative narration as you journey past the stately Blue House — the executive office and official residence of the South Korean head of state and the President of the Republic of Korea.

Disembark to tour Gyeongbokgung Palace, the first royal palace built by the Joseon Dynasty and the largest of the Five Grand Palaces. Marvel at the grandeur of the gates, pavilions and royal halls as you stroll the grounds on a guided tour. At the on-site National Folklore Museum, learn about Korean life from ancient times to the 20th century via exhibitions of artifacts and model replicas.

Re-board the coach for Jogyesa Buddhist Temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, which depicts an enlightened Buddha inside its main hall dating back 500 years.

Around midday, you will stop by a Korean Ginseng Center prior to siting down for a Korean lunch at a local restaurant. In the afternoon, you’re accompanied to the Korean Folk Village, a living showcase for traditional Korean life and folk culture. Walk around here to witness pottery making, basket weaving and the hand-making of winnows, musical instruments, embroidery and bamboo, wood and brass wares.

After this immersive experience, you’re transported back to your Seoul hotel by coach.

Please note: Gyeongbokgung Palace is closed on Tuesdays, in which case you’ll visit Deoksugung Palace. This walled palace compound is home to the Seoul Museum of History, which you’ll also tour with your guide.

Seoul (Pass By)

The Blue House (Pass By)

Gyeongbokgung Palace

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

National Folk Museum of Korea

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Jogyesa Temple

2 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Seoul

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Seoul

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Korean Folk Village

1 hour 20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Seoul (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
A moderate amount of walking is involved; comfortable walking shoes are recommended
Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible

Infants must sit on laps
Most travellers can participate
The tour requires minimum 4 people
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 travellers

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.

Reviews

4.0

24 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 24 reviews

This was a really great tour with...

JOHNNY_L, Oct 2017

This was a really great tour with very knowledgeable tour guides. The only portions which I didn't care for was the Ginseng Center and Red Pine presentations.

I joined the tour ith two lovely...

KhoaNXuan_T, May 2017

I joined the tour ith two lovely tourist guides Sunny and Winnie, who are both excellent at English. I got a lot of useful information regarding Korean culture thanks to them. I was lucky to have Winnie in two tours, this one and Nami island one. She is so cute and lovely. I travelled alone, Winnie knew it, so she took a good care of me, accompanying me and taking photos for me. Her knowledge of Korean history and culture is excellent and she is well capable of delivering it to us. My Korean trip was memorable thanks to her. I would have no hesitation to recommend Winnie and the tour. Lovely Winnie, if you can read it, just know that I really love you. :D From your Vietnamese girl

great way to start discovering...

Tatjana_I, Feb 2017

great way to start discovering Korean culture and tradition! we loved everything on this tour. lunch at Korean traditional restaurant was great experience!

This was a two-part tour with the...

Richard A, Oct 2016

This was a two-part tour with the morning City tour with one guide and the afternoon Korean Folk Village tour with another. The morning tour and guide were OK, although far from outstanding. A rather rushed affair literally sprinting after the guide. There was, however, PLENTY of time for the compulsory Ginseng outlet stop for purchasing everything ginseng. The guide for the afternoon Folk Village was simply awful. I finally told him that he should get off his smart phone and pay attention to his guests. There were only 5 of us on the tour, and the guide seemed far more interested in his cell phone than in his paying customers. Really insulting to us.

We thought this a very good tour to...

Raymond_G, July 2016

We thought this a very good tour to give an overall view of Seoul both present and past. We were lucky that the rain held off until after the changing of the guard which is a do not miss. Our guide was very informative and easy to follow.

I signed up for a full-day tour of...

Ellen W, July 2016

I signed up for a full-day tour of Seoul, and received less than 3 hours of actual guided touring, some of which was in very limited/poor English. I was picked up at 8:40 from my hotel, and the tour bus made it to the first site at 9:30. My morning tour guide was very knowledgeable, so you could get information if you asked a lot of questions, but information wasn't just provided automatically. In the cultural museum, we stopped so she could give us a quick overview of the history of Korea, and then sped through the rest of the exhibit didn't stop walking fairly quickly again until we hit a mandatory bathroom stop. It was raining, so I would have thought we could spend a little more time in the museum to make up for moving more quickly through the outdoor parts of the tour, but we only went to one exhibit, and spend about 15 minutes in the museum. By 11:00 we were at the amethyst factory - my advice is to stop at the cute little local cafe next to the amethyst shop and get some coffee and chat with the barista rather than do some forced shopping no one on our tour bought anything. We made it to lunch by 11:30 and they quickly banged out some basic Korean food - it was decent. After lunch things got much worse. Two of my fellow tourists and I got into a van with ?Brian? to go to the villages. We started driving at 1 and made it to the villages at 2. From about 2:15 - 2:45 I pestered Brian with constant questions that he often didn't understand due to limited English. After that half hour, he told us the tour part was over and to meet up at 3:30 to leave. I was stunned. I'm a curious person, so I'd been very excited to have someone to answer my questions so that I didn't have to puzzle over the signs - but the signs actually knew more than Brian. Finally, I was dropped back at my hotel around 5:30 traffic, except...it wasn't my hotel. Brian had confused which location was my hotel, and before I could correct him, he was gone and I was stuck.

The tour was what I expected, it was...

Barbara B, July 2016

The tour was what I expected, it was very interesting and the guide was very knowledgeable. We had a good lunch in a picturesque Korean restaurant.

The first guide was soft and...

Bruce_K, July 2016

The first guide was soft and couldn't hear. She needed that speaker thing on their neck. The 2nd one was good. Rushed us but stayed at a Ginseng place for 45 minutes. Wasted our time.

Would have liked more information...

Kelvin H, July 2016

Would have liked more information during the tour. During the tour we went to a ginseng store which did not add to the Korean 'heritage'. We did feel pressured to purchase ginseng.

Tour guides were quite good but the...

John Q, Apr 2016

Tour guides were quite good but the stops to the Ginseng outlet and the amethyst factories were total wastes of time. Additionally, they weren't disclosed on the tour description. I would not have signed up for the tour if I had known these things were taking place. I understand these stops subsidize the tour price but I would rather pay more and see more!!! These two stops ruined the tour--very annoying as the stops make you feel like a prisoner. No one on the tour bought anything at the ginseng outlet and everyone was annoyed.

David was excellent, he kept us...

Thomas H, Apr 2016

David was excellent, he kept us informed and we say everything promised

This tour was great the guide was...

Lloyd B, Mar 2016

This tour was great the guide was great. I definitely recommend this tour.

Lots of good info. Professional...

Paul W, Feb 2016

Lots of good info. Professional english-speaking guides. Enjoyed the tour very much.

the guide was not so good. the...

Iakov P, Feb 2016

the guide was not so good. the explication not interesting

The tour of palace and of village...

Irwin M, Nov 2015

The tour of palace and of village were great. The English language guide was very good and worked hard to make the rxperience more enjoyable. The only negative was a tour of a ginseng establishment. It seemed out of place.

My wife loved it so much that she would...

MarkAnthony_R, May 2015

My wife loved it so much that she would do it again. Spectacular!

Great tour guide and I was the only...

Donna M, Apr 2015

Great tour guide and I was the only English speaking tourist so it was like a private tour. Was able to see plenty of Seoul in just one day and even managed to purchase some souvenirs. Highly recommend this tour.

It was cool especially our guide who...

monica c, Mar 2015

It was cool especially our guide who was very helpful and funny. Thanks Michelle. we recommend this tour to all the people who like to walk and discover a lot.

The early part of the trip was too...

Pell, Dec 2014

The early part of the trip was too rush, did not really enjoy. The later part which only two of us at the Cultural Village is more enjoyable.

Wish we had done this tour earlier...

Michael G, Nov 2014

Wish we had done this tour earlier in our stay. The Korean village tour was great and gave a good sense of how life operated in earlier years. The Palace was beautiful and wish we had more time at the museum. It was great to see the changing of the guard at the palace.