About Namhansanseong Fortress Namhansanseong Provincial Park surrounds Namhansanseong Fortress, one of four forts built to protect Hanyang (the former name of Seoul). Gaeseong, Suwon, Ganghwa and Gwangju are located in the north, south, west, and east direction respectively. Namhansanseong Fortress is located to the east in Gwangju. The park is situated on Namhansan Mountain, 24km southeast from Seoul and 6km northeast from Seongnam. The length of trails is a total of approximately 12.4 km (main fortress 8.9km, external fortress 3.2km, Sinnamsanseong Fortress 0.2km). The height is 7.3m. Namhansanseong’s circumference is approximately 12km, stacking small natural stones over big stones. The fortress includes Sueocheong (Defense Command), Gwana (government office), storage, and a haenggung (temporary palace), as well as 80 wells and 45 springs. Also, administration was moved from Gwangju to inside of the fortress, clearly showing the importance of Namhansanseong Fortress.
About Korean Folk Village Lying in a spacious site of 990,000㎡ and in nature-given geomantic location ‘facing water and backgrounded by mountains’, Korean Folk Village (KFV) is a village from the Joseon period composed of real houses relocated from provinces of the country. Reconstructed through a long survey of houses remaining in different parts of the country and authentication by specialists, it is a real village from the Joseon period that unfolds in seasonal transformation scenes from everyday folk culture meticulously collected. The village was created with common people’s houses and aristocrats’ houses relocated or restored from different parts of the country such as south, middle, north, and islands. It presents the real life from old Joseon life, which includes gwana (provincial government office), seowon and seodang (the educational institute), hanyakbang (the medical institution), Buddhist temples and seonangdang (the religious buildings), and the fortune-teller’s place.
The best part of the tour is the Korean Culture and Folk Village. Kim, our guide, had personal experience in his ancestors with this type of living. We were not that interested in the palace or the fortress as we had seen other palaces. Kim, was negotiable to show us additional sites which we were anxious to visit.
This was a great tour. Our guide BJ made it memorable. We brought our toddler and he was so sweet with her. Pushing her in the stroller at times. Walking her through the village. And singing along with her during a music show. He was so kind and it was great to be able to experience this as a family
Great tour that shows the nature and historical side of Korea. This was my second tour with Mr. Kim and Outdoors Korea and both times it was fabulous! I highly recommend this tour and Mr. Kim (Outdoors korea) if want a quality tour with great conversation!
It was a great tour overall but the tour guide, BJ, was phenomenal. The most respectful and knowledgeable.
BJ was an excellent guide. Be prepared for a lot of hiking. I know it says walking tour, but I wasn't prepared for how much hiking there is at Namhansanseong. That said, the views are worth every second of the hike. You can almost see Namsan Tower. BJ was very knowledgeable, and it made for a great trip. Thanks BJ!
What a great day! Our guide, David, was fantastic. He was sensitive to our age/fitness level and adjusted the pace as necessary. We had great conversation, and he taught me some Korean. It was a very active (18K steps) day with plenty of steep grades and stairs. It was a cool sun-shiney day that we very much enjoyed. I highly recommend this tour filled with Korean history!
I highly recommend this tour of both the UNESCO Namhansanseong Fortress and Korean Folk Village. Each location is interesting and worthy of a visit on its own, but together they create a perfect combination of nature, history, and culture! This was our second tour with (Chance) Kim (after hiking up Baegundae Peak) and we enjoyed the day with him as he guided us through both sites. Namhansanseong Fortress is located in beautiful mountains outside of Seoul, and we had amazing views as we hiked along the fortress wall to the top of Namhansan mountain. After visiting the fortress, we stopped at a restaurant where Kim ordered a very large and delicious lunch. We then drove to the Folk Village where Kim gave us an extensive tour through the historical houses and village displays. He also gave us ample time to explore the village on our own, which was great! We were able to watch several musical and dance performances, wander through other parts of the village, and even shop for souvenirs and buy ice cream. Amazingly, in spite of the full day's itinerary, Kim managed to drop us off at our hotel exactly 9 hours after picking us up! I highly recommend this tour for everyone!
We had a wonderful private tour with our driver/guide David who explained the history of Namhansanseong Fortress brilliantly. It can be a bit of a steep climb/walk around the perimeter between gates but was well worth it. The Korean Folk Village was also interesting and we managed to see the show/parade before it poured with rain. We toured the complex with the rain but still had a great time exploring the different aspects of life between the classes.
We had a great time touring with BJ. He was extremely accommodating to our baby and knew so much about Korean history! Thank you for taking such good care of us.
Culturally valid tour and capable and expert guide. Then with the snow even better, everything was very reliable and perfect. I also had an excellent impression on the visit to the village on ancient traditions and customs of Korea and the museum.
This private tour was absolutely amazing, we loved every single moment of it! Our tour guide Alfonso was super friendly and knowledgeable. He shared a lot about the history of the sites and was happy to answer all of our questions - and our 7yo had a lot of them! The tour was super organised and we enjoyed delicious Korean lunch together with our guide. Thank you so much for such a memorable day! Definitely recommend to go for it!
The tour guide Jimmy was amazing. He took his time to explain every detail in the visit to the Unesco fortress and to the Folk village.
Very friendly and enthusiastic tour guide.. the places visited were spectacular. We enjoyed every piece of the trip.
Great hike up to one of the lesser visited but probably most scenic fortresses around Seoul. The cultural village was fantastic, with a great show featuring traditional Korean dance. A lot of great pictures in this place. Benny was the best tour guide. This was my second tour with him, ask for him by name. He was great company on the drive there and back
Spend your time elsewhere or on other tours while in South Korea. The wall and "village" that are visited during this tour are very disappointing. The guide was great and spoke excellent English.
Our guide was Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim is a retired CEO from the banking world. He is one of the best tour guides we’ve ever had. This was a private tour, he drive safely to and from Namhansanseong and the Korean Folk Village. Though the drive was long we had great conversations in the car. Because it was rainy we stopped off at the Korean Folk Village first. If you watch Korean kdramas, “The Moon Embracing the Sun”, “My Live From the Star”, “Queen for 7 Days”. This village transports you back in time. Next we stopped for lunch. We wanted to go to someplace special and we paid to go to one of the best barbecue places in Seoul. Unfortunately I can’t find the name. We ended the day at Namhansanseong Fortress. This was truly an amazing site. We couldn’t walk from gate to gate because of time and parking. To think this was constructed by hand. What was so great, Mr. Kim took amazing photographs of us. This was better than using the selfie stick! I highly recommend this tour and hopefully Mr. Kim will be your guide.
What an experience history tour! Alfo really did amazing job explaining me the way of the village life in Korea. Asking him many questions and him answering it all was just an incredible experience! I really did learn a lot from him. On our next tour I got to see incredible view of seoul and the beauty of the village and mother nature. It will be forever memorable! Thank you Alfo 😄
We had a wonderful day with our tour guide David. He explained the Korean history well and guided us around the fortress and the folk village. We had a relaxing day, which we both needed.
The whole experience was amazing to be able to see something from so long ago Our guide was very knowledgeable, respectful and friendly
excellent tour! my guide JB was the best, polite and awesome photographer, this was the tour that i've enjoyed more!
We have a good time walking along the wall on a really nice day. Our guide, Jimmy, is very nice and accommodating. He walked all the way with us and took us to a local restaurant for lunch. The lunch is local Korean food, simple but good. I highly recommend visiting Namhansanseong. As for the folk village, I think it’s ok but I wouldn’t say it is a must visit.
I always booked my tour to Seoul using GetyourGuide app and Clooks. First time to get my tour in this Tripadvisor app. Benny is an exceptional tour guide in Seoul. 1. One day after I booked and Paid at trip advisor. He coordinated with me via trip advisor. I told him that my actual hotel is in 57 Meongdong Hostel not in the hotel as stipulated in my bookings with trip advisor. he agreed to meet us in my actual hotel. 2. He is very professional. we agreed to meet in our actual hotel at 57 meongdong at 9:00 am. He came 8:45am 3. When we boarded his car. he made sure that we are comfortable. since our tour today is raining. he brought umbrella so that we cannot be uncomfortable because of the rain. 4. He brought us to a fascinating restaurant. We enjoyed the food. with free coffee. even though not included in our package. 5. He speak good English 6. The car that we used with this tour guide is an expert in truly making our tour a memorable. 7. Since we are coming from the Philippines. and many times coming to South Korea during summer. first time coming to Korea raining and at the tail end of winter. he made sure that we are comfortable. He wanted to pursue the took of Korean fork village because we only have seen according to him 50%. But I told him Im experiencing very cold and my hands is very cold. He told me if I want to cut the tour. I said yes! and he assisted me to go back to the car. 8. The last thing that he made the tour special, he send us to our new hotel in seoul sindorin hotel. It was another point of origin. and he is very flexible on our request to brings us to the new hotel. 9. Benny. Thank you for all your help today. I have been in Seoul for 3 times. Our fourth time in seoul is with you. 10. I will make sure to get you again and refer your wonderful services to all my friends in the Philiipines
We had a wonderful experience with our tour guide, Mr Chansoo Kim who is knowledgeable and explained well on the sites that we have visited. Highly recommended tour!
Jimmy, our guide and driver was awesome. His English was sooo much better than our Korean. He was very knowledgeable and thoughtful, especially with those heated seats in his car. Was not a fan of the traditional lunch.
We had a great time on the tour. Benny, our guide, was knowledgeable and entertaining, so that made the trip enjoyable. He gave us options for lunch and was very considerate towards our food restrictions. The trek up to the Namhansanseong fortress was beautiful with the autumn colours, and the folk village was interesting because it was like watching the filming set of a Korean drama!
Seeing the different lifestyle of the various ranks and how simple but clever the way the houses were setup.
Mr. Kim is very knowledgeable about Korean history and culture. We are so happy that he is our guide. He was very patient with my family.
I and my husband enjoyed this trip very much , the Namhansanseong , the Unesco World heritage , the folk village . I really enjoyed this program . My tour guide Mr. Kwon , Bang is very good , he has a lot of history knowledge , very good service mind. So this program is recommended .Thank you very much.
Highly recommended. Specializes in outdoor tours but can adjust to your interests and needs. For our group, he suggested hiking at Namhansanseong Fortress, which is not something we would have found on our own and ended up being a great experience. Very glad he recommended. He also took amazing pictures and shared later by email. An outgoing, personable tour guide who went out of his way to give us a great day.
Many thanks to Mr. Chance Kim who brought us through the history of Korea. He’s good at hiking and photography. He took nice photos for us without any additional charge and got along really well with my boy and taught him many interesting things about Korean history and hiking. Definitely recommend him.
Sitio espectacular acompañado del mejor guía de Seoul, caminamos esos Kilómetros de murallas y estructuras milenarias entre bosques y naturaleza. Gran experiencia y ojalá visiten esas joya. Jimmy el guía excepcional.
Kind and patient guide, speaking only English, not very talkative... Historical sites that allow us to better understand the past of the Koreans, their origins and the why of their current philosophy of life. It's all interesting. However, you have to be in good physical shape to visit the fortress... it’s like going up and down 38 floors! And it's worth it!
Un tour al pasado de corea ,buena comida y espectacular show.guia simpático y muy culto .afemas venden souvenir bonitos.
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