Jogyesa Buddhist Temple is the center of Zen Buddhism in Korea, and is famous for being located in the city. From the busy streets of Jongno, follow the road towards Anguk Subway Station, and you will see Jogyesa Temple. The first things you will notice at the temple are the lovely trees. These locust trees and baeksong trees in front of the Daeungjeon, the main temple building, are about 500 years old.
Keep your camera handy for the changing of the guard ceremony at Gwanghwamun Gate.
After visiting Jogyesa Temple, you will move on to the next place called Gwanghwamun to watch the Royal Guard Changing Ceremony. It is a ceremony to announce the changing of the royal guards, as well as to clarify the guards' identities. Then, you will head toward Gyeongbokgung, which was the main palace and the most beautiful palace during the Joseon Dynasty. Please note that Gyeongbokgung Palace is closed on Tuesdays or during special events. In such cases, the itinerary will change to Deoksugung Palace without prior notice.
Within the compound, visit the National Folk Museum to learn about how people have lived in Korea from ancient times to today. Your guide shows you displays that demonstrate daily life for members of the aristocracy and ordinary citizens, including traditional farming and hunting techniques, weaving, cooking and other tasks.
The Blue House (Cheongwadae) was built on the grounds of the royal garden from the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) using traditional Korean architectural styles. Constructed on the grounds of a Joseon Dynasty royal garden, the Blue House features traditional Korean architecture. On our tour today, we will take a drive-pass to see its main buildings and exterior.
Before reaching Insadong, you will have the opportunity to visit the Government-Approved Korean Ginseng Center, where you can taste Korean ginseng tea and a variety of products. You will also learn about the benefits of Korean ginseng and gain valuable information about its qualities. Korean ginseng is globally recognized for its exceptional quality, particularly for its effectiveness in boosting immunity, combating fatigue, and preventing aging. Extracted from roots that are over six years old, it contains a high concentration of saponins, offering various health benefits. In Korea, it is a highly popular gift exchanged to improve health. A visit to the Korean Ginseng Center is included in the itinerary, providing a chance to explore and purchase ginseng products. Discover one of nature’s finest plants and find a special, precious traditional Korean gift.
Insadong is a place of traditional culture near Gyeongbok palace. Insadong was famous since the Joseon dynasty for having lots of antique shops. Today Insadong is popular among tourists for having lots of traditional tea houses, antique shops, traditional handcraft shops, and lots of other shops. Insa-dong is especially popular with foreign tourists. This is where they can experience and see traditional Korean culture firsthand, and also purchase pieces of fine art. On the street you can see many foreigners lost in all the joyous festivities of the street. Insadong is a place of traditional culture. We will provide time for lunch there.
Changdeokgung Palace was the second royal villa built following the construction of Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1405. It was the principal palace for many of the Joseon kings and is the most well-preserved of the five remaining royal Joseon palaces. It is recorded as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 1997 for having its beautiful appearance of that time. The palace grounds are comprised of a public palace area, a royal family residence building, and the rear garden. - On Mondays, Changdeokgung Palace is closed, so we will visit Bukchon Hanok Village instead.
Soongryemun (Namdaemun) is a main gate of former Seoul fortress in Joseon dynasty. It is commonly called as Namdaemun. The gate was built in 1396, in King Taejo's reign. And it was reconstructed in 1447 by king Sejong and in 1479 by king Seongjong. In 2006 the Seoul city opened the passage to the gate to public. The gate is now listed as Korea's national treasure #1. But in February 10th 2008, the gate was all burnt away by arsonist and the wooden gate was all burnt away by that accident. The Cultural Heritage Administration has announced to rebuild the gate similarly to its original appearance. The rebuilding was done by early in 2013.
Mrs. Hee-Soo was very kind and made the tour very entertaining. We managed to go to a many places throughout the day, like the two palaces, which were very interesting to see. The one spot I thought we could have skipped was Namdaemun Market, as we only walked around for a little bit and it was pretty hectic on the street. Other than that one location, everything was perfect!
Min Soo was fantastic!! We hoghly recommend him.
We had a wonderful time on our Seoul tour with Hee Soo. From the start, She was warm, punctual and clearly passionate about Korean history and culture. The highlight for us was the royal palaces. Our guide didn't just walk us through the gates. Hee Soo explained the meaning behind the names and signboards, the architecture, and the stories of the Joseon kings who lived there. It made the whole place come alive. We also enjoyed the Jogyesa Temple, Gwanghamun Gate, and the Ginseng Museum; and the pacing was just right: plenty to see without feeling rushed. The practical tips on where to eat in Insadong, how to get back to our hotel quickly made the day even better. My wife and I have traveled extensively, and this ranks among the best guided tours we've taken. Highly recommended for first-timers and return visitors alike. Thank you, Hee Soo!
We had a wonderful time on our Seoul tour with Miss Hee-Soo. From the start, she was warm, punctual and clearly passionate about Korean history and culture. The highlight for us was the royal palace. Our guide didn't just walk us through the gates. Her-Soo explained the meaning behind the names and signboards, the architecture, and the stories of the Joseon kings who lived there. It made the whole place come alive. We also enjoyed Insadong, the Ginseng Museum and the pacing was just right: plenty to see without feeling rushed. Practical tips like where to eat, how to get around and what to buy made the day even better. My wife and I have traveled extensively, and this ranks among the best guided tours we've taken. Highly recommended for first-timers and return visitors alike. Thank you, Hee-Soo
Sook-hee was an amazing tour guide. She was informative, knowledgeable, and engaging and even took us inside to do some of the tour when it was too chilly to stay outdoors much longer. I would recommend to the tour operators that they just cut the ginseng museum, which is a glorified sales pitch and which we left early. It takes away from the tour. But besides that, we enjoyed our time!
Great tour with Sook-hee. She explained all of the points of interest in the city. I would highly recommend the tour.
The tour was quite informative, with deep and excellent immersion provided by our Guide! Enjoyed it a lot! Definitely recommend it.
We liked everything, thank you Sookhee!
Very knowledgeable and personable
Sook-Hee our tour guide was very informative and very considerate of everyone’s needs. She got us to the right places and took good care of us throughout the journey. We highly recommend a tour with her and her company. It was a fun day today. Booking through Tripadvisor took away all the challenges for picking this tour for our needs.
We had a great day! Our Tour Guide Soukee was very fun, informative, and an awesome Tour Guide!! We highly recommend
Sook-hee was excellent! It was a great introduction to Korea and the itinerary was excellent! So glad I booked!!
The experience was good. However, since there is so much walking to do, the 2nd palace can be avoided. After all, most of the information is about the kings & concubines only. Also, the tour of gensing museum can be kept shorter. If there is any fun place to go, that can be included. Something that is exclusive to Korea.
Sook Hee was fantastic! She gave a very insightful city tour and told great stories. She took us to a fun place for lunch and made excellent recommendations. 5 stars!
Thank you for an excellent tour, Sook-hee!
A brilliant day thanks to the famous tour guide Sook-hee. It was a fantastic experience and very enjoyable. Highly recommended. Thank you for the wonderful experience .
Our tour guide Sook-hee was wonderful, sharing lots of interesting stories & information about each location. Thank you very much for a fabulous day & we strongly recommend this tour. Wayne & Bron
Great job with lots of details for the relevant material for each stop.
Sook-hee was an excellent guide! Definitely worth going with a smaller group.
The tour guide Hee-Soo was very kind and knowledgeable. We are satisfied with the price and arrangement. Recommended this small group tour when you visit Seoul with limited time. Gary
Gives you a good overall picture of the high lights is Seoul. Our guide was Eddie who explained well
We saw a LOT, although ever place was so crowded that was actually hard to really see sites up close. Most pictures I took were full of other visitors. Soo Kee (sp?) did a great job of explaining all of the places we visited. Her English was very good and she really knew her stuff.
He and his assistant were both friendly and his assistant helped my husband and stayed with him when he couldn’t walk with the group and we are grateful for that, also took pictures from us.
Despite it being a very rainy day, the guide and driver made every effort to make it an enjoyable tour. This city has so much to offer ! Thanks for bringing the extra umbrellas !
Sook- hee was an excellent tour guide! Gilbert our driver was excellent as well! It was pouring rain and he brought extra umbrellas for those who had none! Sook-hee told us many interesting stories and lots of interesting facts as well!
The tour guide Soo Kee was very informative
Didn’t like ginseng tour sales no interest really rained Sukhi & Gilbert excellent
Great tour and cool staff, I loved the stories!
Our guide was wonderful. He was very knowledgeable about the places that we visited. His English was very good. He had a very nice personality. We enjoyed the day!
Sook Hee was an awesome tour guide. She offered a lot of additional information that was good to know. She was also very gracious to help us get a uber back to our Airbnb.
Hee-soo was a great tour guide. Well organized tour gets you to some of the most popular attractions!
This trip was very well run. We covered a lot of ground with Hee Soo as our guide. She was patient, knowledgeable and helpful. We had a great time with her. The palaces were beautiful and so full of history. I would recommend this tour , especially with Hee Soo. She also kindly helped me find my way to my hotel using the subway. She was very kind.
Covered a lot of ground and learned a lot of Korean history. Sook-hee was wonderful. She was very knowledgeable, professional and had some great stories pertaining to Korea and its history. Thank you Sook-hee.
Excellent tour. The guide, Sookhee was wonderful and very knowledgeable. Highly recommended
Sook hee our guide was excellent. She entertained and informed us as a group telling us many interesting stories about life in the Joseon era. The National folk museum by contrast gave us an insight into everyday Korean culture. A nice balance. Highly recommend this tour.
Very good! You tour a lot in a day! Pretty good value
The tour guide was pleasant and seemed knowledgeable about the sites. Transportation was good and they came on time to get me. The sites were beautiful and the tour was not too rushed. My main complaint is the obvious tourist trap of the ginseng museum. This was a waste of time but luckily they did not push too hard on buying anything
An absolutely wonderful day with Sook-Hee our tour guide. We covered most of the important sites (Palaces, a temple and markets). A lot packed into one day. Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. We learned a lot about Korean history and culture. The time spent at the Ginseng 'museum' could have been put to better use.
Our guide Sookhee was very knowledgeable, very pleasant and helpful. We had a wonderful time.
The absolute best guide Hee-Soo she was wonderful and started our Korea Trip out perfectly!
Although there are many similar tours available, we decided to go with this tour offered by SoulNTour. Mr. Kim picked us up on time from our hotel and we were off to pick up one more person. After the second pickup, we met up with our guide for the day, Ms. He-Soo. We were very fortunate to have Ms. He-Soo as our guide for the day as she was knowledgeable, very helpful, accommodating, and very punctual with our itinerary. We visited every location on our itinerary and were not rushed at all. she always asked if the participants had any additional questions and was very happy to provide the necessary responses. The day was a great experience for us and I believe the other partipants had a good tour as well. Thank you to Ms. He-Soo for a great day!
Excellent city tour, hit all the sites I wanted to go to. Our tour guide Sook-Hee was fantastic. She was very informative and made sure we got information about every site we went to
It was a wonderful experience! And I enjoyed the walking!!!!
Our Tour guide Sook-hee was amazing! She was incredibly knowledgeable and kind. We really enjoyed our day with her and we were able to see many things. I would highly having. Sook-hee ask a tour guide. Thank you for a wonderful day!!!
Was great that we got picked up from our hotel. They even made an adjustment with the tour to pick us up later than the rest of the tour
Excellent full day tour with Sook-hee as a guide visiting all the main tourist attractions in Seoul. Fantastic for those that are short of time and want to see the highlights of this great city!
Ours was a full day trip through the history of Korean culture. Sook-hee was our guide who had a lot of stories for us as we went through the palaces and museums. Be prepared to walk!
Sookhee was great tour guide She took care of us
Very knowledgeable guide with interesting stories. Small group was nice for interacting with the guide and other group members
Wonderful way to see this amazing city Eddie was an excellent guide. He was very knowledgeable and made the day exciting.
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