Gyeongbokgung Palace: Hours, Tickets and the Guard Ceremony

When is Gyeongbokgung open?

From 9am every day except Tuesday. Closing time moves with the season: 5pm from November to February, 6pm from March to May and in September and October, and 6:30pm from June to August, according to the Korea Heritage Service. Last entry is an hour before closing, and staff begin moving visitors towards the gates 30 minutes before closing time.

Tuesday is the one day to avoid. When a Tuesday is a public holiday or a substitute holiday, the palace opens and closes on the first working day after it instead, so a holiday week can move the closure to Wednesday.

Changdeokgung, the other palace most visitors pair with Gyeongbokgung, closes on Mondays. A day with both therefore works from Wednesday to Sunday.

How much is a ticket, and who gets in free?

3,000 won for an adult, and the palace authority counts foreign visitors aged 19 to 64 as adults. Groups of 10 or more pay 2,400 won each.

Three groups enter free, with proof: foreign visitors aged 18 or under, foreign visitors aged 65 and over, and anyone wearing hanbok. The hanbok rule is the one that changes plans, because the rental shops sit beside Gyeongbokgung Station and a rental covers the other palaces too.

Related guideHanbok Rental Near Gyeongbokgung: Free Entry and the RulesHanbok gets you into Seoul's main palaces free if it has a wrap collar and a top with a skirt or trousers. Where to rent, what is included, and Bukchon's 5pm rule.

If you plan to see more than two palaces, the integrated palace ticket costs 6,000 won and covers Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung and Jongmyo Shrine once each within six months of purchase. It does not include Changdeokgung's Secret Garden. Buy it at the ticket office of any of the five.

Is Gyeongbokgung free on Wednesdays or during festivals?

Not on Wednesdays. Since 2026, Culture Day has opened the palaces free every Wednesday rather than on the last Wednesday of the month, but the palace authority's fee page excludes Gyeongbokgung and the Secret Garden. The Korea Heritage Service said in May 2026 that it would review Gyeongbokgung later because of crowding.

There is a free window this autumn. The Korea Heritage Service lists Gyeongbokgung as free for everyone from 29 October to 15 November 2026, during the Korea Grand Festival, with the usual Tuesday closures. Its regular guided tours run 30 minutes shorter in that period.

When is the changing of the royal guard?

At 10am and 2pm, around Heungnyemun, the second gate inside Gwanghwamun. Each ceremony takes about 20 minutes, runs every day except Tuesdays and needs no booking, according to the Korea Heritage Agency, which stages it.

Two shorter events fill the gaps. The guard-on-duty performance at Gwanghwamun runs at 11am and 1pm for about 10 minutes, and the guards' open training runs at 9:35am and 1:35pm for about 15 minutes in front of Hyeopsaengmun Gate. On spring and autumn weekends and holidays, a guard patrol parade runs from 3pm to 4pm.

The ceremony can be cancelled in heavy rain, a heat wave, extreme cold or high fine dust. Our pick is the 10am ceremony: arrive at 9am when the gates open, watch the training at 9:35am, and the ceremony then falls before the tour groups peak.

Are there free English tours of Gyeongbokgung?

Yes. Free English tours leave at 11am, 1:30pm and 3:30pm every day except Tuesdays, from in front of the information centre inside Heungnyemun. They last 1 to 1.5 hours and run in the rain.

Groups of fewer than 10 just turn up; groups of 10 or more book ahead, up to 30 people a tour. You cannot join once a tour has left, so be at the meeting point a few minutes early. The 11am tour follows straight on from the morning guard ceremony.

What is there to see inside?

Gyeongbokgung was the main palace of the Joseon dynasty, and the route most visitors follow runs north from Gwanghwamun through Heungnyemun to Geunjeongjeon, the throne hall. Gyeonghoeru, the pavilion raised over a square pond, sits west of the throne hall, and Hyangwonjeong, the small pavilion on an island, is further north.

Two autumn 2026 notices affect that route. The terrace in front of Geunjeongjeon is closed to visitors from 2 September to 31 October 2026 to protect its stone railings, so photos of the throne hall are taken from the courtyard below. The special viewings inside Gyeonghoeru and Hyangwonjeong, on Wednesdays and Fridays until 30 October, are guided in Korean only, and the palace authority says it does not admit foreign visitors who cannot follow the commentary.

The National Folk Museum of Korea stands inside the palace grounds, on the east side. It is free and open from 9am to 6pm from March to October, until 8pm on Wednesdays, and from 9am to 5pm from November to February. Its Permanent Exhibition Hall 1 is closed from 30 September to 21 December 2026.

Can you visit Gyeongbokgung at night?

Only on set dates. The 2026 night opening ran from 2 September to 2 October and has finished. The Starlight Tour, a ticketed evening programme, runs until 24 October 2026, and the sessions from 21 to 24 October are for foreign visitors, booked through Creatrip.

The Korea Heritage Agency lists Starlight Tour tickets at 60,000 won, for ages 7 and over, in two sessions from 6:20pm and 7:30pm. Cancellations for rain are decided at 5pm the day before. Outside those dates, Deoksugung is the palace that stays open until 9pm all year; the guide to Seoul's palaces compares the five.

How do you get to Gyeongbokgung?

Take Line 3 to Gyeongbokgung Station and leave by exit 5; the Korea Heritage Service puts the palace two minutes' walk away. Gwanghwamun Station on Line 5, exit 2, and Anguk Station on Line 3, exit 1, are each about six minutes away.

Exit 5 also leads to the hanbok shops on Sajik-ro, so change first and enter free. Anguk is the station on the other side of the palace district, the one to use if Bukchon is next.

What should you pair with Gyeongbokgung?

Bukchon to the east and Changdeokgung beyond it. Walk east after the morning ceremony and the tour, and you reach the Bukchon lanes after the red zone opens at 10am. The Bukchon Hanok Village guide sets out the hours and a route through the eight viewpoints.

Related guideBukchon Hanok Village: Visiting Hours, Zones and a Walking RouteBukchon Hanok Village is a lived-in hanok neighbourhood, not a museum. The red zone hours and fine, getting there from Anguk, and a route that keeps the rules.

The whole day, from Gyeongbokgung at 9am to a market dinner, is laid out in the Seoul itinerary, and a base near Anguk or Insadong keeps the 9am start short.

Related guideSeoul in 3 Days: An Itinerary for a First VisitThree full days in Seoul for a first visit: two palaces and a market on day one, the DMZ and Hongdae on day two, Namsan on day three, with closing days checked.

The rest of the city is covered in the Seoul travel guide.