Changdeokgung

What it is

Changdeokgung was raised in 1405 as a secondary palace to Gyeongbokgung, and the garden on the slope behind it was laid out the following year. It was burned in the Japanese invasion of 1592 and rebuilt in 1610, before any of the other Seoul palaces, and that early rebuilding decided the next two and a half centuries: kings lived here for roughly 270 years, until Gyeongbokgung was reconstructed in 1867. Court usage called it Donggwol, the East Palace, and it shared open ground with Changgyeonggung next door rather than standing behind a dividing wall. Its later history is heavier than its setting suggests. Emperor Sunjong moved here after his accession and died here; the annexation treaty of 1910 was signed at Heungbokheon, an annexe of Daejojeon Hall; and the last of the royal line, including Empress Sunjeong, Crown Princess Yi Bangja and Princess Deokhye, lived out their final years inside the Nakseonjae quarter. The complex entered the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. One small caution about dates: the operator's own page gives 1463 for King Sejo's enlargement of the garden in its narrative and 1462 in the chronology table directly below it.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What's inside

The operator sets out two routes, and they are ticketed separately. The palace route runs from Donhwamun, the main gate, over the Geumcheongyo bridge to Injeongjeon, the throne hall; then Seonjeongjeon, Huijeongdang and Daejojeon, the working and sleeping quarters; then Nakseonjae, the plainer 1847 residential compound at the eastern edge where the last royal family lived. Off to the west sit Gwollaegaksa, the palace's own government offices, and the old Seonwonjeon shrine. Daejojeon and Huijeongdang are not the originals: they burned in the great fire of 1917 and were rebuilt in 1920 out of Gyeongbokgung's Gangnyeongjeon and Gyotaejeon halls, dismantled and carried across the city. The second route is the garden, and it is a walk rather than a set of buildings. Its landmarks in order are Buyongji pond with the Juhamnu pavilion and Gyujanggak library above it, built in 1776; Bullomun and the Aeryeonji pond with the Uiduhap study; Gwallamji; the Yeongyeongdang compound of 1828, built in the manner of a scholar's house rather than a palace; and Jondeokjeong. Ongnyucheon, the stream at the far end, is closed for repair until further notice.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

How long to spend

Allow three hours for the whole site. The operator publishes two of the three components: its palace-buildings commentary runs about 50 minutes, and its Secret Garden walk runs about 70 minutes. The third is the part visitors misjudge — the garden entrance is more than a fifteen-minute walk uphill from the palace gate, and that walk is inside the ticketed grounds, on top of the garden tour itself. Add the ticket queue and the way back and three hours is realistic rather than generous. If the garden slot is sold out or the legs will not take the climb, the palace buildings alone are a comfortable 60 to 90 minutes: Donhwamun to Injeongjeon to Nakseonjae and out. Two timing rules bite at the end of the day. Last admission is an hour before closing from February to October and a full hour before the earlier winter closing, and staff begin walking visitors towards the exits, with announcements, thirty minutes before closing time. A garden slot booked for the last hour of the day is therefore not a leisurely one.

Checked 2026-08-26

Season and crowds

Changdeokgung closes every Monday. The exception matters in a country with many public holidays: if that Monday is a public holiday or a substitute holiday the palace opens, and the first non-holiday day after it becomes the closed day instead. Hours move three times a year. From February to May and again in September and October the palace runs 09:00 to 18:00 with last admission at 17:00; from June to August it runs to 18:30 with last admission at 17:30; from November to January it closes at 17:30 with last admission at 16:30. The garden slots follow the seasons too. The extra 16:00 Korean-language departure only runs from March to October, and the extra 15:30 English departure only from March to November, so a winter visitor has three English times a day rather than four. The operator's own warning about season is blunt and worth heeding: in April and May, and again in October and November, both the online allocation and the same-day counter allocation for the garden sell out very quickly. Those are the months the garden is worth queuing for, which is exactly the problem.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Tickets

Two tickets, and the second does not replace the first. The palace grounds cost 3,000 won for an adult, or 2,400 won each for a group of ten or more; the adult band is 25 to 64 for Korean nationals and 19 to 64 for foreign visitors. The Secret Garden is a separate restricted-entry ticket at 5,000 won for adults aged 19 to 64 and for visitors aged 65 and over, and 2,500 won for ages 7 to 18, with no group discount at all — and the operator states plainly that garden visitors must buy the palace ticket as well. A full adult visit is therefore 8,000 won. Free admission covers Korean nationals aged 24 and under and 65 and over, foreign visitors aged 18 and under and 65 and over, and anyone wearing hanbok, but for the garden that free list shrinks to children of six and under plus registered disabled and national-merit holders. The 6,000-won Integrated Palace Ticket covers the four palaces and Jongmyo for six months and explicitly excludes the Secret Garden. Online refunds are full up to two hours before the entry time, then 10 per cent is deducted, and nothing after it.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Getting there

The address is 99 Yulgok-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03072, and the office number is 02-3668-2300. No car is needed and the operator would rather visitors did not bring one: it states that there are no parking facilities and asks people to travel by public transport. The nearest station is Anguk on Line 3, exit 3, a five-minute walk east along Yulgok-ro to Donhwamun. Jongno 3-ga, on Lines 1, 3 and 5, is about ten minutes on foot from exit 7 and is the better choice arriving from the south or from Dongdaemun. Buses stop at Seoul Donhwamun Traditional Theater, immediately outside the gate: trunk routes 109, 151, 162, 171, 172, 272 and 710, and branch route 7025. Anyone using a navigation app should search for Changdeokgung by name. One internal distance is worth planning around: the Secret Garden entrance is a fifteen-minute uphill walk from the palace gate, so a visitor with a timed garden ticket should be through the turnstile well before the slot rather than at it.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What to watch out for

The garden is a capped, timed entry, not a stroll. Each departure takes 100 people — 50 sold online and 50 at the gate on the day — with online sales opening at 10:00 six days before the visit and same-day counter sales starting at 09:00. Arriving after the stated entry time means no entry and no refund, and the walk up to the garden entrance takes fifteen minutes, which is where most missed slots come from. Ongnyucheon, the stream and pavilions at the top of the garden, is closed for conservation work until further notice, so the far end of the published route is not currently walkable. The English, Chinese and Japanese garden departures are closed to Korean nationals, who may join only as up to two companions of a foreign visitor. The two in-depth talks, on Gwollaegaksa and Nakseonjae, pause from 24 July to 31 August for the heat. The whole compound is non-smoking. Alcohol, tents, mats, sunshades and cooking equipment are refused at the gate, food may only be eaten in designated areas, and no animals are admitted except registered assistance dogs.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Photography

Ordinary visitor photography needs no permission — the visiting regulations treat a souvenir photograph as already permitted, with no permit and no fee. Three limits sit around that. Photography using non-everyday costume or props, which the rules spell out as character costumes, mascot heads, inflatable suits and their equivalents, does need a permit from the site director, because it obstructs other visitors and cuts against the character of the place. The director may also close specific areas to cameras when crowding demands it, so a posted sign outranks the general rule. Filming a heritage guide's commentary, on video or audio, requires that guide's prior consent. Anything commercial — film, drama, advertising, entertainment programming — is a separate permitted-and-priced process, and drone work is restricted to public bodies acting in the public interest and needs defence-ministry aerial clearance on top. What that leaves is generous. Free admission for anyone in hanbok is why the Injeongjeon courtyard is full of rented silk on fine afternoons. The reliable frames are the throne hall across its rank-stone courtyard early, before the first tour groups, and the Juhamnu pavilion mirrored in Buyongji pond.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Where it is

Nearby

External links

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