Deoksugung

What it is

Deoksugung is the palace of the Korean Empire, and the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center's own history of it is unusually blunt about how it became one. The grounds began as the private manor of Grand Prince Wolsan and were pressed into service in 1593 as a temporary court, one year after the invasion of 1592 destroyed every palace in the capital. In 1611 the temporary palace was raised to Gyeongungung and given a court of its own; in 1618 Queen Inmok was imprisoned here and its status was cut to Seogung, the west palace; in 1623 most of its buildings were handed back to their original owners. Its real moment came in 1897, when Emperor Gojong returned from his refuge in the Russian legation, declared the Korean Empire and made this the imperial palace, adding Western-style buildings among the wooden halls. A great fire took much of it in 1904, Gojong was forced to abdicate in 1907 and the palace was renamed Deoksugung, and under Japanese rule most of what remained was demolished and the grounds absorbed into a park development. Seokjojeon Hall housed the US-Soviet Joint Commission in 1946 and 1947. Restoration has run continuously since 2007.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What's inside

The operator's own route through the palace names thirteen structures, and they divide into two families that share one walled enclosure. The Korean group runs from Daehanmun, the gate on Sejong-daero, through Junghwamun to Junghwajeon, the throne hall, and then to the residential and audience halls behind it: Junmyeongdang, Jeukjodang, Seokeodang, Deokhongjeon and Hamnyeongjeon. Jeonggwanheon, a pavilion with a Western colonnade, sits above them on the slope. The imperial group is Seokjojeon and its West Wing, Dondeokjeon and, outside the wall to the north-west, Jungmyeongjeon. This is the point of coming here rather than to a larger palace: a wooden throne hall and a neoclassical stone one stand within a few minutes of each other. The interiors do not all follow the palace's own hours. Seokjojeon is a guided visit on an advance online reservation, open 09:30 to 17:30 with the last commentary at 16:30. Dondeokjeon runs 09:00 to 17:30 with last admission at 17:00, and Jungmyeongjeon 09:30 to 17:30, also with last admission at 17:00. The art museum inside the grounds is ticketed separately: the operator states that a museum visitor buys a palace ticket and a museum ticket.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

How long to spend

Allow ninety minutes. The Royal Palaces and Tombs Center publishes no suggested visit length for Deoksugung, so ninety minutes is this guide's judgement and not a figure read off the operator's site. It is built from what the operator does publish. Thirteen named structures sit inside one compact walled enclosure with no long walk between any two of them, which is why this palace suits an afternoon that already has something else in it. Ninety minutes covers Daehanmun, the throne hall and its courtyard, the residential halls behind it, Jeonggwanheon on the slope, and the stone group of Seokjojeon and Dondeokjeon at a pace that allows standing still. Two things stretch that figure. A Seokjojeon reservation is a guided visit at a fixed time, so it does not slot into a walk in progress; a visitor holding one should budget two and a half hours and build the rest of the visit around the slot. The art museum in the West Wing is a separate ticket and a separate exhibition, and adding it turns the visit into a half day. A visitor with forty-five minutes can still see the throne hall and the stone palace and should not attempt the rest.

Checked 2026-08-26

Season and crowds

Deoksugung is open 09:00 to 21:00 every month of the year, with last admission at 20:00, and the operator's timetable marks the late opening as standing rather than seasonal. That makes it the exception among the palaces: Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung close between 17:00 and 18:30 depending on the month, while this one holds the same long window in January and in July. The closed day is Monday. If that Monday falls on a public holiday or a substitute holiday the palace opens, and the first non-holiday day after it becomes the closed day instead, so a Tuesday closure is possible around a long weekend. The practical consequence of the long evening is that the grounds and the palace are two different visits. The halls stop admitting between 17:00 and 17:30, so anyone arriving after about 17:30 gets the courtyards, the walls and the lit exteriors of Junghwajeon and Seokjojeon, and nothing indoors. Late afternoon into dusk is the hour to plan for if the exteriors are the point. The operator also lists the last Wednesday of each month, Culture Day, among its free-admission entries.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Tickets

Admission is 1,000 won for an adult, charged per person, and 800 won per person for a group of ten or more paying visitors. The operator defines an adult narrowly: Korean nationals aged 25 to 64, foreign visitors aged 19 to 64. Outside that band entry is free, which means foreign visitors aged 18 and under or 65 and over pay nothing. The free list is long and worth reading before queuing. It covers anyone wearing hanbok, pregnant women with one companion, registered disabled visitors with one carer where the disability is severe, parents holding a local multi-child card, and the last Wednesday of each month. Three passes exist beside the single ticket. The combined palace ticket is 6,000 won, valid six months from purchase, and admits the holder to the four palaces and Jongmyo. A lunchtime pass is 3,000 won for Deoksugung, valid three months for ten visits, and at this palace the lunch window is 11:30 to 13:30. A monthly pass for Deoksugung is 10,000 won. Tickets bought through the reservation system are refunded in full up to two hours before the entry time and not at all after it.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Getting there

The palace is at 99 Sejong-daero, Jung-gu, Seoul, postcode 04519, and the office number is 02-771-9951. The subway does the work. City Hall Station is served by Line 1 and Line 2, and the operator gives Exit 2 as a two-minute walk to Daehanmun, which is about as close as a major Seoul sight gets to a transfer station. Gwanghwamun Station on Line 5 is a ten-minute walk by way of Exit 6 or Exit 2, which is the approach to use if the day already includes Gwanghwamun Square or Gyeongbokgung. Two bus stops serve the gate. At the City Hall and Deoksugung stop, trunk routes 103, 150, 401, 402 and 406 call, along with branch routes 1711, 7016 and 7022 and general routes 790 and 799. At the Seoul Shinmun stop, trunk routes 101, 150, 402, 501, 506 and 708 call, along with branch routes 1711 and 7016. A car is not needed and is a mistake here: the operator states plainly that there are no parking facilities at the palace and asks visitors to use public transport.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

What to watch out for

The trap at Deoksugung is not the front gate but the halls behind it. The palace admits until 20:00 while its interiors stop admitting between 17:00 and 17:30, and Seokjojeon is not a walk-in at any hour: it is a guided visit on an advance online reservation with the last commentary at 16:30. A visitor who came for the inside of the stone palace and arrives at six has missed it while the gate is still open. The Monday closure moves. When it collides with a public or substitute holiday the palace opens that day and shuts on the first non-holiday day afterwards, so the closed day around a long weekend has to be checked rather than assumed. The visitor regulation lets staff refuse entry to, or hold, a list of items: flammables and weapons, alcohol, camping equipment such as tents, mats and sunshades, cooking gear, sports and play equipment, instruments and loudspeakers. Pets are not admitted, with assistance dogs for disabled visitors excepted. The whole enclosure is non-smoking, and food may only be eaten in the areas the palace designates for it.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Photography

Ordinary souvenir photography needs no application. The visitor regulation classifies it as non-commercial and treats it as already permitted, which is the answer to the question most people arrive with. Three limits sit around that. Photography using non-everyday clothing or props - character costumes, mascot heads, air suits and their equivalents - does require a permit application to the palace office, because the regulation treats it as an obstruction to other visitors and a risk to the historical character of the site. The palace may also restrict photography in specific areas to prevent crowding, so a barrier or a sign overrides the general rule. Aerial photography by drone is allowed only to public bodies acting in the public interest, and only with prior clearance under the relevant aviation and defence rules. Commercial filming - television, film, drama, advertising and entertainment - needs a permit and carries a fee, doubled where it falls outside opening hours or inside a restricted area. The picture worth planning for is the one this palace alone offers: the tiled roof of Junghwajeon and the stone colonnade of Seokjojeon in a single frame, and both of them lit after dark, since the gate stays open until 21:00.

Checked 2026-08-26 · Source

Where it is

Nearby

External links

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