15,000 won to tour Changdeokgung Palace?

by Robert Koehler on June 2, 2006

Over at the new Seoul Selection blog, where yours truly will be blogging mostly Korean cultural news as well as providing up-to-date bookshop and publishing information, you can read how the Cultural Properties Administration will make Seoul’s royal palaces more accessible to the common man, but at a price.

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 michael June 2, 2006 at 9:33 am: So on other days it’s still 3,000 won with a tour guide?
2 Robert June 2, 2006 at 9:51 am: Yep. And do you really reside in France?
3 michael June 2, 2006 at 10:38 am: Non monsieur, je préférez surfez anonymement avec un proxy, et celui-ci est basé en France. (Sorry DDA!)
4 Sonagi June 2, 2006 at 9:03 pm: “This hike in admission would place the Changdeokgung Palace alongside the Forbidden City (14,530 won) and Buckingham Palace (24,060 won) in terms of entry cost.
“

The admission fee may be the same, but the much larger Forbidden City gives visitors more bang for the buck. A cheaper way to avoid the tour is simply to disappear behind the little pavilion when the tour stops there for a break and linger a bit until after the group moves on. The Koreans are obviously on to this trick as I noticed several Koreans wandering around on the palace grounds. Looking at a map, it seems that a large section of the palace has been off-limits even to tour groups. If the whole palace grounds were opened up to visitors paying extra, I might go once just to see what the rest of the palace looks like.
5 Sambek_ZX June 2, 2006 at 10:30 pm: I hope those fees are mostly used towards maintaining the palaces. What’s happening with the Forbidden City is a damn shame.
6 skindleshanks June 3, 2006 at 12:56 am: 15,000 seems a bit steep for Korea, but I’ve been to Changdeokgung many times and still have yet to see the “secret” parts.

I’ve seen a good number of Asian palaces (Thailand, China, Tibet, Japan) and Changdeokgung is my absolute favorite. Maybe it’s because it’s not overrun withpeople, but I think it is more that the natural beauty of the place is not overtaken by the palace. It’s a bit wild, a bit serene.

If I had to live in Seoul, I’d want to be king.