Seoul in 3 Days: A First-Timer Route That Isn’t Rushed

Seoul's city skyline at sunset with N Seoul Tower on its hill, seen from Inwangsan

By YUNA, my pen name. I read the official pages, then tell you what I’d do.

Topic:

Last checked: November 2, 2026

Three days is enough for Seoul’s first-timer sights if you stop crossing the city twice a day. My route covers two palaces properly, one market and one night on Namsan, and it ends with the National Museum and Seongsu.

Two closing days shape the whole plan: Gyeongbokgung shuts on Tuesdays, and Changdeokgung on Mondays. I’d sort those out before you book anything else.

Quick answer

  • 📍 Day 1: Gyeongbokgung, Bukchon and Insadong
  • 📍 Day 2: Changdeokgung’s Secret Garden, Gwangjang Market, Namsan at night
  • 📍 Day 3: National Museum of Korea, then Seongsu and Seoul Forest
  • 💳 Transit: 3-day Climate Card if you’ll ride 3+ times a day

Which day goes first

Days 1 and 2 stay in the old palace area north of the river, and Day 3 is the one day you cross town. Each day starts when its first big stop opens, and your evenings stay close to wherever you’re sleeping. If you haven’t booked a hotel yet, I’d stay in Myeongdong, which is on Line 4.

Because Gyeongbokgung closes every Tuesday and Changdeokgung every Monday, check which weekday your Day 1 falls on.

Your Day 1 is a Do this
Sunday or Tuesday Swap Days 1 and 2
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday Keep the order

Foreign adults pay 3,000 won at Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung and 1,000 won at Jongmyo, and you get in free if you wear hanbok. Until November 15, 2026, entry to the four palaces and Jongmyo is free for the Korea Grand Festival. I couldn’t confirm whether that covers the Secret Garden tour, so plan on its regular 5,000-won fee.

⚠️ Heads-up

Korea’s heritage agency had planned new palace prices from January 2027, but Yonhap reported in October that both the announcement and the start date are now undecided. Check the fee page before you go.

Day 1: Gyeongbokgung, Bukchon and Insadong

Hanok houses with a wooden gate along Bukchon-ro 11-gil in Bukchon Hanok Village, Seoul
Hanok houses along Bukchon-ro 11-gil, inside the area with visiting hours. Photo: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Be at Gyeongbokgung at 9 a.m., when the gates open. From November to February it closes at 5 p.m., and last entry is an hour earlier. Gyeongbokgung Station Exit 5 is a 2-minute walk from the gate.

The guard-changing ceremony runs at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in front of Heungnyemun Gate and lasts about 20 minutes. I’d watch the morning one, then join the English tour that starts at 11 a.m. and takes 1 to 1.5 hours.

Until November 15, the palace’s notice says its regular tours run 30 minutes shorter. The National Folk Museum is on the palace grounds, so you don’t need to leave to see it.

After lunch, walk over to Bukchon. Since March 1, 2025, tourists in the red zone around Bukchon-ro 11-gil outside 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. can be fined 100,000 won. People live in these hanok, so I’d keep your voice low and your camera off their doorsteps.

Finish in Insadong, near Anguk Station Exit 6, for tea houses, galleries and street snacks. Ssamziegil, a shopping arcade, is there too. I’d keep the evening free and close to your hotel.

Day 2: the Secret Garden, Gwangjang Market and Namsan

The front of Daejojeon Hall at Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul under a clear blue sky
Daejojeon Hall at Changdeokgung, the palace next to the Secret Garden. Photo: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Changdeokgung opens at 9 a.m. and is closed on Mondays. Its Secret Garden, or Huwon, is the reason to come, and you enter only at set tour times, with a guide. Adults pay 5,000 won for the tour plus the 3,000-won palace ticket.

English tours run Tuesday to Sunday, at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. all winter. November adds a fourth tour at 3:30 p.m.

💡 Yuna’s tip

Book the Secret Garden six days ahead, at 10 a.m. Korea time. Fifty seats per tour and language go online, and fifty are sold at the palace from 9 a.m. that day. The online booking for foreigners only takes cards issued abroad.

Be at the garden entrance on time. The palace says late arrivals can’t enter and won’t get a refund. I’d take the 10:30 tour so you finish in time for lunch. If the online seats are gone, I’d be at the palace before 9 a.m. for the on-site ones.

Then head to Gwangjang Market, about 60 meters from Exit 8 of Jongno 5-ga Station on Line 1. Its food alley is open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. Bindaetteok, the mung bean pancake, is the dish to order, and Sunhee’s stall makes it from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The red-pillared entrance gate of Jongmyo Shrine in Jongno, Seoul, with visitors on the steps
The entrance gate of Jongmyo Shrine, the royal ancestral shrine in Jongno. Photo: Bgag, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Spend the afternoon resting, or add Jongmyo Shrine if you still have energy. Jongmyo closes on Tuesdays.

Entry is 1,000 won, and from November to January the last entry time is 4:30 in the afternoon. On Wednesdays and weekends you can walk around on your own, but on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays you can only enter on a timed guided tour.

Until November 15, 2026, though, Jongmyo’s notice says entry is free with no booking, and you can walk around on your own on any day it’s open. After that, I’d only add it if your Day 2 is a Saturday or Sunday.

Day 2 evening: Namsan, then Myeongdong

N Seoul Tower rising above the trees of Namsan Park in central Seoul
N Seoul Tower above the trees of Namsan Park in central Seoul. Photo: FLASHPACKER TRAVELGUIDE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ride up Namsan first, ideally by 8 p.m. The cable car runs every day from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., with the last ticket sold 30 minutes before closing. Adults pay 15,000 won round trip or 12,000 won one way, and it can stop in bad weather.

My pick is a one-way ticket up and the walking path down. The N Seoul Tower observatory costs 29,000 won for adults and is open until 10:30 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends. If you’d rather keep the money, floors 1 to 4 of the tower have free viewing areas until 10 at night.

Then eat your way down Myeongdong’s street stalls. Get there before 10 p.m., because Visit Seoul says that’s when many stalls start packing up for the night.

Day 3: the National Museum, then Seongsu

The long stone exterior of the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul
The National Museum of Korea in Yongsan, where the permanent galleries are free. Photo: Ethan Doyle White, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The National Museum of Korea opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 5:30 p.m., or at 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The permanent galleries are free.

Several galleries are closed until January 28, 2027: Buddhist sculpture, metal craft, Buddhist painting, woodwork and lacquerware, and part of the calligraphy and painting gallery. The celadon and white porcelain rooms are open, and I’d start there.

The museum also closes its galleries on the first Monday of December, which this year is December 7, though the outdoor grounds stay open. If your trip starts on Saturday, December 5, swap Days 1 and 3: the museum and Seongsu on Saturday, Gyeongbokgung on Monday.

A quiet evening street corner in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, with street trees and a lit shop window
An evening street in Seongsu-dong, a short walk from Seoul Forest. Photo: CartoonChess, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In the afternoon, take the subway to Seongsu. It’s a former factory district that’s now full of cafés, shops and galleries, and Seongsu Station Exit 3 on Line 2 puts you near Yeonmujang-gil. Some shops close as early as 7 p.m., so don’t leave it too late.

Seoul Forest is next door, and the park is open 24 hours and free. On a clear day, I’d walk the park first and save the shops for later.

Yuna’s pick

Got Secret Garden tickets: keep Day 2 as written and take the 10:30 English tour.

No tickets: walk Changdeokgung’s palace grounds, then add Jongmyo if it’s a weekend, or any day but Tuesday until November 15.

Rain in the forecast: swap the museum day in, but check the closing days again first, and don’t move Day 2 if you’ve booked the Secret Garden.

Getting around

You can reach every area on this route by subway. A 3-day Climate Card costs 10,000 won, plus 3,000 won for the card itself, and it pays off if you ride three or more times a day.

By my count, this route is about two rides on Day 1 and three on each of the other days, which sits just under that line. The card also covers Seoul city buses, so I’d buy it if you expect to add a bus or an evening trip.

Honest take

This route leaves out a lot on purpose: Gangnam, theme parks and any day trip. With three days, I’d rather you see two palaces properly than all five royal sites in a blur.

FAQ

Is three days enough for Seoul?

For the main first-timer sights, yes, if you keep to one area a day. It isn’t enough if you also want a day trip, so I’d add a fourth day for that.

Should I buy the combined palace ticket?

Only after November 15, and only if you’ll visit all three without hanbok. It costs 6,000 won, lasts six months and covers the four palaces and Jongmyo once each, but not the Secret Garden. This route’s three entries (Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung and Jongmyo) come to 7,000 won, so it saves you 1,000 won if you visit all three.

Do I need to wear hanbok?

No, but it gets you into the palaces for free. I’d only wear one on Day 1, since Gyeongbokgung is the palace you’ll spend the longest in on this route.

What if I’m here on New Year’s Day?

The National Museum is closed on January 1. If your trip starts on December 30, 2026, your Day 3 lands on that day, so move the museum earlier. I couldn’t confirm whether the palaces open on January 1, 2027, so check their notices that week.

The Secret Garden is the only booking on this route that I could find. If palace prices change, I’ll add the new ones here. If something else has changed by the time you go, the Contact page reaches me.

Hwaiting!

Yuna

📌 Read next

Sources and last check

How I put this guide together: from the royal palace office’s hours and fee pages, the National Museum of Korea, Seoul City, Visit Seoul, the tower and cable car operators, and Yonhap reports on palace prices, checked on November 1 and 2, 2026. Some facts come from my earlier guides, which I checked the same week. The order of the days is my own choice. Nothing here is sponsored. More on how I research every guide is on the About page.

Last checked: November 2, 2026. Hours, prices and closing days change, so please confirm before you travel. This is an independent guide, not affiliated with any place named here.

Sources:

Cover image: Seoul and N Seoul Tower at sunset, seen from Inwangsan. Photo: Jinhan Moon on Unsplash

Hi, I'm Yuna. I read the Korean-only fine print so your trip doesn't have to start with a puzzle, and then I tell you what I'd pick.

More about how I work

More guides