Deoksugung Palace 덕수궁

Deoksugung costs ₩1,000 (free on Wednesdays and in hanbok), is closed on Mondays and stays open until 21:00, later than any other Seoul palace. The guard changing ceremony is at 11:00 and 14:00 at the main gate. Allow 1–1½ hours, or about 2 hours with a Seokjojeon tour.

Deoksugung is the palace of the Korean Empire (1897–1910), the last chapter of the Joseon royal line, and the only one where traditional wooden halls stand beside Western-style stone buildings from the early 1900s. It is small and flat and sits right across the road from Seoul City Hall, so it fits into a gap in a day around central Seoul without much planning. For how it compares with the other four, see Seoul’s palaces.

When to go

What you can see depends on the time of day, so pick the time first.

Time	What happens	Good for
10:45 or 13:30	Free English palace tour (about 45 min), Tuesday–Sunday	First visit, history in English
11:00 or 14:00	Royal guard changing ceremony at Daehanmun gate, Tuesday–Sunday	Photos, families
11:50 or 14:50	English Seokjojeon tour, booked at the hall’s desk on the day	The Korean Empire interiors
After 17:30	Halls closed; grounds lit and open until 21:00 (last entry 20:00)	Evening stroll, fewer tour groups
Wednesday	Free entry for everyone (Culture Day)	Budget
Monday	Palace closed, no guard ceremony	–

Times from the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center’s hours and tour pages and Seoul’s royal guard site, checked 18 October 2026. For a first visit, arrive just before 11:00: watch the ceremony at the gate, go in for the grounds, and book an 11:50 or 14:50 Seokjojeon slot at the desk as soon as you are inside. Want the palace without the halls? Come after dark, when the stone buildings are lit.

Every Wednesday has been a free-entry Culture Day at Deoksugung since October 2026; before that it was only the last Wednesday of the month, so older guides are out of date.

Hours and admission

Part	Opening hours	Last entry
Palace grounds	09:00–21:00, all year	20:00
Seokjojeon (Daehan Empire History Museum)	09:30–17:30, guided only	last tour 16:30
Dondeokjeon	09:00–17:30	17:00
Jungmyeongjeon (outside the walls)	09:30–17:30	17:00

Hours from the official 관람시간 page, checked 18 October 2026. The palace closes on Mondays; when a Monday is a public holiday it opens and closes on the next non-holiday day instead.

Admission for foreign visitors aged 19–64 is ₩1,000. It is free for foreign visitors aged 18 and under or 65 and over, for anyone in hanbok, and for everyone on Wednesdays. Seokjojeon and Dondeokjeon are inside the palace and need no extra ticket; the Deoksugung branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, also inside the grounds, sells its own ticket. Deoksugung is included in the ₩6,000 integrated palace ticket, valid for six months, which also covers Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung (not the Secret Garden), Changgyeonggung and Jongmyo.

Tours and the Seokjojeon booking

• English palace tour, no booking. Under 10 people, just turn up at the palace map board about 10 m inside Daehanmun at 10:45 or 13:30, Tuesday–Sunday. Groups of 10 or more book by phone (02-751-0742).
• Seokjojeon is guided only. You cannot wander the museum on your own. Korean sessions run through the day and are booked on the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center website from one week ahead, 15 places per session and up to 5 per person.
• Walk-up places for foreign visitors. Each standard Korean session keeps 5 places for foreign visitors and over-65s, and the English sessions at 11:50 and 14:50 are booked at the Seokjojeon desk on the day. Bring your passport.
• Be on time. Seokjojeon lets you in from 3 minutes before your slot, and latecomers are turned away. The standard tour takes about 45 minutes.
• Tour rules. Foreign-language tours are for foreign visitors; Korean nationals can join only with a foreign companion. Recording the guide needs their consent, and tours are shortened or cancelled during weather advisories.

The rest of Seoul’s palace tours are compared in tours and activities in Korea.

What you see

• Daehanmun – the main gate on Sejong-daero, where the guard ceremony takes place. Costumed guards stand here from 10:00 to 15:30 between ceremonies.
• Junghwajeon – the throne hall of the Korean Empire, where state ceremonies were held, with a stone-paved courtyard in front.
• Seogeodang – a two-storey wooden hall left unpainted, the oldest corner of the palace, where King Seonjo lived after the Japanese invasion of the 1590s.
• Hamnyeongjeon – Emperor Gojong’s living quarters, where he died in 1919.
• Seokjojeon – the neoclassical stone hall with columns and a fountain garden in front, built as the emperor’s residence and office. It now houses the Daehan Empire History Museum, and the US–Soviet Joint Commission met here in 1946–47.
• Dondeokjeon – a red-brick, European-style reception hall for foreign envoys, demolished in the colonial era and rebuilt in 2023. It now holds exhibitions on Korean Empire diplomacy.
• Jungmyeongjeon – a separate exhibition hall of the palace a short walk away on Jeongdong-gil, outside the palace walls, with its own opening hours.

Getting there

Take Line 1 or 2 to City Hall Station and use Exit 2; Daehanmun is about two minutes’ walk. From Line 5, Gwanghwamun Station Exit 6 or Exit 2 is about ten minutes on foot. Buses stop at City Hall · Deoksugung (시청앞·덕수궁). A tap with a T-money card pays the fare; see the Seoul subway guide for how to ride. There is no car park. The address for taxis is 서울 중구 세종대로 99.

Tips for visiting

• Pair it with the evening. Deoksugung is open until 21:00, so it is the easiest palace to save for the end of the day after Gyeongbokgung or a museum.
• Walk the stone-wall road. Jeongdong-gil, the lane along the palace’s stone wall, is a well-known stroll and one of central Seoul’s best autumn-leaf streets.
• Plan around Monday. Deoksugung, Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung close on Mondays; Gyeongbokgung and Jongmyo close on Tuesdays.
• Combine it with the neighbours. Seoul Plaza is across the road, Gwanghwamun Square is north along Sejong-daero, and Myeongdong and Namdaemun Market are both within walking distance for shopping or dinner.
• Children. The grounds are flat and compact and the guard ceremony is a hit with children; foreign visitors aged 18 and under enter free.

History in brief

Deoksugung began as a private mansion of Grand Prince Wolsan. In 1593, after the Japanese invasion had destroyed every palace in the capital, King Seonjo returned and used it as a temporary palace. It became an official palace named Gyeongungung in 1611, then a secondary palace once Changdeokgung was rebuilt.

In 1897 Emperor Gojong returned here from the Russian legation, proclaimed the Korean Empire and made Gyeongungung its imperial palace, adding Western-style buildings beside the traditional halls. Much of it burned in a great fire in 1904. After Japan forced Gojong to abdicate in 1907 the palace was renamed Deoksugung. Under colonial rule (1910–1945) it lost most of its buildings and was turned partly into a public park; restoration has continued since the war, most recently with the rebuilding of Dondeokjeon in 2023.