Day Trips from Seoul: DMZ, Suwon, Incheon and Nami Island

Four day trips cover most of what visitors ask about: the DMZ, Suwon’s fortress, Incheon and Nami Island. Each has its own page on the map with fees and closing days.

The DMZ

The DMZ has restricted access. Go through official channels only, and bring a passport or alien registration card, since individual visits aren’t allowed on the tunnel tours.

Imjingak is in Paju, about 56 km from Seoul City Hall and about 7 km from the DMZ itself. The park around it has no entry fee, and parking runs from ₩1,000 for compact cars to ₩5,000 for buses. The 3rd Tunnel is an infiltration tunnel under the DMZ, visited by guided tour, and it’s closed on Mondays. Entry by monorail is ₩12,200 for adults, or ₩9,200 on foot. Dora Observatory is a viewing point near the Military Demarcation Line, closed on Mondays. Odusan Unification Observatory looks across the river to North Korea and has free admission, with last ticketing at 16:30.

Panmunjeom Joint Security Area can be visited only on a tour arranged through an operator designated by the United Nations Command. Tour days are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and visitors aged 7 and under aren’t admitted. The VisitKorea page doesn’t say whether tours are running now, so check panmuntour.go.kr before you plan around it.

Suwon

Hwaseong Fortress is the UNESCO-listed wall around Suwon’s old town, and walking the wall is free. Hwaseong Haenggung Palace is the temporary palace inside it, with adult tickets at ₩2,000. The integrated ticket with the Suwon museums is ₩4,000 for adults. Suwon Hwaseong Museum is closed on Mondays.

Incheon

Incheon Chinatown sits beside Incheon Station and formed after the port opened in 1883. Songdo Central Park is a free seawater park open 24 hours, and Incheon Grand Park has a zoo and botanical garden with free park entry.

Nami Island

Nami Island is a river island reached by ferry from Gapyeong. The ₩19,000 adult ticket includes the round-trip ferry, and ferries run every 10 to 20 minutes from 09:00 to 18:00, with longer hours in blossom, summer and foliage seasons.

For things to do inside the city, see things to do in Seoul.

Places in this guide

Photos show the actual places, licensed under Creative Commons and credited to their photographers.

The 3rd Tunnel DMZ Photo: JoshBerglund19 Dora Observatory DMZ Photo: Abasaa / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) Odusan Unification Observatory DMZ Photo: Andrew and Annemarie Panmunjeom Joint Security Area DMZ Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) Hwaseong Haenggung Palace Suwon Photo: Adil / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) Suwon Hwaseong Museum Suwon Photo: hyolee2 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)