Gyeongbokgung Palace
25 people recommend, 6 warn against itvia r/korea, r/koreatravel, r/seoul, X30 comments cited below
The comments cited below are a sample of the full tally across 33 threads.
What people say, in short
Many visitors recommend Gyeongbokgung Palace, and a few mention its guard-changing ceremony. Some suggest walking the grounds in hanbok, a couple of visitors say a visit fills a few hours, and a few say it can be combined with nearby Deoksugung, Changdeokgung or Bukchon in one walkable day. Caveats include a few visitors who find it crowded, a few who mention protests nearby, and a few who prefer Changdeokgung, while one visitor warns demonstrations can make it hard to enter. One visitor finds dressing in hanbok cheesy, and another warns that winter cold can make a full day of palaces exhausting.
Address
Gyeongbokgung Palace, 161 Sajik-ro, Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea
At a glance
- Opinions divided
- Yes
- Known for
- Guard changing ceremony, Walking the grounds in hanbok
- Crowds
- Crowded
Nearby on this map
Other places on this map closest to Gyeongbokgung Palace, as the crow flies.
The evidence
Every point below is paraphrased from a real public comment, ordered by how much the community engaged with it. Caveats and negatives are kept in — follow any link to read the original for yourself.
- Recommendsu/Otherwise_Slide2656 in r/korea · Sep 2025
Author calls Gyeongbokgung great, though they feel most visitors see only this palace.
- Recommendsu/slingingsalmon in r/koreatravel · Mar 2024
Enjoyed the palace tour and guard changing ceremony; listed as a place worth visiting.
- Recommendsu/Sea-Walk7506 in r/koreatravel · Aug 2026
Suggests booking a guided tour of Gyeongbok Palace as part of a luxury Seoul trip.
- Caveatu/megatron1955 in r/koreatravel · Aug 2025
Finds dressing in hanbok before visiting cheesy and suggests skipping it for Changdeokgung.
- Recommendsu/yz7890 in r/korea · Sep 2025
Calls Gyeongbokgung good, but places Changdeokgung above it as the commenter's favorite.
- Recommendsu/SeoulSkinNotes in r/koreatravel · Sep 2026
Suggests picking Gyeongbokgung as the one palace to visit, since seeing every palace is unnecessary.
- Recommendsu/nutmac in r/koreatravel · May 2026
Suggested as a morning stop on day two, with the changing-of-the-guard ceremony noted as a reason to go.
- Recommendsu/Ok_Sir_7220 in r/koreatravel · Mar 2025
Recommends choosing this palace as the largest option, and suggests picking only one or two palaces.
Show all 30 cited comments
- Recommendsu/mustachebutter in r/seoul · Aug 2024visit time
Suggests Gyeongbokgung as a way to fill the free hours and says their own visit took about two hours.
- Recommendsu/blableblibloblubly in r/seoul · Jul 2024uniqueness
Lists the palace entrance among the few historical spots worth seeing during a brief city visit at night.
- Recommendsu/ENInspires in r/koreatravel · Oct 2026access
Visited on foot on day one; says it fits easily into one day alongside Bukchon and Changdeokgung.
- Caveatu/_housekeeper in r/seoul · Sep 2026visit time
Says squeezing this palace plus several other sights into one day is exhausting in winter cold; advises choosing a single palace.
- Recommendsu/Lassinportland in r/koreatravel · Jan 2026seasonality
Says the area beside the palace should be in bloom during flower season, so a visit then could suit.
- Recommendsu/Any_Butterscotch2224 in r/Living_in_Korea · Dec 2025
Recommended as a palace worth seeing and listed first in a top-10 list of Seoul attractions.
- Caveatu/minor_redundancies in r/koreatravel · Aug 2025crowds
Finds it always crowded with little shade, and its architecture matches Changdeokgung's.
- Recommendsu/AccordingIy in r/koreatravel · Dec 2024access
Says the palaces sit close together and can be seen in a single day.
- Recommendsu/uReallyShouldTrustMe in r/koreatravel · Aug 2024
Agrees with the palace suggestion and points out the correct spelling of its name.
- Recommendsu/johanndaniel in r/seoul · Mar 2024visit time
Considers it the strongest of the palaces, and says it fills two to three hours or a half day.
- Caveatu/Bulky-Bad9312 in r/koreatravel · Oct 2026crowds
Says the guard-changing ceremony there was packed, so arriving early helps get a front spot.
- Recommendsu/karlz2karlz in r/koreatravel · Oct 2026uniqueness
Describes it as the iconic palace, in contrast to Changdeokgung.
- Recommendsu/Wide-Musician3266 in r/koreatravel · Aug 2026
As a Seoul resident, calls a Gyeongbokgung visit in rented hanbok worth the hype.
- Recommendsu/a69tdg in r/seoul · Aug 2026
Suggests the palace could be an interesting visit.
- Caveatu/AlikaTT2020 in r/seoul · May 2026crowds
Visited on a holiday Monday and found it very crowded; they hadn't realised it was a holiday.
- Recommendsu/krazyboi in r/seoul · May 2026
Suggests the palace as a place to try.
- Recommendsu/saracha1 in r/seoul · Oct 2025uniqueness
Strongly suggests going there while wearing rented traditional dress.
- Caveatu/aegookja in r/seoul · Dec 2024access
Says this palace may be hard to enter during demonstrations because it sits beside a major protest gathering spot.
- Recommendsu/Budget_Ad_3776 in r/seoul · Oct 2024
Says they visited this palace alone and listed it among the many things to do in Seoul.
- Recommendsu/firephoenix0013 in r/seoul · Aug 2024uniqueness
Recommends wearing hanbok to walk through the palace, calling it surreal and distinctive.
- Recommendsu/Legitimate-Complex88 in r/seoul · Feb 2024visit time
Suggests seeing the palace on a short trip into the city if the traveller accepts the travel risk.
- Recommends@bessonopriienko on X · Nov 2026weather
Author says the rain ended and they are going back to revisit the palace.
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Freshness
Details last checked 3 Nov 2026. Recommendations reflect what people said at the time; confirm current details before you go.