Sejong National Arboretum's Little Prince exhibition — to 9 May 2027

Sejong National Arboretum has turned the special exhibition greenhouse inside its Four Seasons Exhibition Greenhouse into a Little Prince's journey across the Earth. The route runs from a village and a flower bed through a desert into dense forest, and along the way it shows how animals and plants lean on one another. Because it stays open until early May, it works for a winter visit or a spring one. The Korea Arboreta and Gardens Institute (KOAGI), which runs the arboretum, says it chose the theme after visitor surveys kept asking for an exhibition about animals.

What is in the Little Prince exhibition?

The exhibition is split into five themes. Life-size animal models — a giraffe, a koala — stand among real plants, and each space explains one relationship between living things. The examples the arboretum gives are the kind a child will ask about: why a camel can eat thorny plants, how a honeybee dances to tell the hive where flowers are, and why small creatures live in a sloth's fur.

1. Spaces that people, animals and plants share
2. Relationships between species, such as flowers and insects
3. How plants have changed to suit deserts, forests and other habitats
4. How a forest ecosystem connects and recycles
5. Why biodiversity is worth protecting

Is there a separate fee, and when should I go?

Neither the arboretum's own pages nor the press coverage mention a separate exhibition fee. The Four Seasons Exhibition Greenhouse is part of the arboretum, so a single admission ticket appears to cover it. Tickets cost KRW 5,000 for adults, KRW 4,000 for ages 13–18 and KRW 3,000 for ages 7–12; children aged 6 and under and visitors aged 65 and over enter free. Sejong residents get half price. Anyone entering free or at a discount still has to collect a ticket at the staffed counter and show ID.

From November to February the winter timetable applies: the gates close at 5pm and the last entry is at 4pm. The greenhouses take an hour or so and the outdoor gardens another hour or two, so arrive before 2pm in winter. The arboretum is closed on Mondays (the following day when Monday is a public holiday), on 1 January, and on Lunar New Year's Day and Chuseok Day.

Which Matisse displays can I see until the end of the year?

In the same building, the Mediterranean greenhouse has two displays built around Henri Matisse, both ending on 31 December 2026. Matisse's Flower Shop, which opened on 24 October, turns a small square in the Mediterranean hall into a flower market and recreates Matisse's primary-colour palette with many varieties of geranium. Each variety is labelled with how it grows, which makes it a good stop for gardeners.

The second, open since 3 July, is The Five-Colour Garden Henri Matisse Painted. It divides the cities Matisse lived in and the colours he favoured into seven themed spaces, filled with hydrangeas, staghorn ferns, nasturtiums and geraniums. Homage pieces by several artists stand around the garden, and it draws a lot of photographers.

How do I get there by public transport?

The usual route is from KTX Osong Station or Daejeon Station on a Sejong BRT bus towards the Government Complex Sejong, then a city bus to the 'National Sejong Arboretum' stop. Transfer points and route numbers do change, so check a map app before setting out. Drivers can use the arboretum car park, and on busy weekends the neighbouring Sejong Central Park car park as well. Weekend queues at the ticket office can be long.

Getting there from Seoul, and what to expect

From Seoul, a KTX train to Osong takes under an hour, and the BRT buses from Osong into Sejong run frequently; allow around two hours door to door from central Seoul. Naver Map and KakaoMap both give bus routes in English and are more reliable than Google Maps for Korean buses. At the gate, the ticket office and self-service kiosk sell same-day tickets, so there is nothing to book in advance and no Korean phone number is needed. The online ticket site is in Korean only. Inside, the exhibition text is Korean, but it is a visual show: you walk through a sequence of habitats with life-size animal models among real plants. Pair it with Sejong Lake Park next door if you have a free afternoon.