Changgyeonggung free phone audio guide in English — from 29 Oct

Changgyeonggung Palace's management office, part of the Korea Heritage Service's Royal Palaces and Tombs Center, has launched a smartphone audio guide with Shinhan Bank, one of the companies in the service's heritage-guardian partnership. Instead of waiting for a scheduled tour, you walk the palace at your own pace and scan the code on the board in front of each hall to hear its story. It is the Changgyeonggung chapter of an audio-guide series the bank has been producing since 2020, starting with Sungnyemun Gate and continuing through Deoksugung, Changdeokgung and Jongmyo Shrine.

How do you use it — one QR scan, no app

1. Point your phone camera at the QR code on the board at the Honghwamun entrance or in front of a hall.
2. The Changgyeonggung audio-guide page on Shinhan Bank's Beautiful Bank site opens. There is no login or payment step.
3. Choose a language tab at the top — Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese or the sign-language video — and play the track you want.

The page has a play-all button that runs the tracks in order and a map of the palace. It asks listeners to use earphones so as not to disturb other visitors, so bring a pair. You can listen anywhere along the permitted visitor route during opening hours.

Who narrates it, and in which languages

The Korean version is voiced by the actors Kim Young-min and Kim Hyun-joo together with professional voice artists. Between the straightforward explanations of each building's history and use, there are short dramatised scenes of events that took place there. According to the guide page, Kim Young-min reads tracks 1 to 5 and 10, and Kim Hyun-joo tracks 6 and 7.

The English, Chinese and Japanese versions were each recorded by professional voice artists in that language, and a Korean Sign Language video for deaf visitors sits on the same page. A mixed group can scan the same code and each listen in their own language.

How is the route laid out

The guide is split into five sections that walk you from the main gate through the outer court, the inner court and the rear garden. Played in order, they make one natural circuit of the palace.

The inner-court section passes the halls where the royal family lived — Gyeongchunjeon and Hwangyeongjeon, Tongmyeongjeon and Yanghwadang, Yeongchunheon and Jipbokheon — with stories of the people who were born and lived in them. Changgyeonggung normally stays open until 9 pm, so you can arrive around sunset and listen in front of the lit halls.

Climbing into the rear garden you reach the stone chamber and stele where King Seongjong's placenta was buried, Chundangji Pond with its autumn colour, and the Great Greenhouse, built in 1909 as Korea's first Western-style glasshouse. The greenhouse is a registered national heritage building and is currently inside the area open both by day and by night.

Phone guide or a tour with a guide — which suits you

Changgyeonggung also has scheduled tours led by a heritage guide. If you want to walk for about an hour and ask questions, take the guided tour; if you cannot fit a fixed time, or want to linger at one hall, the phone guide is the better fit. The Royal Palaces and Tombs Center lists guided-tour information on its English site; check the times for your day before you go.

What to know before a November visit

• Admission: from Thursday 29 October to Sunday 15 November the four palaces, Jongmyo and the royal tombs are free, Changgyeonggung included. After that it is KRW 1,000 for adults, and free every Wednesday.
• Closed: every Monday — in November, the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th.
• Hours: normally 9 am to 9 pm (last entry 8 pm), but from Tuesday 10 to Sunday 15 November regular evening entry is suspended for the Donggwol Dongnak night programme: last entry 4:30 pm, closing 5:30 pm.
• Enquiries: Changgyeonggung management office, +82 2-2172-0106 (Korean).

In its past palace foliage notices the Korea Heritage Service has picked the area around Chundangji Pond as Changgyeonggung's best spot for autumn colour. Nothing has been announced about this year's peak, so for an early-November visit it is worth checking recent photos on the palace's official social media first.

Getting there and what to expect on the day

Changgyeonggung's main gate, Honghwamun, is on Changgyeonggung-ro in Jongno-gu. The nearest subway stops are Hyehwa Station on Line 4 and Anguk Station on Line 3; from either it is a walk of roughly 15 to 20 minutes, and Changgyeonggung shares a wall and a connecting gate with Changdeokgung, so the two make one visit. You do not need to book entry: walk in, and during the free period there is no ticket to buy. The palace's information boards carry English beside the Korean, and the audio guide fills in the stories the boards leave out. Nothing in the guide asks for a Korean phone number, card or account — it is an ordinary web page — but it streams, so have mobile data, a roaming plan or a local SIM. The palace does not lend devices or earphones.