Changdeokgung's in-depth tours are Korean-only — free entry to 15 Nov

Changdeokgung's standard tour covers the long route from the main gate past Injeongjeon and Huijeongdang; the in-depth tour picks one quarter of the palace and stays there with a guide. The morning course is Gwolnaegaksa, the offices where officials worked beside the king; the afternoon course is Nakseonjae, a residence King Heonjong built in the style of a scholar's house. With 15 people a session it is far closer listening than a standard tour shared with coach parties. The catch for a visitor is language: the guides are volunteers from two Korean heritage groups and the talk is in Korean. If you understand Korean, until 15 November it costs nothing at all.

How do the two courses differ?

In one line: the morning is the palace's government offices, the afternoon is a scholar-style house inside the palace. The times do not overlap, so you can book both on the same day.

Why palace admission is free until 15 November

From Thursday 29 October to Sunday 15 November 2026, the Korea Grand Festival makes the four palaces, Jongmyo and the royal tombs free. At Changdeokgung you walk in without a ticket; the regular Monday closure and the Secret Garden special tours are excluded. Both in-depth courses are in the palace-building area, not the Secret Garden, so they are unaffected. The free period is covered in our free-admission guide.

• Tour days left in the free period — Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November and Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November.
• When booking opens — by the eight-days-ahead rule, the 13 November sessions opened at midnight on 5 November, 14 November opens on 6 November and 15 November on 7 November.
• Winter hours — November to January 9am–5:30pm, last entry 4:30pm, closed Mondays (Seoul palace winter hours).

What the Gwolnaegaksa course covers

Gwolnaegaksa means the government offices inside the palace: the bodies that served the king most closely, gathered west of Injeongjeon. The Office of Special Advisers, the Office of Royal Decrees, Gyujanggak and the royal clinic all stood here. Most of it was torn down under Japanese rule and has been rebuilt since restoration began in the 1990s. The course goes from the entrance through Jinseonmun and Injeongmun gates to the throne hall, Injeongjeon, then west into the offices: the clinic, Gyujanggak and Geomseocheong.

Injeongjeon is Changdeokgung's throne hall, used for coronations and the reception of foreign envoys; the present building dates from 1804, the fourth year of King Sunjo.

What were Gyujanggak, Geomseocheong and the royal clinic?

• Gyujanggak — not the same building as the Gyujanggak (Juhamnu) in the Secret Garden. It was built among the offices in 1781 as a workplace for the royal library's working staff.
• Geomseocheong — attached to Gyujanggak, where the copy editors who checked and transcribed books worked and kept night duty.
• Royal clinic — the medical office that looked after the royal family's health (also called Naeuiwon); its restoration was completed in 2005.

What the Nakseonjae course covers

King Heonjong built Nakseonjae in 1847, his 13th year, as a study and retreat; the next year Seokbokheon, for his consort Gyeongbin Kim, and Sugangjae, for the queen dowager Sunwon, were added to form today's compound. Only two buildings inside the palaces were built as scholar-style houses — Nakseonjae and Yeongyeongdang in the Secret Garden — which is why its unpainted timber looks so different from the other halls.

The Nakseonjae compound is also where the last members of the Korean imperial family lived until 1989. According to the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center's timeline, Empress Sunjeong, Crown Princess Yi Bangja and Princess Deokhye lived here; Princess Deokhye and Yi Bangja died in 1989.

How to book, and where to meet

• Route — Royal Palaces and Tombs Center website → Integrated Booking → events → Changdeokgung → choose the in-depth course, which hands you to Naver's booking page (Korean only).
• Booking window — from 00:00 eight days before your date until 30 minutes before the start, first come first served; 15 per session, up to 3 tickets per booking.
• Cancellation — until 23:00 the day before.
• If it is full — places left by no-shows go to walk-ins, so go to the desk before the start.
• Meeting point — enter by Geumhomun gate and turn left to the desk in front of the World Heritage stone; bookings are checked from 10 minutes before. The booking page also gives the start as the general information map, so follow the staff on site.
• Not allowed — camera flash and food. Ages 13 and up only.

In short, until 15 November both the talk and the entry are free, which makes this the best time to try the in-depth tour if you follow Korean. Book the Nakseonjae course first and wait for the Gwolnaegaksa course to be confirmed. No end date or winter break is given, so for December onwards check with the palace office (+82-2-3668-2300) or the booking calendar.

If you do not speak Korean: getting there and the English tours

Changdeokgung is a five-minute walk from Anguk Station (line 3, exit 3); the main gate, Donhwamun, faces the road, and Geumhomun, where the in-depth tours meet, is just west of it. The palace runs its own guided tours of the buildings in English Tuesday to Sunday at 10:15am and 1:15pm; the guided-tour page lists the times, and the palace office (+82-2-3668-2300) can confirm the meeting point. English tours of the Secret Garden leave at 10:30, 11:30, 2:30 and 3:30 until the end of November and need a separate KRW 5,000 ticket, half of which sell online. For the in-depth tour itself, the barrier is not only the language: booking goes through Naver, which needs an account, and Naver's passport verification for foreigners without a Korean phone (introduced in June 2026) has not been confirmed to work for this booking. A friend with a Korean Naver account, or a no-show place at the desk, are the realistic routes in.