Changdeokgung Secret Garden tour: how to book it, and whether the English tour is worth it

The Secret Garden is the part of Changdeokgung everyone posts photos of, and it’s the one part you can’t just walk into. You buy a palace ticket at the gate like anywhere else, but the garden behind it (Huwon, also called Biwon) opens only to timed, guided groups, and in autumn the English slots can be gone days before you arrive. The booking system is simple once you know when tickets drop.

The short version

Every tour has 100 places. As of October 2026, 50 of them go on sale online at 10 a.m. Korea time, six days before the tour date, and the other 50 are sold at the palace ticket office on the day. In spring and autumn, book online the moment your date opens. Outside those seasons the walk-up share is a fair backup if you arrive in the morning, though nothing guarantees it.

English tours run at 10:30, 11:30, 14:30 and 15:30 from March to November, and drop the 15:30 slot from December to February. An adult pays 5,000 won (about $3.70) for the garden on top of the 3,000 won palace ticket, so 8,000 won in all. The palace is closed on Mondays.

Is the English tour worth it? Yes, mostly because it’s the simplest way in. The guide keeps the group moving and explains what each pavilion was for, and the garden is lovely enough that the time goes quickly. It’s not a deep history lecture, and time at each stop is limited, though you can take photos as long as you stay near the group.

How the Secret Garden tour works

Changdeokgung is two places with two tickets. The palace buildings near the front gate are open to anyone with a 3,000 won ticket. The garden takes up the wooded hills behind them, and you enter it at your ticket’s time with a guide, in a group of up to 100.

Each slot has one language. During English, Chinese and Japanese slots, Korean nationals can’t join, except up to two who are accompanying a foreign visitor. Korean-language tours run every hour, but the commentary is in Korean, so if those are the only slots left, ask at the ticket office whether you can join one.

The route changes with the season. From March to May and September to November it runs about 90 minutes and includes the Ongnyucheon stream area at the far end. In July, August and December to February it’s about 70 minutes and skips the stream. Allow up to 90 minutes in June to be safe. Expect these stops, in this order:

• Buyongji: a square pond with the Buyongjeong pavilion on its edge and the two-storey Juhamnu pavilion on the slope above.
• Aeryeonji: a smaller pond with a pavilion, reached through Bullomun, a stone gate.
• Yeongyeongdang: a house complex of plain wooden buildings around a courtyard.
• Jondeokjeong: a pavilion on the way to the stream valley, on the longer route.
• Ongnyucheon (spring and autumn): a stream valley with small pavilions at the far end of the garden.

There are no toilets inside the garden and the paths climb, so use the toilets near the entrance first. Anyone with limited mobility should know the walk is hilly the whole way.

Tour times, prices and opening hours

The palace itself keeps these hours, and the last entry is an hour before closing. It’s closed on Mondays; when a Monday is a public holiday, it opens that day and closes on the next working day instead.

Two free-entry rules don’t reach the garden. Under a plan the Korea Heritage Service announced in May 2026, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Jongmyo go free every Wednesday from October 2026, and anyone in hanbok gets into the palace free, but on both you still pay the 5,000 won garden fee. The same happened over Chuseok in September 2026, when the palaces were free and the garden wasn’t.

On fees: a plan reported in 2026 would raise Changdeokgung’s palace ticket to 5,000 won, but on October 8, 2026 the Korea Heritage Service listed the timing as undecided. The prices above still apply.

How to book online, step by step

1. Find your release time. Tickets for a given day go on sale at 10 a.m. Korea time six days earlier, and online sales close the day before. For a Saturday tour, that’s 10 a.m. on the Sunday before. Work out what 10 a.m. in Seoul is where you live.
2. Make an account first. Booking runs through the online reservation service linked from the official Changdeokgung site; the booking pages are on ticket.uforus.co.kr, which has an English version. Sign up a day or two before the release so you aren’t filling in forms while the slots go.
3. Pick the date, the language and the time. Sold-out slots show as “SOLD OUT”.
4. Pay within 24 hours. An unpaid booking is cancelled. If you book the day before your tour, you have until midnight that night.
5. Bring the real ticket. On the day, print a paper ticket at the machines near the gate, or show the live mobile ticket in your account, which activates 30 minutes before your tour. A screenshot of the confirmation page isn’t accepted.

Refunds: cancel more than two hours before the tour for a full refund, within two hours for 90%, and nothing once the tour has started.

You still need a palace ticket for the front gate. Buy it at the kiosks or ticket office when you arrive; it’s the garden that sells out, not the palace.

When the online tickets are gone

The 50 walk-up places per tour are sold first come, first served at the main ticket office near the front gate, Donhwamun. In spring and autumn the queue can be long, so arrive at opening if you’re relying on it. There’s also a small booth at the garden entrance that sells any places still left.

Tripadvisor reviews of the garden bear this out. Two visitors, in December 2024 and April 2026, sorted out their garden tour on the spot when online booking didn’t work out: one bought a ticket on site after giving up on the website, the other arrived early and swapped a Korean-language booking for an English tour. A third reviewer’s tip is to go early in the morning to buy on site. The December visitor went on a cold, quiet Christmas Eve and doubted it would be as easy on a busier day.

If you hold the 10,000 won combination palace pass, it doesn’t let you book online. You swap the voucher for a garden ticket at the Changdeokgung ticket office, so what you get depends on what’s left on the day.

Third-party sellers can no longer buy garden tickets in bulk, so older advice to “just book a day tour that includes the Secret Garden” may not work. If a tour company sells you a slot, check that it names a time.

Getting there and timing your day

Take Line 3 to Anguk Station and use Exit 3; the main gate is about a five-minute walk. From Jongno 3-ga (Lines 1, 3 and 5) it’s about 10 minutes on foot. There’s no parking at the palace.

From Donhwamun to the garden entrance is a 10 to 15 minute walk through the palace, past the throne hall, Injeongjeon. Go in at least an hour before your garden slot and see the palace buildings first. The garden entrance is the path on the left behind a barrier, not the small gate on the right.

Autumn colour in the garden usually runs from mid-October to mid-November, at its best from late October. Late-afternoon tours can leave the ponds in shade, so a midday or early-afternoon slot photographs better. Spring is the other peak season, with cherry blossom and long queues at the ticket office.

The palace sits right next to Changgyeonggung and a short walk from Gyeongbokgung, so it fits a palace morning easily. Our Gyeongbokgung guide covers that palace’s Tuesday closure and hanbok rules, and the 3-day Seoul plan shows where a palace morning fits.

The moonlight tour

Changdeokgung also runs a night tour, the Moonlight Tour (Dalbit Gihaeng), with a lantern walk through the palace and the Secret Garden, a flute performance and tea at the end. In autumn 2026 it ran from September 10 to October 17, Thursday to Sunday, at 30,000 won (about $22), in groups of 28. Foreign-language nights were September 20 and 27 and October 4 and 11, sold through Creatrip from August 28, so the 2026 run is over for English speakers. Watch for the next season’s announcement; seats are few and go fast.

Mistakes that catch visitors out

• Planning a Monday. It’s the closed day. Gyeongbokgung closes on Tuesdays instead, so swap the two if you need to.
• Waiting until you land to book. In spring and autumn the online English slots for popular days can sell out days before the date.
• Getting the release time wrong. It’s 10 a.m. Seoul time. From Europe or the Americas that’s the night before or the early hours.
• Arriving at your slot time at the main gate. You need 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the garden entrance, and the group leaves without you.
• Showing a screenshot. Use the live mobile ticket or a printed one.
• Assuming free Wednesday or hanbok covers the garden. They cover the palace. The garden is 5,000 won either way.
• Expecting to wander. The group sets the pace. You can take photos as you go, but not long, solo stops.

What we’d do

Visiting in spring (late March to May) or autumn (September to November): set an alarm for 10 a.m. Seoul time six days before your palace day and book an English slot online. Late-morning or early-afternoon slots get the best light.

Visiting in summer or winter: booking ahead is still the safe choice, but if your plans are loose, arrive at the ticket office at 9 a.m. and buy a walk-up place for the same day.

Holding a combination palace pass: go to the Changdeokgung ticket office early and swap it for a garden time before you do anything else.

Short on time or not keen on group walks: skip the garden and see the palace buildings alone for 3,000 won, or free on a Wednesday. You’ll miss the best part of Changdeokgung, but the throne hall and courtyards are worth an hour on their own.

Here on a Monday: go to Gyeongbokgung instead and move Changdeokgung to another day.

Questions people ask

Can you visit the Changdeokgung Secret Garden without a tour?

Not normally. The garden (Huwon) is a restricted area and you enter at a set time with a guide. Some past autumns had weeks of unguided viewing, so check the palace's notices for your dates.

When do Secret Garden tickets go on sale?

At 10 a.m. Korea time, six days before the tour date, through the reservation service linked from the official Changdeokgung site (ticket.uforus.co.kr). Online booking closes the day before. Half of each tour's 100 places are kept for sale on the day.

How much is the Secret Garden tour?

5,000 won for adults and seniors and 2,500 won for ages 7 to 18, on top of the palace ticket (3,000 won for adults). Children under 7 are free.

Is the Secret Garden free on Wednesdays or in hanbok?

No. Under a May 2026 plan Changdeokgung is free every Wednesday from October 2026, and hanbok wearers get in free, but both cover the palace grounds only. The garden ticket is still charged.

What time is the English Secret Garden tour?

10:30, 11:30, 14:30 and 15:30 from March to November, and 10:30, 11:30 and 14:30 from December to February. Chinese runs at 12:30 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, Japanese at 13:30 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

How long is the Secret Garden tour?

About 70 to 90 minutes. The longer route in spring and autumn includes the Ongnyucheon stream area; in midsummer and winter it's shorter and skips it. Allow 10 to 15 minutes to walk from the main gate to the garden entrance.

How we checked this

Change log

• October 13, 2026 First published.

Sources

3 of 15 from official sources. Official means the government or the operator itself, Press a news report, Other a guide, blog or reference site we used for context.

1. Official Visit Seoul (Seoul Tourism Organization): Changdeokgung Huwon tour times, fees and rules (updated 2026-09-09)
2. Official Seoul Metropolitan Government Mediahub: visiting tips for Changdeokgung Huwon (2025-04-17)
3. Other K-Trip Tips (Korea tourism data): Changdeokgung and Huwon, hours and closed day (updated 2025-07-22)
4. Press Segye Ilbo: royal tombs free every Wednesday, palaces and Jongmyo in stages from August (2026-05-27)
5. Other Yuga Crew: palaces free every Wednesday, Secret Garden fee stays (2026-05-29)
6. Press Kyunghyang Shinmun: palaces free over Chuseok 2026, Changdeokgung Huwon excluded (2026-09-26)
7. Press The Korea Times: Gov't 'undecided' on plan to raise admission fees to royal palaces, tombs (2026-10-08)
8. Press The Korea Times: Changdeok Palace opens Sept. 10 for moonlit evening tours of Secret Garden (2026-08-18)
9. Other Travel-Stained: Changdeokgung Secret Garden booking, payment and route by season (updated 2026-07-22)
10. Other Travel Classroom: Changdeokgung Secret Garden booking guide and refunds (2025-09-11)
11. Other Telltrip: Changdeokgung Huwon visit, fees and directions (updated 2026-08-11)
12. Other Where Are Those Morgans: how to visit Changdeokgung and the Secret Garden (updated 2025-03-11)
13. Press NS News: Changdeokgung Huwon opens for unguided viewing, autumn 2023 (2023-08-30)
14. Other Tripadvisor: Secret Garden (Seoul), traveler reviews (checked 2026-10-14)
15. Official Banque de France: euro reference rates, 9 October 2026 (USD 1.1206, KRW 1,503.27) (2026-10-09)

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