South Korea Trip: Bukchon Hanok Village and Gyeongbokgung Palace

On the third day in Seoul, we planned to go to the north of Seoul to feel the traditional feeling of South Korea. We visited Bukchon Hanok Village and Gyeongbokgung Palace since both location are close to each other and can be reach by feet.

Bukchon Hanok Village is Korean traditional village. Bukchon means Nothern village while Hanok is the name of the traditional houses in there. Many houses in Bukchon have become cultural centers, but some of are still residence. Since many tourists visits this place, there are some board that reminds the tourist to not make loud sound especially at night because the residences in there may be disturbed by that sound.

we stopped at Anguk station, took exit 3, and start walking from there. Since Bukchon Hanok Village is a touristy place, so we could see many tourist, both local and foreign tourist walked to the village. My first thought when arrived at the Bukchon Hanok Village was "it's simply a residence". What we're trying to find was a spot that often appear in the internet when we googled "Bukchon Hanok Village". And when we found it, we directly took out the tripod and set timer, haha....

My favorit spot when visiting Bukchon was the place where we could see the Gyeongbokgung Palace from far away and the mountain in its background. I just love to see such landscape. 

With Gyeongbokgung and the mountain

And when we're going to leave the Bukchon, we found some funny painting at the walls. So we took a chance to grab picture with it.

pictures on the wall

the kissing scene

which one is real?

The distance from Bukchon Hanok Village to Gyeongbokgung is not far, and especially the view on the street is beautiful too, so you'll enjoy your walk.

with autumn leaves everywhere

finally we arrived at Gyeongbokgung palace. The guards in front of the palace as so tall and so stiff. I almost thought they were mannequin. 

Gyeongbokgung Palace's guardian

in front the palace

We were so lucky that not long after our arrival, it was the time for the guard changing ceremony. All tourists are directed to the audience place so they can enjoy and not disturb the ceremony at the same time.

changing guard ceremony

The ticket to enter Gyeongbokgung Palace is 3,000 won. Behind the ticket, you can learn the history of the palace. We could also find the map of the palace in the entrance.

Gyeongbokgung Palace entrance ticket

an informative ticket with the palace history behind it

location map

Two famous place inside Gyeoungbokgung that we visited was Gyeonghoe-ru Pavilion and Hyangwon-jeong. Gyeonghoe-ru Pavilion of National Treasure is where the king threw feast for foreign envoys or host court official. While Hyangwon-jeong is a palace back garden with a bridge to reach the artificial islet. The name itself means Pavilion of Far-Reaching Fragrance (details info can be found in here).

Gyeonghoe-ru Pavilion

Hyangwon-jeong

There are plenty of plants and trees inside Gyeongbokgung Palace, but my favorit is this mandarin orange tree. It was my first time seeing this tree, so it amazed me to see how cute the tree was.

the fruitful mandarin orange tree

XOXO,

The Tourist