Seoul 7-Day Itinerary for a First Trip (2026)

A first week in Seoul works best as six days in the city and one day out: two palace days, a market and design day, a museum day, a Gangnam day, a day trip to Suwon’s fortress and a last half-day before the airport. That covers Seoul’s five royal sites, two of its best free museums and both sides of the Han River without long transfers. The one thing that can wreck the plan is the weekly closing day. Gyeongbokgung shuts on Tuesdays and Changdeokgung on Mondays, so the order of the days below matters more than the list of sights.

Every hour and price here was checked on the operators’ own pages (mostly in Korean) on 3 October 2026. If this is your first time in Korea, the logistics before Day 1 are in our Incheon Airport to Seoul guide and our transit card comparison. If you only have three days, our 3-day Seoul itinerary keeps the two palace days and the museum and drops Suwon and Gangnam. More plans will go in Itineraries.

The 7 days at a glance

The table assumes you land on Day 1 and fly home on the afternoon of Day 7. Each day stays in one part of the city, so most rides are a few subway stops.

Day 1: arrival and Namsan at night

Most flights land in the afternoon, so keep Day 1 light. The cheapest way into the city is the AREX all-stop train, ₩4,750 from Terminal 1 to Seoul Station with a transit card. The non-stop AREX Express is ₩13,000 and takes 43 minutes. All the options are compared in our Incheon Airport to Seoul guide. Buy a T-money card at the airport convenience store before you board. You’ll need it for the airport train and for Day 6 even if you buy a Climate Card later.

After check-in, go up Namsan. The Namsan cable car runs 10:00–23:00 every day (tickets until 22:30) and costs ₩15,000 return or ₩12,000 one way for adults. It sells tickets at the station only. N Seoul Tower’s observatory is open 10:00–22:30 on weekdays and to 23:00 on weekends and holidays, with last entry 30 minutes before closing, for ₩29,000. Both are optional: Namsan’s park and walking paths are free, so you can skip the tickets and still have an evening on the mountain.

Day 2: Gyeongbokgung, Bukchon and Insadong

Start at Gyeongbokgung when it opens at 09:00. In October it closes at 18:00 (last entry 17:00); from November to February it closes at 17:00, and it is closed every Tuesday. An adult ticket is ₩3,000, but buy the integrated ticket instead (see the table below). The Royal Guard Changing Ceremony at Gwanghwamun takes place at 10:00 and 14:00 and lasts about 20 minutes; a shorter gate-guard ceremony runs at 11:00 and 13:00.

Visitors wearing hanbok get in free at all the palaces and Jongmyo, foreigners included. The heritage service’s guideline asks for both a top and a bottom: a hanbok jacket with jeans doesn’t count.

Walk east to Bukchon after the palace. Since 1 March 2025 the red zone around Bukchon-ro 11-gil (about 34,000 m²) is open to tourists only from 10:00 to 17:00, and Seoul can fine visitors ₩100,000 outside those hours. These are lived-in houses, so keep your voice down and don’t open gates. From Bukchon it’s a short walk downhill to Insadong for lunch and tea. Finish at Cheonggyecheon, the restored stream that runs east from Cheonggye Plaza. The whole stream is 10.84 km long according to the Seoul Facilities Corporation, which runs it. Walk as far as you like and leave at any of the bridges.

Day 3: Changdeokgung, Jongmyo and Gwangjang Market

Changdeokgung is the palace to book ahead for. The palace itself costs ₩3,000 and is closed on Mondays. Its rear garden, Huwon (the Secret Garden), can only be seen on a guided tour that costs ₩5,000 on top of the palace ticket. English tours start at 10:30, 11:30, 14:30 and 15:30 from Tuesday to Sunday, last about 70 minutes, and the 15:30 slot runs only from March to November. The Ongnyucheon area is closed for restoration until further notice.

The Korea Heritage Service’s own page warns that tours in April–May and October–November sell out very quickly, so set an alarm for 10:00 Korea time six days before Day 3. The integrated palace ticket doesn’t include Huwon.

From Changdeokgung, walk south to Jongmyo, the royal ancestral shrine (₩1,000, closed Tuesdays). How you see it depends on the day. On Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays you can walk around on your own. On Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays it’s guided tours only, about 50 minutes, with English tours at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00. The heritage service’s pages disagree about Wednesdays: the hours page lists Wednesday as a free-viewing day and the Jongmyo guide page still lists it as a tour-only day. On a Wednesday, plan to join a tour.

Lunch or an early dinner is at Gwangjang Market, ten minutes’ walk east. VISITSEOUL lists the market as open 09:00–18:00 and closed on Sundays, while the food alley is open daily 09:00–23:00, so a Sunday still works for eating. End the day at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), open 10:00–20:00. Individual exhibitions keep their own hours.

Day 4: Yongsan museums and the river

The National Museum of Korea is free for its permanent galleries and needs at least half a day. It’s open 09:30–17:30 (last entry 17:00), and until 21:00 on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The whole museum closes on 1 January, Lunar New Year’s Day and Chuseok. The permanent galleries also close on the first Monday of June, September and December (7 December in 2026).

In the afternoon, take the short subway ride to the War Memorial of Korea at Samgakji (Lines 4 and 6). It’s free, open 09:30–17:40 with last entry at 17:00, and closed on Mondays. If a holiday period includes a Monday, it closes the day after the holidays instead. Some rented exhibitions charge extra.

For the evening, head to a Han River park such as Yeouido or Ttukseom. The Hangang Bus river boats were running again in 2026 for ₩3,000 one way, but Seoul is reviewing the fare and we couldn’t confirm the current timetable, so check before you plan around it. If Day 4 is a Wednesday or Saturday, you can reverse the order and keep the museum for the evening.

Day 5: Gangnam and Jamsil

Cross the river to see the newer half of Seoul. Bongeunsa, a Buddhist temple facing the COEX complex, is free and one minute from Exit 1 of Bongeunsa Station on Line 9. Next door, the Starfield Library in COEX Mall is free and open 10:30–22:00.

Finish at Lotte World Tower in Jamsil. Seoul Sky, the observation deck, opens at 10:30 and costs ₩33,000 for adults (₩29,000 for children). Closing time varies by date, from 22:00 to 23:00, and entry stops one hour before closing, so check the operator’s calendar for your day. If you’ve already been up N Seoul Tower, pick one tower, not both. The views overlap, and between them they cost ₩62,000.

Day 6: day trip to Suwon Hwaseong

Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon is the best day trip for a first visit that doesn’t need a tour. The walls are free and open at all hours, so you can walk them in the late afternoon light. Suwon city’s directions are to take subway Line 1 (or the Suin–Bundang Line) to Suwon Station, then bus 700-2, 7-2, 60 or 660 to Changnyongmun or Yeonmudae. Allow most of the day, including the ride.

Inside the walls, Hwaseong Haenggung, the king’s temporary palace, is open daily 09:00–18:00 for ₩2,000 (adults). Entry is free if you wear hanbok and on the last Wednesday of the month. In 2026 it also opens at night on Fridays, weekends and holidays until 1 November, though hours may change during the Suwon Hwaseong Cultural Festival (4–11 October 2026).

If you’d rather go further, a KTX day trip is possible, but our Korail Pass guide explains why single tickets usually beat a pass for one long ride a day. For guided trips, such as the DMZ, which can’t be visited on your own, a booking site is the practical route.

Day 7: Deoksugung and the trip home

Spend the last morning near City Hall. Deoksugung costs ₩1,000, open 09:00–21:00 every day except Monday, with last entry at 20:00. A Seoul city page lists a guard ceremony at its Daehanmun gate at 11:00 and 14:00, but that schedule dates from 2024, so treat it as a bonus rather than a fixed slot. It’s next to City Hall Station, one stop from Seoul Station on Line 1, so you can collect your bags afterwards and take the AREX back to the airport from Seoul Station. Allow about an hour on the all-stop train to Terminal 1, plus your airline’s check-in time.

Palace tickets and closing days

All five royal sites are run by the Korea Heritage Service, and their closing days and fees are the core of this plan.

The integrated ticket saves ₩3,000 if you visit all five and breaks even at Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung and one ₩1,000 site. It’s sold at the palace ticket offices, allows one entry per site, and can be refunded only if you haven’t used it anywhere. Foreigners under 18 or aged 65 and over get in free, as does anyone in hanbok.

Wednesdays may also be free at some palaces this autumn. The heritage service’s fee page now lists free entry every Wednesday (“Culture Day”) except at Gyeongbokgung and the Secret Garden. Korean press reports say it is being phased in, with Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Jongmyo due to join from October 2026. Treat it as a possible saving, not something to plan around.

Budget for 7 days

The table below covers only the costs we could check on official pages: airport trains, city transit and sightseeing tickets for this plan. Hotels, food and flights aren’t included. For those, plus data and KTX fares, use our Korea trip cost estimator. If you’re travelling on a backpacker budget, our Korea on a budget guide adds a youth-hostel capsule bed and Seoul’s average set-meal prices to make a full day cost.

City transit comes on top. A Seoul subway ride is ₩1,550 with a transit card, and a city bus is ₩1,500. At three or four rides a day for five Seoul days, that’s roughly ₩23,000–31,000 on T-money before transfer discounts. The Climate Card’s 7-day pass costs ₩20,000 plus ₩3,000 for the card and breaks even at about 13 rides. It wins if you ride a lot, but it starts on the day you charge it, can’t be bought or used at the airport, and doesn’t cover Suwon. The full rules are in our T-money vs WOWPASS vs Climate Card guide.

When to go and what to book first

The plan works in any season, but hours shrink in winter: Gyeongbokgung closes at 17:00 from November to February, and the walls at Suwon get cold. May and October are the most comfortable months for days of walking, as our Korea weather by month guide shows. October is also when the Secret Garden is hardest to book. Watch the public holidays as well. In 2026, 5 October is a substitute holiday and Hangeul Day is 9 October, so palaces and Jongmyo follow holiday rules on those days and get busier.

Getting data sorted before you fly makes every day of this plan easier, since bus routes and walking directions come from Naver Map or Kakao Map. Our eSIM vs SIM vs pocket Wi-Fi comparison covers the options, and the first-trip checklist lists the rest.

Common mistakes on a first Seoul week

• Putting Gyeongbokgung on a Tuesday or Changdeokgung on a Monday. Check the weekday of each day before you book anything.
• Leaving the Secret Garden until you arrive. Half the places are sold online, and in October they go fast.
• Visiting Bukchon after 17:00. It’s the residents’ time, and fines apply in the red zone.
• Buying a Climate Card at the airport. It isn’t sold there, and you can’t board the airport train with it.
• Doing both towers. N Seoul Tower and Seoul Sky cost ₩62,000 between them for similar views. Pick one.
• Trying to fit Busan in. A Busan side trip needs at least two nights. With seven days, stay in Seoul or read our KTX booking guide and cut a city day; with ten, our Korea 10-day itinerary adds Gyeongju and Busan to four Seoul nights.