SEOUL, S. KOREA: Half-Day Traditional Cultural Experience

KTO's Suggested Itineraries

for Independent Travelers

▩ Course Itinerary

- Insa-dong (Ssamziegil) - traditional temple food restaurant Sanchon - Tteok and Kitchen Utensil Museum - Changdeokgung Palace

This traditional cultural experience course in Seoul invites participants to see, hear, and experience the traditional culture of Korea. The course starts out with a visit to Insa-dong, Seoul’s well-known street of traditional culture, and the newly emerging tourist attraction, Ssamziegil. After working up an appetite, enjoy a traditional lunch, featuring Buddhist temple food at the restaurant, Sanchon. Then try tteok (Korean rice cakes) and tea for dessert at the Tteok and Kitchen Utensil Museum, which provides a wealth of information on the traditional cuisine of Korea. The experience is topped off with a guided visit to Changdeokgung Palace, one of Korea's top five royal palaces and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

▩ Brief Overview of Course Itinerary with Photos

Insa-dong, known as a street of traditional Korean culture

10:00 AM
Insa-dong is home to dozens of galleries, antique shops, traditional restaurants, teashops, and souvenir shops. In late 2004, the culture complex Ssamziegil opened. The new building has four above ground floors and two basement-level floors, where numerous shops exhibit and sell art. Both the building's architecture and the unique products and art are a pleasure to see, attracting throngs of digital-camera youngsters and tourists. A walk around Insa-dong and Ssamziegil takes about an hour.
Click here for detailed information on Insa-dong.
Click here for more on Ssamziegil.

Three-minute Walk

Traditional Buddhist Temple Food at Sanchon

11:30 AM
Sanchon is the most popular restaurant in Korea for Buddhist temple vegetarian cuisine. Prices for lunch (Noon ~ 4:20 pm / 18,700 won including tax) and dinner (5:00~10:00pm/ 31,900 won including tax) are quite different due to the staged performances in the evening. Of course, Buddhist temple food is always vegetarian.   The lunch takes about an hour.
Click here to visit Sanchon's website.

Ten-minute Walk

Tteok and Kitchen Utensil Museum

12:30 PM
The museum features café Jilsiru on the first floor, which sells traditional Korean rice cakes, or tteok, and tea. A restful stop to drink aromatic tea and savor tteok is sure to invigorate you. Make sure to bring your café receipt, and you’ll get free admission to the museum on the second floor. The time required for a visit of the museum, including the rice cake and tea break, varies but on average, it takes about 40 minutes.

Five-minute Walk

Changdeokgung Palace

1:30 PM
In order to safeguard the palace, listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, visitor access to the palace is limited to guided group tours. Guided tours in English are scheduled for 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, and 3:30 pm, so make sure to check the time in advance before visiting the palace. The guided tours take approximately 1 hour 20 minutes.
Click here for detailed information on Changdeokgung Palace.

▩ Course Map

▩ Total Expenses Incurred for the Course - As of March 2005

• Admission to Changdeokgung Palace: 3,000 won (Age between 19~64)
• Rice cake café Jilsiru: Red-ripe persimmon shake 6,000 won / Kkot sagwandanja rice cake 1,500 won / Yaksik (Steamed rice cake mixed with honey, dates and chestnuts) 1,500 won / Black sesame gureum tteok 1,500 won (Those holding a Jilsiru café receipt can visit the Tteok and Kitchen Utensil Museum for free. Otherwise, admission to the museum is 3,000 won)
• Lunch at Sanchon: 17,000 won (10% tax not included / 18,700 won including tax)
  Total: 32,200 won

View this itinerary on Korea Tourism Organization’s website.