Why “closed on Tuesdays” is not the whole answer
Korea Heritage Service, which runs the palaces, publishes the rule in one sentence: if a regular closing day falls on a public holiday, the site opens that day, and the first following non-holiday day becomes the closing day instead.
That sounds like a footnote. In practice it relocates closures by one to three days, several times a year, and it does so unpredictably — because Seollal and Chuseok follow the lunar calendar and drift through the week, dragging substitute holidays behind them. An English guide written last year cannot be right about it, and almost none try.
- Mon 16 – Wed 18 Feb Seollal. Three consecutive public holidays.
- Tue 17 Feb Gyeongbokgung's usual closing day is a holiday, so it opens.
- Wed 18 Feb The closure looks for the next non-holiday. Still a holiday. Keep going.
- Thu 19 Feb Not a holiday. The closure lands here.
The Monday-closing palaces shift out of 16 February the same way and arrive on the same Thursday. All five sites close together on a date no calendar shows.
Hours and closing days for all five sites
Admission prices are for adults. Hours are seasonal; the checker above applies the right band for your dates automatically. A ₩6,000 combined ticket covers all four palaces plus Jongmyo and stays valid six months — cheaper than three separate tickets, and it does not include Changdeokgung's Secret Garden.
Entry is free for anyone wearing hanbok, and free for everyone on Culture Day, the last Wednesday of each month. Free entry is also being extended to every Wednesday, site by site — Deoksugung since August 2026, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Jongmyo from October 2026. Gyeongbokgung is held back over crowding with no date announced. The checker marks which sites are free on each of your days. Age-based exemptions exist but the published bands differ between Korean and foreign visitors and between official pages, so check at the ticket window rather than relying on any guide, including this one.
| Site | Closes | Hours | Adult | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gyeongbokgung경복궁 | Tuesdays | 09:00–17:00 (Nov–Feb) 09:00–18:00 (Mar–May, Sep–Oct) 09:00–18:30 (Jun–Aug) |
₩3,000 | Last admission one hour before closing. |
| Changdeokgung창덕궁 | Mondays | 09:00–17:30 (Nov–Jan) 09:00–18:00 (Feb–May, Sep–Oct) 09:00–18:30 (Jun–Aug) |
₩3,000 | UNESCO listed. The Secret Garden is a separate ₩5,000 timed ticket, and you must buy the palace ticket too. |
| Changgyeonggung창경궁 | Mondays | 09:00–21:00 year-round | ₩1,000 | Ticketing closes 20:00, grounds at 21:00. |
| Deoksugung덕수궁 | Mondays | 09:00–21:00 year-round | ₩1,000 | Same late hours as Changgyeonggung. Ticketing closes 20:00. |
| Jongmyo Shrine종묘 | Tuesdays | 09:00–17:30 (Nov–Jan) 09:00–18:00 (Feb–May, Sep–Oct) 09:00–18:30 (Jun–Aug) |
₩1,000 | UNESCO listed. Weekdays are guided entry only — timed slots, no walk-in. Free roaming on weekends, public holidays and Culture Day. |
A guide to each site
Each guide lists that site's moved closing days, ceremony and tour times, tickets and the nearest subway exit, checked against Korea Heritage Service's own pages.
- GyeongbokgungGuard changing at 10:00 and 14:00, closed Tuesdays
- ChangdeokgungSecret Garden tour times and how to book
- ChanggyeonggungOpen until 21:00, what you can see after dark
- DeoksugungGuard changing at 11:00 and 14:00, open until 21:00
- Jongmyo ShrineWhich days need a guided tour, English tour times
Prefer it in your calendar? Subscribe to every closing day for all five sites; each guide also has a feed for that site alone.
Every closing day that moves
Generated from the holiday calendar, not written by hand. These are the dates where the published weekday is wrong — a palace is open when you expect it shut, or shut on a day you would never check.
2026
2027 · provisional
Questions people actually ask
Is Gyeongbokgung open on Tuesday?
Normally no — Tuesday is its weekly closing day. But if that Tuesday is a Korean public holiday, it opens, and the closure moves to the next non-holiday day. Put the date into the checker above rather than trusting the weekday.
Which palace is open on Monday?
Gyeongbokgung and Jongmyo Shrine. Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Deoksugung close on Mondays. So a Monday in Seoul is a Gyeongbokgung day, and a Tuesday is a Changdeokgung day — unless a holiday has moved things.
Are the palaces open during Seollal and Chuseok?
Yes. The palaces open on public holidays, and admission is often free on the main holiday days. The catch is the day after: the closure that was displaced by the holiday has to land somewhere, and it usually lands mid-week.
Can I visit all five palaces in one day?
Physically yes — they are within a few kilometres of each other, and the ₩6,000 combined ticket covers all five for six months. Any day that is neither a Monday nor a Tuesday has all five open. Note that on weekdays Jongmyo admits visitors only on guided timed slots, so it needs planning around rather than dropping in.
When is admission free?
Free for anyone wearing hanbok — the reason you see so many rented outfits at the gates. Free for everyone on Culture Day, the last Wednesday of every month, when Jongmyo also drops its guided-tour requirement.
Free entry is being extended to every Wednesday, one site at a time: Deoksugung since August 2026, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Jongmyo from October 2026. Gyeongbokgung is excluded for now because of crowding. Note that a free Wednesday at Jongmyo still means guided timed entry — the fee is waived, not the booking. Age-based exemptions exist, but the published bands differ between Korean and foreign visitors, so check at the window.
Do I need to book ahead?
Not for general palace admission. Changdeokgung's Secret Garden and most Jongmyo visits are timed and do sell out, especially in autumn. Wearing hanbok gets you in free at all five.
Where this comes from
Opening hours and the closing-day rule come from Korea Heritage Service. Public holidays, including the lunar dates and substitute days that drive the shifts, come from Korea's official holiday calendar — the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute is the authoritative source, and it is what this site is built to track.
Dates for 2027 are provisional until the government confirms the following year's calendar, and the checker labels them as such.