Huwon Secret Garden of Changdeokgung in Spring

I happened to be near Changdeokgung recently with my family. While I had a meeting nearby, my family decided to look around Changdeokgung palace and Huwon. Fortunately it was opened even during this Covid-19 period.

Huwon of the palace has been opened to public in limited areas only by touring with an official guide at scheduled hours for preservation of ecosystem because Changdeokgung has the broad mountainous districts exposed more fire risk and damage of dense forest than other palaces. That is why the individual viewing is usually not allowed in the Secret Garden of Changdeokgung. The tour by guides at scheduled hours is supposed to be conducted in limited areas.

However, at the moment, all official guided tours are cancelled due to the Coronavirus and only self-guided tours are available within the designated trail as below.

My little child was able to look around freely in the Secret Garden thanks to the self-guided tour. Perhaps the guided tour would have been hard for kids. The individual viewing is sometimes allowed on a special event, but reservations are required and limited at most times.

Each tour has only 100 tickets and half of those are available on the on-line booking site. The other half is sold in a ticket office on a first come first served basis. Tour lasts for 90 minutes (70 minutes in the hottest and coldest seasons).

With that being said, all guided tours are currently cancelled due to the spread of the Coronavirus. During this time, only self-guided tours are allowed within the designated route from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m.

Huwon is the filming location for the Netflix series, Kingdom. I don’t like the horror movie especially zombie movies, but I have heard good comments about this Korean style zombie movie which is very speedy and immersive. If you have watched the movie, it would be fun to find out where the locations were filmed in.

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Webpage : http://www.cdg.go.kr/eng/cms_for_cdg/contents/c3_1.jsp
Reservation for Secret Garden tour: https://ticket.uforus.co.kr/web/main?shopEncode=
Address : Yulgok-ro 99 Jongno-gu, Seoul
Telephone : +82) (0)2 3668 2300
Operating Hours :
April-October 09:00-19:00 (entrance available until 18:30)
November-March 09:00-18:00 (entrance available until 17:30)
※ Closed every Monday
Admission Fee :
Changdeokgung Adult (age 19-64) 3,000 won, Youth (age 7-18) 1,500 won
Huwon Adult (age 19~) 5000 won, Youth (age 7-18) 2,500 won
* You will need Changdeokgung ticket to visit Huwon since Huwon, the Secret Garden is a part of the palace.
Transportation
Subway : Anguk Station (Seoul Subway Line 3) Exit 3, Jongno 3-ga Station (Seoul Subway Line 1,3,5) Exit 6 or 7 (Ten minutes on foot from exit 6 of Jongro3ga station(line 1,3,5), five minutes on foot from exit 3 of Ahngook station(line3))
Bus : 109, 151, 162, 171, 172, 272, 7025
(Use bus numbers below and get off at Changdeokgung Palace bus stop.(5 min. walk from the bus stop)

Huwon Secret Garden of Changdeokgung