Seoul NowFree palace entry gets you through Changdeokgung's front gate this autumn, but not into the Changdeokgung Secret Garden. From October 29 to November 15, 2026, the palace grounds cost nothing. The guided Huwon (후원) tour still has a price and a fixed start time.
- Fee: ₩5,000 per adult for each Huwon tour, festival or not
- Booking: online seats open at 10:00 KST six days before your visit
- Best time: a 10:30 or 11:30 English session, Tuesday to Thursday, November 10 to 12
In this guide:
- Is the Changdeokgung Secret Garden free during the 2026 palace festival?
- What does the Huwon tour cover, and when do the leaves peak?
- How do you book a Huwon ticket?
- How do you get to Changdeokgung and the Huwon meeting point?
- Which Huwon tour time is least crowded?
- Visiting Huwon with kids, a wheelchair or a special diet
- What to see near Changdeokgung after the Secret Garden
- Your Changdeokgung Secret Garden plan for November 2026
- FAQ
Is the Changdeokgung Secret Garden Free During the 2026 Palace Festival?
No. Seoul's four main palaces are free from October 29 to November 15, 2026, but the Huwon tour sits outside that offer. ZDNet Korea lists Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Deoksugung as free for those 18 days of the 2nd Korea Grand Festival, along with Jongmyo Shrine and the Joseon Royal Tombs. The Korean travel news site 여행픽 points out the catch. Huwon's special tour and other reservation-only programmes are excluded, and regular closing days still apply.
Uforus (유포러스), the official ticketing site, settles it in its Huwon booking guide. Every adult pays ₩5,000 for the garden, including hanbok wearers and seniors who enter the palace free.
| What (Oct 29 to Nov 15, 2026) | Price | Booking | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Changdeokgung palace grounds | ₩0 | Not needed | No visitor cap during the festival |
| Huwon guided tour, adult | ₩5,000 | Required, set time | 100 per session (50 online, 50 on site) |
| Huwon for hanbok wearers and seniors | ₩5,000 | Required | Palace entry is free; the garden is not |
| English palace-building tour | ₩0 | Not needed | 10:15 and 13:15, about 50 minutes |
The ₩5,000 figure is the adult fare. Check the fare for children and teenagers on the Uforus booking page before you pay.
Assume two adults visit together and each arrives in Seoul on the Airport Railroad Express (AREX). Their Huwon tickets come to ₩5,000 × 2 = ₩10,000, and palace entry adds nothing. The festival also gives foreign visitors ₩2,000 off AREX, 25% off portable Wi-Fi rental and 10% off cultural goods at K-Heritage shops. Multilingual welcome desks run at major airports and ports from October 30 to November 15. For the couple, the AREX discount is worth ₩2,000 × 2 = ₩4,000, which covers 40% of their garden tickets.
What Does the Huwon Tour Cover, and When Do the Leaves Peak?
Huwon is the rear garden of Changdeokgung Palace (창덕궁), and you can only enter with a guide at a set time. The Royal Palaces and Tombs Center (궁능유적본부), the agency that runs Seoul's royal palaces, puts the tour at about 70 minutes. Each session is capped at 100 people, with 50 tickets sold online and 50 at the ticket office. Some travel blogs describe a longer autumn route, so keep the hour after your session free.
That cap is what keeps the garden calm. During the festival, nothing limits how many people fill the palace courtyards. Inside Huwon, you share the path past Buyongji Pond (부용지) and Jondeokjeong Pavilion (존덕정) with 99 other visitors at most.
Timing the colours matters as much as dodging crowds. YTN reports that the reference maple at the Seoul weather station reached first foliage on October 27, 2026. That means about 20% of its leaves had turned. In a normal year, the same tree peaks on November 8. Set those dates against the free-entry window and the best overlap falls around November 5 to 12, provided this autumn follows the usual pattern.
Expect less vivid colour than usual, though. YTN links it to an extremely hot summer and a dry September, which left many leaves drying brown before they could turn red.
How Do You Book a Huwon Ticket? The 10 a.m., Six-Days-Ahead Rule
Online booking opens at 10:00 KST six days before your visit and closes the day before. Seats are first come, first served, and only 50 per session go online. The opening minute matters far more than the price.
- Pick your visit date and session, then count back six days.
- Log in at ticket.uforus.co.kr before 10:00 KST on that day.
- Book up to 10 people at once and pay by credit card.
- Pay within 24 hours. If you book the day before your visit, pay by 23:59 that day. Unpaid bookings cancel automatically.
- On the day, show the mobile ticket or swap it for a paper one at the ticket office. Printed confirmations are not accepted.
For the foliage dates, these are the windows to set alarms for (all at 10:00 KST):
- Saturday, November 7: book on Sunday, November 1
- Tuesday, November 10: book on Wednesday, November 4
- Wednesday, November 11: book on Thursday, November 5
- Thursday, November 12: book on Friday, November 6
- Sunday, November 15, the last free day: book on Monday, November 9
English seats form their own pool. The Royal Palaces and Tombs Center keeps foreign-language tours for foreign visitors, and Koreans can join only as companions, up to two per group. The official timetable has four language tracks:
- English: Tuesday to Sunday at 10:30, 11:30, 14:30 and 15:30
- Chinese: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 12:30
- Japanese: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 13:30
- Korean: Tuesday to Sunday, every hour from 10:00, open to everyone
All four English sessions run from March through November. Ignore older blog posts that mention only two.
Sold out online? Uforus sells the other 50 seats per session at the Changdeokgung ticket office from 9:00 on the day. Sales for each session close 15 minutes before it starts. In peak foliage week, treat that queue as a backup, not a plan.
How Do You Get to Changdeokgung and the Huwon Meeting Point?
Take Line 3 to Anguk Station, leave by Exit 3 and walk to Donhwamun (돈화문), the palace's main gate. Use Naver Map or KakaoMap for walking directions, because Google Maps walking routes are unreliable in Korea.
The gate is not where the tour starts. The Royal Palaces and Tombs Center puts the Huwon entrance more than 15 minutes' walk inside the palace, and Uforus asks you to pass Donhwamun at least 15 minutes before your session. Go through Donhwamun 30 minutes before your session so the walk never eats into the tour.
For a 10:30 English session, the morning runs like this:
- 9:50: leave Anguk Station Exit 3
- 10:00: pass Donhwamun with your mobile ticket open
- 10:15: the latest entry Uforus allows
- 10:20: reach the Huwon entrance
- 10:30 to about 11:40: garden tour
The main halls have their own free English tour, Tuesday to Sunday at 10:15 and 13:15. It lasts about 50 minutes and needs no booking. Don't put the 13:15 building tour in front of a 14:30 Huwon session. It ends at 14:05, leaving 25 minutes for a walk of more than 15. Garden in the morning and halls after lunch is the cleaner order.
Which Huwon Tour Time Is Least Crowded During Peak Foliage?
The 10:30 English session is the calmest. Every session holds the same 100 people, so the real differences are how busy the palace is on your way in and how the light falls on the hillside.
Seats are tight, too. Four English sessions × 100 seats = 400 English seats a day, 200 of them online. Huwon has no tours on Mondays, so the 18-day free period loses November 2 and 9 and keeps 16 tour days. That is 6,400 English seats in all, with 3,200 sold online.
The first sessions start at 10:00 (Korean) and 10:30 (English), an hour to an hour and a half after the ticket office opens at 9:00. Most free-entry day-trippers are still in the main halls at that point. Seoul Now rates each English slot from that timetable:
| English session | Pass Donhwamun | Ends about | Crowds nearby | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:30 | 10:00 | 11:40 | Lightest; courtyards still filling | First-timers, a quiet walk |
| 11:30 | 11:00 | 12:40 | Moderate | Photographers who want higher sun |
| 14:30 | 14:00 | 15:40 | Busiest courtyards on the way in | Late risers |
| 15:30 | 15:00 | 16:40 | Calm garden, fading light | Last-minute bookings |
Seoul Now's pick is the 10:30 or 11:30 English session on Tuesday to Thursday, November 10 to 12. Skip Mondays, and skip Sunday, November 8, when the normal peak-foliage date lands on a festival weekend. Once inside, Uforus lets you follow the guide or explore the open areas on your own, so you can linger at Buyongji Pond or Jondeokjeong Pavilion.
On the morning of your visit, check live crowds before you set off:
- Open Seoul's real-time city data site, citydata.seoul.go.kr.
- Find the Changdeokgung area on the map and read its current congestion level.
- If it shows busy, walk straight to the Huwon entrance and save the courtyards for after your tour.
Visiting Huwon With Kids, a Wheelchair or a Special Diet
First-timers do best with a 10:30 or 11:30 English session on a Tuesday to Thursday, followed by the 13:15 building tour. Photographers should lean toward 11:30 for higher sun over the hillside and accept busier courtyards on the way in.
Other groups have narrower choices:
- Mixed Korean and foreign groups: book an English session with up to two Korean companions. Larger Korean groups belong in an hourly Korean session.
- Chinese or Japanese speakers: there is one session a day, 12:30 (Tue, Thu, Sat) or 13:30 (Wed, Fri, Sun). Fix the weekday before anything else.
- Older travellers: choose a morning slot and budget for the 70-minute tour plus the walk of more than 15 minutes to the start.
- Families with young children: the 10:30 English session ends around 11:40, before lunch and naps. Confirm the youth fare when you book.
Wheelchair and stroller users can rent both at Changdeokgung. Huwon is a hillside garden, so ask at the ticket office which stretches of the route suit wheels before you book. The walk to the start comes on top of the 70-minute tour. If the route doesn't work for you, the palace grounds and the 50-minute building tour are free, need no booking and stay close to the gate.
For halal or vegan meals, search the Seoul Open Data Plaza (data.seoul.go.kr) and Korea Tourism Organization listings for halal-certified and vegan restaurants in Jongno-gu before you go. Plan to eat right after your session ends, at about 11:40 or 12:40.
What to See Near Changdeokgung After the Secret Garden
Walk next door to Changgyeonggung. It is one of the four palaces that are free until November 15, and YTN names its Chundangji Pond (춘당지) as a foliage spot from late October to mid-November. Ginkgo trees usually turn later than maples, so you may still see yellow leaves in mid-November after the reds have gone.
For an easy stroll, head west of the palace to the streets of Samcheong-dong. If you are still in Seoul late in the festival, 여행픽 lists a free National Gugak Orchestra concert at the National Theater of Korea on November 14.
A half day for the two-adult example:
- 9:50: Anguk Station Exit 3 (₩0)
- 10:30 to 11:40: Huwon English session (₩10,000)
- 11:40 to 13:00: lunch near Anguk (price varies)
- 13:15 to 14:05: English palace-building tour (₩0)
- From 14:05: Changgyeonggung and Chundangji Pond (₩0)
Admission for the day totals ₩10,000. If both travellers arrived on AREX, the ₩4,000 festival discount brings their net spend to ₩6,000.
Your Changdeokgung Secret Garden Plan for November 2026
Aim for Tuesday to Thursday, November 10 to 12. Be online at 10:00 KST on November 4, 5 or 6 and book a 10:30 or 11:30 English session at ₩5,000 per person. On the day, leave Anguk Station Exit 3 by 9:50, pass Donhwamun 30 minutes before your slot and keep walking to the Huwon entrance. After lunch, join the 13:15 building tour and finish at Chundangji Pond in Changgyeonggung.
A few conditions change that plan. Chinese and Japanese speakers should build the trip around their one weekly-pattern session. A Korean group of three or more should switch to an hourly Korean tour. If only a weekend works, take Saturday, November 7, and avoid Sunday, November 8. Mondays (November 2 and 9) are out entirely. Free palace entry ends on November 15, 2026, but the Secret Garden costs ₩5,000 either way, so the booking alarm is the one step you can't skip.