Show Up at Gyeongbokgung on Tuesday or Changdeokgung on Monday and You'll Find It Closed

On a Tuesday morning, a traveler who's made the trip all the way to Gyeongbokgung Palace turns back at the firmly shut main gate. They'd planned their day without knowing about the palace's regular closing day. Seoul's five grand palaces and Jongmyo Shrine each close on a different day of the week — skip checking in advance, and you can lose the whole round trip's worth of time for nothing.

At a glance: Gyeongbokgung and Jongmyo close every Tuesday · Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Deoksugung close every Monday · when a closing day falls on a public holiday, the site sometimes opens as normal instead.

Gyeongbokgung and Jongmyo close every Tuesday, while Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Deoksugung close every Monday. Even though they're all "palaces," they don't share the same day off, so if your plan includes visiting more than one in a single day, you need to check which ones are actually open on that day of the week first.

Say you arrive in Seoul on a Monday and want to start with a palace — skip Changdeokgung and Deoksugung and head to Gyeongbokgung or Jongmyo instead. On a Tuesday, flip that around and go to Changdeokgung or Deoksugung instead of Gyeongbokgung.

When a regular closing day falls on a major holiday like Lunar New Year or Chuseok, a site will sometimes open exceptionally. But this varies by palace, so it's worth double-checking that day's opening status with your accommodation or an information center before you head out, just to avoid a wasted trip.

Operating hours also shift by season: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from September through May (excluding November-January), 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in summer (June-August), and 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in winter (November-January). It's not just the closing day that changes — the closing time does too, so keeping both in mind helps you avoid being turned away at the last minute.

Ticket booths generally stop selling before the actual closing time, so if you think you'll be arriving late, it's safer to check that palace's hours for the day again before you leave your accommodation.