Deoksugung Palace

Deoksugung is the smallest of Seoul's five grand palaces and, for many visitors, the most surprising. It sits right in the middle of the modern city, across the road from City Hall and Seoul Plaza, and it tells the story of the dynasty's last, turbulent chapter. King Gojong moved here in the 1890s and in 1897 declared the Korean Empire, making the palace the seat of an emperor who was trying to modernize his country while Japan and the Western powers circled. The result is a palace unlike any other in Korea. Traditional halls such as Junghwajeon, the throne hall with its stone ranks of court officials, stand within a few steps of Seokjojeon, a grand neoclassical stone building with columns and a pediment, completed in 1910 and now housing a museum of the Korean Empire period. Between them is Jeonggwanheon, a pavilion that blends hanok and Western elements, where Gojong is said to have enjoyed coffee — the palace calls it the first cafe in Korea. Gojong died here in 1919, and the national mourning that followed helped spark the March First independence movement, so the palace carries real historical weight beneath its charm. The grounds are compact and pleasantly walkable, with a lotus pond, old trees and the Daehanmun gate facing the street. In front of that gate the royal guard changing ceremony is staged several times a day except Mondays, a colorful re-enactment with drums, banners and costumed guards that is free to watch from the plaza. A branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art occupies one of the stone buildings, so a palace visit can easily include an exhibition.

What sets Deoksugung apart in practice is its hours. The palace stays open until nine in the evening, with last entry an hour earlier, which makes it the easiest palace to fit around a busy day and the best for a night visit: the halls are softly lit, the stone buildings glow, and office workers from the surrounding district stroll the paths after work. Admission is a nominal fee of the kind charged at all the royal palaces, it closes on Mondays, and it is included in the palace free-entry periods the heritage authorities announce from time to time. Visitors wearing hanbok that meets the palace dress criteria are also admitted free.

Allow time for the surroundings. The Deoksugung Stonewall Walkway, which runs along the palace's southern wall, is one of the most romantic streets in Seoul, shaded by ginkgo trees that turn gold in autumn, and it leads into the Jeongdong neighborhood, where Korea's earliest Western-style buildings cluster: old legation sites, the red-brick Jeongdong Church and Jungmyeongjeon, the library pavilion where the 1905 protectorate treaty was forced on the empire. The Seoul Museum of Art is a few minutes away, and Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall hosts an ice rink in winter and events through the year.

City Hall Station on Lines 1 and 2 is beside the main gate. Gyeongbokgung and Gwanghwamun Square are a ten- to fifteen-minute walk north, the Cheonggyecheon stream starts a few blocks east, and Myeongdong and Namdaemun Market are just south, so Deoksugung fits easily into a day in the downtown core. Many visitors use it as the final palace of a long first day — Gyeongbokgung in the morning, Bukchon and Insadong in the afternoon, and Deoksugung after dark.