Two red double-deckers parked in front of Gwanghwamun. One leaves this spot every 25 minutes.
Direct Answer & TL;DR
On the last day of Chuseok (Korea’s harvest holiday, September 26, a Saturday), my family of four — two elementary-school kids included — rode the Seoul City Tour Tiger Bus daytime course. We paid ₩92,000 (~$66) at the ticket booth by card (2 adults, 2 children). Buses come every 25 minutes, and you can hop on and off all day. The best seats were on the upper deck, right side, by the window. Around midday, also consider a shaded seat toward the back. The kids’ favorite part wasn’t a landmark — it was the tunnels.
Table of contents
We Arrived at 10:30, Boarded at 11:25
We parked at the TruParking Koreana Hotel lot near Gwanghwamun. Before heading out, I checked the holiday all-day rate on the app — ₩9,900 (~$7) — and paid that. The official ticket booth address is right by the Koreana Hotel, so it’s a short walk.
₩8,000/hour, or ₩9,900 for the whole day. The gap is only ₩1,900. (Screen: Kakao T, a Korean ride-hailing and parking app)
The blue dot (start) is the parking lot; the red pin (end) is near the ticket booth. (Map: Kakao Map)
It was our first time, so we looked for the booth first. It turned out to be right there once we walked out to the sidewalk — a silver kiosk on the sidewalk along Sejong-daero.
A mirror-bright silver booth. That’s the ticket counter.
We got to the lot at 10:30, but it was crowded and we waited a while before finally boarding the 11:25 bus. Per the official site, online booking only opens up to the day before, so same-day tickets are sold only at the Gwanghwamun booth. There’s no assigned seating either — it’s first come, first served. If we go again during a holiday, I’d book online the day before and aim for the first departure (9:20 a.m.).
Here’s How the Fare Broke Down
| Item | List price (official) | What we paid | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult × 2 | ₩36,000 (~$26) × 2 | ₩27,000 ( | Official site’s discounted rate |
| Child × 2 | ₩22,000 (~$16) × 2 | ₩19,000 ( | Child fare: age 4 through high school (18) |
| Tour total | ₩116,000 (~$83) | ₩92,000 (~$66) | Paid by card at the booth |
| Parking (holiday, all day) | - | ₩9,900 (~$7) | TruParking Koreana Hotel lot |
| Total cost | ₩101,900 (~$73) | About ₩25,500 (~$18) per person |
We paid ₩24,000 (~$17) less than list price. With parking, a family of four came in a little over ₩100,000. Given the unlimited hop-on-hop-off all day, that’s a fair deal. Kids under 4 ride free without a seat, one per guardian.
Upper Deck, Right Side, and a Shady Seat in the Back
The stop name and guidance in 12 languages cover the side of the bus.
Naturally, we went up to the upper deck. The problem was the sun — at 11:30, it poured straight down on our heads. We eventually moved to a shaded seat in the back. Seating is entirely open, so you can move to any empty seat.
By the end of the loop, most of the landmarks turned out to be on the right side. If you can pick a seat, go right. The upper deck has no standing allowed, so photos happen from wherever you’re sitting.
Then there were the tunnels. On the roofless upper deck, the tunnel ceiling drops close overhead as you enter. It feels like it might graze your head. It never actually does. That was the kids’ favorite moment of the whole day — not Gwanghwamun, not Namsan, not DDP. The tunnels.
Lunch and Coffee in Insadong
We’d already been to N Seoul Tower on a previous trip (the easiest way to get to N Seoul Tower), so this time we just watched it go by and got off in Insadong instead. Per the timetable, the 11:25 a.m. bus from Gwanghwamun reaches Insadong at 12:34 p.m. — a little over an hour taking in Myeongdong, Namsan, Dongdaemun, and Changdeokgung from the window.
We wandered the Insadong alleys, had lunch, and grabbed coffee at the Insadong branch of Taegeukdang, a long-running Korean bakery chain. Coffee had to be finished before boarding again — the official rules don’t allow food, drinks, or coffee on the bus.
Full and caffeinated, we got back on and rode to Gwanghwamun. Per the timetable, Insadong to Gwanghwamun takes 21 minutes. In the end, we made it all the way around the loop.
Gwanghwamun after we finished the loop. Plenty of tourists in hanbok.
A Drop-Off Itinerary Built From the Timetable
Starting from Gwanghwamun, the loop passes Myeongdong, Namsan, DDP, Insadong, and Gyeongbokgung. Every 25 minutes, 15 stops, about 1.5 hours per loop. (Image source: Seoul City Tour Bus official website)
This isn’t the official recommended course — it’s a combination I put together myself. Travel times come from the official timetable (based on the 9:20 a.m. first bus), and the meal spots are pulled from Korea Tourism Organization, Seoul city, and MICHELIN Guide listings. The only stop we actually got off at was Insadong, and we haven’t eaten at any of the restaurants in the table below.
| Route | Get off at | From Gwanghwamun | Food | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ① Alley course | Insadong / Bukchon | ~1 hr 9 min | Insadong-gil food alley (tteokbokki, dumpling stalls) | A window-seat loop, then lunch in the alleys |
| ② Palace course | Changdeokgung → Insadong/Bukchon → Gyeongbokgung | ~1 hr 5 min to Changdeokgung | Tongin Market yeopjeon (brass coin) lunchbox, Seochon | Walking the palaces, letting kids pick their own market side dishes |
| ③ Namsan course | Namsangol Hanok Village or N Seoul Tower | ~11 min / ~30 min | Pildong Myeonok (naengmyeon, cold noodles, in Chungmuro) | First time visiting N Seoul Tower |
| ④ Dongdaemun course | DDP / Dongdaemun Market | ~48 min | Dongdaemun Dak Hanmari Alley | Shopping and architecture, running into the evening |
| ⑤ Myeongdong course | Myeongdong | ~9 min | Myeongdong Kyoja (kalguksu noodles, dumplings) | Ride the first bus, get off, early lunch |
A few notes on the restaurants:
- Tongin Market yeopjeon lunchbox: one brass coin (yeopjeon) is worth ₩500 (
$0.36), and you buy a minimum of ₩10,000 ($7) worth. You use the coins to pick market side dishes and build your own lunchbox. Weekend hours are 11 a.m.–5 p.m. (coin sales until 4 p.m.), and it’s closed every Tuesday and on the third Sunday of each month. - Pildong Myeonok and Myeongdong Kyoja both have entries in the MICHELIN Guide Seoul. Myeongdong Kyoja is open daily 10:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
- Dongdaemun Dak Hanmari Alley: a whole chicken is boiled in broth, then the leftover broth is used for kalguksu noodles. Per the Korea Tourism Organization, it’s open year-round, 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.
Changdeokgung to Insadong is 4 minutes; Insadong to Gyeongbokgung is 7 minutes. The palace-side stops are close together, so getting off and catching the next bus (25 minutes later) works well there. The last bus leaves Gwanghwamun at 4:50 p.m. Start too late in the afternoon and fewer stops are still worth getting off at.
The bus doesn’t run on Mondays. If a Monday is a public holiday, it runs and takes Tuesday off instead. Worth checking if you’re planning around a Korean holiday.
Next Time, the Night Bus
Finishing the loop gave us our next plan: a bus with a night view. The same Seoul City Tour Bus runs a Han River & Namsan Night Tour — departing Gwanghwamun, crossing Han River bridges like Mapo and Seongsu, and stopping at N Seoul Tower for about 25 minutes. It’s a 90-minute nonstop course, departing at 7:00 p.m. from September through December. The fare is ₩25,000 ($18) for adults and ₩16,000 ($12) for children at the discounted rate. Same-day online booking isn’t available, so it has to be booked ahead.
During the day, tunnel ceilings brushed past just above the kids’ heads. Next time, it’ll be the lights on the Han River bridges doing that.
🔗 References
- Seoul City Tour Bus tour list — list prices and discounted rates for the daytime and night courses
- Downtown, Palaces & Namsan course details — 15 stops, 25-minute intervals, first/last bus, ticket booth location, booking and child-fare rules, Monday closures, seating and carry-on rules
- Han River & Namsan Night Tour details — route, 25-minute N Seoul Tower stop, departure times, booking method
- Insadong-gil food alley’s three street snacks — Korea Tourism Organization, on the Insadong-gil food alley (Korean-language page)
- Grab your brass coins and head to Tongin Market! — Seoul city, ₩500 per coin, ₩10,000 minimum, hours, closed days (Korean-language page)
- Pildong Myeonok — MICHELIN Guide, naengmyeon, 26 Seoae-ro
- Myeongdong Kyoja — MICHELIN Guide, kalguksu and dumplings, hours
- Dongdaemun Dak Hanmari Alley — Korea Tourism Organization, how dak hanmari is served, hours
- 2026 Chuseok holiday: September 24–26 — 2026 Chuseok holiday dates (Korean-language page)
- Easiest way to N Seoul Tower