How To Visit the DMZ from Seoul

The DMZ is one of the most popular day trips from Seoul for travellers to do and it had been on my list to do for a while.

I did a small group tour as it is one of the easiest options for a tour to the DMZ from Seoul. This is my experience of it and why you should visit, along with tips on what to look for when you make your booking!

What is the DMZ?

The DMZ stands for the De-Militarised Zone, a buffer that is 2km either side of the North and South Korean border, or Demarcation Line, that was agreed as part of the ceasefire agreement at the end of the Korean War. There is to be no military inside the zone but there were UN peacekeepers at times but today relations aren’t good between the two countries.

Why you should go to the DMZ

The DMZ is a unique place in the world. It is the most militarised border in the world (outside of the DMZ) as the North and South Koreans are technically still at war.

It is also a unique place to look into North Korea, a country that is extremely secretive and closed off, which is often the only chance most travellers get a chance to look into the hermit kingdom.

It is also just a fascinating place to learn about the history of a war that was more than 70 years ago and how the effects are still lasting to this day.

Who I went with?

I did the day tour with Here Korea Travel which I booked through Viator. This tour was recommended to me by a friend and I’m very happy I went with them for the reasons I explain below.

It is slightly more expensive than other tours you can purchase but I 100% believe it is worth the money for the hotel pick up and drop offs, the small group nature and being one of the first into the DMZ in the morning.

To book the tour, you can click here.

Click on the banner below to book the same tour I did!

Other options

There are a number of other options to visit the DMZ from Seoul on various tours catering to different budgets and comfort levels. There are some cheaper options below that are in larger groups or have reduced itineraries to the one I booked.

Although it is possible to visit the DMZ by yourself, by the time you have used public transport, got your tickets, gone on the government run buses, then returned to Seoul, I do think that having a guide and going on a tour is the better option.

What happens on the DMZ tour

It started with a pick up in a small mini bus at 6.35am. I was the last one to be picked up with the earlier guests getting picked up as early as 5.30am.

From there it was a 40 minute drive to the DMZ with time to nap if you wanted.  It’s great being part of a small group and we were there early, one of the first in the car park of the Imjingak Tourist Information Center.

It meant the guide could get our tickets and passes nice and early. The rest of us had an option to use the facilities including getting a coffee or food from one of the many canteens in the building.

Once the tickets were purchased, our guide took us on the short walk to Bridge of Freedom, where prisoners of war were exchanged, a look at the last train to cross back from North to South Korea that was riddled with bullet holes, and then up to a view point to look into the DMZ (but not into North Korea at this point).

Our small group was then added to another few small groups and we were loaded onto a coach to be taken into the DMZ (after a brief security and passport check) and to our first stop, The Third Tunnel.

The Third Tunnel was dug by the North Koreans in the 1970’s intending to dig a tunnel to get close to Seoul to attack. It was discovered after intelligence by a defector and now the tunnel is blocked by concrete barricades in three locations up to the demarcation line.

No photos are allowed of the tunnel and everything must be put in lockers before you walk down there. It is a fascinating insight into what went into building the tunnel but the long walk takes a lot of squatting down being less than 1.8m high in most places.

Outside the Third Tunnel are some statues and a small museum that contains an 8 minute movie explaining the Korean War. It was informative but take it with a massive pinch of American exceptionalism ;p

The next stop was to the Dora Observatory where photos are strictly prohibited. We were given binoculars by the tour guide and this is the best place to peer into North Korea. You can see a 160m tall flag pole with the North Korean flag, the Kaesong Special Economic Zone and the city of Kaesong a bit further in the distance.

Many people say that they can see people and cars move around inside North Korea from here, but I couldn’t see any even with the very powerful binoculars. Even though I have been to North Korea, it was still fascinating viewing it from this side of the border.

There was an additional stop at the Geumchon Unification Market which has souvenirs to purchase and some rice wine to try.

That was our final stop inside the DMZ so back on the bus back to Imjingak and then our small minibus for the 30 minute drive to the Gamaksan Suspension Bridge.

As we parked up there was a small museum about North Korea that is updated often with the last info from just a few months before. Underneath that was a small shooting range that was also free. Both were very interesting and a nice addition to the regular tour.

It was then a short 10 minute hike to the Mount Gamaksan suspension bridge which has nice views of another side of Korea that many tourists don’t see. After that experience, it was back to Seoul which can take from 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on where you are getting dropped off and traffic, being back in the city by 3.30pm.

Reasons to go with these guys

Get given your own binoculars

When you are at the Dora Observatory, there are some mounted telescopes and binoculars for you to use to look into North Korea, but there are many more people than binoculars available. Our guide gave us our own set of binoculars to use so that we could skip the queues and look to the North continuously.

First ones there in the morning

Being first ones at the tourist centre in the morning and then seeing it fill up with coaches and tour groups that would be visiting the DMZ after made you realise just how many people visit each day (between 1500 and 2500 people visit the DMZ on tours each day with a strict limit of 3000 visitors per day). But we were on the first government bus into the DMZ and there were no queues at any of the attractions we visited.

Excellent communication

The tour was very easy to book and then the communication in the days leading up to it, mostly by WhatsApp was great.

Small group tour

There were only 8 people on the tour, myself, two couples and a family of three. It meant that everything ran smoothly and there was no waiting for people like you get on larger tours. The max that this company offers is 10 people on a tour. Compare that to other tours that have 40+ on one large coach, and it makes logistics and teh experience so much better in my opinion.

Just a note that you will always be with others when in the actual DMZ as the only buses allowed in there are government run buses. I think there were 3 other groups and a solo guy having a private tour with two guides on the large coach with us. But the guide is with you and explains each stop just to your small group so you still don’t feel like you’re part of the masses.

Summing up the DMZ tour from Seoul

I found the DMZ an incredible place to visit and I loved the tour that I went with. It was definitely a highlight of my time in South Korea as it had been on my bucket list for a while!

If you’re wanting to go on a small group tour that lets you see the main attractions in the DMZ without hundreds of other people on a larger tour, I highly recommend you book the tour that I went on.