Are you looking for a less touristy visit to the Korean DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)? Then visit Ganghwa Peace Observatory and Eulji Observatory.
On my visits to South Korea, I visited the alternatives to the Paju DMZ, so I can tell you all about them. For me this was a conscious choice: there was no swine flu outbreak at that time and I chose to visit the lesser-known DMZ sites because they appealed to me more.
I visited all sites (except Goseong Observatory) on my own by car, but it is also possible to join an organized tour to the Korean DMZ.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
What is the Korean DMZ?
The Korean DMZ, or Korean Demilitarized Zone, is a strip of uninhabited land dividing South Korea and North Korea.
The DMZ is guarded by soldiers on both sides and you are not allowed to cross. Along the 250 kilometers long border, you can visit some of the observatories or old infiltration tunnels to get some insights into the history of the Korean War and at the same time learn more about the current tension between two countries that were formerly one.
1a) Most popular: DMZ near Paju
The most popular DMZ to visit is the one near Paju. This is where all the tourists go. You can easily visit this site as a day trip from Seoul as part of a tour via GetYourGuide or Klook.
Things to see
- Imjingak Park with many war monuments and military statues
- Freedom Bridge and the old steam train
- National Memorial Hall of the Korean War Abductees
- 3rd Infiltration Tunnel: the invasion route lying between the border of North and South Korea
- Panmunjom
- Panoramic views of North Korea from Dora Observatory tower
- Another view of North Korea from Odusan Unification Tower
1b) While Paju DMZ is closed...
You can’t visit the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel or Panmunjom at the moment because of the African Swine Flu outbreak, but you can still visit Imjingak Park, the Freedom Bridge and many memorial sites in the area.
The tour operators also offer alternative tours to Imjingak Park or even Ganghwa Peace Observatory.
Near the Paju DMZ, you can still visit the following sites.
Imjingak Nuri Peace park
At this park, you can see sculptures and other works of art symbolizing (a wish for) peace.
Location
148-40 Imjingak-ro, Munsan-eup, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (Google Maps)
Opening hours
Always open
National Memorial Hall of the Korean War Abductees
Cross the road from Imjingak Nuri Peace Park to visit the War Memorial Museum. Inside the building, you can visit the exhibition “Last Family Portraits” showing the pain of families separated by the border between North and South Korea. Many pictures and testimonials stare at you and show the heartbrokenness of mothers and sons and fathers and daughters.
Outside you can stroll past the statues commemorating the loses suffered by many countries during the war.
Location
153 Imjingak-ro, Munsan-eup, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (Google Maps)
Opening hours
Tuesday – Sunday: 9:30 – 17:30
Freedom Bridge
Walking past the Memorial Hall and the statues you reach the Freedom Bridge with the blockade at the end.
Location
Majeong-ri, Munsan-eup, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (Google Maps)
Old steam train
Near the Freedom Bridge, you get to see an old Steam Train in front of the Beat 131 art exhibition area.
Location
Majeong-ri, Munsan-eup, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
How to get to Imjingak Park?
By car from Seoul
From City Hall in Seoul (near Myeongdong / Gyeongbokgung Palace) you can drive to Imjingak Park in one hour (without traffic jams).
By bus from Seoul
Take the subway from City Hall in Seoul to Hapjeong subway station. From Hapjeong subway station you can take a direct bus to Imjingak Park. The journey from City Hall takes an hour and a half.
Join a DMZ tour from Seoul
You can also join a DMZ tour organized by GetYourGuide or Klook and have everything taken care of. Besides the sites mentioned above, you will visit many more interesting places along the way.
2) DMZ at Ganghwa Island
West of Seoul lies Ganghwa Island; a very popular getaway destination for people living in Seoul. At the northern tip of this island, you can visit Ganghwa Peace Observatory.
The site at Ganghwa lies north of the Civilian Passage Restriction Line at Cheolsan-ri in Yangsa-myeon and has only been open to the public since 2008. As you pass the security area you get a visitor pass for your car that you have to return to the same army post after your visit. When I got there the soldiers were very excited to see some foreigners while trying to determine which of them was most confident speaking English.
As you drive further north, the area gets more desolate and the security gets tighter. Your route is guided by barbed wire to your right. You really feel like you’re crossing some border, even though a visit to this DMZ (in the form of a river) feels like a relaxing adventure when you drive on small roads surrounded by rice fields and farms.
Ganghwa Peace Observatory is not like the DMZ near Paju: there is no Infiltration Tunnel to explore nor can you see the security area. You can get very close to North Korea though and watch the other side using the binoculars at the observatory.
Ganghwa Peace Observatory
The first things you see when walking to the observatory from the parking lot are the painted tanks. The colors almost disguise the seriousness of this weapon.
You can watch North Korea using the binoculars at the observatory and see the unique cultural ecosystem of North Korea that you can’t see from other DMZ sites in South Korea. If you look down you can see the artillery aimed at the border between the north and the south. Inside the building, you can add your wish for peace to those already hanging on the artificial tree.
If you head left after leaving the Observatory building you see the statue iconic for this DMZ with music playing in the background.
Location
산6-1 Cheolsan-ri, Yangsa-myeon, Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, South Korea (Google Maps)
Opening hours
9:00 – 18:00 every day
How to get to Ganghwa Peace Observatory
By car from Seoul
You can drive to Ganghwa Peace Observatory from Seoul in about an hour and fifteen minutes. Check out my South Korea itinerary for more places to visit on Ganghwa Island.
By bus from Seoul
It takes about two hours (depending on where you’re staying) to get from Seoul to the Ganghwa Observatory by bus. You have to take two or three different buses but they will get you all the way (and you can get off and stop at other sights as well!). Check out my South Korea itinerary for more things to do on Ganghwa Island.
Join a DMZ tour from Seoul
GetYourGuide and Klook currently offer a trip to Ganghwa Peace Observatory as an alternative to the regular tour to Paju DMZ because of the Swine Flu.
3) DMZ at Gyodong Island
West of Ganghwa Island lies the smaller island Gyodong. The observatory on Gyodong Island is a really small site to visit (meaning two binoculars in the wild) but it is not that far from Ganghwa Island.
Only visit this one if you are visiting Gyodong Island anyway; it is not worth a visit on its own. You can read more about things to do on Gyodong Island in my South Korea itinerary.
Gyodong Observatory
At the Gyodong Observatory, you can use one of the two binoculars to look at North Korea. This is the most private DMZ experience you can get.
You can park your car at the small parking lot and walk in ten seconds to the top of the hill where you can find two binoculars and a few memorial stones and that’s it.
It is kinda underwhelming, but at the same time has its charm because you have to drive to the middle of nowhere to get there. The road to the observatory leads you on small roads through tiny villages surrounded by farm fields.
I added Gyodong Observatory to this list because you can’t find much information about it online. At least now you know what to expect! I don’t regret going there at all. It was an interesting experience.
Location
Jiseok-ri, Gyodong-myeon, Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, South Korea (Google Maps)
Opening hours
Always open
How to get to Gyodong Observatory
By car from Seoul
You can drive to Gyodong Observatory from Seoul in about an hour and a half. When passing the bridge from Ganghwa Island to Gyodong Island you pass a military guard post and receive a visitor pass just like you do when visiting Ganghwa Peace Observatory.
Check out my South Korea itinerary for more things to do on Gyodong Island.
4) DMZ at Yanggu
Eulji Observatory is a DMZ on the eastern side of South Korea. A visit to this observatory is more convenient as a day trip from Chuncheon or Sokcho than from Seoul.
The Observatory is located at the ridge of Gachilbong Peak at only 1km from the DMZ. What makes this one more interesting than other DMZs is that there is also an infiltration tunnel to explore and a ‘Punchbowl’ (Haean basin) with a nice view of the surrounding area to visit.
This is the DMZ visit I liked best because of its location in a mountain area.
Yanggu Unification Hall
Before you can visit the tunnel you need to stop by Unification Hall to register your visit. They will give you a blue paper for access to Eulji Observatory and a yellow and pink paper for the 4th Infiltration Tunnel. Make sure you don’t hand in your yellow or pink paper at Eulji Observatory (that happened to us: the soldier at the guard post wouldn’t let us leave with our yellow paper) or you’ll have to get a new one at the Unification Hall before visiting the Tunnel.
In the Unification Hall, you can find Exhibitions and an Agricultural Speciality Market. Also nearby is a War Memorial Museum.
Location
720 Hu-ri, Haean-myeon, Yanggu-gun, Gangwon-do, South Korea (Google Maps)
Opening hours
- March – October: 9:00 – 18:00;
- November – February: 9:00 – 17:00.
The last admission time is one hour before closing. You’re not allowed to enter the 4th Infiltration Tunnel during lunchtime (12:00 – 13:00). Keep in mind that times may change and the tunnel might close because of the weather (like a tornado; this happened to me but luckily I checked the website the day before and could change my itinerary).
Eulji Observatory
At the observatory, you can watch the DMZ in a mountainous area. You can see the wall and guard posts going up and down the mountain slopes as far as you can look.
Eulji Observatory is a 7km (15 – 20 minutes) drive from the Unification Hall. After visiting the Observatory and Haean basin, you have to drive the same way back to the rotund near the Unification Hall and take the other road to the 4th Infiltration Tunnel.
Haean basin (punch bowl)
Outside the observatory, you can gaze over Haean Basin, also called the “Punch Bowl”.
4th Infiltration Tunnel
The 4th Infiltration Tunnel is a 4km (10 minutes) drive from Unification Hall.
You can walk into the tunnel and take a short train ride (less than a minute) into the North Korean side of the tunnel. Don’t do this if you are claustrophobic, because the tunnel gets really small.
At the point where the South Korean part of the tunnel and the North Korean part intersect you can see the difference in creation. Whereas the South used advanced tools (after calculating where to intersect) to create a smooth tunnel, the North Koreans used small explosions to create their tiny and chunky tunnel.
I can’t imagine being one of the people having to create a tunnel like this for days on end.
How to get to Eulji Observatory
A visit to the observatory and tunnel is only possible by car or organized tour; no bicycles or motorcycles allowed.
By car from Sokcho, Chuncheon or Seoul
You can drive to the Unification hall in about an hour from Sokcho, an hour and twenty minutes from Chuncheon or two and a half hours from Seoul. Find out other stops to make during this day trip in my South Korea Itinerary.
Join a DMZ tour
Yanggu County organizes tours to Eulji Observatory and the 4th Infiltration Tunnel. Not much information is available online, but you can find their contact information here. The pamphlet I got in October 2019 lists +82 033-253-4567 as the phone number for the Yanggu City Tour.
5) DMZ at Goseong Unification Observatory
North of Sokcho, a city on the east coast of South Korea, you can visit Goseong Unification Observatory and the DMZ museum for a peek into North Korea. It is easy to reach by car, but not so easy otherwise. Compared to the DMZ near Paju, this is a very quiet and desolate place. But if you’re looking for a less touristy border experience, then Goseong is a good option.
I didn’t visit this DMZ, so I can’t share any personal experiences.
Location
일전망대로 457, Hyeonnae-myeon, Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do, South Korea (Google Maps)
Opening hours
From 09:00 with a final departure time from the security point of 15:50 in winter, 16:20 in spring and fall and 17:30 in summer.
How to get to Goseong Unification Observatory
By car from Sokcho
You can drive to Goseong Unification Observatory in about an hour.
Join a DMZ tour
Trazy organizes a combined tour to Seoraksan National Park and Goseong Unification Observatory.
? Visit Ganghwa Peace Observatory and Eulji Observatory.){kind=link}