Korean Folk Village: a great Seoul day trip

What’s it like to visit the Korean Folk Village on a Seoul day trip?

I was curious about the Korean Folk Village when I first heard about it while making my trip plans for South Korea.

Being a fan of open-air ethnographic museums, it looked like the perfect Seoul day trip.

It has traditional Korean houses where you can see how people used to live, plus Korean folk music and dance performances, all within a beautiful green park.

After spending time in the big city, I was craving something a bit different and found a guided tour to the Korean Folk Village, an easy Seoul day trip.

It was my first time in Korea, so this kind of tour was just what I needed: a quick introduction to Korean folk with a nice mix of architecture, history, and traditional dances.

Visiting on a guided tour was much easier than planning the trip by myself and the guide’s commentary was super helpful.

In this article, I’ll share my impressions and review of the day trip, to help you decide if you want to add it to your South Korea itinerary.

Getting to the Korean Folk Village

I got on the bus to the Korean Folk Village with a small group of tourists who joined the same tour.

Our guide was very enthusiastic. He clearly had a lot of experience in communicating with tourists in English, so it was easy to follow his commentary.

The ride takes about 1 hour, but the guide made it interesting. He told us about Seoul and South Korea, while pointing out things to see along the way.

When we arrived at the Korean Folk Village, our guide sorted out the tickets (included in the price of the tour) and we all walked in.

Korean Folk Village houses – step back in time

We walked into a lovely park and soon after entering we saw the historic houses.

The Korean Folk Village has traditional houses that were relocated from across the country.

Our guide gave us plenty of information and insights about each house, its history and its architecture.

We learnt about Kimchi making, traditional Korean pottery, the clever Korean underfloor heating system, Korean herbal medicine, straw roofs, wooden roofs, and how Koreans made doors out of paper.

I liked the variety of buildings and how much we could learn about Korean culture through those houses.

In some houses, he shared some of his own life experience from his childhood in Korea, which I was curious to hear about.

We also saw houses belonging to people from different classes, from common people to aristocrats. It was fascinating to see the differences.

Some of the houses we could only see from outside. That was a bit disappointing, but they typically had an inner courtyard from which we could look into each room.

The pace of the tour was comfortable – not too fast, not too slow. There was enough time to see what we wanted and take photos and videos.

Performances at the Korean Folk Village

After seeing the old houses, we reached the highlight of our visit: the amphitheatre, where we took our seats in anticipation for the traditional Korean show.

Traditional performances take place in the Korean Folk Village on a regular basis, and the tour schedule was planned so we could see one.

We saw a dance performance which was just mesmerising.

All performers – dancers and musicians – wore colourful, traditional costumes and masks. The musicians played Korean musical instruments.

It’s a non-verbal performance made for tourists to enjoy, but there were also many Koreans in the audience.

Is the Korean Folk Village tour worth it?

Yes, if you’re interested in history, architecture, and culture.

Also, if you’re in Korea for the first time, it’s a great introduction to have in just one day.

Taking a guided tour was a wise decision.

The Korean Folk Village is located in Yongin. It’s possible to reach it by public transport, but I ran into other tourists who told me it would be too complicated for a foreigner who’s new to Korea.

Taking a tour saved me the time and headache of having to navigate by myself.

I felt that there wasn’t enough information in English within the Korean Folk Village itself, which made the guide’s commentary so much more valuable.

The tour I took comes with different options you can select while booking. My tour included an after dark visit to a beautiful light festival at the fortress in Suwon right after the Korean Folk Village.

The events in Suwon change from time to time, so when you book you’ll see the current options, such as a festival or a tour of the city.

For me, the visit to the Korean Folk Village was the main focus of the tour, and Suwon was a lovely addition. Making a stop there on the way back meant we made the most out of our time outside of Seoul.

Lunch at the Korean Folk Village

There are some restaurants and food stalls at the Korean Folk Village, so it’s easy to grab lunch there.

Time for lunch was part of the tour.

I brought some food with me, as I wasn’t sure if there would be any vegan options. It turned out that there were a couple of options of vegan-friendly Korean dishes.

Our guide was happy to point out what was vegan and also helped another woman in our group find gluten-free options.

Most of the group went to a restaurant together, while I had the food I’d brought with me.

Then I had some spare time to wander around, while the others were still at the restaurant.

I used the time to take some more photos of beautiful houses. I also went back to the amphitheatre, but there were no performances scheduled. I did see some dancers rehearsing though, which was lovely to watch.

Other tours to the Korean Folk Village

• Private tour: Korean Folk Village, Suwon Starfield Libarary&Hwaseong
• Day Trip to Yongin Daejanggeum and Korean Folk Village from Seoul
• Half day: Korean Folk Village Afternoon Tour

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