Travel to a peaceful historical place in Seoul, Korea: Seolleung and Jeongneung Royal Tomb.
Hello! and welcome to Me on Travel, Korea!
Today, I want to share with you a historical place in Korea. I visited this place last week and it was a great place to have some peace and quiet! Since it’s autumn and getting colder by the day, I wanted to go some place nice for a good walk.
Where is it?
Name of Place:
Seoul, Seolleung and Jeongneung
“서울 선릉과 정릉”
Address:
1, Seolleung-ro 100-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
“서울 강남구 선릉로100길 1 선릉정릉”
Naver Map link: https://naver.me/GrSqAkiY
What is it?
Seolleung and Jeongnueng Royal Tombs, Seoul is one of the many royal tombs of Korea which is appointed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Seollueng is the royal tomb of the 9th ruler of Joseon, King Seongjong and his 3rd consort, Queen Jeonghyeon. And Jeongnueng is the royal tomb of the 11th ruler of Joseon, King Jungjong. The place has a beautiful walk paths where you can just peacefully walk around with nature around you. Since the place is surrounded by the city, it’s also fun seeing all the tall buildings outside.
To learn more about the history and other Tombs, here is a link for you to read: https://rb.gy/l33jvu
There are also some benches while walking around so I suggest you bring a book you can read and enjoy some reading time as well!
Opening Time and Entrance Fee:
Opening Time
| Period | Ticket Office Hours | Opening Hours |
| March ~ October November ~ January February | 6:00 a.m. ~ 8:00 p.m. 6:30 a.m. ~ 4:30 p.m. 6:00 a.m. ~ 5:00 p.m. | 6:00 a.m. ~ 9:00 p.m. 6:30 a.m. ~ 5:30 p.m. 6:00 a.m. ~ 6:00 p.m. |
Entrance Fee:
- Admissions
| Adults (ages 25~64) | ₩1,000 |
| *if a group with more than 10 people | ₩800 per person |
You can buy your ticket from the ticket office or if you’re using credit card, you can just use the automated ticket system to print out your ticket. The automated ticket system is located just next to the ticket office.
After getting the ticket, you can see the entrance where you have to show your ticket. You can scan the QR code in the ticket to the machine or just hand the ticket to the person in the booth before entering. For me, I scanned the QR code.
There are also wheelchairs and strollers. So if you need them, you can ask people in the booth to borrow.
How to get there?
In Korea, we don’t usually use google map. Instead, we use naver map/ kakao map. Personally, I use naver map. I have attached the link above but just in case you missed: https://naver.me/GrSqAkiY
Subway:
I would recommend to take the subway since it’s my favorite way of transportation and it’s one of the easiest way to get to the Seolleung and Jeongneung Royal Tombs. It is located between Seolleung and Seonjeongneung station.
Line 2/ yellow line: If you took the green/yellow line (Line 2) and reached Seolleung “선릉”, look for exit number 10. After going out of the subway station through exit number 10, you want to take a left turn on the second block. If you turned left, then all you have to do is go straight and you’ll be able to see Seolleung and Jeongneung Royal Tombs.
Line 9: If you took the beige line (Line 9) and reached Seonjeongneung “선정릉” station, you want to look for exit number 3. When you get out of the station, you want to turn around and head for the intersection road. When you reach the intersection, you should turn left. When you keep walking, you will see a “park-like” place on your left guarded by a gate. You want to go straight and make sure you follow the gate to reach to the entrance.
Bus:
For the bus, there are a lot of bus options you can take. Here are some of the few Seoul buses that take you there: 472, 3414, 3426, 4312, 8641, Gangnam07, 6411, 146, 341, 360, 740, 8146 and etc.
*Make sure the bus goes to Seolleung station. You can ask if the bus is going to Seolleung Station (in Korean, the pronunciation is more like “seonlleung yeok”) to the bus driver before paying for the fee.
Car:
If you rented a car and you are driving, there is a parking lot located just next to the entrance and there is a parking fee. Also, only credit cards are used for the payment.
- Parking Time
- From February ~ October: 6 a.m. ~ 10 p.m.
- From November ~ January: 6:30 a.m ~ 10 p.m.
- Parking Fee
- Less than 2 hours: ₩400 per 5 mins
- After the first 2 hours: ₩600 per 5 mins
I recommend using the public transportation since the parking fee is quite expensive.
Any other things to know before hand?
For the Royal Tombs, there are paths and stairs which you should and shouldn’t use.
For the path you’re using, it’s divided to two. As you can see in the picture above, the right path is a little bit higher than the left one. That’s because when the ritual was held, the taller pathway was used for incense. That’s why it’s called the Incense road. And the other path was used by the King. So when you see this kind of pathways, make sure you use the “King’s road”.
Similar with the paths, there are two stairs, too! As you can see in the picture above, the left stairs is called the “spirit stairs” and the right side the “king’s stairs”. It says in on the note to use the king’s stairs when going up and down.
When you go up, there are pictures showing how the ritual was held.
Pictures:
The pictures above is Jeongneung, the royal tomb of King Jungjong.
This place called Jaesil “재실” is located in between the Royal Tombs. This place is the Tomb Keeper’s house.
The picture above is Seolleung, the royal tomb of King Seongjong and his 3rd consort, Queen Jeonghyeon.
After looking around Jeongneung, there is also a History Center where you can learn more about the Tomb’s history. There is also a video you can watch!
If you are around Seoul and looking for a place to take a good walk while visiting a historical place, I recommend Seolleung and Jeongneung! Also, since it’s near COEX (shopping mall) I suggest you go first to Seolleung and Jeongneung before sun down and walk to COEX for some shopping and some dinner!