KOREATRAVEL LIST

Dora Observatory

도라전망대

What is on the other side is itemised rather than left vague: Songhaksan in Kaesong, the Kim Il-sung statue, Kijong-dong, the edge of Kaesong city and the Geumam-gol collective farm, with the Kaesong Industrial Complex visible on a clear day.

Language

The glass-walled upper floor of Dora Observatory, visitors seated at tables looking north across the DMZ

Place information

Korean name
도라전망대
Address
310 Je3ttangul-ro, Jangdan-myeon, Paju, Gyeonggi-do
Opening hours
Dora Observatory telescopes 10:00–17:00
Hours notes
Access follows the DMZ Peace Tour schedule from Imjingak. The listed hours are for the paid telescopes.
Time needed
Half day
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Prices

Telescope, two minutes · Adult(all ages)₩500

Source: Paju Tourism — Dora Observatory ·

History

Paju City states that Dora Observatory was established to replace the Songaksan observation post after its closure. The observatory moved to a newly built facility in October 2018.

  1. October 2018

    Move to the new observatory

Paju Tourism — Dora Observatory ·

Shared with other places

Nearby

Large DMZ letters outside the Third Infiltration Tunnel, with the DMZ exhibition hall and the monorail station behind

Third Infiltration Tunnel

The departure time you book decides how you go down. Paju marks each shuttle either monorail or on foot, and describes the walking route as cramped and steeply graded — which is why the operator publishes a list of who may be refused entry.

Ribbons and Korean-peninsula flags tied along the wire fence at Imjingak

Imjingak

Imjingak is the last place you can reach without permission. The individual A-course of the DMZ Peace Tour leaves from Imjingak, visits the Third Infiltration Tunnel, Dora Observatory and Tongilchon, then returns to Imjingak. Treat it as both a destination and a departure gate.

Paju Jangneung’s burial ground from above: a single mound inside its curved screen wall with a balustrade and no panels, and on the two terraces below it the civil and military figures, stone horses and stone lantern

Paju Jangneung Royal Tomb

The joint tomb of Injo and Queen Inyeol. When it was moved, the old stone figures were kept alongside newly carved ones, so seventeenth- and eighteenth-century tomb statuary stands side by side.

Gongneung from above: the path running straight from the red spirit gate at the bottom up to the T-shaped shrine, with the burial ground beyond it on a hill closed in by woods

Paju Samneung Royal Tombs

Gongneung, Sulleung and Yeongneung in one precinct. Of the three, only Sulleung was built to the full royal-tomb form — its occupant alone died holding the rank of queen.

Stories about this place

  • Paju DMZ Tour: Imjingak, Third Tunnel and Dora Observatory by Shuttle

    Imjingak is the last point you can reach without permission; the Third Tunnel and Dora Observatory lie inside the Civilian Control Line and are reached only on Paju City's DMZ Peace Tour shuttle from Imjingak. Booking a departure and the ID check, ticket-office hours and closing days, fares, and what to do if the tour is halted.

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Where these facts come from