Seonjeongneung Royal Tombs
선정릉
It opens at 06:00 and sells monthly and lunchtime passes, which tells you what it mostly is: a working park that office workers and neighbours walk through, which happens to contain two royal tombs. Under-25s get in free, so for most young travellers the ticket price is irrelevant.
Language
Place information
- Korean name
- 선정릉
- Address
- 1 Seolleung-ro 100-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
- Opening hours
- Mar–Oct 06:00–21:00 (last entry 20:00) Jan, Nov–Dec 06:00–17:30 (last entry 16:30) Feb 06:00–18:00 (last entry 17:00)
- Closed
- Every Mon (closed the following day instead if it falls on a public holiday)
- Hours notes
- The grounds take about an hour to walk.
- Guided sessions
- History hall talk Tue·Wed·Thu·Fri·Sat·Sun 10:00 · 14:00 In front of the Jaesil / Outdoor walk (Rediscovering Korea) 3·4·5·6·7·8·9·10·11·12 Sat 10:00 · 14:00 By the ticket office at the main gate Includes the Seolleung burial mound. / Outdoor walk (Breath of Korean Culture) 3·4·5·6·9·10·11 Sun 15:00 By the ticket office at the main gate
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Admission
- ₩1,000
- Operated by
- Royal Palaces and Tombs Centre
Prices
| Adult(domestic visitors 25-64, foreign visitors 19-64) | ₩1,000 |
|---|---|
| Admission(Korean nationals aged 24 and under or 65 and over (photo ID required)) | Free |
| Admission(foreign visitors aged 18 and under or 65 and over) | Free |
| Admission(visitors wearing hanbok, including modernised hanbok) | Free |
| Admission(expectant mothers under the Mother and Child Health Act, with one companion) | Free |
| Admission(registered disabled visitors under the Disability Welfare Act, with one companion where the disability is severe) | Free |
| the last Wednesday of each month, Culture Day | Free |
| Admission(residents of the host district, on proof of address) | 50% off |
| Group(groups of ten or more) | ₩800 |
| Monthly pass | ₩10,000One month from purchase, any time during opening hours. |
| Timed annual pass | ₩30,000One year from purchase. Valid in the early slot 06:00-09:00 (06:30-09:00 from November to January) and the lunch slot 11:30-14:30, with entry until 13:30. |
| Lunchtime pass | ₩3,000Ten visits within three months of purchase, entering between 11:30 and 13:30. |
What to see
Jaesil (Ritual House)
The ritual house is both the working quarters of the officials who managed the tomb and the place where the memorial rites were prepared.
궁능유적본부 (royal.khs.go.kr, KOGL Type 1)
History and Culture Hall
The Seonjeongneung history and culture hall first opened in 2011 and was reorganised in 2021. Its displays cover the Joseon royal tombs as a World Heritage site, the story of Seolleung and Jeongneung and of those buried there, the damage the tombs took in the Imjin War, and the temples attached to them.
궁능유적본부 (royal.khs.go.kr, KOGL Type 1)
Seolleung - King Seongjong's tomb
Seolleung holds Seongjong, the 9th king of Joseon, and his queen Jeonghyeon. It takes the dongwon-igangneung form: one T-shaped shrine serving a single tomb precinct, with the two burial mounds raised on separate hills. Seongjong's mound was laid out to the state ritual code — girdled with a screen of stone panels and a stone balustrade, and surrounded by civil and military stone figures, a stone lantern and stone pillars. Seongjong spent his reign putting the dynasty's basic legal code and state rites in order.
궁능유적본부 (royal.khs.go.kr, KOGL Type 1)
Seolleung - Queen Jeonghyeon's tomb
Seolleung holds Seongjong, the 9th king of Joseon, and his queen Jeonghyeon. It takes the dongwon-igangneung form: one T-shaped shrine serving a single tomb precinct, with the two burial mounds raised on separate hills. The queen's mound is much like the king's, but the screen of stone panels is omitted and only the balustrade encircles it. Jeonghyeon was raised to queen after Lady Yun, Yeonsangun's mother, was deposed. At the 1506 coup she consented to Yeonsangun's deposition and to the accession of her own son, Jungjong.
궁능유적본부 (royal.khs.go.kr, KOGL Type 1)
Jeongneung - King Jungjong's tomb
Jeongneung holds Jungjong, the 11th king of Joseon. It was laid out to the state ritual code, its mound girdled with both a screen of stone panels and a balustrade, and set about with civil and military stone figures, a stone lantern, a stone offering table, stone pillars and stone sheep and tigers. Every stone object now on the mound was newly made when the tomb was moved to this site in 1562. Jungjong came to the throne in the coup of 1506 and set about correcting the misrule and the institutions of Yeonsangun's reign.
궁능유적본부 (royal.khs.go.kr, KOGL Type 1)
Jaesil (Ritual House) selected
Accessibility and facilities
The path beside the burial mound of King Seongjong and Queen Jeonghyeon at Seolleung is open year-round, so the mound can be approached on foot.
Nearby
Piyang Kong Halmani
A house working in the Pyongyang bean tradition, serving kongbiji alongside perilla sujebi and its own plate dumplings.
Starfield Library
It is a mall atrium, not a library in the quiet sense — there is no lending, and the photographs everyone comes for are of a space full of people. Power sockets and worktables make it a genuinely usable stop between COEX appointments.
COEX Convention & Exhibition Center
The exhibition and convention centre at Samseong, whose halls and auditorium host fan meetings and awards shows. It is a separate operation from the Starfield COEX Mall and the aquarium in the same underground complex.
SEA LIFE COEX Aquarium
Nobody should pay the gate price. The operator's own site sells the same adult ticket at a standing discount and drops it further on selected dates, so the number to plan around is the online one, booked before you arrive.
Stories about this place
- The Five Joseon Royal Tombs in Seoul, Compared by What Survives at Each
All five Joseon royal tombs inside Seoul, compared on what only that one has, when it opens and where it is. Admission and the closing day are identical at all five, so where you go is decided by what survives at each rather than by cost.
- Four Places to Visit Around Gangnam and COEX: Starfield Library, COEX Aquarium, Bongeunsa and Seonjeongneung
Four places within one block of COEX, compared on what you see, whether they are indoors and how each one closes. Only Bongeunsa has no gate to shut; the other three close on three different axes — the day of the week, the season and the clock.
Nearby Food
- Five Seoul Korean Barbecue Restaurants: Hanwoo, Galbi, Bulgogi and Pork Belly
- What the broth is made of — eight Seoul houses, seven different bases
- Northern Korean Food in Seoul: Naengmyeon, Eobok-jaengban, Mandu and Kongbiji
- Seven Seoul houses that open for breakfast — before eight in the morning
- Six Seoul houses that make the noodle by hand — kalguksu, guksi, sujebi
- Enjoying Seoul's Cafe Culture
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