Full-Day South Korean DMZ and Joint Security Area from Seoul

After an early morning pickup from your Seoul hotel, travel about one hour north to reach the Korean Demilitarized Zone, a 2.5-mile (4km) wide strip of land that divides North and South Korea. Stop first in Imjingak, a park with war artifacts and artillery from the Korean conflict. Continue from there to the Freedom Bridge, where nearly 13,000 Korean POWs were exchanged at the end of the war.

Next up, see the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel, believed to have been built by North Korea for a military invasion. Discovered in 1978, the tunnel was blocked by the South Koreans at the border’s military demarcation line. Afterward, check out artifacts and photographs from the Korean War at the DMZ Museum.

Continue by coach to the Dora Observatory, where you can use provided binoculars to scope out North Korea. Observe a North Korean model village called Kijongdong as your guide explains the backstory of this surreal border region. 

After, head to Dorasan Station, a train station that once connected North and South Korea and today carries symbolic significance, which your guide details as you take in the site. Wrap up your visit to the DMZ by passing the Unification Village, a small farming community that models the daily life of a typical South Korean farm community. 

Before heading to the JSA, have a lunch consisting of Bulgogi (beef), or vegetarian. Then, be served Bibimbap without meat. 

After lunch, pass the Unification Bridge for checking your passport to visit the JSA (Joint Security Area), also known as 'Panmunjeom', on the border of North Korea and South Korea. The first tour destination for the JSA area is Camp Bonifas, a former United Nations Command Military Post 400 meters from the south border of the DMZ. Here, you will see a slide briefing which shows the history of the Korean conflict and the JSA.

From there, continue to Freedom House and conference room on the border. At the Conference room, you can even step into North Korea. Before leaving from JSA area, the tour will pass by the 'Bridge of No Return' and the site of the 1976 axe murder incident.

The tour will finish around 5:00pm at the President Hotel in Seoul.