2013 October, Long Trip, South Korea - JSA+DMZ
I booked the tour 3 days in advance and it cost 137,000.00 KRW. I decided to do it with Joongang Express Tour www.jsatour.com as my hostel could book it for me.
They picked me up at 7:45 am. I was told to be ready at 7:30. The minibus was almost full and we went near the underground station City Hall. They split all people and those who decided to do my tour were located in the hotel - the Lotte Hotel. Free wi-fi was available. They took our passports to do all necessary paperworks and almost at 9 we started our trip.
The first place was Joint Security Area. It was 1h drive from city to the Civilian Check Point. An introduction in English took 30 minutes. It was quite interesting to listen to the guide.
You are allowed to take pictures only at the designated areas. However, as everywhere, you could try...
Once we arrived they gave as badges and one US officer guided us through, our group changed a bus as civilian cars are not allowed there. Our group visited a conference room and JSA. They told us that we could take pictures only of the North Korea side. :)
The US Army guy was quite helpful and answered all questions he could. Obviously, we had time left to buy souvenirs. After more than 1 h we went outside the Military Zone for a lunch.
The place was outside DMZ (a tourist information, parking and a ticket office) and you could buy all tickets there excluding JSA.
If you want to see only DMZ on your own, please see informations I collected below.
There is a freedom bridge and an old train.
We had 20 minutes to explore this place and we went to The 3rd Tunnel with a new guide.
He told us that 'officially, we could take pictures only when allowed'. It was a good information for people from my group.
We asked some soldiers to take a picture with them and they usually agreed.
We walked 350m 11% downhill and further 400 m almost to the border. The tunnel isn't high so tall people needed to mind their heads all the time. Before entering it they gave us helmets.
The next place was the Dora Observatory where we watched flags of the Freedom Village of South Korea and the Propaganda Village of North Korea.
The last stop was at the Dorasan Station. This station was built to connect both parts of Korea but it has never started working. I didn't have time to buy an entrance ticket as my tour had to leave. The main hall of the station is free of charge.
I was picked up from my hostel but they did not offer any transfer back. They had one place in the city and I went back by underground.
See here if you would like to know how to do DMZ on budget
I booked the tour 3 days in advance and it cost 137,000.00 KRW. I decided to do it with Joongang Express Tour www.jsatour.com as my hostel could book it for me.
They picked me up at 7:45 am. I was told to be ready at 7:30. The minibus was almost full and we went near the underground station City Hall. They split all people and those who decided to do my tour were located in the hotel - the Lotte Hotel. Free wi-fi was available. They took our passports to do all necessary paperworks and almost at 9 we started our trip.
The first place was Joint Security Area. It was 1h drive from city to the Civilian Check Point. An introduction in English took 30 minutes. It was quite interesting to listen to the guide.
You are allowed to take pictures only at the designated areas. However, as everywhere, you could try...
Once we arrived they gave as badges and one US officer guided us through, our group changed a bus as civilian cars are not allowed there. Our group visited a conference room and JSA. They told us that we could take pictures only of the North Korea side. :)
The US Army guy was quite helpful and answered all questions he could. Obviously, we had time left to buy souvenirs. After more than 1 h we went outside the Military Zone for a lunch.
The place was outside DMZ (a tourist information, parking and a ticket office) and you could buy all tickets there excluding JSA.
If you want to see only DMZ on your own, please see informations I collected below.
There is a freedom bridge and an old train.
We had 20 minutes to explore this place and we went to The 3rd Tunnel with a new guide.
He told us that 'officially, we could take pictures only when allowed'. It was a good information for people from my group.
We asked some soldiers to take a picture with them and they usually agreed.
We walked 350m 11% downhill and further 400 m almost to the border. The tunnel isn't high so tall people needed to mind their heads all the time. Before entering it they gave us helmets.
The next place was the Dora Observatory where we watched flags of the Freedom Village of South Korea and the Propaganda Village of North Korea.
The last stop was at the Dorasan Station. This station was built to connect both parts of Korea but it has never started working. I didn't have time to buy an entrance ticket as my tour had to leave. The main hall of the station is free of charge.
I was picked up from my hostel but they did not offer any transfer back. They had one place in the city and I went back by underground.
See here if you would like to know how to do DMZ on budget
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| Check point |
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| JSA |
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| North Korean soldier |
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| South Korean soldiers |
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| My lunch |
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| View from Dora Observatory |
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| Dorasan Station |
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| Check point |
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