Buy tickets one by one unless your combined individual total would reach 6,000 KRW or more. The integrated pass costs a flat 6,000 KRW and covers Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung and Jongmyo, one visit each, for six months from the day you buy it. Below that total, separate tickets win. Above it, the pass wins. At exactly 6,000 KRW, it’s a tie.

What each ticket costs on its own

Site	Individual ticket	Covered by the integrated pass
Gyeongbokgung (palace grounds)	3,000 KRW	Yes
Changdeokgung (palace grounds)	3,000 KRW	Yes
Changgyeonggung	1,000 KRW	Yes
Deoksugung	1,000 KRW	Yes
Jongmyo Shrine	1,000 KRW	Yes
Changdeokgung Huwon (secret garden)	5,000 KRW, adult	No, buy this separately no matter which option you pick

Huwon sits behind the palace buildings, and the entrance runs through the building area, so a Huwon ticket alone will not get you in. You also need the Changdeokgung building ticket or the pass, plus the 5,000 KRW Huwon ticket. Two payments, always.

The rule that decides pass or separate

The rule is not “how many palaces are you visiting.” It’s “does your separate-ticket total reach 6,000 KRW.” For the combinations people actually visit:

Palaces you plan to see	Separate tickets add up to	Integrated pass	Cheaper choice
Gyeongbokgung + Deoksugung	4,000 KRW	6,000 KRW	Separate, by 2,000 KRW
Deoksugung + Changgyeonggung	2,000 KRW	6,000 KRW	Separate, by 4,000 KRW
Gyeongbokgung + Changgyeonggung + Deoksugung	5,000 KRW	6,000 KRW	Separate, by 1,000 KRW
Gyeongbokgung + Changdeokgung	6,000 KRW	6,000 KRW	Tie, no difference
Gyeongbokgung + Changgyeonggung + Deoksugung + Jongmyo	6,000 KRW	6,000 KRW	Tie, no difference
Gyeongbokgung + Changdeokgung + Changgyeonggung	7,000 KRW	6,000 KRW	Pass, by 1,000 KRW
All five (Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung, Jongmyo)	9,000 KRW	6,000 KRW	Pass, by 3,000 KRW

A three-site trip can land on either side: Gyeongbokgung, Changgyeonggung and Deoksugung together are only 5,000 KRW, so separate tickets still win even at three stops. Add Changdeokgung instead of Deoksugung and you’re at 7,000 KRW, where the pass pulls ahead. Count the won, not the palaces.

Free entry changes the answer before you even open your wallet

At Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung and Jongmyo, foreign visitors aged 18 and under and those 65 and over get in free. Anyone wearing hanbok gets in free too, regardless of nationality. Korean nationals have a wider free-entry band (24 and under, 65 and over), but for a foreign visitor the cutoff is 18.

Huwon works differently and it trips people up. Its free list is much shorter: visitors 6 and under, and Korean nationals who hold merit or disability status. Seniors and hanbok wearers who get in free everywhere else pay the full 5,000 KRW for Huwon. Visitors aged 7 to 18 pay 2,500 KRW there, half the adult price.

Whichever free category applies to you, bring ID. The official rule states plainly that anyone claiming free entry must show proof of age or status.

Does this apply to you

• Your separate-ticket total for the sites you’re actually visiting comes to 6,000 KRW or more → buy the pass.
• Your separate-ticket total comes to 5,000 KRW or less → skip the pass, pay per site.
• If you or anyone in your group is 18 or under, or 65 or over, or wearing hanbok → check free entry first, since it can drop your total before the pass-versus-separate math even matters.
• If Changdeokgung Huwon is on your list → budget the 5,000 KRW separately either way, and remember you still need a building ticket or the pass to reach the entrance.
• If you’re only doing Jongmyo and one other 1,000 KRW site → separate tickets, every time (2,000 KRW total).

Do the math for your trip

A solo adult visiting only Gyeongbokgung and Deoksugung pays 3,000 KRW plus 1,000 KRW, or 4,000 KRW total. The pass would cost 6,000 KRW. Separate tickets save 2,000 KRW here, and that gap doesn’t close until a third site gets added.

Now take two adults traveling with a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old, all foreign passport holders, visiting Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung. The children are under 18, so they get in free at all three sites, on either option. Only the adult tickets matter for the comparison.

Each adult buying separately pays 3,000 KRW (Gyeongbokgung) plus 3,000 KRW (Changdeokgung) plus 1,000 KRW (Changgyeonggung), which is 7,000 KRW. Each adult buying the pass instead pays 6,000 KRW. For two adults, that’s 14,000 KRW in separate tickets against 12,000 KRW for two passes, a 2,000 KRW saving for the family by choosing the pass.

The kids’ tickets don’t change which option wins. They only change how much you save relative to what you’d have paid if everyone had to buy a ticket.

Changdeokgung Huwon: the one ticket that doesn’t fit either option

Huwon is not in the integrated pass. The 2024 update that dropped the pass price to 6,000 KRW also removed Huwon from its coverage, so this 5,000 KRW ticket sits outside the comparison above no matter which option you pick for the rest of your trip.

It also isn’t the reservation-only ticket people assume it is. Each Huwon time slot holds 100 visitors, and the official guide splits that evenly: 50 tickets go through online booking, and 50 are sold at the ticket counter on the day. Online booking opens at 10:00, six days before your visit date, and stays open until the day before. If you didn’t book ahead, on-site sales for all of that day’s sessions start at 09:00 at the ticket window, first come, first served. The 50 is a floor rather than a cap: the palace’s own booking notice says online tickets left unsold are converted to counter tickets, though it doesn’t say when that happens.

Jongmyo: you usually don’t need to book anything

On weekdays, Jongmyo only lets visitors in as part of a timed, guided tour, not free roaming. There are 8 Korean-language tours a day, running from 09:20 to 16:20 on the hour and 20 minutes past, and 4 English-language tours, at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00. Each tour session holds 200 people: 100 who reserved online and 100 who show up and join on the spot.

If your group is under 10 people, you don’t need to reserve anything. You just arrive in time for a tour departure. Online reservation is only required for groups of 10 or more, and if you’re the one managing that group booking, cancellation has to happen at least 3 days before your visit date; inside that window, cancellation is by phone only.

Where foreigners get this wrong

• Assuming the pass still costs 10,000 KRW for three months. That was the price before the 2024-05-20 update; it’s 6,000 KRW for six months now.
• Assuming the pass includes Huwon. It doesn’t, and hasn’t since that same update.
• Assuming Huwon requires advance booking. Half its tickets are sold same-day at the counter starting at 09:00.
• Assuming a Huwon ticket by itself gets you into the garden. You need the Changdeokgung building ticket (or the pass) as well.
• Assuming Huwon’s free-entry ages match the other palaces. They don’t. Teens, seniors and hanbok wearers pay full price at Huwon even though they’re free everywhere else.
• Mixing up closed days. Gyeongbokgung, Jongmyo and Chilgung close on Tuesdays. Changdeokgung, Deoksugung, Changgyeonggung, the royal tombs and Sungnyemun close on Mondays. If a closed day falls on a public holiday, it shifts to the next non-holiday day.
• Showing up at Jongmyo on a weekday expecting to walk around freely outside a tour session. You can only enter with one of the scheduled guided tours.

How to actually get these tickets

1. Add up the individual prices for the sites you’re visiting, using the table above, and check it against 6,000 KRW.
2. Check whether you, or anyone with you, qualifies for free entry (age 18 and under, 65 and over, or hanbok) before you commit to either option, and bring ID to prove it at the window.
3. Buy the pass or the separate tickets at the ticket window of the first site on your list. There is no separate purchase step; you decide when you’re standing at the counter.
4. If Huwon is on your list, either reserve online starting at 10:00, six days before your visit, through the official Changdeokgung reservation page, or plan to be at the Changdeokgung ticket counter by 09:00 on the day for one of the 50 on-site spots per session.
5. If you want the English-language Jongmyo tour, arrive for the 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 or 16:00 departure. No booking needed unless your group is 10 or more.

Official sources for all of this: the palace ticket price and free-entry table (royal.khs.go.kr, contents/R703000000), the Changdeokgung FAQ on booking rules and Huwon’s walk-in quota (royal.khs.go.kr, contents/R404000000), the Huwon online reservation window guide (royal.khs.go.kr, contents/R601000000), the palace closed-day schedule (royal.khs.go.kr, contents/R702000000), the Jongmyo timed-tour booking and cancellation rules (jm.cha.go.kr, CultureEventCalendar.do), the Jongmyo visiting-hours and tour schedule page (jm.cha.go.kr, information_01.jsp), and the 2024 notice on the pass price and validity change (nihc.go.kr, planweb board).

Where to book

There’s nothing to book through a third-party platform here. The integrated pass and every individual palace ticket are sold at the ticket window of each site, in person, on the day you visit; there’s no online purchase step to reserve ahead of time. The only ticket in this comparison with an online booking option is Changdeokgung Huwon, and that reservation runs through the official Changdeokgung page linked above, not through a travel agency. If you’d rather not race the 09:00 on-site line, use that official reservation window six days before your visit instead.

Sources I checked

1. Official Gyeongbokgung/Changdeokgung palace ticket price and free-entry tableKorean source
2. Changdeokgung Huwon online reservation window guideKorean source
3. Changdeokgung FAQ on booking rules and Huwon walk-in ticket quotaKorean source
4. Jongmyo Shrine timed-tour booking and cancellation rules pageKorean source
5. Notice on the 2024 palace integrated pass price and validity changeKorean source
6. Official palace regular closed-day scheduleKorean source