Korean Folk Village

The Korean Folk Village in Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, is an open-air folk museum and traditional culture theme park. Opened on 3 October 1974, it was Korea's first open-air folk museum and recreates a late Joseon village on about 300,000 pyeong (roughly 990,000 m²). It has more than 270 real houses moved here or rebuilt from all over the country, and staff dressed as Joseon-era characters greet visitors throughout the village.

History

The village was conceived in the 1960s, when rapid industrialisation threatened traditional ways of life. Work began in 1973 and it opened the following year. From 1979 to 1990 more authentic houses were brought in from around Korea; the Traditional Folk Museum opened in 1995 and the World Folk Museum in 2001. A family park with rides turned it into a place for both learning and fun, and in 2019 it recorded 1.5 million visitors.

What to see

• Folk village: houses from the northern, central and southern regions, Jeju Island and Ulleungdo are grouped by region, so you can compare how they differ. They range from thatched farmhouses to aristocratic yangban homes and a government office. There is a 99-room yangban mansion, a herbal pharmacy, a village school and a market street with rice-cake shops, so every lane shows a piece of Joseon daily life.
• Craft workshops: nine workshops — blacksmith, onggi pottery, bamboo and wood crafts among them — show objects being made the traditional way. The village also holds some 20,000 traditional household items.
• Performances: farmers' music and dance (nongak), tightrope walking, martial arts on horseback and a traditional wedding are staged several times a day.
• Character encounters: staff playing a magistrate, merchants and other Joseon figures improvise little scenes with visitors, which have become popular online.
• Museums: the Traditional Folk Museum (seven galleries, about 860 items), the World Folk Museum (nine galleries, about 3,000 items) and an onggi pottery hall.
• Seasonal events: in autumn there are night events themed on ghosts and the afterlife; in winter a snow-sledding slope opens.
• Farming and the play village: traditional crops, including some 100 heirloom varieties and medicinal herbs, are grown in the village fields through the seasons, and a separate play village has 14 rides including a pirate ship.

Tripto tips

• Admission: full-day tickets are KRW 39,000 for adults and KRW 32,000 for children at weekends, KRW 37,000 and KRW 30,000 on weekdays. Foreign visitors pay KRW 22,000 on showing a passport or alien registration card (until the end of 2026). Children under 36 months enter free, and there are afternoon tickets and online discounts.
• Opening hours: they vary with the season and events; during the autumn night events it sometimes stays open until 22:00, so check the operating information for your date.
• Getting there: the nearest subway station is Sanggal on the Suin–Bundang Line. From exit 3 take bus 37 or 10-5. The same buses run from exit 4 of Suwon station (Line 1). From Seoul, express buses 1560 (Gangnam station) and 4101 (Seoul Station) go to the village.
• Parking: KRW 2,000 for cars.
• Time and rules: allow 3–5 hours. Re-entry is not allowed and pets are not admitted (except guide dogs). Everland is close by, so the two fit well into a Yongin trip.