I had a friend come to visit at the weekend so we took the opportunity to visit the DMZ. We took the Panmunjom Tour with TourDMZ.com.
Their pick -up point was at Lotte Hotel in Seoul at 11.00am on a Saturday. They briefed us on the bus about etiquette such as “no pointing” and not to talk to any North Koreans. We stopped for lunch close enough to the border and had bibimbap
Firstly they drove us to the Freedom Bridge and then we passed two checkpoints to get inside the DMZ Area. We were then brought into a briefing room where we were given a rundown of the history of the DMZ which was short and relatively interesting.
The meeting room we were then brought into lies directly on the border of the two countries so technically you get to set foot in North Korea itself. It is heavily guarded but despite recent altercations between the two countries, there was no sense of danger whatsoever.
North Korea…
After the meeting room they took us on a short drive around the DMZ area pointing out various villages and border markers in the distance. A lot of photography is prohibited in certain areas so it’s something you wouldn’t get to see unless you actually go yourself.
It felt like quite a long day, approximately 3 hours are spent on the bus but I’m glad I went and got to see what it was like. It’s unlikely the DMZ will be there forever so I’d certainly recommend Tour DMZ for bookings. They also stated that they’re the only tour group who take groups there on Saturdays so if it’s true then that’s something to take note of.
Cailín meets Korea 