Just curious what folks here think.

 

We did the tunnel and Dora Observatory with a private guide*. We really enjoyed it and thought it was well worth the 6-ish hours. I would be shocked if the JSA re-opens anytime soon.

* - because we weren't part of an "official tour group", we had to go to the Imjingak DMZ village extra early so the guide could stand in line for first-come-first-serve tickets to be let into the DMZ. It does give you time to walk around a look at the sculptures.

 

Absolutely. We went this past January and it was probably my kids' most memorable part of our Seoul visit - on par with Lotte World. My wife and I found it very interesting as well.

We also booked a private guide who transported us by van to/from Seoul. While our guide and my family did join a larger bus to go in and make the 3 stops, it was nice to have our guide for the observatory and especially the tunnel. Though after the long walk down the first tunnel to get to the real tunnel, we saw the people coming down on the train - still want to know how you book that. We made an additional stop at Heyri Art Village on the way back to Seoul.

Visiting the JSA would have been even cooler - but still a unique experience.

 

10 years ago, I did the USO DMZ tour (and also went to the DMZ from the DPRK side). I essentially have no memories of anything but the JSA, which was great. I felt that all the other stops on the tour were kind of mediocre "filler" so they could charge a lot for the JSA tour and make it a full day event. But ignorance is bliss; if you don't know what you're missing, you'll still probably have a great experience.

 

That's exactly my thought.

I did the official USO tour when I was stationed in Korea...a long time ago. It went from the base I was stationed on. I vaguely remember stopping to eat somewhere, maybe a village or 2 where you could buy souvenirs. I do remember stopping at a train station, where the train was intended to keep going north. But even to this day, I have fond memories of the briefing before going into the conference room, walking around the conference table, seeing the North Korean soldiers, walking along the demarcation line before/after. My job in the Army was a Korean Linguist, and it was so tempting to talk to the soldiers there, but I kept my mouth shut. I was wearing my dress uniform (to wear civilian clothes would be considered a spy, and a combat uniform an act of war). There were several people taking pictures of our group from across the border.

I'm not really sure how close you can get to the border these days.... But on my first field exercise in Korea, I remember waking up one morning thinking, "who is playing their radio so loud?" I went outside and saw the enormous speakers blaring at us and the HUGE flag across the border. I think that was almost as eye-opening as visiting Pan Mun Jom. (well being tear gassed while trying to exit the Seoul subway was another clear memory too, but that had nothing to do with the North)