Bulguksa Temple 2026: How to Get There From Seoul (KTX ~2 Hours, Free Admission)

At the stone stairs below Jahamun Gate, a first-time visitor to Gyeongju looks for a ticket booth. There isn't one anywhere. Bulguksa is now a temple you can enter without paying.

At a glance: from Seoul, the KTX takes about 2 hours to Singyeongju Station, where a bus or taxi connects to Bulguksa. Admission has been free since May 4, 2023. Visiting (entry) hours are 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. in October, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. from November to January, 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. in February, and 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. from March to September (entry closes at these times), open every day. Parking costs 2,000 won for a car and 4,000 won for a large bus. The address is 385 Bulguk-ro, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province; the phone number is 054-746-9913.

Bulguksa (佛國寺, meaning "Temple of the Buddha Land") was built during the Silla dynasty and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 along with the Seokguram grotto. Like other temples, it used to charge an entry fee, but after a change to the Cultural Heritage Protection Act let the government cover fee waivers at temples holding state-designated heritage, admission became free on May 4, 2023.

Visit now, in October, and you can enter until 5:30 p.m. - but from November, the entry cutoff moves 30 minutes earlier, to 5:00 p.m. Arrive late in the afternoon without knowing the seasonal hours, and you could miss core sights like Jahamun Gate and the Cheongungyo-Baegungyo stone bridges.

Admission is free, but parking isn't. A car costs 2,000 won and a large bus costs 4,000 won. Pets aren't allowed inside the temple grounds.

Taking the KTX from Seoul Station gets you to Singyeongju Station in about 2 hours. Singyeongju is a different station from the older, more central Gyeongju Station, and it's the one high-speed trains stop at. From there, a bus or taxi covers the rest of the way to Bulguksa - close enough that the whole trip works comfortably as a day trip from Seoul.