This tour was a bit more expensive than the USO tour because they will send a minibus to your hotel and shuttle you to a central point where you will board a big Kia bus for the journey to the DMZ and back to the Lotte Hotel in Myung-dong. The tour company offers a ½ day and a full day tour.

Considering the sprawl of Seoul and the time that these tours begin (early in the morning), having an morning pickup (as opposed to getting into town yourself at 0800 in the morning) is a huge plus. For this visit, I was staying at the Sheraton Walkerhill, which is east of everything and was glad for the pickup.

Once we began our journey to the various attractions of the DMZ, our tour guide gave us a very abbreviated version of the Korean War and the establishment of the JSA and the DMZ. Our first stop was the Imjingak Park near the DMZ. This was established for the families who have loved ones on the other side of the zone. It has a small amusement park, a bunch of memorials and the “Bridge of Freedom”. After a break here, we boarded our bus and drove to the 3rd infiltration tunnel.

This was a tunnel that was dug underneath the DMZ from North Korea. The beginning part of the tunnel was dug by modern machinery. You enter the tunnel and pick up a hard hat. You will need it because further down the tunnel, it turns into the North Korean section, which is lower, smaller and reinforced by a lot of low hanging scaffolding. It’s also steep going down. You continue heading down until you reach the end, where the tunnel is blocked with a bunch of red lights. You then turn around and go back up. With a LOT of other people.

After this, we went to the Dora Observatory where you can peer into North Korea via coin operated binoculars. Don’t cross the yellow line! There’s also a short film in English explaining the geography of the DMZ. This part of the tour also included a visit to Dorasan Station, the world’s cleanest and least busy train station. This is supposed to be the first stop in South Korea for trains from North Korea which have, to this day, never arrived.

We returned to Imjingak Park where the ½ day tour concluded. Those of us on the full day tour had lunch and then boarded buses for Camp Bonifas where we received a briefing about our visit to Panmunjom and the JSA. We then drove out there and visited the blue huts and the southern visitors center. On the way out, we stopped at the memorial for the soldiers that were axed to death by North Koreans in 1976. Another reminder on how scary this place can be. From here, we drove back to Myung-dong and ended the tour in front of the Lotte Hotel.

This tour covered all the important spots. Our tour guides were reading from scripts, but were enthusiastic and were able to answer questions that popped up. A good alternative to the USO tour.