HOME > The 15th Congress of IFHRO > Welcome to Seoul, Korea > Tour Programs > Seoul City Tours
The accompanying person¡¯s program is also an important integral part of the Congress. We will offer rare opportunities to experience such unique culture. Programs will include hands-on celadon ceramics making, printing with ancient wooden printing blocks, etc.
Performances of the four-percussion instruments will provide a change to feel the energy and dynamism of Korean traditional music. Programs will also include opportunities to be photographed in traditional Korean costume, to make the world-famous Kimchi pickled vegetables, and to experience a serene tea ceremony in an ancient house.
Experience of Making Kimchi
"Kimch" ¡¯is the best known Korean food. It is vegetable dish, highly seasoned with pepper, garlic, etc.
It is served with every kind of Korean meal and it stimulates the appetite like pickles. Large quantities of "Kimchi" are usually made in late fall or early winter for the wintertime. The making at this time is called "Kimchang". "Kimchi" contains amounts of good nutrition such as vitamin C, and fiber.
And of course, no Korean meal would be complete without the ubiquitous Kimchi, fermented vegetables, essential to the traditional winter diet because it was difficult to get fresh vegetables at that time. Each region has its own special Kimchi, reflecting on each region, climate and local traditions.
Chinese cabbages, white radishes, red pepper powder, garlic, ginger, big green onion roots, onions, Korean parsley, scallions, wild leeks, glutinous rice, sesame seed, salted shrimps, salted fish juice, pear juice, salt, etc.
The 3rd Tunnel and DMZ Tour
This is a very special tour destination in Korea, which offers a real vivid eye-opening experience of the Korean War and a dramatic sense of the tragedy of the separated family members between the two Koreas from the division of the peninsula.
The 3rd Tunnel
The third tunnel was discovered in October 1978 near the armistice village of Panmunjeom, only 44kilometers away (less than an hour drive) from Seoul.
Almost identical with the 2nd tunnel in structure, this tunnel runs through bedrock at a depth of about 73meters below ground. 30,000-armed military forces with field artillery can penetrate through this tunnel within an hour.
Dora Observatory
At Dora Observatory, through a telescope you can watch North Koreans go about their daily life.
Korean Folk Village Tour
Korean Folk Village recreates the daily life of the Korean life in the latter days of the Joseon Period, and it is a very popular tourist attraction not only for Koreans but for foreigners as well.
Here, they rebuilt the class system culture and living standards of those days, including 260 traditional houses, and 30,000 folk artifacts on display. Through looking at places such as a farmer¡¯s place, folk house, government building, lecture hall, herbal medicine house, school, blacksmith, street market, 99-room Yangban mansion, we can come to know what the people of Joseon were like.
When you go through all the places in the Folk Village, it¡¯s like you¡¯ve traveled in a time machine back in time to the Joseon Period.
Experience Korean Life
Visitors who are eager to find out what the daily life within an average Korean home is like are encouraged to visit Korean households that invite people from foreign countries into theirs.
There are also special agencies that operate cultural experience programs for foreigners.
Son's Home
Son's Home is a private residence where visitors can experience genuine Korean culture.
Those who visit Son's Home can feel the essence of Korean life by participating in kimchi-making with the mother of the Son family or learn how to play the janggu attired in hanbok (traditional Korean clothes) or paint 'sagunja' (the four gracious plants that symbolize the high integrity of the scholar/aristocrat, the plum, orchid, crysanthemum and bamboo) with a meok (black Chinese ink sticks) and an ink stand.
Yoo's Family
Yoo's Family maintains a traditional large-scale family structure where four generations live together.
In a traditional house, visitors can experience Korean culture with the Yoo's Family who offer Korean cultural activity courses and Korean food making courses.
Beauty & Health Tour
The increasing concern over health and beauty has even influenced the tourism industry.
In Korea there are many popular health venues such as sweat-rooms (jjimjilbang), and beauty treatments like massage, nail care and hair removal. The sweat-rooms and massage centers are great for relaxation, while the beauty treatments such as nail care and waxing attracts many women.
Jjimjilbang
Jjimjilbang is a Korean style sweat-room that is leading health tourism. It is popular because you can experience it only in Korea. It works on simple principle-It makes you sweat in warm rooms.
The temperature and the room conditions differ according to the diverse materials used for treatment.
Jimjilbang rooms have a hot jade or stone floor where one can relax and sweat.
Jjimjilbang is especially favored by stressed office workers, housewives and travelers.
There are various types of jjimjilbang rooms according to the materials in the rooms: ocher, charcoal, jade and elvan. Jjimjilbang uses thermo-therapy causing the body to sweat, excreting wastes and toxins, increasing metabolism and relaxing the body.
Massage
Massages are popular among female tourists. There are various types of massages according to body part from the facial area to the whole body. Facial and body massages are good for beauty care and foot massages are excellent for relaxation.
Foot massages are the most popular these days. A foot massage might be just the thing for you to relax your tired body after a long day of sightseeing. You can easily find massage centers in every famous tourist areas such as Myeongdong, Itaewon, and Apgujeong. Also there are massage shops inside several major department stores and shopping malls.
Ceramic Making Tour
There are china-making places near Seoul where visitors can buy or make china for themselves.
Make your own original ceramics, something the ancient potters never dreamed of.
As a lasting memory, we will frame a ceramic imprint of your child¡¯s hand of foot.
Incheon Ceramics Village
Here master ceramists and their apprentices harness their virtuoso skills, especially following the tradition of the white porcelains of the Joseon Dynasty kilns. Porcelains of a subtle milky white, of a lightly blue-tinted white, or of the purest white are reproduced along with the sheer beauty of the originals. About 250 kilns, a ceramics museum, workshops, apprentices studios and shops offer everything from collector's curios to daily utensils, all born out of the fire of art.
Yeoju Ceramics Village
With copious supplies of quality clay, clear water, and plentiful firewood, the ceramics industry has long thrived in Yeoju. Originally this pottery supplied the demands of the royal court and of aristocratic households. Today, there are still over 600 kilns turning out a wide range of products, from replicas of traditional still items to ceramic artwork and practical daily utensils.