Discover Seoul Pass Review + Guide 2025 – Is It Worth It?

Thinking of buying a Discover Seoul Pass, but not sure if it is worth it?

There are lots of things to do in Seoul, including multiple tourist attractions from family theme parks to historic Royal palaces – or you can get around Seoul in style aboard boat cruises and hop-on hop off bus tours. But if you could pay one price do them all?

The cost of visiting many tourist attractions and doing day-trips in Seoul can start to add up, especially if you are travelling in Seoul on a budget.

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Gyeongbokgung Palace using Discover Seoul Pass — *Gyeongbokgung Palace*

Thankfully there is a potential way to save money when visiting attractions in Seoul – the Discover Seoul Pass, available as a 24 hour*, 48 hour, 72 hour or 120 hour pass.

*As of April 2025, the 24 hour Discover Seoul Pass is available on Klook but not on some other sites.

We recently purchased a pass online (a 24-hour one) and used it at five Seoul attractions and transport services.

Here is what we discovered about using a Discover Seoul Pass plus 2025 prices.

This article was originally published on cktravels.com on 24 December 2022.

South Korea checklist

We love using agoda.com, expedia.com and booking.com for researching and booking all our hotels, and Hostelworld for booking hostels.

For booking tours, transfers and SIM cards we recommend Get Your Guide, Viator, Trazy or Klook.

For booking rental cars visit Discover Cars. For private drivers and taxis, check out our Transfer guide >

Check out our South Korea travel booking resources >

All set for South Korea? Do one final check with our Seoul first timers guide and our South Korea packing list

You might like – top things to do in Seoul >

Table of Contents

What is a Discover Seoul Pass?

Discover Seoul Pass is a tourist attraction pass in Seoul, South Korea that can be used at over 70 different venues and attractions for free admission, available for 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours or 120 hours duration.

The ‘Discover Seoul Pass’ starts as soon as you have your QR code scanned at your very first attraction.

As well as free admission at lots of venues, there are over 100 more attractions that offer discounts plus discounts on public transport and bike hire. This is one of the best selling tourist discount cards for international travellers.

Lotte World using Discover Seoul Pass — *Lotte World*

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How can you buy the pass?

You can purchase a Discover Seoul Pass here >

The mobile pass can be downloaded instantly (via the app) once purchased via the website but note that the printed passes need to be collected at selected stores / tourist information offices or at Seoul airport arrivals.

What is the main difference between the paper pass and electronic pass?

The main difference is that whilst the mobile Discover Seoul Pass can be purchased instantly, if you purchase a printed pass, you have to pick it up at selected tourism centres or stores (usually at the airport).

Also, there are a few small product differences between the paper and app Discover Seoul passes – the K Limousine and e-sim products are available on the online pass but not on the physical pass. However, the Seoul Transportation card is part of the paper pass but not the online pass.

Note: To use the mobile pass for the AREX / airport express from Seoul airport to Seoul Station you need to follow the instructions here.

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How much is a Discover Seoul Pass?

As of 2025, Discover Seoul passes are priced as following:

24 Hour pass	50,000 Korean Won (£27 / $35 USD / €32) – currently only available on Klook >
48 Hour pass	70,000 Korean Won (£38 / $49 USD / €44)
72 Hour pass	90,000 Korean Won (£48 / $62 USD / €57)
120 Hour pass	130,000 Korean Won (£70 / $90 USD / €82)

Passes are valid for 5 years after purchase.

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What are the highlight / best attractions on the pass?

Obviously the ‘best’ attractions on the pass are down to personal taste, but we would say the below attractions are the highlights and best money savers:

Lotte World (a huge theme park and fun land in Seoul)	worth 64,000 Korean Won (£34 / $44 USD / €40)
Yellow Bus Tour Seoul	worth 25,000 Korean Won (£13 / $17 USD / €16)
Seoul City Tour Bus	worth 30000 Korean Won (£21 / $27 USD / €25)
Hanbok Rental from Hanbok Day	worth 20,000 Korean Won (£12 / $15 USD / €14)
Admission to all 4 Royal Palaces	worth 10,000 Korean Won (£6 / $7.50 USD / €7)
N Seoul Tower observation deck	worth 16,000 Korean Won (£10 / $12 USD / €11)
Seoulland Theme park	worth 52,000 Korean Won (£28 / $36 USD / €33
Seoul Zoo and chair lift	worth 5,000 Korean Won (£3 / $4 USD / €3.50)
Eland city cruises	worth up to 29,900 Korean Won (£18 / $22 USD / €21)

N Seoul Tower using Discover Seoul Pass — *N Seoul Tower*

New free attractions are always being added to the Discover Seoul Pass – there are currently over 100 as of April 2025.

Recent new additions to the Discover Seoul Pass include:

Seoul E-Land FC (K-League 2)
Seoul Hiking Tourism Centre
Seoul Battleship Museum
Daehan Hanbok
Hanboknam (Gyeongbokgung, Bukchon & Changdeokgung)

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Our experience with a Discover Seoul Pass

Buying a Discover Seoul Pass is easy

We purchased a 24 hour Discover Seoul Pass online in Seoul one morning when we knew the weather was going to be good that day and the next and found the process very easy.

Once we’d purchased the 24 hour Discover Seoul Pass, we then downloaded the Discover Seoul app from Google Play / iPhone app store and logged in.

Within seconds, our 24 hour pass appeared with a big QR code, to be scanned by the various attraction ticket offices we were going to visit.

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24 hour vs 48 hour vs 72 hour vs 120 hour Discover Pass

There is no doubt that the 120 hour Discover Pass is the ‘best value’ in terms of cost if you are staying in Seoul for several days, but after much research, we discovered that the key four or five attractions we wanted to do could all be done in a 24 hour period.

With the best will in the world and incredible planning, likely the most attractions you can effectively do on a 24 hour pass is five or six. If you want to do more than that or not be rushing around Seoul non-stop, best to purchase a 120 hour or 72 hour pass.

The attractions we visited on a 24 hour Seoul Pass

We managed five attractions with our 24 hour pass.

Eland River Cruise – Activity number 1

This is a short river cruise on the Han River with an audio commentary. There are several cruises per day, starting from afternoon cruises on the hour at 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm plus a special sunset cruise at 5pm.

There are additional evening river cruises with live music (70 minutes duration) that are also included on the Discover Seoul Pass. We did a 4pm cruise worth 16,900 Won but the evening cruises with live music are 29,900 Won (meaning a huge saving if using your Discover Seoul Pass).

We activated our 24 hour pass on the 4pm cruise.

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63 Art Observatory Deck & Aqua Planet 63 – Activity number 2

2025 update – please note the observatory and aquarium is no longer part of the Discover Seoul Pass.

This cultural centre and observation deck is a short walk from the eland cruise terminal.

The 63 Art Observatory Deck & Aqua Planet 63 actually ended up being three attractions in one – an observation deck, a superb art museum and an awesome aquarium.

Billed as the world’s highest art gallery, 63 Art is located on the 60th floor of the ‘63 Building’, a stone’s throw from the River Han, meaning incredible panoramic views of the city and riverside area.

63 Art hosts temporary exhibitions and makes great use of the space with windows looking out over Seoul. There is also a nice coffee shop at the top with views of the River Han.

Also as part of the 63 Art Observatory ticket, you can visit Aqua Planet on the basement level.

This subterranean seascape features many aquatic exhibits including sting rays, otters and penguins plus an hourly mermaid show when someone dons a costume and swims with the fishes – how very ‘Ariel’!

Art 63 and Aqua Planet was one of our favourite attractions in Seoul and likely something we’d do again as there was so much to see and do here.

Seoul Yellow Balloon City Bus Tour – Activity number 3

The next morning, we jumped on the Seoul Yellow Balloon City bus, a hop-on hop-off bus company that runs several routes and has buses that depart the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) every 40 mins or so from 9.30am to 5pm.

Note you must start from the DDP to be able to use your Discover Seoul Pass to get an all day ticket.

The Yellow Balloon City Seoul Bus usually costs 25,000 Korean Won per person.

N Seoul Tower – Activity number 4

We hopped off the Seoul Yellow Balloon City bus about 30 minutes into our first loop to go up the N Seoul Tower in Namsan Park.

We caught the Namsan cable car up (alas the cable car isn’t included on the pass) and then enjoyed incredible views from the top of N Seoul Tower – just show your pass at the N Seoul Tower ticket desk.

The N Seoul Tower usually costs 21,000 Korean Won per adult (although it used to cost 16,000 Won at the time of our visit).

Lotte World – Activity number 5

Our final attraction that we got in for ‘free’ using our Discover Seoul pass was Lotte World.

To get here, we jumped back on the yellow hop-on hop-off bus to complete a full loop of the city, then got a Metro from Dongdaemun Design Plaza to our final destination.

Likely the best value inclusion on the pass, Lotte World is an epic theme-park on the edge of Seoul near the river Han that has a huge indoor area plus outdoor Magic island area.

As there is so much to do here, we knew it’d be best to do this towards the end of our 24 hour pass, as once you were in, you could enjoy the rest of your time at leisure, even once the pass had expired.

Adult admission to Lotte World Seoul is usually 64,000 Korean Won (remember the 24 hour Seoul Discovery pass currently costs 50,000 Korean Won) so you save straight away. Prices are correct as of spring 2025.

South Korea Hallyu Tip – The other best value attraction on the Discover Seoul Pass is Seoul Land admission which usually costs 52,000 Korean Won. So if you are a Seoul theme park fan, combine Seoul Land with Lotte Adventure World and you are saving over 50% compared to the admission prices.

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Discover Seoul Pass savings

Based on our 24 hour pass itinerary above (Lotte World, 63 Art Observatory Deck & Aqua Planet 63, Yellow bus tour, Namsan N Seoul Tower and an Eland River Cruise), the value of our five attractions at the time was 134,900 Korean Won.

The cost of our 24 Hour Discover Seoul pass was 39,900 Won*, meaning a 95,000 Korean Won saving (note that as of April 2025, a 24 hour Discover Seoul pass now costs 50,000 Won but the potential savings are still huge).

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Is the Discover Seoul pass good value?

Yes you can save lots of money with a Discover Seoul Pass although it obviously depends on how many attractions you visit and the cost of these.

If you use this pass for the higher cost attractions like Lotte World (usually 64,000 Won per adult as of spring 2025), you’ll be saving money straight away as the overall Seoul Discover Pass cost is lower than the Lotte World entrance fee.

We saved 95,000 Won in a 24 hour period visiting 5 attractions – our 24 Discover Seoul Pass cost 39,900 Won (now 50,000 Won) and gave us 134,900 worth of attraction entrance fees. So it is very good value from our perspective.

In summary, Discover Seoul 24 hour pass:

Total price of attractions without pass = 134,900 Won

1 x Discover Seoul 24 hour pass = 39,900 Won*

We each saved 71 % = 95,000 Won

It now costs 50,000 Won in 2023 so your savings may be be different.

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How to use the pass tactically

The key thing to remember about a Discover Seoul Pass is you can buy it whenever you like, but the timer only starts to count down (on the app) at the first point of redemption i.e. when you hand over your phone to an attraction ticket desk and they scan the QR code.

To get the best use out of our 24 hour Discover Seoul Pass, we started it by taking a sunset cruise along the River Han at 5pm and picking up our tickets at 4.55pm, meaning we could then use it until 4.55pm the next day.

So in effect you get two bites of the cherry by starting the Discover Seoul Pass late on one day and then ensuring you get into the last attraction around 5pm (Lotte World or Art 63 would be a good example here).

The same principles apply to the 48 hour, 72 hour and 120 hour Discover Seoul Passes.

Can you save money with a Discover Seoul Pass?

Yes, you can definitely save money with the Discover Seoul Pass.

For instance, if you wanted to go to Lotte World, the on-the-door admission price is 64,000 Won, but it is included as part of the Discover Seoul, so you already have your money back on the 24 hour and 48 hour passes, with time to do lots of other attractions.

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Can you get a refund on the pass if you don’t use it?

Yes, you may cancel the payment within 30 days of the payment date. However, if you use the pass, it is activated and you cannot get a refund.

How long is the pass valid?

A Discover Seoul Pass is valid for 5 years from the date of purchase although the 24 / 48 / 72 /120 hour time limits begin as soon as you scan the pass at your first attraction.

Discover Seoul Pass Summary

We purchased a 24 hour Discover Seoul Pass online and found it very easy to purchase, set-up and use.

We used our Seoul Discovery pass at 5 different attractions over a 24 hour period and made a saving of 95,000 Won (or a 71% saving / discount).

If you are planning on going to Lotte World anyway (64,000 Won), you will easily get your money back by using the Discovery Seoul Pass.

When we return to Seoul, we would definitely consider purchasing a Discover Seoul Pass again.