Published on Jul, 2023
We had a wonderful day with our tour guide Alfonso (yes, not a very traditional Korean name, ask him to tell you the story). We started at 7:30 where he picked us up at our hotel and we headed over to the DMZ parking lot. We were able to get a 9:45 bus ticket so there wasn’t much idle time and he accompanied us as we visited the tunnel and observatory. We were fortunate to still make out the North Korean flag in the haze despite the crummy rainy weather, so don’t be deterred if your weather forecast is bad - you may be pleasantly surprised! Afterwards he took us to a nearby restaurant for some pork cutlet which the whole family (including our two boys ages 9 and 12) enjoyed, then we visited the War Memorial museum where he helped give context to all the displays on site. Alfonso was a terrific guide with excellent English, a curious personality, and great historical and cultural knowledge. We saw some of the other group tours while we were out and felt lucky to be on this private one instead. Even though the itinerary says War Memorial, there is flexibility to do different or other locations as well, which is great depending on your interests!