Published on Oct, 2024

We had a great tour day with Alphonso. He is very knowledgeable & provided us with much insight into the historic & ongoing relations between North & South Korea. Although the top of the observatory was closed due to current tensions, we were lucky it was a clear day so we could still see into North Korea from the second floor. We chose the War Memorial option & Alphonso guided us through the museum as well. We enjoyed our tour very much!

Published on Apr, 2024

Our Tour guide, B. J. Kim, Tour guide for private DMZ and war memorial tour, Was the best He was very knowledgeable, Spoke English well, Very friendly with patients. We would take next-door with him, If he is available. The best tour guide, Is tour guy with full knowledge to share With enthusiasm and pride Korean history You must Mr. BJ Kim is your guide for any of Korean tour.

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!

Published on Dec, 2022

Our guide Alfo suggested meeting earlier than planned because the tickets to the DMZ (you have to ride a bus to go through security checkpoints) are first come, first served and tours are closed Mondays, so Tuesdays can be especially busy. He was right because even though we left at 7:30, the next available tickets for the bus were at 1:30. Since it was a full day tour, we just flipped the itinerary a bit, so it definitely pays to have an experienced guide. We had a great time in the morning and had “army stew” for lunch, not something you’d probably see back home but it was good. Then we went to the DMZ in the afternoon. The third tunnel is an amazing experience but a little bit tough, steep walk back up. Weather was good and we could see North Korea well through the binoculars.