Comparing DMZ tour schedules

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clintkaul
clintkaul

I am looking to do a DMZ tour while visiting South Korea. The common wisdom seems to be to use the USO tour. Looking at their schedule I see:
07:30 : Departure from Camp Kim USO
09:00 : After an informative video at Camp Bonifas and a presentation by a member of the U.S. military 20 Minute Briefing at Ballinger Hall in JSAAnd then tour to the JSA area (Freedom house, Conference room,Bridge of no return and point of Ax muder)
11:20 : DMZ Theater, The Third infiltration Tunnel, Dora observatory and Dorasan Station
12:30 : Lunch at the Korean Restaurant during DMZ tour.
14:00 : Departure to Camp Kim USO
15:30 : Arrive at Camp Kim USO
Which tells me the on-site tour is 3.5 hours long (9:00am - 12:30pm).

Looking at other tour options (Grace Travel, GoNSeeKorea, Tour DMZ) I see a schedule like:
08:20~08:40 Registration (Lotte Hotel in Myoengdong, 6F of Main Building )
09:00~09:40 Take Freedom Highway to Imjingak
09:40~12:40 The 3rd Infitration Tunnel, Dorasan Observatory ,Dorasan Station)
12:40~13:40 Lunch, move to Unification Bridge
(Transfer to the Panmujom Bus to join the Panmunjeom(JSA) Tour. Tour Guide may be changed.)
14:00~14:30 Passport check, Arrive at Camp Bonifas
14:30~16:30 Slideshow and briefing at Camp Bonifas
15:00~16:30 Tour of JSA : conference room, the 3'rd check Point, freedom house
16:30-17:30 Arrival at the Lotte Hotel
Which tells me the on-site tour is 3 (9:40am - 12:40pm) + 2.5 (2:00pm - 4:30pm) = 5.5 hours long

Now the USO (Koridoor) tour costs KW92,400 (US$77) while these others cost around KW130,000.
They both spend about 2.5 hours in the JSA zone. The difference seems to be 1 hour (USO) versus
3 hours (the others) spent at the DMZ (Dorasan, 3rd tunnel, ...).

For those of you who did the USO tour, did you feel rushed? Did you have adequate time at each
stop, especially the exhibition hall?

For those of you who did the other/longer tour, did you spend too much time at various locations?
Is the schedule correct or are they padding it so they can charge more?

Thank you for any info, Clint

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netllama
netllama

I did the USO tour last Sept. If anything, I was rather bored with everything outside of the JSA. Much of it was swamped with obnoxious tourists, and felt very artificial & staged. Also, the lunch was by far the worst food that I ate in Korea. It was this rather horrible cafeteria. So unless you really want the full tourist experience, take whichever tour costs the least and/or requires the least amount of time, as the US Army runs the JSA portion of all tours, and there is no difference in that respect.

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pskully
pskully

If you're not that interested in the JSA portion of the tour (which is the part that really runs up the cost), I'd recommend going with Adventure Korea. The tour isn't run all+ that frequently, but it covers everything (+except the JSA, which is only available through the USO as netllama mentioned), and is just 42,000KRW.

I'm assuming you're probably interested in the JSA portion, though (most tourists are), in which case I'd recommend the USO/Koridoor option.

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joolz2
joolz2

The main difference is that the first tour takes just over an hour to do the 3rd Infitration Tunnel, Dorasan Observatory and Dorasan Station, whereas the second takes 3 hours for this.

Although those places are interesting enough, it shouldn't take 3 hours to see them all. The JSA is the main event really. So the USO tour should meet your needs. We did this tour last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Take your own lunch if you don't want to eat in the cafeteria, although personally I didn't think the food was that bad.

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cwbush83
cwbush83

The only one worth doing is the USO. If you're not going to see the JSA (Joint Security Area) where the North and South Koreans stare one another down, you might as well just be going to a museum about the DMZ.

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duzking
duzking

The word around seems to be that the USO tours are the most popular, so initially I was a little disappointed when the dates of the USO tours didn't coincide with my time in Seoul. However, the combined day tour with Panmunjom Travel Centre (http://koreadmztour.com/en/program/?p_url=program_2) for 120,000 won proved to be the highlight of the trip. I actually thought that the time allocation was nicely done - around 2 hours in the JSA - a must! the tension is palpable- and around 1-2 hours at other locations eg Imjingak, 3rd Inflitration Tunnel - combined, all these locations give you the feeling of the heavy weight of history in the region. Admittedly it was our tour guide that really made the tour fantastic - insightful engaging commentary. A small group made it a little more intimate too (we were in a bus with 4/5 Japanese tourists at the front and the last fifth of English-speaking tourists at the back). And you get to hear and field some questions to a defector on the bus ride to the DMZ - an unexpected bonus! As a history buff, I'd highly recommend this tour, despite the high cost.

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