City: Pyongyang
Top Things to do in Pyongyang
Top Restaurants in Pyongyang
What to do and see in Pyongyang, North Korea: The Best Free Things to do
Pyongyang or P'yŏngyang (UK: /ˌpjɒŋˈjæŋ/, US: /ˌpjʌŋˈjɑːŋ/; Korean pronunciation: [pʰjʌŋ.jaŋ]) is the capital and largest city of North Korea.
Restaurants in Pyongyang
1. Geumsusan Memorial Palace
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 87 reviews
Reviewed By Neil_and_Family_5 - Kelowna, Canada
Definitely, one of the highlights of our tour of North Korea. The palace is more than the mausoleum where the two previous Kims lie in state. It is a museum of Kim paraphernalia; their personal train cars, Mercedes Benz', golf cart; maps of their official tours, all of their awards, certificates, and honorary degrees and much more. First, it is quite the effort just to get in. Dress properly, arrive, wait in a building, be summoned to line up in rows of four, walk down a walkway into another building, go through security, arrive at the cloakroom where you deposit your recording devices and jackets, line up in rows of four, go up an escalator, then stand on numerous very long moving walkways (no walking on the walkways but don't worry; there are many portraits to look at while abiding your time), and then, finally arrive at the palace. And what a palace; opulent, grandiose, serene, truly out of this world. It's understandable that pictures are not allowed in the mausoleum but it sure would have been nice to be able to memorialize the palace in a visual sense. And be sure to mind your manners; quiet whispers at all times and hands in front or at your side; never in your pockets or behind your back. The tour of the interior was excellent as was the walk outside in the grounds. Truly a must do. 5 stars.
2. Mansudae Grand Monument
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 106 reviews
Reviewed By LynsFrostee - London, United Kingdom
These statues are huge and are a big deal to the people of Pyongyang. We drove past these statues numerous times on our trip and each time we passed by our driver slowed down dramatically out of respect, as all the locals do. That is just a taste of how much the leaders and thus their statues are revered. When you get to the statues you are required to bow in an organised line up as a group style. The other significant rule is if you take photos you need to ensure you don’t cut off any part of the leader statues. That is a huge no no. This is obviously a really weird event for any tourist but really interesting culturally. Definitely a must see part of any trip.
3. Triumphal Arch
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 154 reviews
Reviewed By phinfogg
Modelled after the Parisian Arc de Triomphe, the North Koreans naturally had to ensure that theirs was bigger. An impressive monument at the centre of downtown Pyongyang.
4. Monument to the Korean Workers Party
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 101 reviews
Reviewed By Road402110 - Markham, Canada
This 50 meter high monument has 3 hand holding up 3 tools. the sickle (for the peasant), the hammer (for the worker), and the calligraphy brush (for the working intellectual). If you are there at the right time, you can buy a North korean "Passport" that contains pages with all the visitor sites, where you can get it stamped at each site you visit. A pretty good souvenir.,
5. Kim Il-sung Square
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 159 reviews
Reviewed By Grace86London
You’ll see this famous square in any DPRK propaganda footage, complete with thousands of soldiers goose-stepping past the Dear Leader in flawless synchronisation. I wasn’t expecting to see all of the markings permanently painted on the floor - I suppose I had never thought about how they get such a perfect formation. Definitely a must as part of your tour. We stopped past here whilst on a walk to a ‘foreigners bookshop’ in Pyongyang.
6. Arch of Reunification
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 122 reviews
Reviewed By Grace86London
It was one of the first things we stopped off at on our way from the airport to Pyongyang and gave me chills to see it in real life. The Reunification Highway stretches from Pyongyang all the way down to the DMZ on the South Korean border. The monument was built in 2001 to commemorate the ongoing peace proposals between the two Koreas. The roads are virtually empty so you can get out and stand in the road to take your photos.
7. Mansudae Art Studio Gallery
8. Grand People's Study House
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 69 reviews
Reviewed By bronwynrev - Toronto, Canada
Had a lovely guide here who spoke French and English and showed me around the English collections and took out copies of Jane Eyre, a Shakespeare reader, some science books, and Harry Potter for me. Spoke to a very friendly English class here, and saw other classes and lecture halls. The balcony has great views of Kim Il-Sung square, the Juche Tower, and the Mansudae Grand Monument. Also has a great and well-stocked gift shop, especially if you're into DPRK music!
9. Korean Department Store in Pyongyang
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 12 reviews
Reviewed By gyanfernando - Exeter, United Kingdom
This is a centrally situated Supermarket in Pyongyang and probably the only supermarket that visitors can do their shopping apart from hotel based shops that only deal in hard currency. Firstly, this is the only chance to get your hands on the local currency, the Won. As a collector of banknotes of the countries that I have visited, this was a great opportunity get my hands on them. Secondly, this was an opportunity to shop with the locals and communicate with them in sign language! We did as advised and changed a little bit of hard currency into Wons. Thereafter, we shopped looking at the vast array of unusual alcoholic drinks and food. I bought several bottles of local spirits after consulting the shelf-stacking girls. Most of the stuff were of Chinese origin but we did not care. BTW, nice toilets. Great place for people watching. At the end of our shopping spree we could convert the Wons back to hard currency. I kept a few clean banknotes and asked our guides if I could take them back to me. The answer was that if my local banknotes were to get mixed up with my Dollars, no body would care on the way out. This I did! It is not a good idea to take them out in "Industrial Quantities" but a few Won banknotes would not cause much problems. A happy day!
