Renting a hanbok in Seoul, and the free palace entry behind it

Visitors wearing hanbok are admitted free to Seoul's main palaces. That single policy is why the grounds are full of people in silk, and why rental shops cluster immediately outside the gates.

The intention was to encourage engagement with traditional dress, and it worked comprehensively. It is now simply part of what a visit to Gyeongbokgung looks like.

The waiver covers palace entry. Rental is a separate commercial transaction with a shop, and the shop is where the money goes.

Shops sit densely around the palace quarter, particularly near Gyeongbokgung and through Bukchon. You choose a garment and they dress you — hanbok is not something most people can put on unaided — with hair styling usually offered as an extra.

Rental is by the hour, with half-day and full-day options, and the gap between them is usually small. A full day removes the need to hurry back, which is worth more than it sounds when the palace alone takes a couple of hours.

Your own clothes and bag are stored at the shop while you wear it, so take only what you need.

Men's hanbok is available everywhere. It is a smaller share of what you see, but it is entirely normal and shops are set up for it.

Looser and less restrictive than it looks, and the layered construction is comfortable in mild weather.

Poor in extremes, though. In deep summer it is hot, and in a Seoul winter it is nowhere near enough — the coats shops lend tend to be thin, and a January afternoon in one is genuinely cold.

The skirt is long and the palace grounds are gravel and steps. Sensible shoes underneath are normal and nobody is inspecting them.

Spring and autumn are the seasons where this is straightforwardly pleasant rather than endured.

Foreign visitors wearing hanbok is welcomed rather than resented — the free-entry policy exists precisely to encourage it, and Korean visitors do it in equal numbers.

Modernised and fusion hanbok is widely rented and widely worn, and some shops lean heavily that way. If you would rather something closer to a traditional cut, say so while choosing.

The palaces are working heritage sites with staff and rules. The changing of the guard follows a set path, and standing in it for a photograph is the one thing that genuinely annoys people.

Bukchon, a short walk away, is the most photographed hanok street in Korea and is also somebody's residential street. The signs asking for quiet are meant.