Temple Stay Korea for First-Timers: Prices and Booking

Book a temple stay in Korea through the official English reservation site; you don’t need to be Buddhist or create an account. In Seoul, Bongeunsa’s English weekend stay costs 120,000 won per person, while a weekday rest stay at Geumsunsa costs an adult 80,000 won. Bongeunsa includes a 04:00 wake-up and 108 bows, so pick the program for its schedule as well as its price.

Temple stay Korea: which program fits your trip?

For an English weekend program with a full temple routine, choose Bongeunsa; for a quieter weekday night, consider Geumsunsa. You don’t need to be Buddhist to join either one.

Use the official English reservation list to find the program by name. Geumsunsa and Jogyesa prices are from the November 3 check; Bongeunsa was checked on November 7. Geumsunsa’s Korean and English pages list different refund terms, set out below.

It’s a lot more popular than you might think. Close to 350,000 people took part in 2025, the most ever, and more than 55,000 of them were foreigners (figures from the Jogye Order, reported by The Korea Herald). The program started in 2002.

Experience, rest or one-day: which one to pick

For a first visit, you’ll be choosing between these three. The names don’t say much on their own, so here is how the official intro page describes the difference.

One-day programs usually start at 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. The tea talk is a chat with a monk over tea. The monastic meal, balwoo gongyang, is eaten from four bowls, and you leave nothing behind.

What a day at the temple looks like

Bongeunsa’s weekend program starts on Saturday afternoon and finishes on Sunday morning. The early routine includes chanting followed by 108 bows, with tea with a monk later in the morning.

This is Bongeunsa’s Regular Templestay listed through December 27, 2026. Breakfast and the break share one time block; there is no separate breakfast start time. Leave any Sunday plans until after the 11:00 finish.

Geumsunsa’s rest program marks dawn chanting as optional. Bongeunsa’s weekend schedule doesn’t label chanting or 108 bows as optional, and its guidelines ask participants to follow the timetable. If you want fewer scheduled early activities, choose the rest program.

Temple stay prices and how to book

There’s no single price list; each temple sets and posts its own prices. These are the amounts I checked on the official booking pages.

When I checked again on November 3, the Bongeunsa Cup of Tea program had reached the end of its run (October 31), and the Korean temple page now lists only free weekday meditation and tai chi sessions. There’s no notice saying what replaces it. Geumsunsa’s booking page runs through January 31, 2027, so its prices stand.

On the booking site, you search by region, temple, program type and number of guests (1 to 10 people), then make your booking. Foreign visitors should use the English pages, where you can book as a guest (the old eng.templestay.com address now opens the Korean home page). The English FAQ says to contact the temple directly or email support@templestay.com to cancel or change a booking, and some temples, Myogaksa for one, say outright that foreign guests have to book there. The English program filter has the same four types as the Korean site: one-day, experience, rest and group.

When bookings open and when you have to pay also depend on the temple. Bongeunsa opens bookings a month ahead and takes them until the day before, and it can cancel your booking if payment isn’t confirmed within 3 days. Geumsunsa stops taking bookings 1 to 3 days before the stay.

I also read the English temple stay page on Visit Seoul. It lists seven Seoul temples that run English programs (Bongeunsa, Geumsunsa, Hwagyesa, International Seon Center, Jinkwansa, Jogyesa and Myogaksa) and says bookings should be made at least three days ahead. That page dates from 2015 and was last edited in 2022, so treat the details as a starting point and check the temple’s own booking page.

If you’ve seen temple stays advertised for 30,000 won, that’s the “Happy Double” discount, and it’s for Korean nationals only, so visitors can’t use it. The November notice says it costs 30,000 won for 2 days and 1 night, each person can book a given temple only once, and one booking can cover up to 4 people. Another 43 temples opened extra spots on October 26 at 1 p.m., and the same nationals-only rule applies to those.

What you get back if you cancel

There’s no site-wide rule; every temple sets its own. Check the refund terms on the program page before you book.

Bongeunsa says that if you just don’t show up without letting them know, you won’t be able to book its temple stay again. Geumsunsa lets you change your date once, and the same refund scale applies to the change.

What to pack and what to wear

When you check in, you’re given temple clothes: a vest and trousers. According to the official FAQ, you should bring your own toothbrush, shampoo, towel, underwear, a change of clothes and a warm layer. Unless it’s midsummer, mountain temples get chilly in the mornings and evenings.

Bongeunsa provides soap, toilet paper and a hair dryer. Bring your own towel, toothbrush and toothpaste, plus socks for entering the prayer hall, a water bottle, umbrella and any personal medicine. Rooms are often large shared rooms for more than 15 people or smaller ones for 4 to 8, with shared toilets and showers. Some temples will give you a room for 1 to 4 people for an extra fee.

There aren’t many rules. No loud talking, no alcohol and no smoking, and you enter the main hall through a side door, not the center one. When you meet a monk, put your palms together and give a half bow. The Bongeunsa rules also ask you to walk quietly with your hands held in front of you. Meals are buffet style, but you have to finish whatever you take.

While smartphones are not formally prohibited on temple grounds, silencing all devices and keeping them out of sight during pre-dawn chanting (Yebul) and tea ceremonies (Dadam) is essential etiquette.

Daily temple rhythm: pre-dawn bells, vegan dining, and physical discipline

Temple stays follow a disciplined, monastic daily rhythm designed around mindfulness and reflection.

At mountain retreats like Geumsunsa in Bukhansan (overnight temple stay field report), arrival involves a steep pine-forest hike. Monastic meals (Baru Gongyang) are strictly vegan, served at set communal hours without snacks or outside food permitted. Mornings begin before sunrise with the resonant 04:30 temple bell signaling dawn meditation.

For martial arts programs such as Gyeongju’s Golgulsa (Sunmudo monastic martial arts stay), the schedule incorporates vigorous physical practice alongside spiritual routine: check-in by 14:30, Sunmudo demonstrations, 108 prostrations (Baekpalbae), 21:00 lights-out, and 05:00 pre-dawn chanting. Guests sleep on traditional floor mats (yo) in shared heated rooms (ondol), and monastic dining enforces an absolute zero-food-waste rule—not a single grain of rice or vegetable scrap may be discarded.

When packing for experiential stays (monastic retreat preparation guide), wear comfortable, breathable base layers to wear under the provided cotton temple vest and wide-legged trousers. Book directly through the official Templestay reservation portal, and adhere strictly to arrival check-in windows.

Going with kids or a friend from abroad

Children are generally welcome if a guardian comes with them, but the official FAQ says it varies by temple, so call ahead. Bongeunsa requires minors to be accompanied by a guardian, and Geumsunsa’s rest program accepts children in third grade and up when a parent joins them.

If you’re traveling with friends who don’t speak Korean, Jogyesa and Bongeunsa are both marked as “temples for foreigners” on the official temple intro pages. Jogyesa also has a 2.5-hour one-day program called “Walk of the Mind” for groups of four or more foreigners. Jogyesa is near Gyeongbokgung, so it pairs nicely with a hanbok rental the same day.

This September, 19 temples around the country ran a foreigners-only program at 30,000 won a night (Korea.net). It’s over now, but discounts like this come around a few times a year, so keep an eye on the notice board.

If you’re heading to a temple straight from the airport, getting from Incheon Airport to Seoul is worth a look. You’ll find more trip ideas in the travel category.