Petite France: How To Get There From Seoul & What To Do There

Petite France (쁘띠프랑스) is one of those popular spots for tourists to get away to when they head out of Seoul. It’s in Gapyeong, an area that has a lot to do so it’s a great area to take a day trip from Seoul to see not one, but multiple fun things. From gardens and parks with light festivals to farms, islands, and unique villages, there’s a ton to do in the area. So, it’s no wonder there are tours that head out there daily and often include a stop at Petite France.

Petite France is one of those Instagrammable hot spots to the east of Seoul in Korea that makes for a great day trip from the city. Popular with K-drama fans as it has been a set for numerous shows and Petite Prince fans because the little prince is everywhere you look, the village is a colorful find in the green and blue mountainside.

Set in the mountains of Gapyeong, the petite village is an easy stop to make along with other fun must see areas like Nami Island or Garden Of The Morning Calm. You could even make a stop here if you’re on the way out to Alpaca World if you want something to break up the drive. It’s a bit quirky, a lot romantic, and completely adorable.

Want to skip around? Here’s what you can find in this post:

• How To Get There
• Basic Info
• What To See & Do
• What To Eat

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.)

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How To Get There

Address: 1063 Hoban‐ro, Cheongpyeong‐myeon, Gapyeong‐gun, Gyeonggi-do (경기도 가평군 청평면 호반로 1063)

By Train/Bus: Take the subway/ITX out to Cheongpyeong Station (this would take about an hour and a half from Seoul) and take exit 2 and find the nearby bus stop. You can find the local Gapyeong Circle Bus which will take you out to Petite France. The bus will take about 30-40 minutes. The Gapyeong Circle Bus costs W6,000 for adults and W3,000 for children. You can get on and off as many times as you want during the day. The bus also stops by Jaraseom Island, Gapyeong Rail Bike, Nami Island, and Garden Of the Morning Calm.

Take A Tour: The trip out to the station and then onto the bus can rack up a lot of time, so a lot of people opt to take a day tour. Numerous companies offer them and you can combine Petite France with some nearby stops with ease. Here are a couple options to look into:

• Petite France & Nami Island with Klook: Klook offers a great option with just Petite France and Nami Island. But you have the option to add Garden of the Morning Calm and/or Gangchon Rail Bike to the tour as well if you want it to make a fabulous day out in the area. Check out tour details here.
• Petite France, Nami Island, Garden Of The Morning Calm with Get Your Guide: Stop into three of the must see places in Gapyeong in ONE day. Get Your Guide is a great tour service with smooth tours that will get you out and back easily. Check out the tour to Gapyeong here.

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Basic Info

Hours: 9:00am ~ 6:00pm

Admission: Adults: W10,000; Teens: W8,000; Children 36 months to elementary age: W6,000

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What To See & Do

Petite France is home to a plethora of beautifully cotton candy colored French style buildings in the mountains of Gapyeong. The village would be especially beautiful in the spring when the cherry blossoms are blooming.

It was the filming set to quite a few Korean dramas and entertainment programs including: “Beethoven Virus”, “Personal Taste”, “My Love From The Star”, “Secret Garden”, “Great Friend Note – Girls Generation Episode” and “Running Man” were filmed on the grounds.

Since I’m not really a huge K-drama fan, I found the numerous depictions of Le Petite Prince, one of my all time favorite books, fun to find instead. Petite Prince can be found all around Korea in various gardens, parks, and more which is a bit funny too. Have you seen him at any small gardens like Farm Kamille in Taean-gun for example? Suffice to say, there’s something for the Kpop friend, fairytale fanatic, and child in all of us.

The village is very Instagrammable and is often included with tours out to nearby Nami Island. Head out to take all of the photos and have all of the fun.

If you love Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s book Little Prince, look for all of the statues, murals, and stop into the little exhibition space dedicated to the book which features some great drawings and artwork. I’ve read the condensed version to my daughter so she enjoyed finding the Little Prince at almost every turn too.

A lot of the buildings are also home to some pretty substantial collections of antiques. The Maison de Marie, for example, houses fine porcelain dolls made by Meissen, the first European porcelain maker. The European Doll House features 300 dolls with some from European Medieval Times. There are some antiques on the grounds that are worth millions too so be careful not to touch while you’re there and definitely watch those little fingers!

Interestingly, some of the “shops” that seemed to have the most expensive antiques had no one watching. They definitely seem to be very trusting, or they just don’t expect too many people on Mondays and don’t have as many staff on the look out.

Monday was a great day for us to visit as we pretty much had the run of the place. There were a few people meandering around, but there was plenty of space to spread out. Because we were actually alone for much of the time, there was a funny nagging feeling where I questioned if we could indeed go up some of the staircases and open some of the doors. Nothing was locked though and the places we couldn’t go seemed to have plenty of signage, so take a wander and see what you see was my take away.

As you walk along and enjoy the facades of the buildings, you’ll also find murals and human size dioramas which are from some of your favorite childhood fairytales. You can jump right in to the storybook pages of course take more fun Instagrammable shots with your friends or little ones. Our little lady had fun figuring out which story was depicted and trying to decide where to stand inside.

Throughout the day, there are also performances and informational talks that you can witness. We stopped into to see the Orgel Playing which was really interesting. Do note, the discussion was only in Korean but there was some English information on the monitor from time to time. You could also see a Marionette Dance, a Street Musician, a Marionette “Pinocchio”, and a Hand Puppet performance.

The schedule is all available at the front entrance. While you wait for the shows, you can also take a walk up into the forested mountain behind the village to get some good views. Near the Observatory tower, there is a boardwalk path which takes you up and around. It’s a good way to spend some time in the park. If you don’t want to walk into the forest though, there are two observatory spots within the village you can check out as well.

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There are also some experiential programs you can partake as well which include:

• Plaster Art Experience: Color plaster sculptures in various shapes including the Little Prince and My Love from the Star and make your own unique work to take home.
• Manipulate Marionettes: Find the various Marionette stages and practice playing with them and see if you can make your own show.
• Fairytale Dress Up: Dress up in traditional costumes from European fairy tales and take photos around the village.

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What To Eat

I’m basically making this section to tell you NOT to eat here. There are two small shops where you can get waffles with syrup (crepes would have been more on point), coffees, bottled drinks, and then some Korean staples like dumplings, fish cake soup, and spicy rice cakes.

We got a waffle, a couple coffees, some dumplings and the fish cake soup and were very unimpressed. The dumplings are definitely just from a bag and not handmade, my husband said the soup didn’t even have broth but was just made with hot water and as I said above, the waffles were just weird? There were a couple cookies from brands that were for sale and those were by far the best item we purchased.

If you can wait, I’d suggest eating outside or bringing your own food and eating outside because you’re not technically allowed to bring your own food in, though there wasn’t anyone watching. We had a little tupperware of sliced apples that I still had in my bag which we were happy to munch on.

As for location, the first little cafe spot you come to doesn’t seem to have any seating except for a few outdoor picnic tables which didn’t work for us in winter. The vendor there motioned us to find the second little cafe called Cafe Fennec. Cafe Fennec also has outdoor picnic tables with a fabulous view and there is a wall counter option just inside near this cafe.

BUT, if you want a seat with a much warmer view, head just across the brick pavers to the top floor of Beethoven Virus Filming Site. There is a large upstairs with a few tables that have beautiful round windows to get a great view. There was NO ONE up there when we visited, so I’d recommend checking it out for seats if you can.

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