Update 2020: This attraction is now permanently closed
Finally decided to take the plunge and visit the SMTOWN Museum and the reason for my sudden interest is the limited time “EXO Travel Ladder Exhibition”! By the time this is written the exhibition have already ended as it is a limited time event. Exhibition commenced on 17th July 2019 (1 day prior to EXplOration in Seoul) until mid September 2019. Other than the special exhibition, all other attractions in the museum is the same all year round.
Entrance ticket and how to get there
This museum is located on the 3rd floor of SMTOWN COEX Artium. How to get to the building is as explained in my previous blog here.
Opening hours: 11.30am to 8.30pm (daily) (Last admission: 7.30pm)
The entrance into the museum is open every 30 minutes with the first entrance at 11.30am. I assume if you were to come at 11.35am, you would have to wait until 12.00pm to enter as it is a timed ticket. This is nice for crowd control so it doesn’t get too crowded inside.
Ticket price: 18,000KRW (as at Sept 2019) for counter purchase
Combined ticket with SMTOWN Theatre: 28,000KRW (until 31st December 2019 only, counter purchase only)
*Disclaimer: Have never use this combined ticket so I am unsure whether there is any limitation on what type of shows. The advertisement said only actual live performances are excluded which I assume, all other Holograms or Concert showing is allowed. Theatre and museum have to be entered on the same day.
Online purchase: via KLOOK and can be purchased on the day itself for exchange at counter. Can be purchased in your own currency via credit card and is usually cheaper than direct conversion from KRW.
If you are a first time user of KLOOK you can get some further discount by using a referral code. You can use my referral code OW2ZX or any of your friends!
Be careful of purchasing only as this is a timed ticket, so purchase only if you are sure you can make it.
FREE ENTRANCE for holders of Discover Seoul Pass. Read here for more details on the pass
With every entry ticket into the SMTOWN Museum, you will be entitled to get 1 artist plastic card in which you may choose your preferred artist and design. I chose EXO’s Travel Ladder card as it’s a limited time card only available during the Travel Ladder Exhibition. The card is pretty high quality and I actually love it a lot!
Please make sure to keep your entrance ticket (the paper ticket) as the QR code there will be used for AR video/photo attractions in the Museum.
Below here are the different zones and what you can expect to see inside the Museum
SM ARCHIVE
Upon entry, this is the first zone you’ll be able to see. Over here you can view various exhibits of all SMTOWN artist from albums (unsealed), album photocards, concept photos and even props from MV. Each artist have their own zone and display. Pictured is the EXO Archive Zone 🥰 (Note: I didn’t take picture of other Archive Zone but there is one for each artist)
Special Exhibition & MUGI-BOX Studio
On the left side from the SM archive zone is the special exhibition venue which at the time was showcasing EXO Travel Ladder behind the scenes photos. All the photos although are not being displayed now (since the exhibition ended), still are available for print (at a fee) at the museum shop.
Note: This exhibition is a limited time event from 17th July to mid September 2019. For updates on what are the events ongoing during your visit, check out their IG page here
These are just really some of the pictures displayed cause there were a LOT OF THEM. Entrance fee well worth it!
<!– /wp:paragraph —Also inside the exhibition area is the famed Mugibox where various SMTOWN artist have recorded their MUGI-BOX !t Live
SMTOWN Live Beyond Story
A space to see the brilliant stages of SMTOWN LIVE concerts, artists in backstage, and information of concerts in the past
The entrance to this zone is decorated to imitate the dressing room of SMTOWN live tour which is a great photo opportunity! They also displayed some of the clothing, shoes and accessories used during concerts and jacket filming.
After you’ve exited the mock dressing room, you’ll enter a room filled with pictures from previous SMTOWN Concerts and also a zone where you can get the Music Nation concert stamps. You don’t require the Music Nation Passport for this and the stamp will say SMTOWN Museum instead of concert venue name.
The official SMTOWN Museum instagram posted pictures of what you can expect to see here!
Artist Gallery
Special space to view the archives of costumes, props and activities of SM artists
This for me is the coolest part of the museum. Each SMTOWN artist have a section dedicated to them.
You have to scan the QR code on your paper ticket to get the machine going. The photo/video taken can be purchased at Museum Shop. There is a limit on how many pictures/video can be taken per QR ticket, probably around 4-5 overall. Basically enough for 1 try per artist AR so please use it sparingly. The limit is not stated anywhere but I realise after my endless EXO picture retaking, the machine stopped reading my QR. The limit is not per artist but overall.
Museum Shop
Just immediately upon exiting you will enter the Museum Shop. This shop can be accessed from SM SUM Cafe on the 4th Floor of COEX for free. This shop sells totally different items compared to the SUM Store on 2nd floor. Main offerings are album photocards (older than 1 year albums), photo printing and polaroid print. These photos for printing can be ordered via iPad set in the shop itself.
The products sold at the Museum Shop are only available for purchase offline. No online sale platform available for these items.
Album photocards are only stocked in 1 year after release date for any artist. Sale is based on readystock (they don’t print just because you order). However I bought close to 50 Photocards (not for me but for other people) back in July 2019 for EXO, NCT, Super Junior and Red Velvet and everything were in stock. The difference between photocard drawn out from albums are that they have the word “Not For Sale” at the back, while photocards here have “SMTOWN MUSEUM” written instead.
Photo printing are available either on art paper or as a polaroid. The pricing depends on size with photocard size (4×6) being the smallest. The picture ranges from behind the scenes during concerts, music video filming, photobook shoots and variety shows (ie EXO Travel Ladder). Photo/polaroid printing takes at least 10-20mins dependent on the crowd. During peak they even made me wait 1hour+ for it. Make sure you have time once you order, cause they never advise you that it’ll take that long to finish until after you have paid.
Photo print and album PC pricing
- Album photocard 3,000KRW each
- Photoprint 4×6 4,000KRW each
- Polaroid print 4,000KRW each
Other than those, there are also quick camera (I presume is disposable cameras), pop-up cards and frames for your photo prints.
Hope this has been informative for everyone! Please tag me on twitter at @exotensai if you guys decided to go after reading this blog!
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