Korea Events Calendar
Korea events calendar lists festivals, exhibitions, seasonal highlights and traditional customs month by month, with ticketing dates, hours and map links. Don’t miss all of the amazing things you can do in Korea.
New this month
Cheongsong Apple Festival (청송사과축제)
📍 Wolmak-ri, Cheongsong-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do · 경상북도 청송군 청송읍 월막리
Full guide
The Cheongsong Apple Festival
Autumn is the season to celebrate apples and Cheongsong has some of the best apples in the country. Visit the festival for performances, a market, and you can also head out to nearby farms to do your own apple picking. It's a fun local festival that will get you out into a different area of Korea. Look forward to the Cheongsong Apple Parade, National Cheongsong Apple Flower Garland Weaving Contest, Apple King Selection Contest, try to find the golden apple, and check out the many apple-licious exhibitions.
Goesan Kimjang Festival (괴산김장축제)
📍 Area around Goesan Organic Expo Plaza, 92 Imkkeokjeong-ro, Goesan-eup, Goesan-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do · 충청북도 괴산군 괴산읍 임꺽정로 92 괴산유기농엑스포광장 일원
The 2026 Goesan Kimjang Festival is a kimchi-making cultural festival. Visit and make kimchi yourself using local agricultural products. There is a "Master's Kimjang Workshop" with renowned kimchi masters, a "World Kimchi Tasting Event" where visitors can sample kimchi from various places. It's the food hot spot in more ways than one.
Gimhae Buncheon Ceramics Festival (김해분청도자기 축제)
📍 551 Jangyu-ro, Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do · 경상남도 김해시 장유로 551
Full guide
Clayarch Gimhae Museum: Korea’s Only Architectural Ceramics Museum (Plus 2 More Nearby)
The Gimhae Buncheong Ceramic Festival is a ceramic culture festival held in Gimhae, a representative production site of Buncheong ware from the early Joseon Dynasty. It is Gimhae's flagship festival that inherits the value of traditional ceramic culture and presents it through a modern reinterpretation. Celebrating its 31st anniversary this year, the festival features a diverse range of programs, including exhibitions and sales, pottery-making workshops, and demonstrations, designed to allow visitors to experience the unique beauty and artistry of Gimhae Buncheong ceramics up close. In particular, visitors can admire the distinctive works of local potters in one place, and the festival offers hands-on experience programs where they can touch clay and create pottery themselves, making the charm of Buncheong ceramics more accessible and enjoyable.
Gumi Ramyeon Festival (구미라면 축제)
📍 Yeokjeon-ro, Gumi-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do · 경상북도 구미시 역전로
Full guide
Ramyeon: What It Is & The 13 Best Korean Instant Noodles to Try
Visit the world's longest ramyeon street! Gumi is the home to the Nonshim Gumi Plant, and if you've tried some of the best ramyeon from Korea, then you'll know what that means. The festival is held throughout the old downtown area, including Gumi Station, Yeokjeon-ro, Munhwa-ro, Geumridan-gil, and Saemaeul Central Market. Major programs include the Ramen Restaurant, Freshly Fried Ramen, Godland, Global Ramen Challenge, Robot Chef, and Huruluk Lounge.
Main Programs
- Ramen Restaurant: A food program showcasing various ramen dishes from across the country
- Freshly Fried Ramen: The Gumi Ramen Festival's signature food program featuring freshly fried noodles
- Godland: Operation of ramen-related experiences and content
- Global Ramen Challenge: A ramen-related participatory program for domestic and international participants
- Make Your Own Ramen
Busan Fireworks Festival (부산불꽃축제)
📍 219 Gwanganhaebyeon-ro, Suyeong-gu, Busan · 부산광역시 수영구 광안해변로 219
Full guide
Busan Travel Guide: Best Things To Do, Where To Stay, and What To Eat
Busan Fireworks Festival takes place every autumn along Gwangalli Beach. There are performances, laser shows, and of course a gigantic fireworks display to enjoy.
Ipdong (입동) – Start of Winter
Full guide
The 24 Korean Seasons: A Guide To the Jeolgi Calendar
Starting around November 7, Ipdong means ‘onset of Winter’, and represents the beginning of the coldest and harshest period of the year. At this time, families start to prepare for kimjang, or the making of kimchi which will last through the winter months.
Kimjang traditionally took place within the five days before or after the beginning of Ipdong, as this was thought to be the time when it would become most delicious. If you want to partake in the annual kimjang festivities, be sure to note this date down. That said, because of global warming, the dates for kimjang seem to be getting pushed back a little by little each year.
Goheung Yuja Festival (고흥유자축제)
📍 701-7 Handong-ri, Pungyang-myeon, Goheung-gun, Gwangju-integrated Special City, Jeollanam-do · 전남광주통합특별시 고흥군 풍양면 한동리 701-7
Goheung is the largest yuja producing area of Korea. If you haven't yet, this is the time to enjoy the rich flavor and refreshing taste of Goheung yuja. Programs include the Leisurely Yuja Path Walk, Yuja Farmers' Day, Yuja Farm Street Parade, a Yuja Theme Park, busking, performances, light garden, photo zones, to embrace yuja.
Sunchang Korea Tteokbokki Festa (순창 코리아 떡볶이 페스타)
📍 Sunchang Fermentation Theme Park and Traditional Gochujang Folk Village area, 55 Jangnyu-ro, Sunchang-eup, Sunchang-gun, Jeollabuk-do · 전북특별자치도 순창군 순창읍 장류로 55 순창발효테마파크 및 전통고추장민속마을 일원
Full guide
Best Instant Tteokbokki: Where To Buy It and How To Make It
An iconic symbol of K-food, head to Sunchang to celebrate the many tastes of tteokbokki. There are tastings, hands-on experiences, exhibitions, photo zones. If you like tteokbokki, you'll like this festival. By blending Sunchang's unique fermentation culture with the mass appeal of K-FOOD, the festival offers a variety of activities that everyone, regardless of age, can enjoy.
Soseol (소설) – Little Snow
Full guide
The 24 Korean Seasons: A Guide To the Jeolgi Calendar
Starting around November 22, the weather turns cold enough for snow to fall. Although the farming season has passed, there are still tasks to complete before winter sets in: tie and hang dried radish greens, slice and dry radish greens or pumpkins, and pick and care for cotton. Additionally, rice straw is collected to use as cattle feed throughout the winter.
Traditionally, this was not a seasonal holiday but a day that signaled the beginning of winter preparations.
Seoul Design Festival
📍 COEX Hall A, 524 Bongeunsa-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul · 서울 코엑스 1층 Hall A, 서울 강남구 봉은사로 524
Full guide
The 10 Best Things To Do At Starfield COEX Mall
Seoul Design Festival is a design-specialized exhibition based on contents accumulated by DESIGN magazine since 1976 and networks of domestic and foreign design industry. The first Seoul Design Festival was held in 2002. Through Seoul design festival, a total of 2,674 brands have successfully promoted their own brands and over 5,615 designers were discovered and introduced. Seoul Design Festival has grown into a festival as a stepping stone for Korean designers toward the world and a gate for world’s designers toward the Korean market.
Voices of Emotion
📍 4 Wausan-ro 33-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul · 서울 마포구 와우산로33길 4
The Bikabi Global Pansori group, a group of foreign pansori students, presents Voices of Emotion. Pansori (판소리) is a traditional Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a solo singer (sorikkun) and a barrel drummer (gosu).
Entrance is free with no pre-booking required. Food and drinks are available for purchase on premises. The doors open at 6:00pm and the show starts at 7:00pm.
Still going on / more dates
‘3rd Poem: Es Devlin, Come Home Again’
📍 Futura Seoul, 61, Bukchon-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul · 서울 종로구 북촌로 61 (가회동) 푸투라 서울
Across performance, visual art, architecture, literature and technology, Es Devlin’s first solo exhibition in Korea oversees 30 years of the English artist’s practice. A strong believer in a ‘temporary society’ built by transient audiences, Devlin places emphasis on the moment when individual perception expands into a collective experience. The exhibition’s large-scale installation invites visitors to engage in acts of participatory drawing, literature and audio. The artist harnesses multitudes of mirrors to refract natural and artificial light, illuminating the possibility of new encounters in the presence of others.
Busan Biennale (부산비엔날레)
📍 Busan · 부산
Korea's oldest contemporary biennial, founded 1981 as the Busan Youth Biennale, consolidated in 1998 (as PICAF, renamed Busan Biennale from 2002) from three antecedent events, and the institution that has carried the port-city argument across forty years of Korean contemporary art.
Buyeo Chrysanthemum Festival (부여국화축제)
📍 117 Dongnam-ri, Buyeo-eup, Buyeo-gun, Chungcheongnam-do · 충청남도 부여군 부여읍 동남리 117
Organized under the theme "Chrysanthemums, Putting Together the Pieces of Autumn," the festival offers a special time where the beauty of chrysanthemums harmonizes with the history and culture of Baekje. The festival grounds are divided into five themed zones—Pieces of History, Pieces of Scenery, Pieces of Connection, Pieces of Fragrance, and Pieces of Healing—where various specially curated chrysanthemum artworks and chrysanthemum sculptures unique to Buyeo, such as the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner and Sabimun Gate, are on display.
DDP Rooftop Tour 2026
📍 281 Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul · 서울특별시 중구 을지로 281 (을지로7가)
Full guide
Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) Seoul: What To See, Do, and Know Before You Visit
Walk along the 652-meter DDP rooftop and enjoy a 360-degree panoramic view of Dongdaemun and the Seoul skyline.
This is an urban attraction tour program offering a unique way to experience the city from above.
Admission Fee Standard KRW 26,000 / Special KRW 50,000
Operating Hours
· 1st Session: 11:00 (English)
· 2nd Session: 13:00 (Korean) Friday–Sunday
· 3rd Session: 16:00 (Korean)
※ Operating Schedule Subject to Change.
※ Please check the detailed booking system for details.
Program Description A guided walking tour across DDP’s fully connected 652m rooftop, offering a 360° panoramic view of the Dongdaemun skyline.
Capacity · 15 participants per Standard Tour
※ Only adults aged 18 to 70 are eligible to participate.
※ A valid ID is required.
Duration · 60 minutes
※ Includes time for changing into the experience outfit, safety briefing, and event participation.
※ Please arrive at least 20 minutes before the tour starts for a safety briefing and tour preparation.
Notice · Photography and filming will take place for promotional purposes. Participation implies consent to photo/video usage.
※ Tours may be canceled due to weather conditions (rain, strong winds, extreme heat or fine dust).
※ Participation is restricted for those with acrophobia or health conditions.
※ For safety reasons, participants must: Weigh between 40–100 kg, Be 140 cm–200 cm tall, Be aged 18–70 years.
Do Ho Suh
📍 MMCA Seoul, 30 Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul · 서울 종로구 삼청로 30 국립현대미술관 서울
Korean-born Do Ho Suh returns to his birth city in MMCA Seoul’s major retrospective, exploring concepts of identity, memory and the enigma of belonging. The exhibition features key early works, notable projects and the debut of new pieces. Large-scale installations remain the cornerstone of Suh’s artistic prowess and take precedence in the exhibition. Through his notable use of polyester fabric and stainless steel, Suh constructs neon translucent structures – doorways, rooftops, rooms and connecting hallways that actively interrogate the meaning of inhabiting a space.
Gwangju Biennale (광주비엔날레)
📍 111 Biennale-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju · 전남광주 북구 비엔날레로 111 광주비엔날레전시관
Full guide
A Guide to Gwangju’s Art Scene: Museums, Studios & Public Art Beyond the Biennale
≪You Must Change Your Life≫
Inspired by the final line of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem Archaic Torso of Apollo, the 16th Gwangju Biennale explores how new capacities and forms of life emerge through artistic practice.
In Rilke’s 1908 poem, a fragment of an ancient sculpture releases within its viewer an overwhelming surge of emotional energy, culminating in the injunction: “You must change your life.” Yet the poem offers no prescription. Transformation remains open—urgent, but not yet determined. Taking inspiration from this imperative, the Biennale approaches change not as a destination but as a method: a process through which matter, bodies, perceptions, and relations are continually reorganised.
Change is often most immediately visible to us in moments of rupture and crisis. Yet change also unfolds quietly and unnoticed, like the changes in faces of the loved ones we see daily. And change also unfolds through the accumulation of our everyday acts and rituals as they accumulate to practices of repetition that brings about difference and. It is through such practices that we expand our capacity to affect—and to be affected.
A central proposition of this Biennale is that change is sustained through practice. But in order to be generative, any practice must be sustainable enough to repeat across multiple scales of life. Repetition is what shapes how we perceive, how we relate, and how we live. As such living models of persistence and experimentation, artistic practices appear here as cumulative techniques through which individuals and communities embody their experiences of transformation.
Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale (경기도자비엔날레)
📍 263 Gyeongchung-daero 2697beon-gil, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do · 경기도 이천시 경충대로2697번길 263 (관고동)
The Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale features a range of exhibitions and educational events. The event takes place at various locations in Korea famous for ceramics, including Icheon, Yeoju, and Gwangju.
Locations include:
- Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art (Icheon)
263, Gyeongchung-daero 2697beon-gil, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
- Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum (Gwangju)
727, Gyeongchung-daero, Gonjiam-eup, Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi-do
- Gyeonggi Museum of Ceramic Design (Yeoju)
7, Silleuksa-gil, Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do
Hongseong Namdang Port Shrimp Festival (홍성남당항 대하축제)
📍 Namdang-ri, Seobu-myeon, Hongseong-gun, Chungnam · 충남 홍성군 서부면 남당리
The 31st Hongseong Namdang Port Prawn Festival is Hongseong's representative autumn food festival where visitors can enjoy the pristine waters of Cheonsuman Bay and fresh, seasonal prawns.
Jeju Biennale
📍 1100-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do · 제주특별자치도 제주시 1100로 2894-78
The 5th Jeju Biennale 2026 attends to the processes through which Jeju's indigenous culture, in its encounter with northern civilizations, has mixed, gathered, and metamorphosed into Iyahong. Taking Iyahong (the refrain of a Jeju folk song) as its central concept, the Biennale embodies the metamorphic process of flowing, mingling, and being reborn. Through Jeju as an island of metamorphosis, it presents the modes of survival and aesthetics cultivated in the coexistence and symbiosis of things and nature, humans and deities.
As crossroads and platform where southern maritime and northern continental cultures intersect, Jeju has formed a distinctively syncretic culture. The island has functioned not as a site of isolation, but as a cultural threshold of ceaseless connection and metamorphosis. Where the 4th Jeju Biennale illuminated Jeju at the heart of maritime civilizational history through the keyword Drift, the 5th Biennale examines Jeju as a site of convergence with northern civilizations — formed at the crossing of history (politics), nature (geology), and polytheistic culture (faith and belief) — through three keywords: Exile, Stone Culture, and Mythology.
Locations include:
- Jeju Museum of Art
2894-78, 1100-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
- Jeju Stone Park
2023, Namjo-ro, Jocheon-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
- Jeju Arts Platform
18, Jungang-ro 14-gil, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
- Art Space IAa
21, Jungang-ro 14-gil, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
- Gallery Remicon
31, Sanji-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, Republic of Korea
Lee Bae: ‘En attendant’
📍 Museum SAN, 260 Oak Valley 2-gil, Jijeong-myeon, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do · 강원 원주시 지정면 오크밸리2길 260 뮤지엄산
For those seeking an immersive cultural experience beyond Seoul, Museum SAN in the Wonju mountains, presents Lee Bae’s solo exhibition 'En attendant'. Drawing on the museum’s dedication to nature, art and space, the artist’s new show meditates on the act of waiting and healing. Charcoal, and its fire-induced metamorphosis from wood, becomes a central point in the exhibition. Throughout the grand scale of the museum’s interior and outdoor spaces, sculptural architecture, video installations and Bae’s signature painterly works comprise a full spectrum of artistic creation in sweeping constructions of black, white and earth tones.
Lee Kang So: ‘Emergence and Dissolution’
📍 LOTTE Museum of Art, 7th floor Lotte World Tower, 300 Olympic-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul · 서울 송파구 올림픽로 300 롯데월드타워 7층 롯데뮤지엄
Lee Kang So, one of Korea’s most significant contemporary artists, exercises an artistic language guided by philosophical experimentation and reinforced by fluidity across media, including painting, sculpture, photography, video and performance. In 'Emergence and Dissolution', So explores the concept of unfolding, pressing the viewer to question their idea of completion and refocus on the significance of an unfinished process as they interpret new meanings from decades of the artist’s notable and experimental works.
Masan Gagopa Chrysanthemum Festival (서산국화축제)
📍 46-3 Wolnam-dong 1-ga, Masan Happo-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do · 경상남도 창원시 마산합포구 월남동1가 46-3
The Masan Gagopa Chrysanthemum Festival is Changwon's representative autumn festival, held since 2000 to promote the excellence of Masan chrysanthemums and boost their consumption. Masan is the region where six farming households in the Hoewon-dong area began Korea's first commercial chrysanthemum cultivation in 1961, and where the country first exported chrysanthemums to Japan in 1972.
The 26th Masan Gagopa Chrysanthemum Festival will be held at 3·15 Marine Nuri Park, Happo Waterfront Park, and the Marine New Town area. Centered around chrysanthemum exhibitions, the festival features a variety of events including a multimedia fireworks show, a maritime fireworks display, and the Gukhyang Song Festival. Indie Music Festa, cultural performances by local artists, a chrysanthemum bonsai exhibition, chrysanthemum dance cheerleading, and hands-on experience programs are also prepared, allowing visitors to enjoy chrysanthemum artworks, performances, and food together against the backdrop of the sea.
Seoul Autumn Festa
📍 Indoor and outdoor performance venues throughout Seoul, Han River Park areas, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture Daehakro Center, etc.
Over 40 days, large and small festivals and individual performances come together, turning all of Seoul into a stage filled with art. You'll want to look at the website for this one to fully understand how many events happen under this festival heading. Seoul Autumn Festa is a representative performing arts festival of Seoul that turns the entire city into a stage for performing arts by connecting performances and festivals across Seoul into a single brand.
Seoul Outdoor Library
📍 📍 Seoul Plaza (Seoul Plaza) | Gwanghwamun Book Plaza (Gwanghwamun Plaza) | Malgeunnaetga (Reading) (Mojeongyo–Gwangtongyo)
It's the perfect season for reading, so let's meet at the Seoul Outdoor Library this autumn! 🍂
📅 Sep. 4, 2026 (Fri) – Nov. 1, 2026 (Sun) Every Fri, Sat, Sun
⏰ (Night) 16:00–22:00 | (Day) 11:00–18:00
※ Operating schedule is subject to change depending on plaza usage schedules, etc.
Sol LeWitt: ‘Open Structure’
📍 Amorepacific Museum of Art · 서울 용산구 한강대로 100 아모레퍼시픽미술관
Full guide
Why I Always Check What Amorepacific Museum of Art Is Exhibiting
The Amorepacific Museum of Art presents Sol LeWitt’s posthumous 'Open Structure', the artist’s first large-scale exhibition in Korea. Spanning the entirety of the artist’s career, 'Open Structure' champions LeWitt’s belief that artistic work reaches new ambitions within the structure of an exhibition space. From his early works spotlighting black-and-white structures to his expansion into colour and the investigation of archival materials, the exhibition invites viewers to enter conversation with LeWitt’s principles of authorship, instruction and sequence.
Sungnyemun Guard Ceremony (숭례문 파수의식)
📍 40 Sejong-daero, Jung District, Seoul · 서울 중구 세종대로 40
Opening ceremony:
Period All year round (Except Monday)
Time 10:00~10:10
Venue Sungnyemun Gate
Details Opening ceremony of Sungnyemun Gate by guards
Guard Ceremony:
Period All year round (Except Monday)
Time 10:00~15:30 (※13:00~14:00 break)
Venue Sungnyemun Gate
Details Ceremony to guard Sungnyemun Gate
Closing Ceremony:
Period All year round (Except Monday)
Time 15:30 ~ 15:40
Venue Sungnyemun Gate
Details Closing ceremony of Sungnyemun Gate by guards
Wolchulsan Chrysanthemum Festival (월출산 국화축제)
📍 19-10 Gichanland-ro, Yeongam-eup, Yeongam-gun, Gwangju-integrated Special City, Jeollanam-do · 전남광주통합특별시 영암군 영암읍 기찬랜드로 19-10
Chrysanthemum artworks and various floral sculptures with 200,000 chrysanthemums are displayed throughout Gichan Land. There are 23 varieties to see. Visitors can admire chrysanthemum bonsai near the Gayageum Sanjo Memorial Hall and encounter floral sculptures with their families near the children's playground. Silver grass photo zones and flower paths are also set up, making it an ideal spot to capture autumn moments harmonizing with the nature of Wolchulsan Mountain.