Seollal and Chuseok in Korea: Holiday Travel Guide With 2027 Dates

Why the dates move every year

Seollal (설날) and Chuseok (추석, also called 한가위, Hangawi) are fixed to the lunar calendar, so their solar dates shift from year to year. Seollal is the first day of the first lunar month; Chuseok is the fifteenth day of the eighth, the harvest full moon. Each is a three-day public holiday covering the day before, the day itself and the day after. When one of those days lands on a Sunday or on another holiday, the government adds a substitute holiday (대체공휴일, daechegonghyuil) on the next working day, which is why the 2027 Seollal break runs four days.

Both holidays exist to bring families together, and that is what shapes a visitor's experience. Huge numbers of people leave the capital for their parents' or grandparents' hometowns, so Seoul becomes noticeably quieter while highways, trains and terminals strain. For a traveler the result is an unusual mix: calmer palaces and subways, hard-to-find intercity seats, and many family-run kitchens shut for the day. Plan for all three and the holiday becomes one of the more interesting times to be in the city.

Inside the family day: charye, sebae and the foods that mark it

The holiday morning traditionally begins with charye (차례), a rite in which the family lays out food for its ancestors and bows before the table. It grows out of Confucian ancestor worship, which treated serving the dead as a central duty of descendants. Many families also make seongmyo (성묘), a visit to the ancestral graves; for Seollal 2026, Seoul added extra trips on the bus routes serving Manguri Cemetery in Jungnang-gu. The National Folk Museum notes that these rites are changing as beliefs diversify, while the core idea of honoring ancestors and wishing descendants well has held.

Seollal adds sebae (세배), the deep New Year's bow that children and younger relatives make to their elders, with the greeting 새해 복 많이 받으세요 (saehae bok mani badeuseyo), 'receive many New Year blessings.' Elders answer with good wishes and sebaetdon (세뱃돈), New Year's money, often in crisp new notes. The dish of the day is tteokguk (떡국), a clear soup of sliced rice cake; eating a bowl is said to add a year to your age. Families then gather for yutnori (윷놀이), a board game decided by throwing four wooden sticks.

Chuseok is the harvest counterpart. Its signature food is songpyeon (송편), small half-moon rice cakes steamed over pine needles, and its traditional entertainments include ssireum (씨름) wrestling and ganggangsullae (강강술래), a circle dance under the full moon. If you are invited into a Korean home over either holiday, bring a modest gift such as fruit, accept the food you are offered, and ask before photographing the ancestral table. It is a family rite, not a display, and asking first is the respectful default.

The official 2027 holiday calendar

The Korea AeroSpace Administration (우주항공청, KASA), which publishes the country's official calendar almanac each year, released the 2027 edition on June 29, 2026. It places Seollal on Sunday, February 7, with the holiday from Saturday, February 6 to Tuesday, February 9, the last day being a substitute. Chuseok falls on Wednesday, September 15, with the holiday from September 14 to 16. The almanac also reflects a 2026 change: Labor Day (May 1) and Constitution Day (July 17) became public holidays in April 2026, and because both fall on Saturdays in 2027, each gets a Monday substitute.

For travelers the important pattern is the run of long weekends. The almanac counts ten breaks of three days or more in 2027, six of them Saturday-to-Monday weekends created by substitute holidays. Each one fills domestic trains and popular day-trip destinations, and Seoul's palaces see more local families than usual. None disrupts the city the way Seollal and Chuseok do, but if you plan a trip out of Seoul, check the table before you pick your travel days.

Palaces stay open, and lately they have been free

The royal palaces do not close for the holidays. In 2026 the Korea Heritage Service's palace offices opened them free of charge over both breaks: Gyeongbokgung, the Chilgung shrine, Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung from February 14 to 18 for Seollal, and those four plus Deoksugung and Jongmyo from September 24 to 27 for Chuseok. Each free window covered the holiday plus the weekend days running into it. Hours followed the season, so Gyeongbokgung closed at 5 p.m., with last entry at 4 p.m., in February and at 6 p.m. in September.

Free does not mean everything runs as usual. Gyeongbokgung's regular guided tours were suspended over both holidays. Changdeokgung's free admission covered the palace buildings but not the Secret Garden (후원, Huwon), which kept its own ticket and its own tours. Jongmyo, normally entered on timed tours, switched to free self-guided visits, with tours offered only in Korean from September 24 to 26. Deoksugung ran its commentary on a holiday schedule, including English sessions at 11:50 and 14:50 at the Daehan Empire History Museum in Seokjojeon.

Watch the closing days. Gyeongbokgung normally closes on Tuesdays, and when Seollal 2026 fell on a Tuesday the palace opened and moved its closure to Thursday, February 19, the first day after the break. Changdeokgung and Deoksugung close on Mondays and also shift closure when a Monday is a holiday. In 2027 both the Seollal substitute holiday (February 9) and the first day of Chuseok (September 14) are Tuesdays, so expect Gyeongbokgung to open on those days and close afterward. The 2026 notices appeared on royal.khs.go.kr between three days and four weeks ahead, so check again the week before.

Free entry plus quiet streets is a strong combination, but Korean families staying in Seoul have the same idea, and afternoons on the main holiday days can be busy at Gyeongbokgung in particular. Arrive at 9 a.m., see the main throne-hall axis first and leave the outer pavilions for later. If you want space for photographs, Jongmyo is a good alternative: public holidays are self-guided days there, so you can linger instead of following a guide on a fixed schedule.

What closes: museums on the day itself, and many kitchens

Museums are less generous than palaces. The National Folk Museum of Korea (국립민속박물관, Gungnip Minsok Bangmulgwan), inside the Gyeongbokgung grounds, closes on Seollal and Chuseok days themselves, as both of its 2026 holiday event notices stated, and holds its holiday programs on the days around them. Other museums set their own rules, so read each one's notice board before building a day around it.

Food takes more planning than sightseeing. Banks and government offices close for the holiday, and many family-run restaurants and market stalls shut for at least the main day while their owners travel or host relatives. Chain cafés, convenience stores, hotel restaurants and places in heavily visited districts are the likeliest to stay open. Book a table for the main holiday day if a particular meal matters to you, check opening status in your map app the evening before, and keep breakfast supplies from a convenience store in your room.

Getting around when the whole country goes home

The crunch is intercity, not inside Seoul. Trains, express buses and expressways are busiest on the first day out and the last day back. Seoul's own transit gets easier in the middle of the break, and the city sometimes extends service for returning travelers: for Seollal 2026 it ran subway Lines 1 to 9 and buses serving its main rail and bus terminals until 1 a.m. on February 17 and 18, while all 14 overnight Owl bus routes kept their normal schedule throughout the holiday.

The simplest strategy is to stay in Seoul and let the country empty around you. If your itinerary needs an intercity leg, avoid the first and last days of the break, book as soon as your rail or bus operator opens holiday sales, and keep a refundable backup. Expect queues at Seoul Station and the express bus terminals on peak days, and leave extra time for airport trips that pass through them.

Where to see the holiday in public

Because the real rituals happen in private homes, museums and heritage villages stage public versions, and these are the best way for a visitor to take part. The National Folk Museum has run both Seollal and Chuseok programs in recent years. Its 2026 Seollal day, on February 16, included a booth for recording New Year's blessings, sebaetdon envelope making, fortune-telling with yut sticks and a family musical. Its Chuseok event on September 26 and 27 offered a ssireum class and children's tournament, a folk-game relay with jegichagi (제기차기, shuttlecock kicking), tuho (투호, arrow throwing) and top spinning, group ganggangsullae and farmers' band performances.

Namsangol Hanok Village (남산골한옥마을, Namsangol Hanok Maeul) is the other dependable stage. Its 2026 Chuseok festival, Namsan Dalbit Madang, ran from September 24 to 27 with a talk on how the charye table is laid out, pansori and traditional tightrope-walking performances, free hanbok and traditional makeup sessions, and craft workshops; on Seollal 2026 itself, February 17, it held a talk on the holiday ancestral table. The hanbok sessions and performances were walk-in, while the craft workshops took advance bookings.

Both venues publish details only a few weeks ahead; the Folk Museum posted its 2026 Chuseok program on September 14, twelve days before the event. Treat 2027 programs as likely rather than certain, and check the museum's seasonal events board (세시풍속행사, sesi pungsok haengsa) and Namsangol's program page in late January and early September. When a program is confirmed, go early: activities with daily limits, such as the craft tables, are first come, first served.

Worked example: three days of Chuseok 2027 in Seoul

This plan assumes the 2026 patterns repeat, so confirm each notice before you go. Tuesday, September 14, the day before Chuseok: start at Gyeongbokgung at 9 a.m., ahead of the holiday crowds, and walk to the National Folk Museum inside the grounds before lunch, since it should be open that day. Eat a proper lunch while neighborhood restaurants are still running, and buy songpyeon from a rice-cake shop (떡집, tteokjip) for the next morning's breakfast.

Wednesday, September 15, Chuseok itself, brings the most closures. Spend the morning at Changdeokgung, whose palace buildings were free over Chuseok 2026; if you want the Secret Garden, its tickets still need booking. In the afternoon, head to Namsangol Hanok Village if its festival returns, then eat at a hotel restaurant or a chain in a central district. If the sky is clear, look for the full moon in the evening; it is the reason the holiday exists.

Thursday, September 16, the last holiday day: check whether the Folk Museum's holiday program runs today, since its events have recently fallen on the days around Chuseok. Finish at Jongmyo, which on a public holiday is a self-guided day rather than a timed-tour day; over Chuseok 2026 entry was also free. Do not book an intercity train for this evening, when the return rush peaks; leave Seoul on Friday instead.