Korean Public Holidays: What Chuseok and Seollal Mean for Your Trip

How Long the Holiday Actually Runs

The main day above is fixed, but how many days around it actually disrupt travel depends on where that date falls in the week, plus whatever the government decides closer to the date — including whether a temporary public holiday gets added on top, which has happened before and can make a window longer than expected. Both of the windows above are confirmed:

Beyond these two, only the main day is knowable years ahead — the window length is a government decision made closer to the date. Treat any future main day as the center of peak season for rough planning, but don't lock in an assumption about how many days around it will actually be disrupted.

What Actually Happens During These Periods

Domestic travel goes into overdrive. These are the two times of year Koreans travel back to their hometowns to be with family -- it's the closest equivalent to Thanksgiving week in the US or Golden Week in Japan, except nearly the entire country moves at the same time. Estimates put the number of people traveling during these periods in the tens of millions.

Hotel prices spike, and rooms disappear -- at the destinations, not necessarily in Seoul. Domestic travelers aren't the only ones moving -- plenty of Koreans also use the holiday to take a short trip themselves, especially to Jeju and other popular domestic destinations. Between that and reduced availability, room rates at those popular regional destinations run well above normal -- often cited as roughly double to triple, though there's no official pricing index that confirms an exact multiple, so treat it as a rough planning signal rather than a precise number. See "Why Seoul and the Rest of the Country Move in Opposite Directions" below for why this doesn't apply the same way to a Seoul-only trip.

KTX tickets sell out weeks in advance. If your itinerary depends on high-speed rail between cities -- Seoul to Busan, for example -- don't wait until the week of your trip to book. Tickets for the days immediately around Seollal and Chuseok are often gone within the first hour they go on sale, sometimes weeks ahead of the holiday.

Highways become genuinely unusable. A drive that normally takes 4 hours can take 8–10+ during peak holiday travel windows. If you're renting a car for a trip that overlaps with these dates, rethink the route or the timing.

Why Seoul and the Rest of the Country Move in Opposite Directions

This is the part that surprises people most, and it's the reason a blanket "hotel prices spike" warning is misleading for a Seoul-only trip. Chuseok and Seollal are family holidays -- Koreans travel to their hometowns to be with relatives, and a large share of Seoul's population isn't originally from Seoul. That means the flow is largely out of the capital during these windows, not into it. Central Seoul neighborhoods can run noticeably quieter than a normal week, with less traffic, shorter lines at major attractions, and steadier hotel pricing than you'd expect from "peak holiday" framing.

The actual demand spike lands at the destinations people are traveling to: hometown regions, and popular short-trip spots like Jeju that both returning families and other Koreans taking the days off both compete for. If your trip is Seoul-based sightseeing, you're mostly watching this happen from the calmer side of it. If your trip includes Jeju, Busan, or a hometown-style regional stop, you're stepping into the side that actually gets crowded and expensive.

What to Book, and By When

Two things are worth locking in early if your trip overlaps either window, and everything else can mostly wait:

• Intercity trains and buses -- KTX and other intercity tickets for the days immediately around the holiday are the single most likely thing to actually sell out, sometimes within the first hour they go on sale. Book through Korail's official site as soon as your travel dates are fixed rather than waiting to see if seats are still available closer to the trip -- exact release timing and any holiday-specific sale dates are set by Korail and can change, so check there directly instead of relying on a fixed rule here.
• Accommodation at a regional destination -- if your trip includes Jeju, Busan, or another popular non-Seoul stop during the window, book earlier than you would for a normal trip; this is the demand spike described above, and cheaper options sell out first.

Everything else -- restaurant reservations, individual attraction tickets, a Seoul-only hotel booking -- is largely fine to handle on the same timeline as any other trip; it's transportation and regional accommodation that behave differently during these windows, not the whole trip.

What Stays Open, What Doesn't

The closures concentrate on the single main holiday day (and sometimes the day before), not the full multi-day window, and they concentrate by business type more than by location. Convenience stores (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven and similar) are the most reliable to stay open, including on the main holiday day itself -- that's part of what they're for. Larger chain restaurants, cafes, and department stores generally stay open too, sometimes on shortened hours. What's most likely to close is smaller, family-run restaurants and shops, and traditional markets, since those are exactly the businesses where staff are also the family gathering for the holiday. If there's a specific restaurant or shop you're planning around, checking its own posted hours for that exact date is more reliable than a general rule -- individual businesses decide this for themselves.

Avoid It, or Aim for It?

Most Korea travel advice just says avoid the holidays. That's incomplete. If your trip is built around Seoul specifically -- palaces, shopping, major attractions, entertainment districts -- Chuseok and Seollal can actually work in your favor: a large share of Seoul's population leaves the city to spend it with family elsewhere, so central Seoul often runs quieter and less crowded than a normal week, not busier. Some travelers deliberately time a Seoul trip to land inside one of these windows for exactly that reason.

The tradeoff shows up the moment your plan includes intercity travel -- Seoul to Busan, a Jeju side trip, anywhere by train, bus, or car. That's where the holiday actually costs you: booked-out transport, not a quieter city. So the honest answer splits by itinerary: a Seoul-only trip isn't something to avoid by default, but a trip that depends on moving between cities is exactly when to plan around these dates rather than through them.

If Your Dates Already Overlap

Book your KTX tickets and any intercity transport as early as possible -- don't wait, since these are what genuinely sell out. Book accommodation early too if your trip includes a regional destination, and expect to pay more there than you would outside the holiday window. Restaurants and shops are mostly fine to plan around -- just know that the main holiday day itself will have more closures than the rest of the window, so it's worth checking opening hours for anywhere you specifically want to visit that day.

Better Windows to Aim For

If your dates are still flexible, April–May and mid-October through November tend to avoid both the holiday crowds and the extremes of summer heat or winter cold. For a fuller breakdown of what the weather looks like season by season, see our Korea Weather Guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Korea travel checks