Fall Festivals in South Korea

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Do you love a fun festival on a beautiful fall day? Don’t miss the fall festivals across South Korea. If you already know about festival culture in South Korea, click here to jump to the festival list.

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Fall in South Korea

Many consider Autumn in South Korea as September, October, and November. Therefore, we have selected festivals ranging from September to November for our Fall Festivals list. During these months the weather quickly changes, the leaves turn, and the cold weather begins to move in.

South of Seoul volunteers choose to combine fall festivals in one post since many cover more than one month or change months depending on the year. Therefore, it made more sense to organize festivals by season rather than month-by-month.

Large Fall Festivals in South Korea

During the fall months, Korea loves to host festivals. The weather tends to cooperate and people are excited about being outside. Some festivals may be promoted nationally and internationally while others may only be promoted in the neighborhood or city hosting the event.

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Finding National Promoted Festival Information

Large, nationally promoted festivals may have English information and promotion. The best location for large, nationally focused festival information is the Visit Korea website. Visit Korea is a non-profit government-affiliated organization that provides tourist information in a variety of languages.

Basically, Visit Korea exists as a primary source of information. Non-Korean-speaking bloggers use this website to create many of their seasonal blogs. This means you don’t actually need to hunt through blogs to find current festivals, just go straight to the Current Festivals section of the Visit Korea website.

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National Festivals May Change Months, Dates, or Seasons

Over time, the large festival details may change. You can’t be sure that a festival held in August one year might not be in September the next year. Date changes occur for a variety of reasons based on city budgets, national holidays, the fact that Korea runs off of two types of calendars, etc. It’s not a problem that dates change, it just means we always need to double-check each year.

You should always check the Visit Korea website for current information.

Festival Announcements

Korean festival marketing campaigns may only start 1-2 weeks before an event. This means that you need to be ready to take action when you start seeing the advertising. Don’t expect extensive advertising for a festival 1-2 months away. It’s easy to miss a festival if you don’t know what time of year it may happen.

Festivals May Be Ticketed, Free, or Mixed Methods

Each festival planning committee makes its own decisions regarding pricing. Korea often has three types of festivals: free, ticketed, and mixed methods. The different types break down like this:

  • Free – Entrance to the festival and all events are free and unticketed
  • Ticketed – To enter the festival requires a ticket
  • Mixed Methods – Entrance to the festival is free but you may need to pay for access to shows, games, events, etc.

Festival Parking

Large, nationally focused festivals tend to offer extensive amounts of parking that may be paid or unpaid. Remember, extensive parking and large festivals also may mean that arriving at and leaving the festival by car may require extra time.

Many festival attendees may choose to take public transportation to the festival. Taking public transportation may help a person avoid the stress of parking and cueing to park.

Festival Events and Activities

South Korea has its own festival culture. They do not base their festival experience off of the festivals from other countries. This means that the foods, games, and experiences you may be accustomed to in your home country may not exist at Korea Festivals.

Additionally, Korean festival culture revolves around the Korean experience. This means international culture may mix into Korean festival culture in unique ways. Each year festivals may evolve a little and change as Korea changes and culture moves in different directions. Korean society, like any society around the world, changes with time.

Nationally Promoted Fall Festivals in South Korea

The following large, nationally promoted festivals generally happen each year in South Korea. This list may change from year to year. Organizers may cancel festivals and organizers may add new festivals to the list.

Always check with the Visit Korea Current Festivals list to determine when festivals may occur.

Locally Promoted Fall Festivals in South Korea

In addition to the nationally promoted festivals, different communities across South Korea also host localized events. These smaller festivals offer a closer connection to the local community.

Smaller, locally promoted festivals can be a great way to connect with your community. For example, such festivals may provide a chance to connect with local businesses, community organizations, and culture.

Finding Local Festival Information

Visit Korea does not include information on localized festivals. Instead, you will need to look around the smaller cities and rely on local websites and information portals. Local city websites often offer information on local festivals.

Local festival locations may only be available in Hangul. Such festivals will often be advertised on city websites, Facebook communities, and on banners around town. Everyone in the community is welcome at such festivals. Don’t get too worried about things not being in your own language.

Google Translate Chrome Extention

You can use the Google Translate Chrome extension to translate online information about local festivals.

Papago Translation for Images

If the local festival information is on an image, poster, flyer, or sign – use Papago to translate the image.

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