Do you love a fun festival on a beautiful fall day? Don’t miss the winter festivals across South Korea. If you already know about festival culture in South Korea, click here to jump to the festival list.
Winter in South Korea
Many consider Winter in South Korea as December, January, and February. Therefore, we have selected festivals occurring from December to February for our Winter Festivals list. However, such festivals may begin as early as November or finish as late as April.
Korean festivals may occur over many months. During these months the weather quickly changes, the leaves turn, and the cold weather begins to move in. If you love a festival, you may want to visit more than once and take friends.
South of Seoul volunteers choose to combine winter 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 Winter Festivals in South Korea
During the winter months, Korea loves to host outdoor snow or holiday-focused festivals. The weather tends to be cold and people are excited about being outside. You will want to dress warmly with great attention to windchill. Some festivals may be promoted nationally and internationally while others may only be promoted in the neighborhood or city hosting the event.
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.
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 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 with 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 Winter 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.
- Pocheon Herb Village Light Festival (November-April)
- Busan Christmas Tree Festival (Around November – January)
- The Garden of Morning Calm Lighting Festival (December-March)
- Petite France Village Light Festival (December-end of February)
- Pyeongchang Trout Festival (December – February)
- The Inje Icefish Festival (January)
- Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival (January)
- Hongcheon River Ginseng Trout Festival (Around January)
- Taebaeksan Mountain Snow Festival (Last week of January-Second week of February)
Locally Promoted Winter 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.
Founded in 2015, the South of Seoul team consists of volunteers on three continents working together to support English-speaking people traveling or living in South Korea. South of Seoul volunteers work with organizations and individuals across South Korea to improve equitable access to information across South Korea. Much of South of Seoul’s information focuses on Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
Blogs published under the authorship of “South of Seoul” include blogs compiled by multiple volunteers to improve access to standardized information unrelated to individualized personal experiences.
