Festivals, sights across Korea

The Seocho Music & Art Festival returns this weekend. Admission is free. Now in its fourth edition since launching in 2023, the district-run festival takes place around the Seoul Express Bus Terminal and the Express Terminal-Sebitseom Special Tourism Zone. Saturday's main program, Music Dive, offers live music. Sunday's Fashion Dive combines a fashion show with performances, a music-and-fashion format the district is staging for the first time this year. Related programs run alongside the main s

Festivals, sights across Korea

The Yeongdeok National Heritage Night Festival runs Aug. 21 to 23 at Yeonghae Market Street in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province, recreating the town as it looked in 1926 under the subtitle "Yeonghae 1926, Walking Through That Night." The market street is one of only six village-level sites in the country designated as a nationally registered cultural heritage area. Its alleys host 40 programs grouped under eight night-themed categories, running from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. each day. Main performan

Festivals, sights across Korea

The Busan Sea Festival, now in its 30th edition, runs through Aug. 13 at Dadaepo Beach in Busan. One of the city's signature summer events, it is set against the beach's wide sea views and sunsets, with most programs free and a few paid. This year's edition emphasizes the involvement of the city's young residents and partnerships with local businesses. The opening ceremony on Friday features the Dadae Fireworks Show, staged against the beach's open horizon. Main attractions include a sunset beac

Festivals, sights across Korea

KIMA Week, an annual marine leisure festival held in Busan since 2013, runs through August, featuring a mix of beachside events, water sports and a national rowing competition. The festival is co-hosted by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Busan Metropolitan Government and organized by the Korea Marine Leisure Network. The KIMA Beach event zone at Dadaepo operates through Sunday from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., offering experience booths, a flea market, indie band performances, film screenings

Festivals, sights across Korea

Everland's Midsummer Night Firefly Festival opens Friday and runs through Aug. 30. The program lets visitors watch thousands of fireflies each night in an indoor forest, an ecology experience the park has run since 2017. Fireflies are considered an indicator of clean environments and are rarely seen in cities. This year the experience is free, and the grounds have been redesigned around a camping theme, with photo zones, lighting and a nature-study area on firefly life cycles. Visitors first ent

Festivals, sights across Korea

Busan will light up its wartime past in Busan Heritage Night, a festival running July 24-25 at Yurari Square near Yeongdo Bridge in Jung-gu. Built around the theme "City of Memory, Busan," the event revisits Busan's years as South Korea's provisional capital during the Korean War. Highlights include a media facade projected onto Yeongdo Bridge, a pop-up museum on modern daily life, a showcase of young artists at the Mildawon teahouse and a stamp tour. Night markets, street snacks and walking cha

Festivals, sights across Korea

The Boryeong Mud Festival runs from July 24 to Aug. 9. Korea's biggest summer festival invites visitors to get messy on the sands of Daecheon Beach in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province. Slather on mineral-rich mud at the main zone, dodge mud water cannons during the Mud Mob Scene, or keep things gentler at the family and water park zones. By day, mud slides and attractions cut through the heat. By night, drone shows light up the sea alongside K-pop, trot and hip-hop concerts. General admissio

Festivals, sights across Korea

The Semiwon Lotus Culture Festival runs through Aug. 17 at Semiwon, a garden in Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province. Surrounded on three sides by Paldang Lake, the garden holds about 270 plant species, including aquatic plants, and integrates traditional East Asian garden design. The festival is timed to coincide with the lotus flowering season. The program includes garden viewing, a special exhibition at the Lotus Museum titled "Lotus, Embroidering Life's Wishes," outdoor concerts, a stamp tou

Festivals, sights across Korea

The Daegu Chimac Festival, the city's signature summer event, runs July 1-5 at Duryu Park. First held in 2013, the chicken and beer festival has grown steadily and drawn 1 million visitors, boosting the local economy and Daegu's profile abroad. This year's main venue, 2·28 Freedom Square, takes on a theme that blends water play with electronic music and will feature a 360-degree central stage. Themed areas such as Daefrica Waterpia, the Chimac Singalong Club and Chisang Nakwon EGG Island round o

Festivals, sights across Korea

The Muan Lotus Festival, South Jeolla Province's signature summer event, runs June 26 to 28 at Muan Hoesan White Lotus Pond. Launched in 1997, it is the country's largest festival devoted to a single flower, the white lotus. The festival is set against the backdrop of one of Asia's largest stretches of lotus beds, roughly 330,000 square meters, and invites visitors to walk among white blooms rising from green leaves and take in the summer scenery. The lineup includes an opening concert and a res

Festivals, sights across Korea

The Worasan Hydrangea Festival runs June 18 to 28 at Worasan in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province. The forest festival offers hands-on programs, exhibitions and performances, set against gardens of hydrangeas in full bloom. Visitors can join hydrangea-cutting and plant-potting sessions, with exhibition content tied to the 2026 Jinju Garden Expo. Other offerings include woodworking, forest interpretation walks, hydrangea healing programs and forest sports, giving visitors a chance to unwind in the

Festivals, sights across Korea

The Wonju Yongsugol Poppy Festival runs through June 7 in Wonju, Gangwon Province, marking its 19th edition. It began in 2005 when a farmer planted poppies on a 990-square-meter plot. Crowds grew, and from 2007, the village corporation and residents took over operations. The 43,000-square-meter grounds feature poppies alongside 43 flower varieties with overlapping bloom times. Activities include poppy T-shirt making, a train ride and nature crafts. The Poppy Garden Market sells commemorative han

Festivals, sights across Korea

Everland's Rose Festival opened Friday at the amusement park in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, with 3 million roses across 720 varieties in bloom through June 21. This year's theme reimagines the Rose Garden as a European-style hotel garden. Guests pass through a hotel gate at the entrance and follow a path that ends at the Rose Castle, decorated with vintage luggage and drawings by artist Daria Song. A 3-meter chandelier anchors the central Purple Rose Zone, glowing alongside garden lighting after

Festivals, sights across Korea

The country's largest sand festival runs through Monday at Haeundae Beach in Busan, highlighting the coastline and sand's role as a marine resource. The 2026 edition is themed after the city itself, tracing its past, present and future. World-class sand sculptors will produce works that stay on display through June 14. Visitors can try sand sculpting or sandboarding and check out a sand-themed observatory and the play and rest areas. Performances, media art projected onto the sand works and addi

Festivals, sights across Korea

The Busan Lotus Lantern Festival runs through May 17, marking Buddha's Birthday with a regional take on Korea's UNESCO-listed Yeondeunghoe tradition, which dates back roughly 1,200 years. The main event takes place on May 16 at Busan Citizens Park's Dasom Plaza. Starting at 4 p.m., it features a Buddhist celebration ceremony and a lantern parade. A separate cultural showcase runs through May 17 at Songsanghyeon Plaza, with a traditional lantern exhibition and wish-lantern writing scheduled for S