Traveling in Korea During Seollal 2027
Seollal, Korean Lunar New Year, is the biggest family holiday of the year alongside Chuseok. In 2027 Lunar New Year's Day falls on Sunday February 7. The official holiday covers February 6–8 (Saturday to Monday), and because the 7th is a Sunday a substitute holiday is added on Tuesday February 9, making a four-day break (2027 calendar standards announced June 29, 2026, reported by The Daily Economy; substitute-holiday rule from the Ministry of Personnel Management, both checked 2026-08-23). The rule itself is simple: for Seollal and Chuseok a substitute day is added only when the holiday overlaps a Sunday or another public holiday, and the substitute is the first non-holiday that follows.
For a visitor this is neither a disaster nor a bonus: most tourist infrastructure keeps running, a few things close for one day, and trains and roads get crowded predictably. Where we cite 2026 examples, treat them as practice, not a rule; the 2027 notices will only appear in January and early February 2027, and we will update this page when they do.
The dates at a glance
| Date | Status | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Fri Feb 5 | Working day | Outbound travel builds through the afternoon and evening |
| Sat Feb 6 | Public holiday | Banks, government offices and post offices closed; most tourist sites open |
| Sun Feb 7 | Seollal day | The one day many things close: national museums, department stores, some marts and small restaurants |
| Mon Feb 8 | Public holiday | Return traffic heavy; shops and restaurants mostly back |
| Tue Feb 9 | Substitute holiday | Offices and banks still closed; leisure venues generally open |
| Wed Feb 10 | Normal day | Banks and offices reopen |
What closes on Seollal day — and how to check
Rule of thumb: Seollal day (Feb 7) is the day that matters for closures. The surrounding days are legal holidays (offices and banks shut), but leisure venues mostly treat them like weekends.
- National museums. The National Museum of Korea in Seoul lists January 1, Seollal and Chuseok as its closed days; it is otherwise open 09:30–17:30, and until 21:00 on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with free entry to the permanent galleries (Korea Tourism Organization listing, 2026-08-23 confirmed). In 2026 the museum and the MMCA art museums closed on Seollal day and operated on the other holiday dates (Korea Tourism Organization, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Check the "Closed days" line on any other museum's visitor page.
- Department stores. In 2026 most Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai stores closed for two days centred on Seollal day: 29 Lotte stores, 11 Shinsegae stores and 11 Hyundai stores closed February 16–17, with a few flagship branches closing on the 17th–18th instead (EBN, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Each chain usually posts its closure list shortly before the holiday under "휴점일" (closure days); check the official site for 2027.
- Large marts. On Seollal day 2026 E-mart kept 91 stores open and closed 41, and Lotte Mart kept 79 of 112 open with shortened hours of 11:00–22:00 (EBN, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Each chain's website has a closure-day lookup by store.
- Traditional markets and small restaurants. Each stall and shop sets its own break; many independent places rest on Seollal day. Chains, convenience stores and restaurants inside hotels, malls and stations generally stay open. Check a specific place's Naver Map listing or ask your hotel to call.
- Banks, post offices, government offices. Closed on all public holidays, which in 2027 means Saturday February 6 through Tuesday February 9 (Korea Tourism Organization public-holiday page, 2026-08-23 confirmed). ATMs and card payments keep working, but counter services such as bank-branch currency exchange resume Wednesday February 10. Exchange what you need before the holiday or rely on cards and ATMs; see /guide/money-and-payments.
What stays open — and often gets better
Royal palaces, Jongmyo and the royal tombs. The palaces do not close for Seollal, and the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center has opened them free during recent holidays. For Seollal 2026 the four major palaces (Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Deoksugung, Changgyeonggung), Jongmyo Shrine and the Joseon royal tombs — 22 sites in total — were free from February 14 to 18 with no closure days, the Changdeokgung Secret Garden excluded and still requiring a paid reservation; all of them then closed on February 19, the day after the holiday (korea.kr policy briefing of February 2, 2026, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Gyeongbokgung also handed out 6,000 free prints of a "sehwa" New Year painting on February 16–18, right after the 10:00 and 14:00 gate-guard changing ceremonies (same source). Confirmation needed for 2027: the scope and dates are decided fresh each year and the notice usually appears one to two weeks before. Outside a free period each palace keeps its own weekly closed day, and a full hanbok (jeogori plus skirt or trousers, not a partial outfit) gets you in free year-round (Royal Palaces and Tombs Center guidelines, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
Seoul public transport. Subways and buses run on a holiday timetable, and Seoul extends them on the peak return days. In 2026 the subway ran until 01:00 on February 17–18 with 128 extra trains, 121 bus routes serving the bus terminals and main railway stations were extended to 01:00, and the 14 night-bus routes ran normally (Herald Economy, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Expect a similar plan for February 8–9, 2027, announced about a week before.
Hospitals and pharmacies. Emergency rooms operate 24 hours through the holiday; in 2026 Seoul listed 51 emergency medical institutions and 21 emergency-room hospitals on normal service (MBC, 2026-08-23 confirmed). For non-emergencies, see /guide/pharmacy-hospital-korea.
KTX: when the holiday seats go on sale
Holiday trains are sold in a special advance sale, separate from the normal booking window, and popular departures sell out within it. The 2026 pattern (KORAIL schedule reported by eToday, 2026-08-23 confirmed):
- Travel period covered: February 13–18, 2026 — the Friday before the holiday to its last day.
- Priority sale for registered passengers with disabilities, seniors and national-merit holders on January 15–16.
- General sale on January 19, 20 and 21, 07:00–13:00, split by line: Honam, Jeolla and Janghang on the 19th; Gyeongjeon, Jungang, Gangneung, Donghae and Jungbu-Naeryuk on the 20th; the Gyeongbu line (Seoul–Daejeon–Daegu–Busan) on the 21st.
- Online only through the KORAIL Talk app and website; no station-counter sales. Up to 12 tickets per person, 6 per transaction.
- Pay by the deadline (January 22–25 in 2026) or the reservation is cancelled. Unpaid and cancelled seats went back on sale from 15:00 on January 21 via app, website and station counters.
For 2027 this points to an advance sale in the second half of January 2027, about three weeks before February 6, with exact dates announced by KORAIL in early January. Register a KORAIL account before the sale opens; if you miss it, keep checking the app as unpaid reservations are released. SRT (the separate high-speed operator from Suseo Station) announces its own holiday sale separately; check the SRT site. For general booking steps see /guide/ktx-korail-pass-guide.
Roads: crowded, and possibly toll-free
In 2026 the government waived expressway tolls nationwide from 00:00 on February 15 to 24:00 on February 18, four days; Hi-Pass cars were charged zero automatically, other drivers took a ticket at the entrance and handed it in at the exit, and a trip that entered before the cut-off but exited after it was still exempt (Changwon Special News, 2026-08-23 confirmed). The waiver is decided and announced each year shortly before the holiday, so do not build a 2027 plan around it. Express and intercity buses from Seoul also add departures during the holiday (MBC, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
Where to experience Seollal customs
Seollal at home means an ancestral rite (charye), a deep bow to elders (sebae) answered with blessings and gifts, a bowl of tteokguk rice-cake soup, and games such as yunnori. Visitors can join the public versions at these venues, all listed in the Korea Tourism Organization's holiday guides:
- Namsangol Hanok Village, Seoul. Holds a Seollal festival over the three holiday days. In 2026 (February 16–18, 10:00–17:00) it offered craft workshops, folk games, performances at 14:00 on the 17th and 18th, and 600 bowls of tteokguk shared free at 11:00 and 15:00 on Seollal day (Gukje News, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Check the official site for 2027 dates and any reservation rules.
- Korean Folk Village, Yongin. Its 2026 Seollal programme let visitors put on holiday clothes and practise sebae in a nobleman's house, fill a lucky pouch with five grains, and watch a New Year rite and a jisin-balpgi ground-blessing procession on Seollal day, with rice cake sharing (Joongboo Ilbo, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Confirm 2027 dates on the official site.
- Gyeongbokgung and Unhyeongung, Seoul. In 2026 Gyeongbokgung gave away sehwa paintings, and Unhyeongung hosted tteokguk sharing, gugak music and mask-making on February 16–18 (Korea Tourism Organization, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
For background on these customs, see /guide/korea-traditional-culture-guide.
Accommodation and packing
Early February is deep winter, so /guide/korea-winter-survival applies in full. Book before mid-January if your dates are fixed, and note that some guesthouses take their own break over Seollal day — check the listing's notes. See /guide/where-to-stay.
How we update this page
Palace free-opening dates, KORAIL's sale dates, the toll waiver, store closure lists and Seoul's transport plan are announced between early January and the week before the holiday. We re-check each source then and record the date in the "last checked" line.
FAQ
Q. Is February 9, 2027 really a holiday?
Yes. Lunar New Year's Day 2027 is Sunday February 7. Under Korea's public-holiday regulation, when the Seollal holiday overlaps a Sunday the first following non-holiday becomes a substitute holiday; February 8 is already a holiday, so the substitute falls on Tuesday February 9. Government offices and banks are closed on the 9th as well.
Q. Will the palaces be free during Seollal 2027?
Probably, but it is not yet announced. For Seollal 2026 the four major palaces, Jongmyo and the royal tombs were free from February 14 to 18, with the Changdeokgung Secret Garden excluded and all sites closed on February 19. The scope is decided each year and posted by the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center one to two weeks before the holiday.
Q. Can a foreign visitor buy KTX tickets for Seollal?
Yes, through the KORAIL Talk app or website during the advance sale, which in 2026 ran on January 19–21 from 07:00 to 13:00, online only, with the Gyeongbu line (Seoul–Busan) sold on the last day. Register an account beforehand. Unpaid reservations are released after the payment deadline, so seats reappear in the days after the sale.
Q. Are expressway tolls free over Seollal?
In 2026 they were waived nationwide from 00:00 on February 15 to 24:00 on February 18. It is a yearly decision announced shortly before the holiday rather than a fixed rule, so check the news in late January 2027 and do not rely on it when budgeting a rental car.
Q. Where can I try tteokguk or do a sebae bow as a tourist?
Namsangol Hanok Village in Seoul shares free tteokguk on Seollal day during its holiday festival, and the Korean Folk Village in Yongin lets visitors dress in holiday clothes and practise sebae in a traditional house. Both ran these programmes in 2026; check their official websites for the 2027 schedules, which are usually posted shortly before the holiday.
Q. What happens if I need a doctor on February 7?
Emergency rooms operate 24 hours throughout the holiday. For non-urgent care, use the holiday clinic and pharmacy search described in our pharmacy and hospital guide, or ask your hotel front desk to search in Korean.
Sources
- 2027 public holidays: 72 days, Seollal Feb 6–9 incl. substitute holiday (The Daily Economy, reporting the 2027 calendar standards of June 29, 2026) — checked 2026-08-23
- Public holiday system and substitute-holiday rules — Ministry of Personnel Management — checked 2026-08-23
- Seollal 2026 free opening of palaces, Jongmyo and royal tombs (Feb 14–18) — korea.kr policy briefing — checked 2026-08-23
- 2026 Seollal Holiday Travel Guide — Korea Tourism Organization (VisitKorea) — checked 2026-08-23
- Free Admissions and Cultural Events During Seollal 2026 — Korea Tourism Organization (VisitKorea) — checked 2026-08-23
- Public Holidays in Korea — Korea Tourism Organization (VisitKorea) — checked 2026-08-23
- National Museum of Korea: hours and closed days — Korea Tourism Organization (VisitKorea) — checked 2026-08-23
- Free Admission Guidelines for Hanbok Wearers — Royal Palaces and Tombs Center — checked 2026-08-23
- KORAIL 2026 Seollal ticket advance sale schedule (eToday) — checked 2026-08-23
- 2026 Seollal expressway toll exemption period and rules (Changwon Special News) — checked 2026-08-23
- Seollal 2026 department store and mart closure days (EBN) — checked 2026-08-23
- Seoul Seollal 2026 special transport plan: subway and bus until 01:00 (Herald Economy) — checked 2026-08-23
- Seoul Seollal 2026: transport extension and 24-hour emergency hospitals (MBC News) — checked 2026-08-23
- 2026 Namsangol Seollal Festival programme (Gukje News) — checked 2026-08-23
- Korean Folk Village 2026 Seollal programme: sebae, lucky pouch, jisin-balpgi (Joongboo Ilbo) — checked 2026-08-23
Written and maintained by OPDADA · Last checked 2026-08-23 · Spotted an error? Let us know. This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules, prices and schedules change — confirm with the official source before you act.