Chuseok ( 추석) is South Korea’s Autumn public holiday in September or October – it usually lasts several days as Korean families escape the cities and go on vacation.
One of the most frequently asked questions in our South Korea Travel Tips and Planning Facebook group has been about the 2025 Chuseok holiday period, especially Chuseok trains and travel (as local citizens get priority over foreigners for Chuseok Korail / KTX tickets).
This post may contain affiliate links to tours and hotels. These help us earn a small commission at no additional charge to you.
We also include alternatives like the privately owned SRT rail line between Seoul and Busan plus what to pack, given the autumn weather in South Korea can be so changeable.
From Chuseok 2025 holiday dates to what to expect, here is our guide to South Korea’s Chuseok holiday.
South Korea checklist
We love using agoda.com, expedia.com and booking.com for researching and booking all our hotels, and Hostelworld for booking hostels.
For booking tours, transfers and SIM cards we recommend Get Your Guide, Viator, Trazy or Klook.
For booking rental cars visit Discover Cars. For private drivers and taxis, check out our Transfer guide >
Check out our South Korea travel booking resources >
All set for South Korea? Do one final check with our Seoul first timers guide and our South Korea packing list
What is Chuseok in South Korea?
One of the biggest public holidays in South Korea lasting several days, Chuseok (추석) is an autumn / fall holiday (like American Thanksgiving), when families travel, meet-up and celebrate the harvest (often with home cooked food and drinks like soju).
Taking place in late September or early October over several days, Chuseok occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, to coincide with the harvest moon.
It is one of the special occasions when local Korean families wear traditional hanbok dress – some families will take part in charye (차례), a holiday ritual where Korean food is cooked as an offering to long-gone ancestors and family members as a way to say thank you.
For tourists, Chuseok is one of the busiest travel periods in Korea to contend with so advance planning is key, especially trains and hotels in big cities.
You might like – Our Korean festivals and events hub, with monthly events guides >
When is Chuseok 2025?
Chuseok 2025 dates are Sunday 5 October to Tuesday 7 October 2025 – however, expect it to be busy from a few days before and after, as families travel for their vacation.
In 2025, the Chuseok travel period for KTX / Korail tickets was classed as 2 to 12 October 2025 – we’ll go into more detail about this later in the article and what it means for you as a traveller.
The official Chuseok holiday period is usually 3 days to 4 days but families usually travel a little before the actual holiday (some make a whole week of it).
In 2025, the long Chuseok holiday will extend into Korea’s Hangeul Day too, so with the weekends added, many Koreans will be enjoying a 10 day break for Chuseok 2025.
For those travellers to Korea who like to forward plan (we hear you!), the Chuseok 2026 dates are 24 to 27 September 2026, and 2027 Chuseok dates are the 14 to 16 September 2027.
Join our Facebook South Korea Travel Planning and Tips Group!
Need help with your itinerary or have any South Korea related questions? Head on over to our friendly and active Facebook group with over 85k members!
Click here to join our group >
How to pronounce Chuseok 추석?
The Korean for Chuseok is written / seen as 추석 and means ‘Autumn Eve’. It is one of the easier Korean words to pronounce.
Firstly, ‘Chu’ is pronounced as ‘Chew’ and ‘seok’ is pronounced like ‘sock’.
So Chuseok is said as “Chew – sock” – easy!
You might like – Our guide to the top 100+ things to do in Seoul >
What is open during Chuseok?
A common question in our South Korea Travel Tips and Planning Facebook group is what is closed during Chuseok?
In fact, pretty much all the major tourists attractions in Seoul and South Korea stay open during Chuseok including both Lotte Adventure world theme parks, COEX Aquarium, the royal palaces (free entry if you wear hanbok) and Lotte Tower Observation Deck.
Other free things to do in Seoul during Chuseok include HiKr Ground, Eunpyeong hanok village, Bukchon Hanok Village and all of the Seoul shopping malls stay open including Seoul Station Lotte Mart Zettaplex.
During Chuseok, restaurants remain open especially the big chains in cities but there may be some smaller family run restaurants that close down.
Traditional markets like Gwangjang Market and Namdaemun Market / Kalguksu Alley remain open to visit and eat at but not all stalls will be open as some vendors may choose to close and spend time with their families.
DMZ tours also operate during Chuseok (although not many tours run on Mondays).
Please note some pharmacies will close during Chuseok – in an emergency, use and translate this website www.pharm114.or.kr to find pharmacies / chemists that remain open.
South Korea Hallyu tip – the best place to find updated Korea restaurant opening hours during Chuseok is via Naver Maps, one of our favourite South Korea apps to use and download.
You might like – Our guide to the best Korean street food >
Chuseok Korail and KTX Trains
If there is one piece of Chuseok related travel advice we give, it is to plan your transport movements way in advance.
If you are planning to visit South Korea in late September or early October, check the Chuseok dates in advance (so for 2026, Chuseok falls on 24 to 27 September 2026 and there will be lots of locals travelling either side of it).
Getting train and bus tickets during Chuseok can be difficult – especially so as the KTX / Korail national train service gives priority to locals over travellers during the key Chuseok travel period.
Normally, booking for Korail / KTX trains via the Korail website opens one month before your date of travel.
However, for Chuseok, foreigners were not able to book Chuseok period tickets this year (2 to 12 October 2025) until 3pm onwards on 18 September. As reported on our Facebook group, there was a mad scramble to get tickets with many dates already totally sold out by the time train tickets went on sale to foreigners.
Remember, if you can’t find your exact travel dates on the KTX / Korail website, be sure to keep checking and target cancelled tickets. After the Chuseok reservation period ends, some tickets are cancelled because people forget to pay or end up going on different dates.
These cancelled Chuseok rail tickets are released back onto the Korail website in real-time so it is worth checking it frequently.
Another alternative is to a SRT (Super Rapid Train) which is privately operated and has shorter Chuseok black out dates. In 2025, the SRT Chuseok blackout booking period was just 3 days whereby foreigners were not allowed to book Chuseok tickets between 8 and 11 September (compared to until 18 September on KTX / Korail).
Intercity buses during Chuseok are recommended to be booked in advance via sites like Klook, Trip.com and the T Money Go app.
Flights are usually a little more expensive during Chuseok but availability is OK as most local families tend to drive or get cheaper trains or buses.
We don’t recommend booking Chuseok rail tickets via Rail Ninja – they often charge double the normal price plus they can’t guarantee Chuseok tickets (they are a reseller).
You might like – Our guide to Seoul’s 20+ best shopping malls and districts >
SRT vs KTX trains in South Korea
South Korea’s first private high-speed rail company, the Super Rapid Train (SRT) was launched in 2016, operating between Seoul and Busan and with many other destinations like Pohang and Jinju.
The SRT runs the Seoul–Busan route 8 minutes faster than KTX as it travels exclusively on dedicated Suseo–Pyeongtaek, Gyeongbu and Honam HSR lines.
In terms of KTX vs SRT, be aware the main SRT station in Seoul is Suseo Station in Gangnam, not Seoul Station. Please note KTX is also much easier for transfers than SRT, especially if your hotel is on the north side of the River Han.
Many of our group members rate SRT over KTX as the trains are newer and often cheaper.
South Korea Hallyu tip – remember you can always book the SRT first and then cancel the tickets / get a refund if you manage to get KTX / Korail Chuseok train tickets at a later date.
You might like these Seoul neighbourhood guides:
Dongdaemun
Euljiro
Gangnam
Hannam-dong
Hongdae
Ikseon-dong
Insadong
Itaewon
Myeong-dong
Seongsu-dong
Sindang
Or check out our best neighbourhoods in Seoul Guide >
Chuseok Discounts
The Government provide lots of discounts for locals and tourists during Chuseok – they change each year but as an example for Chuseok in 2025:
- All nationwide expressways (toll roads) are free of charge from 4 to 7 October 2025.
- Rail packages to declining regions are 50% off from 2 to 12 October (locals get first dibs).
- National Heritage sites like the National Arboretum are free admission from 3 to 9 October, national museums from 5 to 8 October 2025 and national recreation forests from 6 to 9 October.
- All of these tourist site discounts can be found via Naver Maps.
You might like – Our first timers guide to Seoul including the best Korean SIM cards / eSIMs with prices
Day trips from Seoul
Most of the best day-trips from Seoul (like Nami Island and the Garden of Morning Calm) can be visited during Chuseok – please note most Seoul tours don’t operate on Mondays.
Check out our Seoul day trips guide including the DMZ >
To book day trips, we recommend using Get Your Guide, Viator, Trazy or Klook.
Chuseok checklist – things to book in advance
As this is one of the main holiday periods for Korea, there are several things we recommend you book in advance for Chuseok:
Train Travel and Bus – as discussed, Chuseok 2025 Korail and KTX trains covered the period 2 October 2025 to 12 October 2025 and foreigners couldn’t buy tickets for the Chuseok period until 18 September 2025
So wherever possible, keep your travel to a minimum during Chuseok or if you can’t wait for the booking window to open to foreign tourists, seek alternative methods of transport like the SRT Train network, buses or flights.
Hotels
We’d recommend you book your Chuseok hotels well in advance, especially in the big cities like Busan and Seoul.
Here are some useful Chuseok hotel booking tips and general South Korea hotel booking tips:
- Peak season in Korea is generally classed as the summer months but you’ll also find room rates are likely higher in the autumn / winter because of Christmas in Seoul, public holidays like Chuseok and cherry blossom season (usually in April).
- We find agoda.com and booking.com have the best room rates for South Korea hotels.
- Online rates for Korean hotels are often better than booking in person. We even had a situation where we tried to extend a Seoul hotel booking at reception (Venue G Hotel) and the staff kindly informed us we should book it on Agoda instead as it would be cheaper!
- If possible, book your Chuseok rooms several months in advance as the room rates tend to increase in the months before you arrive – also consider making use of the ‘cancellable’ room options that some hotel booking sites have like Agoda.
- We watch room rate prices in Seoul and Busan a lot and they generally rise the closer you get to arrival – some go up a lot in price especially Myeongdong, Haeundae and Hongdae. So book well in advance if you can.
Check out our South Korea hotels hub including hotel recommendations for Myeongdong, Hongdae, Gangnam and Haeundae Beach in Busan.
Chuseok Packing List
Off to South Korea during Chuseok? Super news – but planning and packing is the key to a successful South Korea trip.
From Korea’s changeable weather during Chuseok (pack layers – you’re welcome) to travel essentials like the correct plug adaptors, putting together a South Korea packing list is a must-do before you fly.
We’ve been lucky enough to visit South Korea almost 10 times over the years and we now have our packing down to a fine art form!
From gadgets and gizmos like Airfly to some small things you might not even consider, here is our South Korea packing list guide >
You might like – Our guide to the best Korean souvenirs including K-beauty products and HBAF
Found this South Korea Chuseok article useful?
Did you enjoy our Chuseok guide? Let us know in the comments or by sharing it on social media.
You can follow South Korea Hallyu on:
Instagram
Facebook group
Facebook page
TikTok
