Seollal (설날) is South Korea’s Lunar New Year which takes place on 17 February 2026 – 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 2026 South Korea Lunar New Year / Seollal holiday period, especially Seollal trains and travel (as local citizens get priority over foreigners for Seollal Korail / KTX tickets).
We also include alternatives like the privately owned SRT rail line between Seoul and Busan plus other useful holiday hints.
From Seollal 2026 holiday dates to what to expect, here is our guide to South Korea’s Seollal Lunar New Year holiday.
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What is Seollal in South Korea?
One of the biggest public holidays in South Korea lasting several days, Seollal (설날) is the start of the Lunar New Year in South Korea and marks the beginning of the new lunisolar calendar. Seollal generally occurs in January or February on the second new moon after the winter solstice.
Seollal sees families travel, meet-up and celebrate the new year (often with home cooked food and drinks like soju).
Seollal 2026 is a three day public holiday in South Korea from 16 to 18 February 2026 (Monday to Wednesday). Seollal generally occurs in January or February on the second new moon after the winter solstice.
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.
A traditional board game many families play during Seollal is yunnori, whereby players must make it around a board, throwing four wooden sticks and moving pieces depending on the number of wooden sticks facing upwards.
For tourists, Seollal 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 Seollal 2026 in South Korea?
Seollal 2026 (설날) is Tuesday 17 February 2026 – however, expect it to be busy from a few days before and after, as families travel for their vacation.
In 2026, the Seollal travel period for KTX / Korail tickets is 13 to 18 February 2026, which go on general sale to foreigners from 3pm on 21 January 2026 (KST/local time) – we’ll go into more detail about this later in the article and what it means for you as a traveller.
For those travellers to Korea who like to forward plan (we hear you!), the Seollal 2027 date is Sunday 7 February 2027, and 2028 is Thursday 27 January 2028.
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How to pronounce Seollal 설날?
The Korean for Seollal is written / seen as 추석 and means ‘Korean New Year’. It is one of the easier Korean words to pronounce, “Sol-lal”.
What to expect during Seollal
Whilst South Korea also celebrates New Year on 1 January, Korean New Year (Seollal) is different and actually a bigger vacation and celebration.
It is a major public holiday in February in South Korea where smaller family run businesses and restaurants will close for several days. Malls also usually close for two or three days during Seollal.
Many big shops like Daiso will close during Seollal but some will remain open especially in tourist areas like Myeongdong, Gangnam and Hongdae.
If you are travelling to South Korea in February during Seollal, it is important to book your hotels in advance and minimise travel between cities as booking KTX tickets during Seollal will be difficult. The 2026 Seollal KTX / Korail travel period is 13 to 18 February 2026.
There is usually a blackout booking period for KTX Seollal / Korail Seollal tickets whereby locals can buy their tickets first before they go on sale to foreigners and travellers. In 2026, Koreans with special needs can start to buy Seollal train tickets from 15 January whilst other Korean citizens can purchase Seollal 2026 train tickets from 19 January.
For foreign travellers, Seollal KTX / Korail train tickets go on sale from 21 January 2026, 3pm local time onwards. This also affects the alternative SRT high speed rail network in South Korea.
South Korea domestic flights during Seollal are unaffected and can be booked at any time but you may pay a higher than average price due to high demand.
What is open during Seollal?
A common question in our South Korea Travel Tips and Planning Facebook group is what is closed during Seollal?
In fact, pretty much all the major tourist attractions in Seoul and South Korea stay open during Seollal including both Lotte Adventure world theme parks, COEX Aquarium, the royal palaces (free entry if you wear hanbok), The National Museum of Korea and Lotte Tower Observation Deck.
Other free things to do in Seoul during Seollal include HiKr Ground, Eunpyeong hanok village, Bukchon Hanok Village and all of the Seoul shopping malls stay open including Seoul Station Lotte Mart Zettaplex.
Most Seoul malls will close for two days during Seollal.
Free entry to South Korea’s royal palaces during Seollal
During the Seollal 2026 holiday, there is free admission to all four Royal Palaces in Seoul as well as Jongmyo Shrine and the Joseon Royal Tombs.
The list of free entry sites includes Gyeongbokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung, Changdeokgung, Jongmyo Shrine, and the Joseon Royal Tombs.
P.S. you can get in the palaces for free the rest of the year if you wear / rent traditional hanbok.
Seollal restaurants, food markets and tours
During Seollal, restaurants remain open especially the big chains in cities but there may be some smaller family run restaurants that close down.
Food quality is said to vary as some of the more popular chefs will take time off so junior members of staff may become the ‘head chef’ during holiday periods.
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 many vendors may choose to close and spend time with their families.
DMZ tours also operate during Seollal (although not many tours run on Mondays).
Please note some pharmacies will close during Seollal – 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 Seollal is via Naver Maps, one of our favourite South Korea apps to use and download.
Seollal Korail and KTX Trains
If there is one piece of Seollal 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 January to mid February, check the Seollal dates in advance (so for 2026, Seollal falls on 17 February 2026 and there will be lots of locals travelling either side of it).
Getting train and bus tickets during Seollal can be difficult – especially so as the KTX / Korail national train service gives priority to locals over travellers during the key Seollal travel period.
Normally, booking for Korail / KTX trains via the Korail website opens one month before your date of travel.
Seollal Korail ticket sale dates for 2026 are still TBC at the time of writing but as an example, in 2025, the Seollal period was January 24 to February 2.
Seollal train tickets for special groups (elderly and disabled) went on sale first on 6 and 7 January, and general Seollal train tickets in 2026 went on sale 8 and 9 January – so please do plan ahead!
As with Chuseok holiday period train tickets, there will be a mad scramble to get tickets with many dates already totally selling out within minutes.
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 Seollal reservation period ends, some tickets are cancelled because people forget to pay or end up going on different dates.
These cancelled Seollal rail tickets are released back onto the Korail website in real-time so it is worth checking it frequently.
More February 2026 events and festivals in Seoul >
Alternatives to Korail / other transport options
Another alternative to KTX is the SRT (Super Rapid Train) which is a privately operated High Speed Rail train operator – more information on SRT can be found below.
Intercity buses during Seollal may be fewer in number and 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 Seollal but availability is OK as most local families tend to drive or get cheaper trains or buses.
We don’t recommend booking Seollal rail tickets via Rail Ninja – they often charge double the normal price plus they can’t guarantee Seollal tickets (they are a reseller).
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.
Please note that SRT and KTX are set to merge by the end of 2026 but at the time of writing, they are still wholly separate companies.
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 Seollal train tickets at a later date.
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 Seollal – 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.
More February 2026 events and festivals in Seoul >
Seollal 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 Seollal:
Train Travel and Bus
As discussed, Seollal 2026 train tickets go on sale on a TBC January 2026 date so keep checking for the sale date and mark it in your calendar.
So wherever possible, keep your travel to a minimum during Seollal 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 Seollal hotels well in advance, especially in the big cities like Busan and Seoul.
Here are some useful Seollal 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 / Seollal 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 Seollal 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 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.
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