Public Holidays in Korea 2026: 11 Days and What Closes

South Korea has 11 public holidays, and most of them fall on fixed dates. A few follow the lunar calendar instead. Chuseok is one of them: the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, plus the day before and after. For a 2026 trip, it and Seollal matter far more than the rest, because shops close and trains fill up. The sections below take them in the order most first-time visitors end up asking about them.

Eleven holidays: fixed dates for most, the lunar calendar for a few

A wall calendar beside a small paper lantern on a wooden desk, with a travel notebook open next to it.

The short version for trip planning: most days of the year, shops and businesses in Korea are open all week. Seollal and Chuseok are the big exceptions, and they are the two that can rearrange an itinerary. Buddha's Birthday works differently. It doesn't wreck a schedule so much as add a lantern festival and parade to Seoul.

Seollal, Chuseok and Buddha's Birthday are the three names to know

Three paper lanterns hanging in a row under a tiled temple roof in soft daylight.

Seollal is the Lunar New Year holiday, and Chuseok is the other major national holiday. Both are family-centered, which is partly why so much of the country pauses. Curious what Koreans actually do during Seollal? Read What Do Koreans Do in Seollal? A 3-Day Holiday Explained.

Buddha's Birthday is the third holiday visitors tend to run into, mostly because of what happens in Seoul around it. It is also the one you may actually want to plan toward instead of around.

Lunar dates slide around the Gregorian calendar every year

A phone calendar app lying next to an old paper almanac on a table, both showing month grids.

Chuseok and Buddha's Birthday are pinned to a day of a lunar month, not to a spot on the calendar on your phone. The lunar and Gregorian calendars don't line up, so the same lunar day lands on a different Gregorian date each year. That's why a Chuseok plan from one year can't simply be copied into the next.

The habit to build is simple: look up the dates for the year you travel and don't carry last year's over. The fixed-date holidays stay put, so they rarely cause surprises. The lunar ones are where trips get caught out.

Chuseok stretches across three days, and the roads feel it

Chuseok is a three-day holiday: the day before, Chuseok day itself, and the day after. So a Chuseok trip means planning around closures for three days, not one.

Traffic is the other part of it. Roads get very crowded, and highway jams can stretch a drive to several times its usual length. If you have a car or a bus ride in your plan, leave much more slack than the map suggests.

Many shops and restaurants close, and small towns close hardest

Korean shops and businesses are normally open every day of the week, which is what makes Seollal and Chuseok stand out. Many shops and restaurants close for both.

Small-town restaurants, family-run shops and traditional markets are the likeliest to shut or change their hours. Museum schedules and shopping areas can shift too. If a market or a small local restaurant is the reason you're visiting a town, hold that stop loosely. Have a backup for the day.

One more small thing: in smaller areas, payments and app use can be limited on holidays. Carrying some cash is a cheap way to cover that.

KTX seats go within hours, and popular hotel areas get tight

Seats for Seollal and Chuseok are released a few weeks ahead and are gone within hours. That makes the day you book as important as the day you travel. Note when sales open and be ready.

Hotels follow the same pattern. Around Chuseok, hotels in popular areas can get more expensive or hard to find. Domestic trips to places like Busan and Jeju-do can also be harder to book during Seollal and Chuseok. A multi-city route with tight connections is the kind of plan these holidays hit hardest.

Buddha's Birthday brings a lantern festival and parade to Seoul

Buddha's Birthday falls on the 8th day of the fourth lunar month. In Seoul, the lantern festival (Yeon Deung Hoe) and its lantern parade take place on the weekend closest to the holiday.

If your dates are flexible, that weekend is worth building a Seoul stay around. Look up the exact date for your travel year first, then pick the weekend nearest to it.

A pre-trip checklist built from the holiday facts

Holiday	How it's set	What to expect
Seollal	Lunar calendar	Shops and businesses close; KTX tickets sell out within hours
Chuseok	Lunar calendar, three days	Many shops and restaurants close; popular-area hotels get pricier
Buddha's Birthday	Lunar calendar	Lantern festival and parade in Seoul on the nearest weekend
Fixed-date holidays	Same date every year	Transport, restaurant hours, museums and lodging can still be affected

Check whether your travel dates touch Seollal, Chuseok or Buddha's Birthday, using that year's dates for the lunar ones.
If they do, find out when KTX tickets go on sale and book that day.
Reserve hotels in popular areas early, especially around Chuseok.
Keep traditional markets, small-town restaurants and family-run shops on a flexible list with a backup nearby.
Carry some cash for small areas where payments or apps may not work.
Add generous buffer time to any highway or bus leg.

Three assumptions that trip up first-time visitors

The first mistake is assuming everything is open because Korea usually is. During these holidays, small shops, family-run places and traditional markets are the first to go dark.

The second is treating the new year's first sunrise as an easy day trip. A plan to watch it from the Gangwon-do east coast runs into packed roads, trains, beaches, parking lots and viewpoints. It needs real planning, not a casual morning out.

The third is booking trains and hotels late. By the time the holiday is close, the seats are gone and the good areas are priced up. A trip that needs every shop open or a tight multi-city schedule is a poor fit for that week, so it may be worth moving the dates.

Korea has 11 public holidays, and Seollal and Chuseok disrupt travel more than any of the others. KTX tickets for both holidays sell out within hours of release, so reserve trains and lodging early. If your route includes small towns or traditional markets, leave room to change plans, since shops there may be closed.