Korea Public Holidays 2025: Complete Guide For Travelers (What's Open & Closed)

Korea Public Holidays 2025: Complete Guide for Travelers (What’s Open & Closed)

Timing a trip to Korea around public holidays is—and I want to be honest here—a double-edged situation. The major holidays, especially Chuseok and Seollal, are either the most interesting time to be in Korea or the most frustrating, depending on how you approach it. A lot of things close. Trains and buses book up weeks in advance. But there’s also something happening culturally that you won’t see any other time of year.

I’ve been here through a few of these now. Here’s what’s actually useful to know.

📅 Korea Public Holidays 2025 — Full List

Date	Holiday	Korean Name	Notes
January 1	New Year’s Day	신정 (Sinjeong)	Quiet. Most things closed.
January 28–30	Lunar New Year (Seollal)	설날	⭐ Major holiday. 3+ day closure. Massive travel period.
March 1	Independence Movement Day	삼일절	National ceremonies. Most things closed.
May 5	Children’s Day	어린이날	Families everywhere. Theme parks and zoos packed.
May 6	Buddha’s Birthday (observed)	부처님 오신 날	Lantern festivals in the evenings—worth seeing.
June 6	Memorial Day	현충일	Sombre national day. Ceremonies at 10 AM (sirens).
August 15	Liberation Day	광복절	Korean independence from Japan (1945). Celebrations nationwide.
October 3–5	Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving)	추석	⭐ Biggest holiday of the year. Many closures. Travel chaos.
October 3	National Foundation Day	개천절	In 2025 this overlaps with Chuseok period
October 9	Hangul Day	한글날	Celebrates Korean alphabet. Typically calm.
December 25	Christmas Day	크리스마스	Not as quiet as you’d expect—a date night holiday in Korea

⚠️ Note: When a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday becomes a substitute holiday. This applies in 2025, so check the specific calendar dates for the actual observed days off.

🎊 The Big Two: Seollal and Chuseok

These two are in a different category from every other holiday on this list. They’re not just days off—they’re the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving and Christmas combined, and the whole country moves around them.

Seollal — Lunar New Year (Late January 2025)

Seollal is when almost every Korean person who doesn’t live in their hometown tries to get back there simultaneously. This is not hyperbole. The highways, trains, and bus terminals are at some of their most crowded moments of the entire year for three to four days around Seollal.

As a traveler, what this means practically:

Many restaurants, shops, and attractions close for 2–4 days
Major tourist sites (palaces, museums) may have special holiday programming—worth checking
Gyeongbokgung and other palaces sometimes offer free entry and traditional activities
Transportation is not impossible but book KTX tickets early if you’re traveling between cities

I’m not sure how to explain this in English, but there’s something about the mood in Seoul during Seollal that’s different from any other time. The city is quieter than usual (a lot of people have left), and there’s this particular festive-but-subdued quality to the places that are still open. If you want authentic and less crowded, this is actually a reasonable time to visit the tourist spots—they’re not shut, just less staffed.

Chuseok — Korean Thanksgiving (Early October 2025)

Chuseok might be the most important holiday in the Korean year. Families get together, perform ancestral rites (called jesa), eat traditional foods, and generally do the things that constitute the core of Korean family life. It’s genuinely meaningful in a way that’s hard to convey if you didn’t grow up in this culture.

From a traveler’s perspective:

Expect closures across the board for 2–3 days minimum
Convenience stores stay open (thank goodness)
Some tourist attractions have special holiday hours or cultural events—Namsangol Hanok Village, for example, often does traditional performances
Traditional foods you can try during this period: songpyeon (rice cakes with fillings), japchae, galbijjim
Train and bus tickets sell out weeks in advance for travel between Seoul and other cities

Honestly, if you’re a traveler who wants to experience a Korean holiday rather than just avoid it, Chuseok is the one to be here for. Just accept that your restaurant options will be limited and plan around it.

🌸 Other Notable Holidays

Children’s Day — May 5

Every theme park, zoo, and family attraction in Korea will be at capacity. Everland, Lotte World, Seoul Children’s Grand Park—packed. If you want to visit any of these, go a different day. If you have kids and this sounds like a great opportunity: yes, it is, but get there early and prepare for lines.

Buddha’s Birthday — May 6 (observed)

The Lotus Lantern Festival is one of the better things to witness in Seoul if your dates overlap. Thousands of paper lanterns carried through Jongno on the evening before Buddha’s Birthday—it’s genuinely beautiful and feels nothing like a tourist performance. Buddhist temples nationwide are also open and welcoming on this day.

Christmas — December 25

Korea treats Christmas quite differently from Western countries. It’s officially a public holiday but in practice it’s more of a romantic occasion—couples going out for dinner, cities lit up with decorations, department stores having massive sales. Families with young children celebrate too, but it doesn’t have the same “go home for the holidays” weight that Seollal and Chuseok do. Most restaurants and stores stay open. The atmosphere is festive in a shopping-district kind of way.

🚫 What Closes on Holidays

This varies by holiday and business type, so take this as general guidance rather than a guarantee:

Type of Place	Minor Holidays	Seollal / Chuseok
Government offices / banks	Closed	Closed
Major tourist attractions / museums	Usually open	Varies—check ahead
Restaurants (mid-range+)	Usually open	Many closed, some open
Convenience stores	Open (24/7)	Open (24/7)
Subway / public transit	Open (may have adjusted hours)	Open
Major department stores	Open	Often closed day-of, open around it
Traditional markets	Open	Many stalls closed

My Tip: Always verify with a quick Google search for the specific place you want to visit. “Is [place name] open on Chuseok 2025” will usually give you a reliable answer. Don’t assume.

✈️ Travel Tips Around Korean Holidays

Book transport early. For Seollal and Chuseok especially, KTX (fast train) tickets between Seoul and Busan, Seoul and Gyeongju, etc., sell out weeks in advance. If you’re planning intercity travel during these periods, buy tickets the moment they become available. Korail (the national railway) opens bookings about a month in advance.

Hotel rates fluctuate. Seoul hotel rates don’t necessarily spike as much as you’d expect during Seollal/Chuseok (partly because many Koreans are leaving Seoul), but popular tourist areas and resorts near ancestral hometowns get expensive. Book early regardless.

Adjust your food expectations. During Chuseok especially, keep a mental list of places you know will be open—large chain restaurants, convenience stores, hotels. Don’t wander and assume you’ll find somewhere. Have a backup plan.

Embrace the cultural experience. If you’re visiting during a major holiday, lean into it rather than around it. The traditional activities, the quieter streets, the specific foods—these are things you can’t replicate on a random Tuesday in September.

📋 2025 Korean Holidays at a Glance

January 1 — New Year’s Day
January 28–30 — Seollal (Lunar New Year) ⭐
March 1 — Independence Movement Day
May 5 — Children’s Day
May 6 — Buddha’s Birthday (observed)
June 6 — Memorial Day
August 15 — Liberation Day
October 3–5 — Chuseok ⭐
October 9 — Hangul Day
December 25 — Christmas Day

Plan ahead for the starred ones. Everything else is manageable. Korea is a great place to be during holidays—you just need to know what you’re walking into.

Last verified: May 2026. Information confirmed through direct experience and current sources. If anything has changed, leave a comment and I’ll update it.

Korea Public Holidays 2025: Complete Guide for Travelers (What’s Open & Closed)