Korea's festival year starts on a frozen river. In January people pay to sit on the ice in Hwacheon and Pyeongchang and fish through a small round hole, and by the end of March whole hillsides in Gwangyang and Gurye have gone white and yellow with plum and sansuyu blossoms. In between come snow sculptures in Gangwon, Seollal, the first full moon of the lunar year and a strawberry expo that runs for 24 days.
This calendar covers January to March 2027. Some dates are firm, some are only planned, and a few festivals haven't announced anything yet, so each row says which it is. The table comes first, then the details month by month.
January to March 2027 at a glance
| Event (where) | 2027 dates | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| New Year sunrise festivalsHomigot, Pohang; Jeongdongjin, Gangneung | Dec 31 to Jan 1 at dawn. Homigot runs 2 p.m. on Dec 31 to 9 a.m. on Jan 1 | Free |
| Seoul Lantern FestivalCheonggyecheon stream, Seoul | Dec 11 to Jan 31, confirmed | Free, 6 to 11 p.m. |
| Seoul Light GwanghwamunGwanghwamun Square, Seoul | Dec 11 to early January. Seoul's festival portal says Jan 3, the Winter Festival site says Jan 10 | Free; New Year's Eve countdown |
| Seoul Plaza ice rinkSeoul Plaza, City Hall | Dec 18 to Feb 9, confirmed | 1,000 won an hour, skates included |
| Busan winter lightsGwangbok-ro, Nampo; Haeundae Beach | Gwangbok-ro to Jan 31. Haeundae to Jan 10 per the district (Jan 18 per VisitKorea) | Free |
| Garden of Morning Calm lightsGapyeong, Gyeonggi | Dec 4 to Mar 14, planned (VisitKorea listing) | Adults 11,000 won |
| Pyeongchang Trout FestivalOdaecheon stream, Jinbu, Pyeongchang | Jan 1 to 31, planned (tourism agency listing) | Ice fishing was 25,000 won last season |
| Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice FestivalHwacheoncheon stream, Hwacheon | Jan 9 to 31, confirmed | Adult fee planned at 25,000 won, 15,000 back in local vouchers |
| Hantangang Ice TrekkingHantan River, Cheorwon | Jan 16 to Feb 14, planned (tourism agency listing) | 10,000 won, 5,000 back in local gift certificates |
| Taebaeksan Snow FestivalTaebaeksan National Park, Taebaek | Jan 30 to Feb 9, planned (organizer's tender notice) | Free last year; runs through Seollal |
| Daegwallyeong Snow FestivalSongcheon stream, Daegwallyeong, Pyeongchang | Jan 30 to Feb 9, planned (organizer notice) | Adults 10,000 won last season |
| Seollal (Lunar New Year)Nationwide | Sat Feb 6 to Tue Feb 9. Seollal itself is Sun Feb 7 | Palace notices usually come out in January |
| Jeongwol DaeboreumNationwide | Sun Feb 21 | Not a public holiday |
| Nonsan Strawberry Industry ExpoNonsan Citizens' Family Park, South Chungcheong | Feb 26 to Mar 21, confirmed | Adults 12,000 won, or 9,000 if bought by Jan 31 |
| Uljin Snow Crab FestivalHupo Port, Uljin | Not announced. Last: Feb 27 to Mar 2, 2026 | Free entry |
| Jeju Fire FestivalSaebyeol Oreum, Aewol, Jeju | Not announced. Last: Mar 9 to 14, 2026 | The hill is no longer set alight |
| Gwangyang Maehwa FestivalMaehwa Village, Daap-myeon, Gwangyang | Not announced. Last: Mar 13 to 22, 2026 | Plum blossoms; shuttle buses from riverside parking last year |
| Gurye Sansuyu Flower FestivalJirisan Hot Spring area, Gurye | Not announced. Last: Mar 14 to 22, 2026 | Yellow cornelian cherry blossoms; free |
| Seoul MarathonStarts at Gwanghwamun Square | Sun Mar 21, confirmed | Overseas entry: full course USD 150, 10K USD 100 |
| Jinhae GunhangjeJinhae, Changwon | Not announced. Last: Mar 27 to Apr 5, 2026 | Cherry blossoms; free |
"Planned" means an organizer notice or the Korea Tourism Organization's festival listing gives the date, but the event hasn't been formally confirmed. "Not announced" rows show last year's dates so you can see roughly when to expect them. Feel free to reuse this table or the chart below; just credit A Korean's Take (CC BY 4.0).
Solid bars are confirmed, striped bars are planned, outlined bars are last year's dates. Sources: festival organizers, local governments and the Korea Tourism Organization, checked November 13, 2026. Chart: A Korean's Take (CC BY 4.0)
January: sunrises, ice fishing and a lot of waiting for ice
The year opens on the east coast. On New Year's Eve people drive or take overnight buses to Homigot in Pohang and Jeongdongjin in Gangneung to watch the first sunrise over the sea. Homigot's festival runs from 2 p.m. on December 31 to 9 a.m. the next morning, and about 50,000 people came last New Year. Both are free. If you're staying in Seoul, the city's winter lights carry on into January; the lantern festival on Cheonggyecheon stays up until January 31 and the Seoul Plaza rink until February 9. I keep the Seoul and Busan light shows in the winter festivals tracker, so here they only get a row in the table.
Then come the ice festivals in Gangwon Province. Hwacheon's Sancheoneo Ice Festival is confirmed for January 9 to 31, a 23-day run. It's on the culture ministry's short list of "global festivals" (Korea's top tier for festivals pitched at overseas visitors), and it's the one most foreign visitors have heard of. The county is changing how it charges, though. At an October meeting it planned to raise the adult fishing fee from 15,000 to 25,000 won and hand back 15,000 won in farm-produce vouchers and Hwacheon Love gift certificates, up from 5,000 won last season. If you spend all of it, you still pay 10,000 won in the end. The same meeting floated a night laser and drone show, a Finnish-style floating sauna and an igloo café, but those are ideas under review, not promises.
Pyeongchang's Trout Festival is listed for January 1 to 31 by the Korea Tourism Organization, but the organizer hasn't announced it yet. Last season it was meant to open on New Year's Day and opened on January 9 instead, because the ice on the Odaecheon hadn't reached the 20 cm the festival needs. That's the honest thing to know about every ice festival here: the date on the poster depends on the weather. Book things you can cancel, and check the official notice a few days before you go.
The Hantangang Ice Trekking festival in Cheorwon is the odd one out. You don't fish; you walk on the frozen Hantan River between basalt cliffs. The tourism agency lists January 16 to February 14, with a 10,000-won ticket that returns 5,000 won in Cheorwon Love gift certificates. Last year's festival itself only ran nine days, January 17 to 25, so treat the longer window with some caution until Cheorwon confirms it. Both Cheorwon and Pyeongchang Trout are on the culture ministry's 2026-27 list of 27 "culture tourism festivals", the ones that get national money and promotion.
Snow festivals that run straight through Seollal
Two snow festivals have picked the same dates this time, and both stretch over the Lunar New Year holiday. The Taebaeksan Snow Festival is set for January 30 to February 9 in Taebaeksan National Park. That comes from the Taebaek Cultural Foundation's tender notice for an events company, which also asks for more than 20 large wall-sized snow sculptures (the biggest 40 m wide), a 50 m sled run and no street stalls, so the food stays under the festival's control. The Daegwallyeong Snow Festival in Pyeongchang lists the same January 30 to February 9 window in its own notice. Last season Daegwallyeong shut early on its final day because of a facility safety problem and refunded online tickets, which is one more reason to check the notice board on the morning you go.
Seollal falls on Sunday, February 7. The holiday runs from Saturday the 6th to Tuesday the 9th, because the Sunday triggers a substitute day. In Gangwon that's good news, since the festivals stay open. In Seoul it's mixed: many small restaurants close for a day or two, while the palaces were free for the whole holiday last year and then all closed the day after. The 2027 palace notice isn't out yet; last year's came on January 20. My 2027 public holidays guide has the full holiday rules.
February: the first full moon, strawberries and snow crab
Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first full moon of the lunar year, lands on Sunday, February 21. It isn't a day off, but people still crack walnuts and peanuts in the morning (bureom, said to keep boils away for the year), eat five-grain rice and dried greens, and some towns burn a tall straw "moon house" at night. The Jeju Fire Festival used to be held around this date too, until it moved to March in 2013.
From February 26 to March 21, Nonsan is putting on a 24-day World Strawberry Industry Expo at its Citizens' Family Park. The city's strawberry festival was one of seven newcomers on the ministry's 2026-27 list. A day ticket is 12,000 won at the gate for adults, or 9,000 won if you buy it in advance by January 31. Nonsan sits on the Honam rail line south of Daejeon, and late February is the middle of the greenhouse strawberry season.
On the east coast, Uljin's snow crab festival at Hupo Port usually runs around the turn of February and March. Last year it ran February 27 to March 2 with free entry and crab auctions. Its 2027 dates aren't out. If you were hoping for the Inje smelt festival on frozen Soyang Lake, it was cancelled three winters in a row (2024 to 2026), and there's no decision on 2027.
March: fire, flowers and a marathon
The Jeju Fire Festival is a different event from the photos you may have seen. For years the highlight was setting the whole grassy slope of Saebyeol Oreum on fire. That's over. Back in 2012 the city took the hill off its grassland management list, which put any fire there under forestry law; the hill was still burned eight times between 2013 and 2021 without separate permits, and a provincial audit in 2025 issued a formal caution over it. The 2026 festival used a "digital fire" of lasers and media art on the hill, plus a torch parade. A provincial council audit last month noted that about three in four of this year's roughly 160,000 visitors were Jeju residents, and the city told the council it's considering burning pasture land and adding Saebyeol Oreum trekking for 2027, on a budget of 2.1 billion won. The festival will stay at Saebyeol Oreum. Last year's dates were March 9 to 14; 2027's aren't set.
The flower festivals follow the warm air up from the south. Gwangyang's plum blossom festival in Maehwa Village (March 13 to 22 last year) and the Gurye sansuyu festival nearby (March 14 to 22) overlapped almost exactly last year, and the two towns are close enough to cover in one trip. Then comes Jinhae Gunhangje in Changwon, Korea's best-known cherry blossom festival, which ran March 27 to April 5 last year. None of the three has announced 2027 dates, and with blossoms the dates often follow the forecast.
The Seoul Marathon is on Sunday, March 21, starting from Gwanghwamun Square. Overseas runners can still enter: the full course costs USD 150 and needs a finish of 4:59:59 or faster set between January 1, 2024 and November 30, 2026, while the 10K costs USD 100 with no qualifying time. One catch for visitors is that overseas entrants have to pick up their race packs in person at the marathon expo before race day, so plan to arrive a day or two early. If you're not running, expect road closures in central Seoul that morning.
Quick answers
What festivals are on in Korea in January 2027? The big ones are the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival (January 9 to 31), the Pyeongchang Trout Festival (January 1 to 31, planned), the Seoul Lantern Festival (until January 31) and the New Year sunrise festivals on the east coast.
When is Seollal 2027? Sunday, February 7. The holiday runs February 6 to 9, with Tuesday the 9th as a substitute day.
What happens to ice festivals in a warm winter? They open late or shorten their run. Pyeongchang's festival opened eight days late last season because the ice wasn't thick enough, and Inje's smelt festival has been cancelled for three years.
When are the cherry blossom festivals in 2027? Not announced yet. Jinhae Gunhangje, the biggest, ran March 27 to April 5 in 2026, and dates usually follow the bloom forecast.
How this page stays current
I recheck these dates every month and add April to June once those festivals start announcing. Rows move from "planned" or "not announced" to "confirmed" only when the organizer or local government posts the date. Last verified: November 13, 2026. If a date here and an official site ever disagree, trust the official site.
Sources
- Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: 2026-2027 culture tourism festivals (Korean)
- Seoul Winter Festival: programs and dates (Korean) and FUN SEOUL: Seoul Light Gwanghwamun
- VisitKorea: Homigot Sunrise Festival and Jeongdongjin Sunrise Festival
- Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival official site and Aju Business Daily on the 2027 fee plan (Korean)
- VisitKorea: Pyeongchang Trout Festival
- Korea Tourism Organization festival listing: Cheorwon Hantangang Ice Trekking (Korean)
- Taebaek Cultural Foundation: 34th Taebaeksan Snow Festival tender notice (Korean)
- Daegwallyeong Snow Festival notices (Korean)
- Kangwon Domin Ilbo on the Inje smelt festival (Korean)
- 2027 Nonsan World Strawberry Industry Expo official site (Korean)
- VisitKorea: Uljin Snow Crab Festival
- Sisa Journal on the Jeju Fire Festival council audit (Korean) and VisitKorea: Jeju Fire Festival
- Gwangyang City: Maehwa Festival (Korean) and Maeil Business on the 2026 Gurye Sansuyu Festival (Korean)
- Seoul Marathon: 2027 overseas registration
- Yonhap on the 2026 Jinhae Gunhangje (Korean)
- VisitKorea: Garden of Morning Calm Lighting Festival
More from this blog
- Korea Winter Festivals & Light Shows 2026-27: Dates Tracker
- Korea Public Holidays 2027: Dates, Substitute Days and Long Weekends
- Korea Ski Season 2026-27: Resort Opening Dates Tracker
So which kind of trip is it for you: a day on the ice in Gangwon, or holding out for the blossoms in March?
Top photo: plum blossoms in Gwangyang in March. Photo: PJH / Unsplash, cropped.
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