The Best Time to Visit Seoul, and the Trade Each Season Makes

From mid-September the humidity breaks, and for about eight weeks Seoul has the weather it is famous for: dry, bright, cool mornings and mean highs sliding from 26 °C in September to 12 °C by mid-November.

The foliage runs late October into early November in the city and slightly earlier on Bukhansan. The palace gardens, the city wall ridges and Seoul Forest are the obvious places, and the Huwon garden at Changdeokgung is the one that requires planning.

The cost is company. This is Korea's own travel season, and Chuseok in late September sends the whole country moving. Hotel rates rise, the Huwon online allocation goes within minutes, and the mountain trails queue at the summit ropes on Saturdays.

The fix is the calendar rather than the season: mid-week, and the first half of November rather than the last week of October. Same weather, a third of the people.

Two family holidays reshape the year, and both are set by the lunar calendar so their dates move.

Chuseok, the autumn harvest holiday, falls on 24 to 27 September in 2026. The national museums close on the day itself, the palaces run reduced programmes, and Gyeongbokgung's special viewings of Gyeonghoeru and Hyangwonjeong stop for the whole block. Half of Seoul travels to family homes, which empties the city and fills every train out of it.

Seollal, the lunar new year, does the same in late winter.

For a visitor the effect is contradictory: the city is quieter than usual, some things are shut, and intercity transport is impossible to book. If your dates overlap, plan around the closures using the closed-day page, and do not plan a Busan trip for those days.

The smaller dates worth knowing: Korea's Culture Day on the last Wednesday of each month, when museums extend hours; and Buddha's birthday in May, when Jogyesa is hung with lanterns for weeks beforehand.

November. The first half in particular. The foliage is still going, the air is dry and clear, the crowds have dropped off after the October peak, and the palaces are pleasant at ten in the morning. Mean daily highs around 12 °C mean a coat rather than a parka.

February. Cold — a mean of 0.7 °C — but very dry, very clear, and empty. This is when the observatories earn their money: winter air in Seoul regularly gives the view all the way to the mountains, which April rarely does. Hotel rates are at their lowest, the palaces have no queues, and the markets are at their best when it is cold.

The months to think twice about are July, for the rain, and August, for the heat and the suspended outdoor programmes. If those are your dates, plan an indoor spine — the free national museums, Lotte World, a jjimjilbang — and use the evenings, when the city is at its most comfortable.