Seoul Winter Festa & Lantern Festival 2026–27: Confirmed and Expected Dates, What's Free, the ₩1,000 Ice Rink, Market Prices and Getting There

For about a month each winter, central Seoul turns into one free light festival. Seoul Winter Festa, 서울윈터페스타 (Seoul Winteo Peseuta), runs from Gwanghwamun Square down to Seoul Plaza and Dongdaemun, and its centrepiece is the lantern festival on the Cheonggyecheon stream, 서울빛초롱축제 (Seoul Bitchorong Chukje). Walking it costs nothing. The only confirmed 2026 date so far is Seoul Light Gwanghwamun, 2026-12-11 ~ 2027-01-03. The lantern dates have not been announced, so this guide gives last season's pattern and marks every date as confirmed or expected.

What an evening costs

• Transport (round trip)
• Tickets & entry
• Lodging (per person)
• Food & drink

BudgetOne evening, subway, one hot drink

₩11,100

ComfortSkating, one paid activity, dinner, taxi home

₩15k₩50k

₩76,000

Show as table

Scenario	Transport (round trip)	Tickets & entry	Lodging (per person)	Food & drink	Total
Budget	₩3,100	₩0	₩0	₩8,000	₩11,100
Comfort	₩15,000	₩11,000	₩0	₩50,000	₩76,000

Per person, one evening	Budget	Comfort
Transport (round trip)	₩3,100	₩15,000
Entry and activities	₩0	₩11,000
Lodging	₩0	₩0
Food and drink	₩8,000	₩50,000
Total	₩11,100	₩76,000

Assumptions: per person, one evening visit for someone already staying in Seoul, so lodging is zero. Transport means subway fares, plus a taxi home in the Comfort column. Food is our estimate, not a quoted price.

Budget is two subway rides at ₩1,550 each (card fare within 10 km) plus one cup of hot wine, 뱅쇼 (baengsyo). Last season that cup reportedly cost around ₩8,000 at the Gwanghwamun market. Comfort adds one hour at the Seoul Plaza ice rink (₩1,000), one paid lantern-making or photo activity (about ₩10,000, unconfirmed), dinner around Jongno with market snacks (about ₩50,000), and a taxi home after 22:00.

What drives the cost:

• Entry is not the cost. Every light zone is free, and the rink is ₩1,000. Your spending is almost all food and the ride home.
• The taxi home. Seoul's standard taxi starts at ₩4,800. From 22:00 to 23:00 a 20% surcharge applies (₩5,800 base), and from 23:00 to 02:00 it is 40% (₩6,700 base), per the Seoul city fare table. A 10 km ride at 22:30 comes to about ₩13,480 before time charges. Leave before 22:00 and ride the subway instead, and you save most of the Comfort transport line.
• Market prices. Market stalls charge event prices. Visitor reviews call the market "a bit pricey". Beyond the hot-wine figure we could not confirm other stall prices for 2025, and 2026 prices will be set by the vendors, so treat ₩8,000 as a guide. For what a normal meal costs nearby, see eating out in Korea: 2026 prices.

Dates: confirmed vs expected

As of September 23, 2026, the official Seoul Winter Festa site (winta.co.kr) has no 2026 announcement yet. This is what is known:

Event	2026–27 dates	Status	Last season (2025–26)
Seoul Light Gwanghwamun	Fri Dec 11, 2026 – Sun Jan 3, 2027	Confirmed	Dec 12, 2025 – Jan 4, 2026
Seoul Con, DDP	Tue Dec 29, 2026 – Fri Jan 1, 2027	Confirmed	—
Seoul Winter Festa (whole programme)	Probably opens around Fri Dec 11	Expected	Dec 12, 2025 – Jan 4, 2026
Lantern Festival, Cheonggyecheon	Mid-December to mid-January	Not announced	Dec 12, 2025 – Jan 18, 2026
Gwanghwamun Christmas market	Mid-December to Dec 31	Expected	Dec 12 – Dec 31, 2025
Seoul Plaza ice rink	Mid-December to early February	Expected	Dec 19, 2025 – Feb 8, 2026 (52 days)
Bosingak New Year's bell	Thu Dec 31, 23:00 – 00:20	Expected (held every year)	Dec 31, 2025

The lantern festival has opened with the Festa on a Friday in mid-December two years running: December 13 in 2024 and December 12 in 2025. The close has varied. It ended January 12 in 2025 and January 18 in 2026, and its smaller Ogansugyo and Uicheon sections closed on January 4. One Seoul festival calendar also lists a "Seoul Winter Festival" from December 4, 2026 to January 31, 2027. The name and dates don't match anything else the city has published, so don't book around it. We will update this page when Seoul announces the lantern dates, which usually happens in November or early December. Both Christmas Day (Friday, December 25) and New Year's Day (Friday, January 1) are public holidays. The holiday guide lists what closes.

What's in the Festa, and what's free

The Festa is a collection of separate events within about 2 km of each other, and they keep different hours. Last season's hours are below. Treat them as a guide until the 2026 notices come out.

Event	Where	Hours (last season unless noted)	Cost
Seoul Light Gwanghwamun: media art and light shows	광화문광장 (Gwanghwamun Gwangjang)	17:30–22:00 (2026 listing); last season closed 21:30 Sun–Thu	Free
Lantern Festival	청계천 (Cheonggyecheon), from 청계광장 (Cheonggye Gwangjang) to 삼일교 (Samilgyo), about 1.1 km, plus a short 우이천 (Uicheon) section in the northeast	From 18:00; closing 22:00 or 23:00 (sources disagree)	Free; some activities about ₩5,000–10,000
Gwanghwamun Christmas market	Gwanghwamun Square	Weekdays 17:30–21:30, weekends and holidays 17:30–22:00, later on Dec 31	Free entry; food and gifts extra
Seoul Plaza ice rink	서울광장 (Seoul Gwangjang), in front of City Hall	Sun–Fri 10:00–21:30, Sat and holidays 10:00–23:00	₩1,000 per hour incl. skates and helmet; free with Discover Seoul Pass
Seoul Light DDP: facade projection	Dongdaemun Design Plaza	About 18:00–22:00, shows on the hour (Dec 18–31 last season)	Free
Seoul Con, 서울콘 (Seoulkon): creator and influencer festival	DDP	Dec 29 – Jan 1 (2026, confirmed)	Check the programme; some sessions may need registration

The lanterns. Hundreds of lit sculptures stand along the stream path. City sources give counts from about 200 to about 500, depending on how they count. The main stretch starts at Cheonggye Plaza, where the Cheonggyecheon stream begins. You walk down the steps to the stream and follow it east. On busy nights the route may be made one-way. Allow 40–60 minutes at a slow pace. The official line is 18:00–22:00 on one Seoul page and 18:00–23:00 on another (Seoul Culture Portal). Until the 2026 notice settles it, plan to be on the path by 21:00.

The Christmas market. Last season the Gwanghwamun market drew about 3.57 million visitors, more than 1 million of them in Christmas week alone, December 21–25 (Seoul City News). Reports put it at somewhere between about 45 and 100 stalls. It is the one part of the Festa where money changes hands: hot drinks, street food, ornaments and small crafts. Cards and mobile payment are widely taken at Korean event stalls, but carry some cash in case a card reader goes down.

The ice rink. At ₩1,000 an hour with rental included, this is the cheapest skating you will find in a capital city. Last season half of each session's tickets were sold online in advance and half at the rink. Walk-up sessions on weekend afternoons sell out, so arrive at a weekday opening or book the online half through the link on the official Festa site. Some English travel blogs say skate rental is extra. The city's notice says it is included. Discover Seoul Pass holders (the tourist attraction pass sold to foreign visitors) skate free.

Booking as a foreigner. None of the light zones need a ticket, so you can just walk in. For questions in English, call the 1330 Korea Travel Hotline or Seoul's 120 Dasan call centre, or the Seoul Tourism Organization festival line (02-3788-8168).

Getting there: stations and exits

Everything is walkable from one station to the next. A sensible route runs from Gwanghwamun south past the lanterns, and you can end at Seoul Plaza or ride two stops to DDP. Exit numbers for the stream come from a single visitor guide, so follow the on-site signs if an exit is closed for crowd control.

For	Station (line)	Exit	Walk
Seoul Light Gwanghwamun, Christmas market	Gwanghwamun (Line 5)	Several exits open onto the square	1–3 min
Lantern Festival start (Cheonggye Plaza)	Gwanghwamun (Line 5)	Exit 5	Right outside
Lantern Festival, near the start	Jonggak (Line 1)	Exit 5	About 80 m
Lantern Festival, far end (Samilgyo)	Euljiro 3-ga (Lines 2 and 3)	Exit 1	2–3 min
Seoul Plaza ice rink	City Hall (Lines 1 and 2)	Follow signs for Seoul Plaza	1–2 min
Seoul Light DDP, Seoul Con	Dongdaemun History & Culture Park (Lines 2, 4, 5)	Signposted DDP exits	2–5 min

Each ride is ₩1,550 on a T-money or other transit card. Visitors doing several evenings in a row can compare the short-term Climate Card, 기후동행카드 (Gihu Donghaeng Kadeu), passes with pay-as-you-go in the Seoul transit card guide. The 30-day Climate Card is scheduled to end in October 2026. The 1- to 7-day versions (₩5,000–20,000) are reported to continue.

When to go and how to avoid the crowds

• Go on a weekday, early. Walk the lanterns at 18:00–19:00, Monday to Thursday, in the first week (roughly December 11–18) or after January 4, when the Festa's other zones have closed but last season's lanterns were still lit. Those are the quietest evenings.
• Avoid Christmas week and the last weekend of the year. More than a million people came to the market alone over December 21–25 last season. On December 31 the Bosingak bell brings extra crowds to Jongno, and last year trains skipped Jonggak station without stopping from 23:00 to 01:00. The Christmas and New Year's Eve guide covers that night's road closures and the late-running subway.
• The stream path is narrow. On weekends and holidays last season, walking was reportedly made one-way, and entry to the stream was closed shortly before the lights went off. Don't plan to arrive 20 minutes before closing.
• Agree on a meeting point. Phone signal gets patchy in dense crowds. Pick a landmark, such as the Cheonggye Plaza entrance or the Admiral Yi statue on Gwanghwamun Square, before you split up.

Staying warm

December evenings in Seoul regularly drop below freezing. At midnight on New Year's Eve 2025 it was about −10°C at Bosingak. The stream sits below street level and funnels the wind, so the lantern walk feels colder than the square above.

• Dress in layers. Wear thermal base layers, a long padded coat, gloves you can use a phone in, a hat and warm socks. The what-to-pack guide has the December list.
• Hand warmers, 핫팩 (hatpaek). They cost very little at any convenience store. Buy them on the way, not at the market. The convenience store guide covers what else is worth picking up.
• Warm up indoors. The underground shopping arcades around City Hall and Jonggak, cafés on the side streets and the stations themselves all count. For a long night, a 찜질방 (jjimjilbang) bathhouse after the lights is cheaper than a late taxi and far warmer. See the jjimjilbang guide.
• Watch your battery. Cold drains phone batteries fast, and you will be taking photos. Carry a power bank in an inside pocket.

Make a night of it: Myeongdong's media facade

Myeongdong is about a 15-minute walk south of the lantern route. There, the Shinsegae Department Store main building covers its facade in a large Christmas media show every year. It is free to watch from the street and has been reported to run daily from 17:00 to midnight. It usually opens in early to mid-November, well before the Festa. How long it stays up varies by year. Reports cite either late December or the end of January, so check the 2026 notice before you go. The nearest stop is Hoehyeon Station (Line 4). Reports point to exit 7, but check the signs. For the full evening, start at the facade around 17:30, walk up to the lanterns for 18:30, and finish with the Gwanghwamun market. The walking is free, and the subway home is ₩1,550. The Christmas and New Year's Eve guide covers the facade, hotel Christmas buffets and the Bosingak bell in detail. For the rest of the season's events, see the 2026–27 festival calendar. If you have January free, the Hwacheon ice-fishing guide covers the next trip.

Where to eat and stay near Gwanghwamun and Cheonggyecheon (rated on Kakao Map and Google)

How we picked these: we pulled the rated places around the venue on Kakao Map (카카오맵 (Kakao Map), the map most Koreans use for reviews) and checked each one on Google Maps on 2026-09-23. The combined score weights each platform by how many ratings it has and pulls small samples toward 4.0, so a 5.0 from five people cannot beat a 4.4 from a thousand. Places rated well on only one platform (for example 4.8 on Kakao but 4.1 on Google) were left out. Naver Map no longer shows star averages, so it is not in the score — but the Naver link on each row opens the place there, which is where Korean visitors read the most recent reviews. Ratings move and places close; check the map before you go, and book dinner on fireworks nights and holidays.

The office district around the stream empties after 20:00, so dinner is easy on weekdays; the cheapest hot meals are the one-dish soup places.

Place	What	Google	Kakao Map	Combined	Maps
1. 쌤쌤쌤 광화문점 (Samsamsam) D Tower, Jongno 1-ga	Casual American-Italian	★4.8 (247)	★4.7 (112)	4.64	Kakao Google Naver
2. 무교동북어국집 (Mugyodong Bugeoguk-jip) Mugyo-dong, 3 min from Cheonggye Plaza	Dried-pollock soup, one dish only — fast and cheap	★4.5 (3,967)	★4.6 (495)	4.53	Kakao Google Naver
3. 진중 우육면관 광화문점 (Jinjung Beef Noodle) Jongno, 5 min from Cheonggyecheon	Taiwanese beef noodle soup	★4.6 (882)	★4.4 (385)	4.48	Kakao Google Naver
4. 후니도니 (Hunidoni) Le Meilleur Jongno Town B1	Pork cutlet (donkatsu)	★4.5 (627)	★4.5 (311)	4.47	Kakao Google Naver
5. 초류향 (Choryuhyang) Da-dong, by Cheonggyecheon	Chinese restaurant	★4.4 (1,153)	★4.4 (308)	4.38	Kakao Google Naver
6. 라멘 시미즈 (Ramen Shimizu) Sinmunno, 5 min from Gwanghwamun	Japanese ramen	★4.6 (107)	★4.3 (200)	4.36	Kakao Google Naver
7. 백부장집 닭한마리 본관 (Baekbujang-jip Dakhanmari) Jongno (Susong-dong)	Whole-chicken hot pot to share	★4.4 (163)	★4.1 (339)	4.21	Kakao Google Naver
8. 광화문국밥 본점 (Gwanghwamun Gukbap) Seosomun, near City Hall	Pork and rice soup	★4.2 (1,847)	★4.0 (518)	4.11	Kakao Google Naver

Place	What	Google	Kakao Map	Combined	Maps	Book
1. 포시즌스 호텔 서울 (Four Seasons Hotel Seoul) Gwanghwamun	Luxury, steps from Gwanghwamun Square	★4.6 (7,396)	★4.5 (166)	4.53	Kakao Google Naver	Check rates
2. 호텔 미드시티 명동 (Hotel Midcity Myeongdong) Da-dong, 1 min from Cheonggyecheon	Mid-range, by the stream	★4.4 (434)	★4.4 (29)	4.31	Kakao Google Naver	Check rates
3. 코트야드 메리어트 서울 명동 (Courtyard by Marriott Seoul Myeongdong) Namdaemun-ro	Chain hotel near Namdaemun	★4.4 (3,062)	★4.1 (83)	4.28	Kakao Google Naver	Check rates
4. 포 포인츠 바이 쉐라톤 조선 서울 명동 (Four Points by Sheraton Josun Myeongdong) Samil-daero, 3 min from the stream	Mid-range chain	★4.3 (1,284)	★4.3 (104)	4.27	Kakao Google Naver	Check rates
5. 서머셋팰리스 서울 (Somerset Palace Seoul) Jongno, near Anguk	Serviced apartments with kitchens — good for families	★4.3 (1,971)	★4.2 (105)	4.24	Kakao Google Naver	Check rates

Cost-cutting checklist

• [ ] Leave before 22:00. You catch the subway at ₩1,550 and avoid the taxi surcharge, which is 20% from 22:00 and 40% from 23:00.
• [ ] Skate for ₩1,000, or free. If you already hold a Discover Seoul Pass for other sights, show it at the rink.
• [ ] Eat before the market. A normal Jongno restaurant meal is better value than event stalls. Keep the market for one hot drink.
• [ ] Buy hand warmers and snacks at a convenience store on the way in.
• [ ] Skip paid activities unless you really want to make a lantern. Everything you came to see is free.
• [ ] Combine the free sights in one route: Myeongdong facade, then Cheonggyecheon lanterns, then Gwanghwamun lights and market, then home. That is one evening on two subway fares.
• [ ] Go on a weekday in the first or last week. Shorter queues, fewer hot drinks bought to stay warm.
• [ ] Check the 2026 notice for closing times (22:00 vs 23:00) before you go. We will update this page when Seoul announces the lantern dates.