Chuseok 2027 in Korea: 14–16 September, No Substitute Day — When Train Seats Sell and What Closes

Chuseok 2027 is Wednesday, 15 September. The official holiday is Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 September, and it is only three days. Because none of those days falls on a Sunday, there is no substitute holiday (대체공휴일). Monday the 13th and Friday the 17th are normal working days unless the government declares a one-off holiday, and as of today it has not.

That makes 2027 a very different holiday from 2026. This year's Chuseok ran Thursday to Saturday and joined a Sunday, which gave a clean four-day weekend. In 2027 the break sits in the middle of the week. Some Koreans will take Monday and Friday off and turn it into nine days. Others will travel out on Monday night and back on Thursday. For a visitor, the crush is spread over more days and is harder to predict.

Last updated: 17 October 2026. The 2027 dates come from the government's 2027 calendar (월력요항, published 29 June 2026). Korail has not yet published its 2027 Chuseok ticket notice; until it does, the ticket, toll, closure and crowd facts below are the official Chuseok 2026 figures, and our own readings are marked as readings.

For the next holiday on the calendar, see EpicKor's Seollal 2027 guide. For seasons, see the best time to visit Korea guide.

Visiting over Chuseok? Get a 30-day Korea 5G data SIM before you landAffiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, EpicKor earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Chuseok 2027: The Short Answer

The simple rule for 2027: if you need to move between cities, do it before Monday 13 September or after Friday 17 September, and book the moment your route's sale opens.

How the 2027 Dates Are Set, and Why There Is No Substitute Day

Korea's public holidays come from a presidential decree, the 「관공서의 공휴일에 관한 규정」 (regulation on public-office holidays). For Chuseok it names three days on the lunar calendar: the eve, the day and the day after (lunar 8/14–8/16). Those lunar dates are turned into solar dates each year in the 월력요항 (wollyeok yohang), the official calendar from the Korea AeroSpace Administration (우주항공청). It is published in the government gazette (관보) and on the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (한국천문연구원) site. The 2027 edition came out on 29 June 2026, and it puts Chuseok Day on Wednesday 15 September.

The substitute-holiday rule is narrower than many English guides say. For Seollal and Chuseok, a day is added only when a holiday day falls on a Sunday or on another public holiday. A Saturday earns nothing. In 2027 the three days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so nothing is added. Our Korea public holidays 2027 guide lists every date and substitute day of the year.

National days follow a wider rule, where Saturday also counts. That matters in October 2027:

The 2027 calendar counts 10 breaks of three days or more and 119 rest days for a five-day-week worker, one more than in 2026. The longest is Seollal, 6–9 February, at four days. Chuseok is one of the three-day ones. For what closes on Hangul Day itself, see EpicKor's Hangul Day guide.

Will Chuseok 2027 get a longer break?

It might, but nobody can promise it yet. The same regulation allows "a day the government designates from time to time" (임시공휴일). That is a cabinet decision, and in recent years it has been announced only weeks ahead, not a year ahead. A temporary holiday on Monday 13 or Friday 17 September would create a five-day break. Both would create nine days with the weekends.

Do not book around a holiday that does not exist yet. If you are flexible, assume three days. If one is declared later, it only makes the roads and trains busier.

When Chuseok 2027 Train Tickets Should Go On Sale

Korail does not sell holiday trains on its normal rolling calendar. Chuseok seats are sold in a separate advance sale, announced by notice a few weeks before. The 2027 notice has not been published. Here is the pattern from the last two holidays:

Our reading for 2027, not an announcement: with the travel window around 11–19 September 2027, expect Korail's notice in mid-August and the sale in late August or the first days of September. Expect your route to get its own morning, because that is how the 2026 sale worked. Check korail.com from early August 2027. This page will be updated with the real dates when the notice appears.

The 2026 sale, route by route

The 2026 general sale gave each line its own morning. Seoul–Busan, the busiest route in Korea, came last:

What about SRT? Since 1 September 2026, Korail and SR run high-speed rail as a single operator, and the former SRT trains now run under the KTX name. Suseo departures were sold in the same Korail sale, on their own day. There is no separate SRT sale to wait for in 2027 unless that changes, and if your old account was with SR you need to convert it first. See our KTX-SRT merger guide.

Rules that carried over from 2026 and will probably return

• Online only, members only. The 2026 notice said it plainly: 역 창구 예매 없음, no station-window sales during the advance sale. Use the 코레일+ app or korail.com, logged in as a member.
• Twelve tickets per person, six per transaction.
• Booking is not buying. In 2026 payment ran 12–15 September. Unpaid seats then went back into the pool, which is why a second wave of seats appeared on 16 September.
• Discounts are switched off. Senior, companion and pass discounts, N-Card and internet specials were all suspended on 2026 Chuseok trains. Budget the full ₩54,400 for Seoul–Busan standard class (fare as of September 2026).
• Selected trains against the flow get cheaper. At Seollal 2026 the government cut fares on selected KTX services by 30–50%, and the Chuseok 2026 package also discounted selected KTX trains. In past years these have been the trains running into Seoul on outbound days and out of Seoul on return days, which is often a Seoul-based visitor's direction.
• There is a waitlist, with a KakaoTalk or SMS alert, and you pay by midnight the same day.

If you cannot register as a Korail member (account creation leans on Korean identity verification), your realistic windows are the remaining-seat sale after the advance sale closes (15:00 on the last sale day in 2026, including station counters) and the second wave after the payment deadline. Standing tickets (입석) on the Gyeongbu KTX are a real fallback for a 2h 15m – 2h 45m ride. Resale sites are not an option: Korail referred 35 suspected scalping cases for investigation over Chuseok 2026 and stripped eight sellers of their membership.

Tolls, Palaces and the Government Package

Every Chuseok the cabinet approves a 추석 민생안정대책 (livelihood package) about three weeks before the holiday. In 2026 that was 1 September. That package announces the toll-free days, free palace entry and train discounts. The toll waiver is then formally approved at a later cabinet meeting, which was 22 September in 2026. For 2027, expect it in late August.

The toll waiver: three days is the rule, a fourth is a decision

The permanent rule is three days. 유료도로법 시행령 제8조제2항 names them: the day before Chuseok, Chuseok and the day after (lunar 8/14–8/16), with a 100% waiver (제8조제3항제1호마목). For 2027 that means Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 September, with no application needed.

Four days was a 2026 decision, not the rule. The same clause lets the cabinet designate extra days. That is how both 2026 holidays became four days: Seollal 15–18 February and Chuseok 24–27 September. Whether 2027 gets a fourth day, and which side of the holiday it falls on, will be in the 2027 package.

From 2017 to Seollal 2026 the waiver ran 14 times, covering 403 million vehicles and ₩1.045 trillion in tolls that were never collected. Chuseok 2026 was the 15th. The cost falls on 한국도로공사 (Korea Expressway Corporation).

Palaces. In 2026 the four palaces (경복궁, 창덕궁, 창경궁, 덕수궁), 종묘 and the royal tombs were free 24–27 September, matching the toll days. Changdeokgung's Secret Garden (후원) stayed reservation-only. Free palace entry has been part of recent packages, but treat it as confirmed only when the 2027 package says so. The Korea Heritage Service (국가유산청) posts the fine print at royal.khs.go.kr one to two weeks before. The palace night programmes are paid, booked separately and sell out: Gyeongbokgung's night opening was ₩3,000 in autumn 2026, and Changdeokgung's 달빛기행 (moonlight tour) was ₩30,000.

What Closes for Chuseok 2027

Korea does not shut down for Chuseok. Families travel, small shops close, and the backup options you rely on get thinner. Here is what to plan around for 14–16 September 2027.

Museums close on the day, not for the whole holiday. 국립중앙박물관 (National Museum of Korea) closes only three days a year: 1 January, Seollal Day and Chuseok Day. In 2026, 국립현대미술관 (MMCA) and 국립민속박물관 (National Folk Museum) also closed on Chuseok Day. For 2027, expect all three shut on Wednesday 15 September and open on the 14th and 16th.

Hypermarkets: the Sundays are clear this time. Korean big-box marts close two days a month by law (유통산업발전법 제12조의2), in most of Seoul on the second and fourth Sundays. In September 2027 those are the 12th and the 26th, both outside the holiday. In 2026 the chains also closed some branches on Chuseok Day by their own choice (45 E-Mart and about 30 Lotte Mart stores), so expect some branches to be shut on the 15th. Costco closed nationwide on Chuseok Day in 2026. Convenience stores do not close.

Department stores close two days each, and they choose which. They are not covered by the mart law. In 2026 the pattern was two days in a row straddling Chuseok Day. Lotte shut 29 branches on 24–25 September. Shinsegae and Hyundai shut most branches on the 24th and 25th, but their flagship stores on the 25th and 26th. For 2027, Chuseok Day is the safe bet for a closure, and the second day could be the 14th or the 16th.

The subway runs less often, not less. Over the 2026 holiday Seoul Metro ran a reduced holiday timetable, but trains ran all day. Late-night extensions to about 01:00 were added only on the two return nights. In 2027 those will most likely be the 15th and 16th.

Clinics and pharmacies. Most neighbourhood clinics close for all three days. Over the 2026 holiday about 3,495 hospitals, clinics and health centres and 4,383 pharmacies a day stayed open nationwide, along with 416 emergency centres running 24 hours. To find one, use 응급의료포털 E-Gen (e-gen.or.kr or the app) on its Korean pages, or phone 129, 119 or 120.

Restaurants and markets are the real gap. Family-run restaurants, small cafés, hair and skin clinics, and stalls in traditional markets often close for one to three days. Check a place's own Instagram or Naver page for its holiday notice (명절 휴무). A Google Maps listing does not tell you.

Should You Leave Seoul During Chuseok 2027?

Only if the route is already secured and the place will be open when you get there.

The honest contrary note: Chuseok is not a good week to "see Chuseok." The rites (차례, charye), the grave visits (성묘) and the 송편 (songpyeon) making all happen inside private homes. The public versions are the palaces and folk events, and the National Folk Museum, which covers exactly these traditions, is shut on Chuseok Day. If you want the traditions, see EpicKor's guide to jesa and Chuseok rites. If you want a quiet Seoul, Chuseok is good. If you want a cross-country trip, the two October long weekends are easier, though still busy.

A Seoul base works because large hotels, palaces, malls, convenience stores and the subway all keep running. Smaller towns run on family businesses, and those are the places that close. Hotels outside Seoul also fill early with Koreans travelling home.

If you want a day trip, choose one with a clear train or bus link and a confirmed holiday opening. Do not improvise a rural itinerary over Chuseok unless you are fine with closures.

A Plan for 13–17 September 2027

The peaks are our reading from 2026's pattern, not a forecast. In 2026 the official forecast put the outbound worst on the morning of the first holiday day and the return worst on Chuseok Day afternoon. The official 2027 forecast comes from the transport ministry about four days before the holiday, as it did on 20 September 2026.

If your flight lands during Chuseok, keep that day simple. If you fly out on 15 or 16 September, leave extra time for the airport road, which is busy over the holiday too.

Chuseok 2026 Recap: What Actually Happened

The 2026 holiday ran 23–27 September for transport purposes (Chuseok Day was Friday 25 September). Here is how the forecasts compared with the results, from Korean official figures.

Three lessons carry over to 2027:

1. Shorter holidays are not quieter holidays. 2026 had about 4% fewer people moving than 2025, but expressway traffic per day was up 12.6%, because the same trips were squeezed into fewer days. 2027's three days will squeeze them further.
2. Early ticket dates circulating online were wrong. Before Korail's notice, travel sites were posting August sale dates. The real notice put the general sale on 7–11 September. Wait for the notice on korail.com, including for this page's 2027 reading.
3. Sold out is not final. Returned seats and the post-payment second wave reopened seats on routes that showed 90%+ sold.

What Chuseok Actually Is

Chuseok is often called Korea's Thanksgiving. The comparison helps a little, because family and food matter, but the rituals and calendar are Korean. Families gather in a parent's or grandparent's home. They prepare food for the ancestral rite, visit graves, make 송편 (half-moon rice cakes) and exchange gifts. Then they travel back. That movement of tens of millions of people is what changes the country for a visitor.

Before Chuseok, Korea becomes a gift-set country. Department stores and supermarkets stack fruit boxes, beef sets, Spam sets and oil sets, and the most expensive gift has become the massage chair (see the massage chair as Korea's filial gift). EpicKor's Korean gift-giving guide explains the etiquette. If you want a taste of the holiday table at home, honey yakgwa (약과) travels better than any gift set (affiliate link).

You might like: Why Is Fruit So Expensive in Korea? The Country That Has Never Imported an Apple, and How to Buy Fruit Anyway

What Not To Do

• Do not plan a Seoul–Busan–Seoul day trip between 13 and 16 September 2027.
• Do not trust a ticket date you read before Korail's notice, including ours.
• Do not book around a temporary holiday that has not been declared.
• Do not put a museum visit on Wednesday 15 September.
• Do not assume a famous restaurant is open because Google Maps lists it.
• Do not book a skin clinic or medical appointment without checking its holiday hours.

You might like: Korea Festival Calendar 2026–2027, Month by Month: The 27 Festivals Korea's Government Picked, and Which Dates Are Confirmed

FAQ

Q: When is Chuseok 2027? A: Wednesday, 15 September 2027. The official holiday runs Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 September. No substitute holiday is added, because none of the three days falls on a Sunday.

Q: Is there a substitute holiday for Chuseok 2027? A: No. For Chuseok, a substitute day is added only when a holiday day falls on a Sunday or another public holiday. In 2027 the holiday runs Tuesday to Thursday. The government could still declare a one-off temporary holiday (임시공휴일) on 13 or 17 September, but none has been declared as of 17 October 2026.

Q: When do Chuseok 2027 train tickets go on sale? A: Korail has not announced it yet. In 2026 the notice came on 13 August and the general sale ran 7–11 September, with each route on its own morning and Seoul–Busan last. Our reading for 2027 is a notice in mid-August and a sale in late August or early September 2027. Check korail.com from early August.

Q: Are highway tolls free during Chuseok 2027? A: The standing rule waives all expressway tolls on the eve, the day and the day after: 14–16 September 2027. In 2026 the cabinet added a fourth day. Whether 2027 gets one will be in the government's Chuseok package, usually announced in late August or early September.

Q: What closes on Chuseok Day, 15 September 2027? A: Expect the National Museum of Korea, MMCA and the National Folk Museum to close, as they did on Chuseok Day in 2026, along with most department stores, Costco, many small restaurants and most neighbourhood clinics. Palaces, convenience stores, large hotels and the subway keep running.

Q: When was Chuseok 2026? A: Friday, 25 September 2026, with the official holiday on Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 September. Tolls were waived 24–27 September, about 30.75 million people travelled, and expressway traffic averaged 6.09 million vehicles a day.

Q: How much is a KTX ticket from Seoul to Busan at Chuseok? A: ₩54,400 standard class, the fare after the 1 September 2026 Korail-SR merger (it was ₩59,800 before). Holiday discounts are suspended, so budget the full fare. The journey takes 2h 15m to 2h 45m.

Q: Is Chuseok a good time for tourists? A: It works well if you stay in one city, book transport early, and enjoy the quiet. It is hard if your plan depends on moving between cities or on small businesses being open.

Final Take

Chuseok 2027 is a short, midweek holiday, 14–16 September, with no substitute day. Watch for three announcements: the Korail ticket notice in August, the government package with the toll and palace dates, and any temporary holiday. Until then, assume three days, plan intercity travel outside 13–17 September, and base yourself in Seoul.

Sources

Every dated fact in this guide comes from a Korean primary source or Korean press reporting one. Checked 17 October 2026.

• 2027 dates — 우주항공청 2027년도 월력요항, 29 June 2026 (Chuseok 15 Sep, holiday 14–16 Sep; 개천절 2–4 Oct and 한글날 9–11 Oct breaks; 119 rest days), via Kyeonggi Ilbo and YTN. Full calendar in the 관보 and on the 한국천문연구원 site.
• Holiday and substitute-day rules — 관공서의 공휴일에 관한 규정 제2조 and 제3조.
• Toll waiver — 유료도로법 제15조제3항; 유료도로법 시행령 제8조제2항 (three days) and 제8조제3항제1호마목 (100% waiver); the 2026 fourth day was a cabinet designation.
• 2026 ticket sale — 코레일 notices of 13 August (2026년 추석 연휴 승차권 예매 안내문), 11 September (2.14 million seats supplied, 1.80 million sold) and 2 October (scalping referrals).
• 2025 ticket sale — Korail's rescheduled Chuseok 2025 sale (priority 15–16 Sep, general 17–18 Sep), as reported by Wikitree.
• 2026 package — 2026 추석 민생안정대책, cabinet meeting of 1 September 2026 (tolls, palaces, KTX discounts).
• 2026 forecast and result — 국토교통부 2026 추석 특별교통대책, 20 September 2026; preliminary tally of 29 September 2026 as reported by Yonhap (reprint); Chuseok Day travel times from Insight, 25 September 2026.
• Subway — 서울교통공사 Chuseok 2026 timetable notice, 18 September 2026.
• Clinics and pharmacies — 보건복지부 추석 비상응급 대응, 21 September 2026.
• Palaces — 국가유산청 궁능유적본부 notices, 21 September 2026.
• Museums — 국립중앙박물관 관람안내 (closed 1 January, Seollal Day, Chuseok Day).
• Mart closing days — 유통산업발전법 제12조의2; department store dates from the chains' own announcements, reported 21 September 2026.