Seollal 2027 in Korea Is 7 February, Not the 6th: the 6–9 February Holiday, When Train Seats Sell, and What Closes

Last updated: 2 October 2026. The 2027 dates are from the Korea AeroSpace Administration's 2027 calendar (월력요항), published 29 June 2026. Booking and closing facts are the official figures from Seollal 2026 (13–18 February 2026), and traffic figures are the government's Seollal 2026 forecast, used as the reference until the 2027 notices appear; anything EpicKor has worked out from a rule rather than read in a notice is marked as such.

If you are planning a February 2027 trip to Korea, check one date before anything else: Korean Lunar New Year falls on Sunday 7 February 2027, not Saturday 6 February. Most lunar-new-year calendars in English are built on the Chinese date, and in 2027 China's Spring Festival lands on the 6th. Korea counts its calendar on Korea time, the new moon arrives around midnight, and this year that is enough to push 설날 (Seollal) one day later.

That one day changes the shape of the holiday. Because Seollal itself lands on a Sunday, Korea's substitute-holiday rule adds a Tuesday. The official break runs Saturday 6 to Tuesday 9 February 2027: four days off, with the return crush on a Tuesday rather than a weekend.

This guide puts the numbers in one place: dates, train sales, closures, roads and costs. It is a dated spin-off of our general Seollal guide to customs, age and tteokguk, and it follows the format of our Chuseok 2026 planning guide.

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Quick Guide: Seollal 2027 in numbers

The short version: book trains the morning they open and nothing later, expect the roads to be at their worst on Seollal afternoon itself, and plan Seoul days around palaces, which stay open, rather than small restaurants and markets, which close.

The official dates, and why there is a Tuesday off

Korea's public holidays are set by the 「관공서의 공휴일에 관한 규정」 (the regulation on public-office holidays). For Seollal it gives three days: the day before, the day itself and the day after, counted on the lunar calendar. The calendar those days fall on is published once a year by the government's astronomy body; now the Korea AeroSpace Administration (우주항공청), which released the 2027 calendar on 29 June 2026.

Its answer for 2027:

The substitute rule is narrower than many guides imply. For Seollal and Chuseok, an extra day is added only when a holiday day overlaps a Sunday or another public holiday. A Saturday overlap does not count. In 2027 the Saturday (6 February) earns nothing, but the Sunday (7 February) does, so the first working day after the holiday, Tuesday 9 February, becomes a day off.

Because the holiday starts on a weekend, many Koreans will leave on Friday 5 February after work. The calendar counts 119 days off in 2027 for people on a five-day week, and Seollal is the longest break of the year; Chuseok (14–16 September 2027) is only three days.

If you are a visitor, the dates that matter are 5 to 10 February: one shoulder day either side of the official four.

When train tickets for Seollal 2027 will go on sale

This is the question with the least certain answer, and the one with the most money riding on it.

On 1 October 2026 Korail stretched its booking window from one month to two months before departure, opening at 07:00 on the same calendar date two months earlier (we explain the change in our guide to the two-month booking rule). Read literally, that rule gives these opening mornings:

But holiday trains have not been sold on the rolling calendar. In both 2026 holidays Korail held the holiday-week trains back and released them in a separate, route-by-route sale, and in both cases that sale came later than the normal one-month window would have allowed:

In January 2026 the order was Honam, Jeolla and the other south-western lines on the 19th, Gyeongjeon, Jungang, Gangneung, Donghae and the remaining lines on the 20th, and the Gyeongbu line, Seoul to Busan, on the 21st. Korail doubled its web-server capacity and stretched the general sale from two days to three that year.

As of 2 October 2026, Korail has not said whether the two-month window changes this. Neither the ministry's 20 September release nor Korail's 1 October opening notice mentions holiday sales. So plan for both possibilities:

• Watch from late November. If Korail keeps the separate sale, expect a notice one to three weeks before it, as in 2026. If it applies the new rule, the Seollal mornings are 5–10 December.
• The advance sale is members-only and online-only. At Chuseok 2026 the notice said plainly 역 창구 예매 없음, no station-window sales. Create your Korail account (코레일+ app or korail.com) and test the login days before. If your account was with SR, convert it first; see our KTX-SRT merger guide.
• Limits and payment. 12 tickets per person, 6 per transaction; an unpaid reservation is cancelled at the deadline and passed to the waiting list.
• Discounts switch off. At Chuseok 2026, senior seats, companion seats and discount products including passes were suspended for holiday trains. Budget the full ₩54,400 for Seoul–Busan standard.
• If you cannot register, your date is the remaining-seat sale after the general sale closes, when tickets also appear at station counters, and the second wave after the payment deadline, when unpaid seats come back.

You might like: Korea Train Tickets Open Two Months Ahead From 1 October 2026 — and Buses Rise 9%: Seoul–Busan KTX vs Bus

How bad the roads were expected to be last Seollal

Close to nine in ten holiday trips in Korea are made by car (86.1% in the Seollal 2026 forecast), so the expressway figures tell you how the whole country moves. The ministry's joint plan for Seollal 2026 covered six days, 13–18 February, and was published on 10 February:

Tolls in 2027: the standing rule in the toll-road decree (유료도로법 시행령 제8조) waives expressway tolls for three days, the day before Seollal to the day after, which in 2027 is 6–8 February. The fourth free day in 2026 was a cabinet decision, so do not count on it until the ministry announces it.

For comparison, the normal KTX time from Seoul to Busan is about two and a half hours. The 10-hour return drive is why a train seat is worth the 07:00 alarm.

Our reading for 2027, not a forecast: in 2026 the return peak landed on Seollal afternoon itself. If that pattern holds, the worst northbound traffic in 2027 falls on Sunday 7 February, with a second wave on Monday and the substitute Tuesday thinning it out. The real forecast, based on a household survey by the Korea Transport Institute, usually comes out a week before the holiday.

Inside Seoul, the city extended the subway and 121 bus routes serving the train stations and bus terminals to 01:00 on 17 and 18 February 2026, with 128 extra subway runs, so late arrivals on the return days could still get home. Normal last-train times are in our Seoul last-train guide.

What closed last Seollal, and what stayed open

The 2027 announcements will come in late January. Until then, this is what happened in February 2026, from the agencies and companies themselves.

What that means for 2027, if the pattern repeats (EpicKor's reading, not an announcement):

• Palaces are the safest plan. Free entry across the holiday has been the custom for Seollal and Chuseok in recent years, and Gyeongbokgung even opened on its usual closing day. The catch is the closing day afterwards: in 2026 that was the day after the holiday. In 2027 that would most likely be Wednesday 10 February.
• The National Museum of Korea closes on Seollal Day, which in 2027 is Sunday 7 February. It closes on 1 January, Seollal Day and Chuseok Day every year.
• Markets are the weak point. Traditional markets are at their busiest in the days before the holiday and many stalls close for two or three days over it. Gwangjang and Namdaemun are not the best Seollal-weekend plan.
• Small restaurants close; chains and hotel restaurants don't. Expect "설 연휴 휴무" notices on doors from Saturday to Monday. Our restaurant closing-times guide has the normal hours to compare.
• Cash before Friday. Banks close Saturday to Tuesday. ATMs in convenience stores keep working, and airport exchange counters stay open.

You might like: Seoul Winter Festa 2026 Dates Confirmed (14 December 2026 to 31 January 2027)

What Seollal costs a Korean family

Two numbers come out every year, and both say something about the holiday you will see around you.

The ancestral-rite table (차례상, charye-sang). The state agri-food agency aT prices the same 24 items for a four-person family every Seollal, at 17 traditional markets and 36 large retailers in 23 areas. Its survey of 6 February 2026 found:

The market was 18.7% cheaper, and 14 of the 24 items, including spinach, courgette and Korean beef, cost less there. Fruit was down 15.4% on the year. This is why markets are packed in the days before Seollal and quiet during it: the shopping happens first.

New Year money (세뱃돈, sebaetdon). After children make the deep New Year bow, 세배 (sebae), adults give them cash in an envelope. Kakao Pay, whose app sends digital money envelopes, publishes what people actually give. Its figures, reported in February 2026:

• For middle- and high-school students, ₩100,000 (42%) overtook ₩50,000 (37%) in 2025, the first time the higher note won. In 2022 ₩50,000 led with 36%.
• In a January 2026 poll of about 78,000 users on what middle- and high-school students should get, 65% still said ₩50,000; among teenagers themselves, 60% said ₩100,000.
• Users in their 20s to 40s sent their parents an average of ₩227,000 in holiday envelopes.

If you are a guest in a Korean home, you are not expected to give 세뱃돈, but if children bow to you, a crisp note in an envelope is a warm gesture: ₩10,000–30,000 for a young child is ordinary. Use new notes; banks hand them out before the holiday and run short. Our Korean gift-giving guide covers what to bring the hosts.

A plan for 5–10 February 2027

If you are staying in Seoul the whole time, you are on the easy side of the holiday. The city is quieter than at any other point in the year, the subway runs normally, and palaces, big malls and chain cafés stay open, and the Folk Museum is open on Saturday and Monday (it closes on Seollal Day itself, like the National Museum). Eat tteokguk on Sunday morning at a restaurant that advertises it, and keep two backup meals in mind for Sunday and Monday.

If you need to cross the country, travel against the flow. Southbound on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 February is likely to be the crush; southbound on Monday 8 or Tuesday 9 should be the empty direction. Northbound into Seoul is worst on Seollal afternoon. Korail has in past holidays discounted trains running against the holiday flow; check the fare in the app rather than assuming full price.

If you are flying in, land on Wednesday 10 February or later if you can, and do not count on a phone shop, bank branch or exchange office in town between Saturday and Tuesday.

And whatever you plan, write down two dates: the day Korail publishes its Seollal notice, and the morning your route goes on sale.

You might like: Chuseok 2026: Korea Slows Down 24-26 September, Train Seats Sell 7-11 September

FAQ

Q: When is Seollal 2027 in Korea? A: Sunday 7 February 2027. The public holiday runs Saturday 6 to Monday 8 February, and Tuesday 9 February is a substitute holiday because Seollal falls on a Sunday. China's Spring Festival is a day earlier, on 6 February.

Q: Why is there a substitute holiday for Seollal 2027? A: Under Korea's public-holiday regulation, when a Seollal holiday day overlaps a Sunday or another public holiday, the next non-holiday day becomes a day off. A Saturday overlap does not count, so only Sunday 7 February triggers it, giving Tuesday 9 February.

Q: When can I book KTX tickets for Seollal 2027? A: Korail had not announced it as of 2 October 2026. Under the plain two-month rule, trains on 5–10 February would open 5–10 December 2026 at 07:00. But in 2026 both holidays were sold in a separate, members-only online sale about two to four weeks before travel, so watch for Korail's notice from late November.

Q: Do I have to give New Year money as a visitor? A: No. If children bow to you in a Korean home, a new note in an envelope is a kind gesture. Korean families now commonly give teenagers ₩50,000–100,000, and younger children less.

Sources

• Korea AeroSpace Administration (우주항공청), 2027 월력요항, released 29 June 2026, as reported by YTN and Kyeonggi Ilbo: Seollal 7 February 2027 (Sunday), holiday 6–9 February with substitute holiday 9 February, 119 days off for five-day workers.
• Korail, press release 2026년 설 연휴 승차권 예매, 7 January 2026: travel 13–18 February; priority sale 15–16 January; general sale 19–21 January by line; payment deadlines; server capacity doubled.
• Korail, 2026 Chuseok holiday ticket notice, 13 August 2026 (no station-window sales, ticket limits, discount suspension), as summarised in our Chuseok 2026 guide.
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (국토교통부) and Korail, 20 September 2026 release on the two-month booking window, and Korail's 1 October opening schedule, as summarised in our two-month booking guide.
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 2026 Seollal special transport plan, 10 February 2026, as reported by News Seoul and Today Shinmun: 27.8 million travellers, 5.25 million vehicles a day, 6.15 million on 17 February, worst-case travel times, toll waiver.
• Seoul Metropolitan Government, 2026 Seollal plan: subway and 121 bus routes to 01:00 on 17–18 February, 128 extra runs, 13,282 hospitals and pharmacies open (Seoul media hub).
• Korea Heritage Service (국가유산청) free opening of palaces, Jongmyo and royal tombs, 14–18 February 2026, closed 19 February, as reported by Newsis, 11 February 2026.
• National Museum of Korea Seollal 2026 visitor figures and 17 February closure, as reported by Herald Business, 19 February 2026.
• Department store and hypermarket Seollal 2026 hours, as reported by Sidae Ilbo, 12 February 2026.
• Financial Services Commission (금융위원회), Seollal 2026 financial services notice, 6 February 2026: payment dates moved to 19 February, 24 mobile and flexible branches.
• Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), Seollal 2026 ancestral-table cost survey, 6 February 2026, as reported by Twig24.
• Kakao Pay money-envelope data and user poll, as reported by Digital Times and Daum News, February 2026.