Before You Go Korea

Checked Oct 11, 2026 Hansik Festa guide card. The meal photo is a general Korean table, not from the festival. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization (KOGL Type 1) Hansik Festa (한식대축제) is a three-day Korean food festival, Fri Oct 23 to Sun Oct 25, 2026, at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul: the auditorium on Oct 23 and the area around the Mirror Pond (거울못) on all three days. Oct 24 is Hansik Day (한식의 날, "Korean Food Day"), a legal anniversary for the first time this year. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs says the program is for both Koreans and foreigners. It lists cooking shows, cooking classes, restaurant pop-ups and a flea market, with no prices or hours published yet. The Oct 23 conference and the hands-on programs need sign-up on a Naver form, first come first served: conference from Oct 8, hands-on programs from Mon Oct 12. Get there by Line 4 or the Gyeongui-Jungang Line to Ichon Station (이촌역), Exit 2. At my house we always wait to make kimjang...

Checked Oct 14, 2026 Gwanghwamun Gate in central Seoul. Saemunan Church's cafeteria is in this neighborhood. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization (KOGL Type 1) Yes, a few of them. Many Korean company cafeterias (구내식당, gunae sikdang ) only serve staff, but some district offices and church halls in central Seoul sell lunch tickets to outsiders during short windows around noon, for about 3,500 to 6,500 won. Below are six places, with the outsider hours and the way in as Seoul city and the press have published them. The Gwanghwamun Post Office asks for a staff ID, so I list it last. I'm from Korea, and there is a post office in my neighborhood with a cafeteria. Once in a while I time my lunch to its hours and go. The food is cheap and I always think, this is a good meal for the price. It feels a bit like school lunch. This guide started with a Threads post I saw on Oct 6, 2026: a Japanese visitor had reportedly been touring Seoul's cafeterias and was already on the 33rd. ...

Checked Oct 10, 2026 A floor sign on one of Namdaemun Market's lanes. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization (KOGL Type 3, unmodified) Namdaemun Market (남대문시장) is Seoul's biggest traditional market: about 10,000 shops around Sungnyemun Gate, roughly a 5-minute walk from Hoehyeon Station on Line 4. Opening hours are set shop by shop, and Seoul city's market guides and the Visit Seoul page list Sunday as the closing day, so go Monday to Saturday and eat before 9 pm. Below are 14 Naver Map pins for the alleys, food and shops worth your time, with the hours the market association lists for each. I'm from Korea, and I've changed money in Namdaemun a few times. This guide is built the way I'd want a foreign friend to use it: Korean names you can paste into Naver Map, and hours copied from the market's own pages. It is the first in a series that goes through Seoul one neighborhood at a time, with one pin list for each. What Namdaemun Market (남대문시장) · Jung-gu...

Checked Oct 11, 2026 Highland cabbage harvest in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, October. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization, Gangwon branch, Moment Studio (KOGL Type 1) The 9th Pyeongchang Highland Kimjang Festival (평창고랭지김장축제) runs from Wed Nov 4 to Mon Nov 16, 2026, in Jinbu, Pyeongchang. You get salted highland cabbage and seasoning, and make your own kimchi at a table: 69,000 won for 7 kg of cabbage and 3 kg of seasoning. It's open 09:00–17:00, walk-ins until 16:00. Online booking opens Oct 20, and the festival's own advice for foreigners is to call +82-33-336-4000. My family always waits for the highland cabbage to come out before we make our kimjang. It's grown up high, so the heads are packed tight and it tastes really good. With kimjang season close, Pyeongchang's news was the first thing I looked up. Everything below comes from the festival's Korean website and notice. Dates Wed Nov 4 – Mon Nov 16, 2026 (13 days) Hours 09:00–17:00 KST · walk-in sig...

Checked Oct 10, 2026 The entrance of Mangwon Market in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization (KOGL Type 1) Korea's AI Tourism Butler (AI 관광집사) is a QR-code guide for traditional markets, run by the Korea Tourism Organization (한국관광공사). KTO's official blog says it opened on Oct 9, 2026 at Mangwon Market in Seoul, Haeundae Market in Busan and Suwon Nammun Market in Gyeonggi. One QR code gives you route finding, real-time crowd levels and menu translation. Three more markets are scheduled for Oct 16. What AI Tourism Butler (AI 관광집사), run by the Korea Tourism Organization (한국관광공사) Opened Oct 9, 2026: Mangwon (Seoul), Haeundae (Busan), Suwon Nammun (Gyeonggi) Next Oct 16, 2026, scheduled: Gyeongdong (Seoul), Andong Old Market (Gyeongbuk), Danyang Gugyeong (Chungbuk) How to open it Scan a QR code with your phone camera. No app to install, no sign-up (KTO's launch post) Tools AI map and route · crowd levels and shop waits · camera menu translation...

Checked Oct 7, 2026 Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. When you book through them, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It doesn't change the prices I show or what I recommend. Details in my Privacy Policy . Dosan Park in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, in October. Gangnam-gu has 45 of the 100 places. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization, IR Studio (KOGL Type 1) The Seoul Taste 100 (서울미식 100선, officially "The 100 Taste of Seoul 2026") is Seoul's own restaurant list, announced by Seoul Metropolitan Government on October 6, 2026. Sixty food experts helped pick 100 places in seven categories, from Korean fine dining to grills, plant-based food and bars. The easiest way to use it is the official Google Maps list linked from the city's announcement: save it once and all 100 appear on your map. 42 of the 100 are closed on Mondays, so check the day before you go. BOOK BEFORE YOU GO Data for Catchtable and the map lists: Get a Korea eSIM ...