For 73 Days, All of Seoul Is a Stage - Seoul Autumn Festa Opens September 18 on the Han River

Travelers in Seoul this autumn may not need to plan performances at all. From September 18 to November 29 - 73 days - the 2026 Seoul Autumn Festa runs across the entire city (Korea Economic Daily). Thirty-eight festivals and 478 performances - 558 programs and 2,014 showings in total - unfold under one banner: 'Seoul's autumn, where the city becomes art.' The opening performance, 'Seoul, Dancing on the Han,' takes place September 18 at 7:30 pm at Ttukseom Hangang Park, followed by the Seoul Street Arts Festival across Ttukseom and Seoul Forest on September 19-20.

The festival's virtue for travelers is its lack of thresholds: with so many street performances and outdoor stages, much of it can be encountered without reservations, often free, simply by walking past. If you are in Seoul the third weekend of September, setting your walking course through the Ttukseom-Seoul Forest area (Seoul Forest Station on the Suin-Bundang Line, or Ttukseom Resort Station on Line 7) puts you in the middle of opening week. Detailed schedules are on the Seoul city festival page by date. Readers of this article walk away with a calendar of a Seoul where something is always on.

By Park Jeung Min, Korea Tourism Times