Myeongdong Events - January 2027
January is the month the winter things end. The lanterns on Cheonggyecheon and the Shinsegae wall both go dark on the 31st; the ice rink at Seoul Plaza and the Grand Sale's welcome centre carry on into February. And New Year's Day opens it on the 1st, on a Friday.
📅 Download This Month
Download January 2027 Calendar - Import to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook
📅 National Holiday Events
New Year's Day
📅 Friday, January 1, 2027
A public holiday on the first day of 2027, falling on a Friday. Myeongdong does not shut for it street-wide: opening hours are a shop-by-shop matter here, so the counters you came for are the ones worth checking before you set out. The Friday is the useful fact: 1, 2 and 3 January run together, so a one-day holiday is really a three-day window for the shops that keep their own hours.
📍 Location: Nationwide; the holiday applies across Seoul and the rest of the country
🏷️ Categories: National Holiday, Nationwide
🌐 More Information: Official Website
🏮 Traditional Events
Seoul Lantern Festival — 18th edition
📅 Friday, December 11, 2026 – Sunday, January 31, 2027 — daily 18:00–23:00
The city's winter lantern festival is in its 18th edition, along the Cheonggyecheon between Cheonggye Plaza and Samilgyo Bridge. It opened on 11 December, so January is its last month rather than its first, and Samilgyo is the bridge nearest Myeongdong — the route runs from there towards the plaza at Gwanghwamun. Free, and lit until 23:00 every night: do it after the shops, with nothing booked and no ticket queue.
📍 Location: Cheonggyecheon, Cheonggye Plaza to Samilgyo Bridge; Seoul Metropolitan Government
🏷️ Categories: Traditional, Festival, Free
🌐 More Information: Official Website
📅 Sports Events
Seoul Plaza ice rink
📅 Friday, December 18, 2026 – Tuesday, February 9, 2027 — 10:00–21:30 Sunday to Thursday, 10:00–00:30 Friday and Saturday
The city's open-air rink in front of City Hall, running from 18 December 2026 to 9 February 2027, so January is mid-season. Sessions finish at 21:30 Sunday to Thursday and at 00:30 on Friday and Saturday, helmets and gloves are compulsory on the ice, and one hour costs ₩1,000 including skate and helmet hire — the price the rink has charged since its first season in 2004. Book the late session: on Friday and Saturday the ice stays open past midnight — the latest thing on this page, and the only one that starts after dinner.
📍 Location: Seoul Plaza, 110 Sejong-daero (City Hall Station Exit 5); Seoul Metropolitan Government / Seoul Sports Council
🏷️ Categories: Sports, Winter, Family
🌐 More Information: Official Website
🎉 Festival Events
Shinsegae Square Christmas media facade
📅 Friday, November 6, 2026 – Sunday, January 31, 2027 — daily 17:00 to midnight
The main store's square-facing wall has been a screen since 6 November: one film, 3 min 40 s long, on repeat, every night to 31 January. There is nothing to buy and nowhere to sit — you watch it from the pavement, and the store behind it is the country's oldest department store, at Hoehyeon Station on Line 4, one stop from Myeongdong. It runs to midnight, costs nothing, and sits on the way back from the lanterns: the one thing here you can still do at 23:30 on a weekday.
📍 Location: Shinsegae Department Store main store, 63 Sogong-ro, Hoehyeon
🏷️ Categories: Festival, Light Show, Free
🌐 More Information: Official Website
Korea Grand Sale 2027 — Myeongdong Welcome Center
📅 Wednesday, December 23, 2026 – Saturday, February 13, 2027 — daily 11:00–20:00
The national discount festival for foreign visitors runs 53 days, from 23 December to 13 February, and its welcome centre is on the first floor of Noon Square on Myeongdong-gil — inside the district rather than a train ride from it. The centre opens 11:00–20:00 daily and the festival window covers all of Seollal and the winter sales. Enquiries 1644-7855. Go here before the first shop you like: the centre is inside the district, entry is free, and its window runs past Seollal on 6–9 February, so one stop covers both holidays.
📍 Location: Myeongdong Welcome Center, 1F Noon Square, 14 Myeongdong-gil; hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, organised by the Visit Korea Committee
🏷️ Categories: Festival, Shopping, Free
🌐 More Information: Official Website
If you are eating in the district, the evening carts are the thing to time: they set up from about 4:00 PM along Myeongdong-gil and the streets around Exit 6, and the food runs from about ₩2,000 for skewers and filled pancakes to ₩5,000 for the bigger dishes. More in our night market guide and shopping guide.