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The holiday week starts with dates people get wrong

Mr. Latte

Korean holidays are not pinned to the solar calendar. Both Lunar New Year and Chuseok are counted on the lunar calendar, so they move each year, and a substitute day is added in some years and not in others. In 2026 Chuseok is one of the years without.

What closes and what stays open also runs against expectations. The city goes quiet, but what actually stops is the counter, while convenience stores, subways and emergency rooms carry on as usual. Not much has to be done before the break, and that is the catch: the few things that do all land in the same week.

The short version

Chuseok 2026 falls on Friday 25 September, and the public holidays run from the 24th to the 26th. None of them lands on a Sunday this year, so no substitute holiday is added. The break runs four days to Sunday the 27th, and Monday the 28th is a normal working day. Government offices, immigration counters and bank branches stop for those four days. Convenience stores, subways and emergency rooms keep going. The two things worth sorting out in advance are train tickets and medication.

Last verified:

Deadlines that matter

  • General booking for Chuseok train tickets

    By when: 7 to 11 September 2026, 07:00 to 13:00 each day

    If you miss it: The window for your line closes that day. What is left is the waiting list: tickets cancelled for non-payment go to people on it, in order.

  • Paying for a booked ticket

    By when: From midnight on 12 September until the 15th. Priority bookings made by eligible passengers have until the 18th

    If you miss it: The booking is cancelled automatically. A reservation is not a ticket.

  • Switching to a KORAIL integrated membership

    By when: Before you open the booking page

    If you miss it: If you only ever registered with SR, the booking page will not let you in when the window opens.

  • Anything needing a counter: offices, immigration, banks

    By when: By Wednesday 23 September

    If you miss it: No counter takes anything in from the 24th to the 27th. The next day for it is Monday the 28th.

  • A repeat prescription

    By when: At your last appointment before the break

    If you miss it: Many local clinics and pharmacies close. Emergency rooms stay open, but they are not the place to renew a prescription.

Right now

  1. 1If you plan to take a train, general booking runs from 7 to 11 September. The date depends on your line and train type. Gyeongbu Line KTX is on the 11th, and KTX trains that start or end at Suseo are on the 10th.
  2. 2Booking is not buying. Payment opens at midnight on 12 September, and anything unpaid by the 15th is cancelled automatically.
  3. 3Anything that needs a counter, a government office, immigration or a bank, has to be done by Wednesday 23 September. The next working day is Monday the 28th.

What to have ready

  • KORAIL integrated membership: Booking works through this account only. Convert first if you were an SR member.
  • Passport or Alien Registration Card: For collecting or paying for a ticket at a station counter.
  • Your regular medication: Count whether you have four days of it.
  • Some cash: For markets and small shops. Bank counters are shut.
  • A transit card: Subways and city buses run through the holiday.

Phrases you can copy and paste

Step by step

  1. 1

    Fix the dates before anything else

    Chuseok is the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, so the solar date moves every year. Run it through the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute converter and the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month in 2026 comes out as Friday 25 September. Article 2, item 9 of the Regulation on Public Holidays for Government Offices makes the day before Chuseok, Chuseok itself and the day after public holidays. That gives Thursday the 24th through Saturday the 26th, and Sunday the 27th follows, so the break is four days. Monday the 28th is a working day.

  2. 2

    Some years get a substitute holiday and some do not

    Article 3 of the same regulation treats the two big lunar holidays differently from the rest. Children's Day and Christmas earn a substitute holiday when they fall on a Saturday, but Lunar New Year and Chuseok need a Sunday. There is one more condition: a Lunar New Year or Chuseok holiday that lands on a weekday and coincides with another public holiday earns one as well. In 2026 the Chuseok holidays run Thursday to Saturday and touch neither a Sunday nor another holiday. Plan around an extra day after the 27th and that day is not there.

  3. 3

    Each line has its own booking day

    Where:
    The KORAIL+ app or the holiday booking page on the KORAIL website

    The KORAIL notice of 14 August covers trains running from 23 to 27 September. Priority booking for older passengers, registered disabled passengers, eligible veterans and pregnant passengers finished on 3 and 4 September. General booking, open to everyone, runs from 7 to 11 September, 07:00 to 13:00. The days are split by line. The 7th is all conventional trains on every line. The 8th is KTX on the Gyeongjeon, Gangneung, Donghae, Jungang and Jungbunaeryuk lines. The 9th is KTX on the Honam and Jeolla lines. The 10th is KTX on the Gyeongbu, Gyeongjeon, Donghae, Honam and Jeolla lines that start or end at Suseo. The 11th is Gyeongbu Line KTX. A route that sits on two lines, Seoul to Dongdaegu for example, can be booked on either of its two days. Once you are in, you have three minutes to finish.

  4. 4

    The day you book and the day you pay are not the same

    How long:
    Payment opens at midnight on 12 September

    This is where people lose the seat they thought they had. Payment for Chuseok tickets opens at midnight on 12 September. General bookings must be paid by the 15th and priority bookings by the 18th. Anything unpaid is cancelled and passed down the waiting list in order. Read that the other way round and these few days are when seats actually come back for people who missed out.

  5. 5

    This is the first holiday with a single booking counter

    KORAIL and SR merged on 1 September. Only a KORAIL integrated membership gets into the booking page this time. Existing KORAIL members were carried over, but anyone who registered with SR alone has to convert the account themselves. Booking happens only through the KORAIL+ app and the holiday booking page on the website, with no counter sales, and trains through Suseo are sold there too.

  6. 6

    What shuts is the counter

    Government offices and immigration offices close on public holidays. Banks are closed too. The Financial Services Commission notice from the last Lunar New Year sets out what happens: a loan maturity, a card payment date or an automatic debit for insurance or phone bills that falls inside the holiday moves to the first working day afterwards with no late charge. The other direction matters more for many readers here. Foreign currency transfers and cross-border payments cannot be processed normally, so move the date forward or check with your bank first. At each holiday a handful of branches open specially for currency exchange and remittance, at airports and in districts with many foreign workers, and mobile branches for deposits, withdrawals and fresh notes appear at expressway rest areas.

  7. 7

    What keeps running is more than you would guess

    Convenience stores, subways, city buses and delivery apps all work through the holiday. Large supermarkets vary by branch, so check that branch's opening notice before you go. There are three ways to find care when you get sick. Search the E-Gen emergency medical portal for clinics and pharmacies open in your area, tap the holiday clinic layer in the Naver or Kakao map app, or call 129 and ask. Emergency rooms are open all year, and 119 is the number when it is urgent.

  8. 8

    If you have a job here, these four days have a legal shape

    Article 55(2) of the Labor Standards Act and Article 30(2) of its Enforcement Decree make government office holidays paid leave. At a workplace with five or more regular employees, the three Chuseok holidays are paid days off, and working them adds 50 percent of ordinary wages for the first eight hours and 100 percent beyond that under Article 56(2). The Act applies to workplaces with five or more regular employees under Article 11(1). Below that, these are not statutory paid holidays and your contract and work rules decide. Read those first.

  9. 9

    Several things have not been announced yet

    Toll waivers, free palace admission and the list of clinics on duty come out close to the holiday every year. Last Lunar New Year the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport waived expressway tolls for four days, and last Chuseok the Korea Heritage Service opened the four main palaces, Jongmyo and the royal tombs for seven days with no closing day. There is no guarantee this Chuseok matches. Check the ministry and heritage service press pages again a week before the break.

Watch it happen

Videos other people made, picked because they show a part of this guide that words cannot. They are not our sources: the rules and figures above come from the official pages listed at the end.

  • 2026 추석 승차권 예매 안내

    Channel: 코레일TV, Korean, no English subtitles. The value is the screen

    Made by KORAIL, who run this booking round. It shows the per-line booking days and the payment deadline on screen, which is steps three and four of this guide.

    Open on YouTube

  • 추석 연휴, 우리 동네 문 여는 병원 찾는 방법🔎 #응급의료포털 #지도앱 #129

    Channel: 대한민국정부, Korean, no English subtitles. The value is the screen

    One minute on the three ways to find care during the break. Watch it to see what the E-Gen portal and the holiday clinic layer in the map apps actually look like, then save them.

    Open on YouTube

  • Korean Thanksgiving Explained: Charye, Food, Visiting the family graves, and Fun!

    Channel: IFEZ Global Center, English narration

    From the foreign resident support centre in the Incheon Free Economic Zone. It covers what happens inside Korean households across these four days, which explains why your colleagues and your landlord go quiet.

    Open on YouTube

The Korean words

추석chuseok, Chuseok, the autumn harvest holiday
The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, and with Lunar New Year the biggest holiday of the year.
한가위hangawi, another name for Chuseok
The word you will see in news headlines and holiday greetings.
연휴yeonhyu, consecutive holidays
A run of days off. How many days it runs changes year to year.
대체공휴일daeche gonghyuil, substitute holiday
A day off given instead when a holiday lands on a weekend or another holiday.
승차권seungchagwon, train ticket
The word used on booking screens and station notices.
귀성gwiseong, travelling to your hometown
The holiday trip out of the city. The trip back is 귀경, gwigyeong.

Easy to miss

  • Keeping Monday the 28th free for a substitute holiday. There is not one this year. The 28th is a working day and offices are open.
  • Treating booking as a single date. Lines and train types have their own days, so look up the one for your route.
  • Booking and then forgetting to pay. After the 15th it is cancelled and goes to someone on the waiting list.
  • Trying to book as an SR member. Since the 1 September merger you need a KORAIL integrated membership to get in.
  • Assuming the first day works like a weekday because it is a Thursday. The 24th is already a public holiday, so offices and banks are shut from then.
  • Leaving a transfer home until the holiday. Foreign currency transfers are not processed normally, so move the date forward.
  • Putting off a prescription until after the break. Count your medication first.

You can skip this if

  • Staying inside Seoul and not taking a train means you can skip the booking section entirely.
  • On a short visit, the office and bank items do not apply to you. Tickets and rooms still fill up at the same time, though.
  • At a workplace with fewer than five regular employees, the paid holiday rule does not apply. Your contract and the company rules decide whether you work.
  • This guide is written around the 2026 Chuseok dates. Other years have different dates and a different answer on substitute holidays.

When it is time for a person

  • Shift one holiday-blocked date and the next one moves with it, until a contract and a filing deadline are tangled together. That is the point where handing the whole schedule to someone who knows Korean paperwork costs you less.

Where this comes from

Rules, fees and deadlines change and depend on your exact case. Please confirm the details with the official sources before you act.

Questions and notes

Been through this? Add what you learned, or ask what is still unclear.

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