What to do during Spring in Seoul, Korea
Enjoy the Cherry Blossoms! There’s about one week in April where the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and it’s gorgeous. The top places to go to see cherry blossoms are Yeouido or Seokchon Lake in Seoul, but these places can get insanely crowded. If you go, I’d go on a weekday at 9 am and leave before 10:30. You can actually see cherry blossoms all throughout the city. I like to go to Yongsan family park because it’s close but really there are little spots here and there throughout the city where you can enjoy the blossoms and snap a quick picture. There are a lot more trees concentrated in one place at Yeouido and Seokcheon Lake, but there are that many more people. I’m not a fan of big crowds. I actually went to Seokchon Lake with my daughter this year and took a picnic lunch. We got there early and there were people there but it wasn’t shoulder to shoulder packed, but by the time 11:30 am rolled around I felt like I was at a music festival.
Have a picnic. If you go to see the cherry blossoms it’s a nice opportunity to have a picnic. It’s not a tradition here like it is to have a “hanami” picnic in Japan. I packed our lunch but most people I saw picked up convenience store food and ate outside. My daughters love to eat outside and play at the playground. I have been eyeing this picnic set from Their coffee in Yeonnamdong. It’s perfect for couples. We picked up the set and ate on the grassy walkway outside of Hongdae station.
Try Spring-Themed Convenience Store Snacks. Around this time you’ll start spring themed foods, mostly with cherry blossoms. It’s nothing like it is in Japan and most of it is really sweet snacky stuff, but I always enjoy the novelty of seasonal snacks. Sienna and I picked up a bunch of cherry blossom and Yuchar blossom snacks to try at the convenience store. Everything was really sweet and a lot of the cherry blossoms tasted like strawberry.
Catch the tail end of Strawberry Season. Strawberry season is January through March/April and if you have a chance to taste Korean strawberries definitely pick up a box, especially if you visit in March which is kind of the tail end of the season. The strawberries here are super flavorful and sweet and if you get good ones they taste like candy. If you have time you can go strawberry picking. There’s also the Salon de Ttalgi at the JW Marriott in Dongdaemun which is a Barbie themed brunch. I planned to take my kids until I found out that it was 55,000 won per person and both of my kids have to pay. That’s insane.
Check out the Bam-Dokkaebi Market. This is an evening market that you can find in 4 places: Banpo Hangang Park, Yeouido, Chonggyechon, and Dongdaemun Design Plaza. It takes place on Friday and Saturday nights and it’s basically a food truck and craft festival. It’s a nice place to spend the evening. The Banpo one is right next to the Banpo bridge which has this water show in the evenings. But it’s quite a hike from the subway so I’d recommend taking a taxi. The Dongdaemun one and the Cheonggyecheon one are a little more family friendly because they are right next to the train station. I saw a lot of kids. The Cheonggyecheon has this giant unicorn horn landmark at the end of the bridge and DDP has the 25,000 led rose display.
Enjoy the Azaleas and Roses in May. May is when the azaleas and roses start to bloom and these are so pretty. You’ll see the roses all over the place, hanging over walls and sticking out of fences. I think that buck chin hanok village is a particularly picturesque when it comes to the roses. Changyeonggung Palace is also supposed to have nice azaleas and just flowers in general. I feel like you don’t really need to seek out these flowers and go to a flower field – they are just everywhere throughout the city.
How to deal with Yellow Dust and Pollution
Pollution is not limited to spring. It happens year round. Spring used to be high dust season but lately high dust season is year round. If you visit Korea chances are that you’ll run into some pollution no matter what time of year you come.
Get an app to track air quality and plan your activities based on the air quality forecast. There are a lot of apps out there to track air quality. I primarily use two apps: air matters and air visual for alerts. But if your planning a trip I’d recommend going to aqicn.org which has a forecast for the week and just look at which days have high pollution orange and red and which are yellow or green. And plan your week based on that. Plan to do outdoor activities on the low pollution days and indoor activities on the high pollution days. If every day has high pollution, wear a dust mask.
Kids: it’s hard for them to keep the masks on so I’d plan to just stay indoors.
Drink lots of water and make sure to take a shower every night to wash off the dust.
Remember that you’re only here for a little while. If every day is a high pollution day, and you have to do outdoor activities, I wouldn’t worry too much unless you have athsma or some other lung condition since you’re only here temporarily (be thankful that you don’t live here and can go back to your one country where the air is clean and be thankful for it and take care of the environment so this doesn’t happen to you!)
What to Wear during Spring in Seoul, Korea
March and April: It’s still pretty cold, like in the 40’s and 50’s. You’ll need a warm winter jacket.
Mid April through early May: it gets a little warmer so you can get by with a light jacket or trench coat. Wear layers because the temperature can change quickly.
Late May: the temperature is pretty nice you probably don’t need a jacket during the day, just in the evening.