Chuseok in Korea: When Seoul Goes Quiet and the Highways Slow Down

The street outside your apartment feels strangely quiet. The office district that normally pours people onto the sidewalks has lost its rush-hour energy. A neighborhood restaurant you planned to visit has a note on the door saying it will be closed for the holiday.

Where did everybody go?

Check the highways.

While parts of Seoul seem to have turned down the volume, roads heading out of the capital can be packed with cars. Koreans sometimes joke that the gosokdoro—the expressway—has become a jeosokdoro, a “slow-speed road.”

That little joke tells you quite a lot about Chuseok.

Chuseok changes the rhythm of Korea, from crowded holiday roads and markets to unusually quiet streets in Seoul.

Chuseok Is About Family—but Not Everyone Goes Home

Chuseok falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. Along with Seollal, Lunar New Year, it is one of Korea's major traditional holidays.

If you come from North America, someone may describe Chuseok as “Korean Thanksgiving.” That gives you a rough starting point—family, food, an autumn holiday—but don't stop there. The traditions, foods and atmosphere are distinctly Korean.

For many people, Chuseok has traditionally meant traveling to the hometown where their parents or relatives live.

But modern Chuseok is more varied.

Some parents travel in the opposite direction and visit their children in Seoul. Some families meet for one meal rather than spending several days together. Some people use the long weekend for a trip. Others stay home and rest.

So if somebody tells you, “All Koreans go back to their hometown for Chuseok,” take that with a large grain of salt.

What you can notice is the change in the rhythm of the country.

The Holiday Can Begin With a Train Ticket

You don't need to wait until Chuseok Day to know the holiday is coming.

Listen to conversations at work a little earlier.

“When are you heading down?”

“I think I'll leave before sunrise. The traffic is going to be awful.”

And then there is the train ticket.

Routes from Seoul to cities such as Busan, Daegu and Gwangju become especially busy around the holiday, particularly at convenient departure times.

This is one of those Korean experiences that is difficult to appreciate until you see how many people are trying to move across the country at roughly the same time.

The government even prepares special transportation measures for the holiday travel period, and expressway toll exemptions are part of the 2026 Chuseok arrangements.

Suddenly the quiet streets in Seoul make more sense.

The Highway Rest Stop Becomes Part of the Holiday

If you travel by car, there is another scene you may remember almost as clearly as the family gathering: the highway rest stop.

The parking lot is full. Someone is trying to find coffee. A family is eating a quick meal. A parent is hurrying across the building with a child who desperately needs the bathroom.

And somewhere, somebody is calling home:

“We're still on the road.”

The destination may be different, but the question is universal:

How much longer is this going to take?

That combination of anticipation and traffic is part of the holiday for many families—but not every family, and not every year.

Wait—Spam Is a Chuseok Gift?

Now for one of my favorite scenes to show someone experiencing a Korean holiday for the first time.

Walk through a supermarket or department store before Chuseok and look at the gift section.

You'll see beautifully packaged fruit. Korean beef. Dried fish.

And then you may see something that makes you look twice.

Canned ham.

Yes, really.

Practical foods such as canned ham, tuna and cooking oil have long appeared in Korean holiday gift sets. Everyday supermarket items suddenly arrive in neat boxes designed to be given to relatives, colleagues or people you want to thank.

To someone seeing this for the first time, a premium-looking box of Spam can be unexpectedly funny.

But don't turn that into another “Koreans always do this” rule.

There is no universal Chuseok gift requirement. Some workplaces exchange gifts, others don't. Some families give expensive sets, some give something small, and many people exchange nothing at all.

It is simply one of those scenes that tells you the holiday is approaching.

And Yes, There Is Songpyeon

If Chuseok has a food everyone wants to explain to a newcomer, it is probably songpyeon.

These small rice cakes are traditionally associated with Chuseok and are commonly filled with ingredients such as sesame seeds or beans.

But don't imagine every Korean household sitting together making songpyeon by hand.

Some still do. Plenty of people buy just enough from a market or rice-cake shop. And, of course, the Chuseok table contains much more than one type of rice cake.

The same goes for ancestral rites.

Some families hold charye, a traditional memorial rite. Others do not. Some extended families spend a day or two together. Others meet for one meal and go home.

Korean holidays are changing along with Korean families.

That is more useful to understand than memorizing a checklist of things “Koreans do on Chuseok.”

Staying in Seoul? Check Before You Go Out for Dinner

For a foreign resident who is not joining a family gathering, Chuseok can produce a much more ordinary problem.

You get hungry.

Then you walk to your regular neighborhood restaurant and discover that it is closed.

Convenience stores and many chain businesses may continue operating, while independently run restaurants and shops may close for Chuseok Day or for several days. Hours vary, so checking before making a trip is worthwhile.

Medical services can also operate differently during a long holiday. If you need non-emergency care, check which clinics and pharmacies are open rather than assuming normal hours.

For an emergency in Korea, call 119.

Knowing that much can make your first Korean holiday considerably less confusing.

The Strange Pleasure of a Quieter Seoul

There is another side to staying in the capital.

You get to see a version of Seoul that doesn't appear very often.

A street that usually feels rushed may suddenly feel walkable. A neighborhood you normally hurry through becomes somewhere to wander.

During the 2026 Chuseok holiday, major royal palaces, Jongmyo Shrine and royal tomb sites are offering free admission during the main holiday period, giving people staying in Seoul another way to experience the quieter city.

But you don't need a special event.

Walk through Jongno. Explore a neighborhood you've always passed on the subway. Stop somewhere you normally wouldn't because the street looked too busy.

For a foreigner with no hometown to rush back to, that quieter Seoul can become its own Chuseok memory.

You may catch yourself wondering:

Was Seoul always this peaceful?

Then Seoul Switches Back On

A few days later, it happens in reverse.

Cars come back.

The subway fills up.

The restaurant downstairs removes its holiday notice.

Morning traffic returns, and Seoul seems to remember that it is supposed to be in a hurry.

That is why translating Chuseok simply as “Korean Thanksgiving” feels a little unsatisfying.

Chuseok isn't only about songpyeon or ancestral traditions. For a few days, the direction people travel changes. Family routines change. Store hours change. Supermarkets fill with gift boxes. Highways slow down.

Even the pace of Seoul changes.

If this is your first Chuseok in Korea, don't worry about memorizing everything you're supposedly meant to see or do.

Just watch what happens around you.

Years later, you may remember the Spam gift boxes or the songpyeon.

But you might remember something even simpler:

For a few days, one of the busiest cities in the world seemed to take its foot off the accelerator.

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