Six autumn food festivals in Korea — pine mushrooms 15–18 Oct, jeotgal, apples, and shrimp until 8 Nov

For an autumn food trip in Korea the first question is not what to eat but when to go. The Korea Tourism Organization's 'K-Local Food Journey 33' feature on its Korean VisitKorea site switches tab every month to show that month's seasonal produce, and the October tab holds seven items spanning sea, mountain, livestock and soybean. You can eat any of them in their home region at any time, but meeting pine mushrooms, shrimp, jeotgal and apples at a festival, all at once, is tied to fixed dates. We opened each of the six festivals' official sites and the KTO festival calendar and lined up dates, venues and prices.

Only one festival is already open — Hongseong's Namdang Port Shrimp Festival, until 8 November. The other five start this Thursday, 15 October, one after another: Bonghwa's pine mushroom festival and Ganggyeong's jeotgal festival on the 15th, Yangyang on the 16th, Mungyeong on the 17th, and only Cheongsong sits apart on 4 November.

Who chose the 'K-Local Food Journey 33', and how

The 33 is food-tourism content the Korea Tourism Organization developed with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2024: 33 ingredients and dishes with a strong regional identity. The banner at the top of the feature page says the list is recommended by Huh Young-man, the cartoonist behind the food comic Sikgaek, and a KTO press release of 30 June 2026 describes the list as the basis of its 'K-Local Food Hunters 33' tour for 33 overseas influencers, chosen in 2024 after consulting Huh and other experts. The feature page was posted on 19 September 2024 and revised once, on 27 June 2025, and the item articles were written in autumn 2024 — so the restaurants and prices they name date from then.

Where the seven October picks come from, and when they are in season

Here are the seven items on the October tab with the season given in the KTO's own item articles. Regions follow the labels on the feature page images and the location in each article; the season column keeps only the months, not the article's wording.

Blue crab has two seasons, spring and autumn. The KTO article points to the waters off Yeonpyeong Island, Incheon, as the main crab ground and to Incheon Fish Market as the place to pick crabs yourself. Soy-marinated crab is the most 'rice thief' of the seven, as Koreans call a dish that makes you eat more rice, and it stays on both the October and November tabs.

Hanwoo beef and black pork are both given 'spring and autumn' as their best seasons — weather that is neither hot nor cold, when the animals feed well and put on condition. Hoengseong's hanwoo restaurants cluster in the town centre and Jeju has black-pork restaurants everywhere on the island, so neither needs a festival to find.

Gangneung's Chodang soft tofu is in season from October, when the new soybean crop arrives, until April. The KTO article says the tofu in Chodang Tofu Village is set with deep-sea water drawn from below 200 metres. It is a village built on a single dish, and an easy lunch stop on the way up the coast to the Yangyang mushroom festival.

Yangyang pine mushroom is the only one of the seven that disappears from the November tab. The KTO article gives September–October as its season and the fortnight after the Chuseok holiday as the best time. It grows only beside pine trees more than 20 years old and cannot be farmed, and Yangyang holds the country's busiest pine-mushroom auctions — read together, that explains why the festival dates are locked to mid-October. Geumsan ginseng is harvested in autumn (September–November), and the article ranks roots grown six years or more highest; Geumsan International Ginseng Market has traded ginseng and medicinal herbs since 1986.

Muan octopus is in season from October to March, and the article rates autumn octopus best for both flavour and nutrition. Muan Octopus Street, around Seongnam 1-gil in Muan-eup, has about thirty octopus restaurants side by side.

Jeju black pork is the item the KTO article describes as tasting best in spring and autumn. A look ahead at the November tab: soy-marinated crab, hanwoo, Chodang tofu, Geumsan ginseng, octopus and Jeju black pork all stay, and the pine mushroom's place is taken by pufferfish (Busan), oysters (Tongyeong), laver (Wando) and fermented skate (Mokpo). Regions again follow the labels on the feature page images.

When and where the six food festivals take place

We checked dates and venues on each organiser's own site (Bonghwa Festival & Tourism Foundation, the Yangyang festival site, Hongseong County tourism, the Ganggyeong festival site, the Mungyeong festival site and the Cheongsong festival site) and on the KTO festival calendar. The longest is Hongseong's 66-day shrimp festival; on 15–18 October Bonghwa, Ganggyeong and Yangyang all run at once.

Two pine mushroom festivals: how Bonghwa and Yangyang differ

The two mushroom festivals open a day apart and close on the same Sunday. Bonghwa, in its 30th year, leans on mushroom auctions and food; Yangyang's signature is walking into the forest to find mushrooms yourself. Doing both in a day is not realistic: Bonghwa is easier from Daegu or Andong, Yangyang from Seoul (express buses from Seoul's Dong Seoul or Express Bus Terminal reach Yangyang in about 2.5 hours).

The 30th Bonghwa Pine Mushroom Festival (15–18 October) is run by the Bonghwa Festival & Tourism Foundation along the Naeseongcheon stream in Bonghwa-eup. The foundation's programme page lists a Pine Mushroom & Bonghwa Beef Square, mushroom sales stalls, a showcase hall and tasting rest stops, on-the-spot guerrilla events and the 'one mushroom' timed auction, a Bonghwa treasure market, the Naeseongcheon food lounge, a giant five-colour bibimbap, a mushroom quiz show and an alley song contest. The mushroom tavern zone opens 10:00–22:00 daily and the Naeseongcheon pine-mushroom ramyeon 10:00–19:00 daily (until ingredients run out). The KTO calendar describes Bonghwa's mushrooms as a rare resource that grows only in clean forest above 600 metres. The county's press release gives this year's slogan as '30 years of deep fragrance, colouring Bonghwa', though the foundation's homepage still carries its older tagline.

The Yangyang Pine Mushroom & Salmon Festival (16–18 October) is run by Yangyang County and the Yangyang Culture Foundation on the Namdaecheon riverside (589 Ilchul-ro, Yangyang-eup), 10:00–21:00 daily. Per the official site, the paid activities are the pine-mushroom treasure hunt and salmon catching at KRW 30,000 per person each (KRW 10,000 comes back as local gift vouchers; KRW 20,000 on Friday the 16th as a weekday discount), pine-mushroom liquor making at KRW 20,000 and a 'social dining' table at KRW 30,000. Advance booking opened at 9:00 on 28 September and is taken only in the GoGo Yangyang app. There is also a 'mushroom master' auction show starting bids at KRW 1,000, cooking shows at 14:00 on the 16th (pine-mushroom sukiyaki) and 17th (salmon-roe rice bowl) with free tasting for 150 people each, and a free salmon ecology tour. Prices and capacities come from the official site alone, so check them again on the booking screen.

Shrimp and jeotgal: can you go to Hongseong and Ganggyeong now?

For shrimp, yes, right away. The 31st Hongseong Namdang Port Shrimp Festival opened on 4 September and runs to Sunday 8 November; Hongseong County's tourism page says you can catch shrimp by hand and watch the sunset during the festival. The county's opening press release adds that the hand-catching runs every Saturday and Sunday, alongside a shrimp-peeling contest and performances.

On price, all that exists is Hongseong County's 20 August press release saying the festival committee planned to fix the festival-period price at KRW 45,000 per kilogram to take away and KRW 60,000 per kilogram eaten in a restaurant, to save visitors asking at every stall. It was announced as a 'plan', and neither the county's tourism page nor the KTO calendar prints a price, so check the board on the day.

The 30th Ganggyeong Jeotgal Festival (15–18 October) is hosted by Nonsan City and run by the Nonsan Culture & Tourism Foundation, with stalls open 10:00–21:00 on the Geumgang riverside in Ganggyeong-eup. The subtitle on the official overview page is 'Ganggyeong jeotgal and Sangwol sweet potatoes, finally the best'. The KTO calendar mentions a global kimchi-making festa with jeotgal, a recreated Ganggyeong port market, jeotgal and sweet-potato barbecue camps and fireworks at the opening and closing, but the official site's 'programme' page still reads 'in preparation' as of 13 October, so check the timetable just before opening. Jeotgal is salted, fermented seafood — the base of kimchi seasoning — and Ganggyeong has been its trading town since the Joseon era.

Apple festivals: Mungyeong first, Cheongsong in November

The Mungyeong Apple Festival runs 16 days from Saturday 17 October to Sunday 1 November in Mungyeongsaejae Provincial Park, hosted by Mungyeong City and the festival committee and run by the Mungyeong Tourism Corporation. The official site splits it three ways: apple sales booths on the open-air 'Apple Stage', apple picking at 13 participating farms (call the farm before you go), and an online store. A poster notice posted on 3 October names Park Ji-hyun, Kyoungseo, Espalaba and the Novus Symphony Orchestra for the opening-day concert.

The 20th Cheongsong Apple Festival runs five days from Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 November along the Yongjeoncheon stream by Hyeonbiam rock in Cheongsong-eup. The official overview page gives the theme 'Now Cheongsong! Coloured by apples', Cheongsong County as host and the county festival committee as organiser; the programme page lists apple drumming, an apple-sorting lottery, 'find the golden apple', three apple 'Olympic' games, a national apple-garland weaving contest and an apple parade. The programme list carries no year, so we cannot tell whether it is last year's line-up carried over. The county also runs an online festival on the Daum portal from 24 September to 8 November (Korean).

What to check before you set off

• Overlaps — Bonghwa, Ganggyeong and Yangyang all run on 15–18 October. Weather and safety can change the schedule, so look at the official site again on the morning you travel.
• Admission — all six are 'free (some activities and food charged)' on the KTO festival calendar; the organisers' sites print no admission line.
• Yangyang bookings — the pine-mushroom hunt, salmon catching and liquor making are booked in the GoGo Yangyang app only, and Friday 16 October carries the weekday discount.
• Shrimp prices — KRW 45,000 per kg to take away and KRW 60,000 in a restaurant were announced by Hongseong County as a 'plan'. Read the price board first.
• Restaurants in the 33 — the KTO item articles' restaurants and prices date from autumn 2024, so opening hours and prices may have changed.
• Still unconfirmed — Ganggyeong's detailed programme, Cheongsong's 2026 line-up and Mungyeong's opening-ceremony time all need a final check just before the dates.

Getting there, and what to expect without Korean

None of the six needs a ticket, so the only things to arrange are transport and, for Yangyang, the app. Hongseong (Namdang Port) is about two hours from Seoul: KTX or ITX to Hongseong Station, then a local bus or taxi to Namdang-hang; the port is a row of seafood restaurants and the shrimp are sold by weight, so point at the tank and have the kilo price confirmed before it goes on the grill. Bonghwa is reached by train to Bonghwa Station on the Yeongdong line or by bus via Andong; the festival ground is a short walk from the town centre. Ganggyeong has its own station on the Honam line, one stop from Nonsan, and the riverside site is walkable from it. Yangyang has no railway; take an express bus from Seoul (about 2.5 hours) or the KTX to Gangneung and a bus up the coast. Mungyeong's festival sits at the entrance to Mungyeongsaejae Provincial Park, served by intercity buses to Mungyeong Bus Terminal and then local bus 'Saejae' routes. Cheongsong is bus-only, via Andong or Daegu. Signage on all six sites is Korean, with the KTO's English VisitKorea festival pages as the English reference; vendors take cards and point-and-pay works fine. The GoGo Yangyang app is Korean-only and registers with a phone number; we could not confirm that it accepts a non-Korean number, so plan Yangyang's paid activities only if someone with a Korean number can book for you — the rest of that festival, including the auction show, cooking shows and the free salmon tour queue, is walk-in.