Is the Jamsugyo Bridge festival free?

Yes. Anyone can walk onto the bridge and into Banpo Hangang Park free of charge; you pay only for food-truck meals, handmade goods and the craft workshop.

When does the 2026 car-free Jamsugyo festival end?

The autumn season ends on Sunday 25 October 2026. It runs every Sunday from 2pm to 10pm, and four Sundays are left in October: the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th.

Which day is the Jamsugyo light show?

Seoul's press release says 11 October; the festival website says 18 October. Both list it from 7pm to 10pm. Check @ddooddoo_festa on Instagram or call the festival office on +82-2-6401-9717 before you go.

When does booking open for the inflatable slide?

At 8pm on the Friday two days before, on Naver Booking. Each person can book one ticket and swaps it for a boarding pass at the information centre at the south end. The organiser's notice lists the rides until 18 October.

Is it worth going if I do not read Korean?

Yes, for a Sunday evening by the river. Walking the car-free bridge, the food trucks, the rainbow fountain and the light show all work without Korean or a booking. Only the rides and the yoga session need Korean-language sign-ups.

Event·Korea Tourism OrganizationEnding soonFree

Car-free Jamsugyo Bridge festival, Seoul — last season, Sundays to 25 October

Kang Shin-wookPublished 3 October 20264 sources checkedEditorial policy 이 글을 한국어로 읽기

Moonlight Playground booking on Naver (Korean)

The essentials

Dates: 6 September – 25 October 2026, Sundays 2pm–10pm (Ending soon)
Where: Jamsugyo Bridge (잠수교) from the north end to Moonlight Square at the south end, about 1.1 km, and Banpo Hangang Park, Seocho-gu, Seoul
Admission: Free entry. Food-truck meals, craft stalls and the craft workshop are paid
Booking: Walk-in for the festival itself. The inflatable rides (BIG 3 / BIG 2) open on Naver Booking at 8pm on the Friday two days before and need a Naver account; the yoga session and picnic tents are booked on the Korean-only festival website
Who it is for: Everyone
Language: Festival website, Instagram and on-site programme are in Korean; there is no English booking page. Walking the bridge, the food trucks, the fountain and the light show need no Korean
Organiser: Seoul Metropolitan Government, Future Hangang Headquarters
Festival office: +82-2-6401-9717 (Korean)
Road closure: Jamsugyo Bridge closed to traffic noon–midnight on festival Sundays
Official channels: festa-ddooddoo.com · Instagram @ddooddoo_festa (both Korean)

Written up from Korea Tourism Organization's own announcement of 18 September 2026. Details change — check the official page before you travel.

Seoul's car-free festival on Jamsugyo Bridge runs every Sunday from 2pm to 10pm until 25 October 2026, free to walk in, on the lower deck under Banpo Bridge and in Banpo Hangang Park. It is the last season in this form: the bridge becomes a permanent pedestrian crossing in the second half of 2027. Four Sundays are left — 4, 11, 18 and 25 October — and the city's press release and the festival's own website disagree on which programme falls on the 11th and which on the 18th. Nearly everything is walk-in; only the inflatable rides and the yoga session need booking, through Korean-language systems.

In short

The 2026 car-free Jamsugyo festival runs for eight weeks, every Sunday from 6 September to 25 October, 2pm–10pm. Four Sundays remain in October: the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th.
Entry is free. You only pay for what you buy — food-truck meals, handmade goods, the craft workshop.
4 October is the Jamsugyo food road, with about 100 food trucks. The light show and the yoga session each take one of the 11th and 18th, but the city's press release and the festival website give opposite dates.
The inflatable slide and other rides open for booking on Naver at 8pm on the Friday two days before, and the organiser's notice lists them only until 18 October.
Nothing in the festival itself needs Korean: you can walk the 1.1 km bridge, eat, and watch the fountain and lights without booking. The festival's website and Instagram are Korean-only.

Seoul's Future Hangang Headquarters has closed Jamsugyo Bridge to cars on Sundays since autumn 2022 and turned the low-level deck under Banpo Bridge into a street festival. This autumn is the last season in that form: the bridge is due to become a full-time pedestrian crossing in the second half of 2027, so the idea of shutting a road one day a week disappears. Hours have also moved an hour later than before, to 2pm–10pm, so you can stay past sunset for the Moonlight Rainbow Fountain and the lit bridges.

Rainbow-coloured fountain jets falling from Banpo Bridge into the river at night, with a yacht passing in front — Moonlight Rainbow Fountain on Banpo Bridge with a yacht. A photo of the place, not of the festival Photo: Bigjun (빅준) / Gongyu Madang

Why this is the last car-free season

The festival began as a trial in giving a traffic bridge back to people on foot. Once the bridge is pedestrian-only, there is no road to close on a Sunday, and the city has said it will reshape the festival after the conversion. By the city's count about 6.47 million people have come across five seasons.

Visitors by season (Seoul Metropolitan Government press release)

Season: Visitors
Second half of 2022: 520,000
2023: 2,000,000
2024: 1,500,000
2025: 1,280,000
First half of 2026: 1,170,000
Total: about 6,470,000

Daytime view along the Jamsugyo roadway and railings beneath the deck of Banpo Bridge — Underside of Banpo Bridge seen from Jamsugyo, an ordinary day in 2010 Photo: Asadal (아사달) / Gongyu Madang · CC BY

What is on each Sunday in October

Each Sunday of the autumn season has its own theme. October is billed as food, light and rest, and the final Sunday has a special programme that has been announced but not yet confirmed.

October theme days

Date: Programme · how to join
Sun 4 October: Jamsugyo food road — 2pm–10pm, about 100 food trucks · walk-in, food paid
Sun 11 October: Light show or wellness day (see the comparison below)
Sun 18 October: Wellness day or light show (see the comparison below)
Sun 25 October: Final-day special programme — not yet confirmed · check official channels

Jamsugyo at night running like a tunnel beneath Banpo Bridge, lit by rows of lamps — The covered stretch of Jamsugyo beneath Banpo Bridge at night, an ordinary day in 2018 Photo: Korea Copyright Commission / Gongyu Madang · CC BY

The food road on 4 October roughly triples the usual 30 Sunday food trucks and lines the bridge from the south end to the north with dishes from around the world. Entry is free; you pay only for food. The city's press release puts the seating area at up to 800 people at a time.

Banpo and Jamsugyo bridges lit up over dark water, with boats moored along the bank — Banpo and Jamsugyo bridges at night, 2010 Photo: Asadal (아사달) / Gongyu Madang · CC BY

Is the light show on the 11th or the 18th?

The sources disagree. Seoul's press release of 25 August, and the Korea Tourism Organization notice of 18 September that reprints it, put the light show on the 11th and the wellness day on the 18th. The festival website's special-programme list, checked on 3 October, has them the other way round.

Dates by source

Seoul press release · KTO notice: 11th light show / 18th wellness day
Festival website programme list: 11th wellness day / 18th light show

Moonlight Jamsugyo light show (7pm–10pm): the double-deck structure of Banpo and Jamsugyo bridges is used to project a Milky Way of light onto the underside of the upper deck, set to music. No booking — you watch as you walk.
Jamsugyo Refresh Day (5pm–8pm): yoga, stretching and meditation on the bridge deck, booked in advance through the Korean-language festival website.

Check before you go

The festival website may be the more recent of the two, but we found no confirmation notice from the festival office. If you are going for the light show, check the @ddooddoo_festa Instagram the day before or call the festival office on +82-2-6401-9717 (Korean). The organiser has also said the final-day programme on the 25th is not yet confirmed, so we have not named it.

Blurred silver grass in the foreground with the lit Banpo Bridge behind it at night — Banpo Bridge lights seen through silver grass, 2010 Photo: Asadal (아사달) / Gongyu Madang · CC BY

How to book the inflatable slide and play area

The most popular weekly attraction for families is the Moonlight Playground at Moonlight Square in Banpo Hangang Park and the north end of the bridge: a 5.2 m inflatable slide, a human claw-machine game (a capsule prize draw this autumn), and bowling on the bridge's humped section. The organiser's notice sets out booking as follows.

Moonlight Playground booking (festival office notice, 4 September)

Booking opens: 8pm on the Friday two days before, on Naver Booking (same for BIG 3 and BIG 2)
BIG 3: Slide, claw game and bowling — 25 people per slot, 7 slots a day, one ticket per person
BIG 2: Slide and bowling only — 700 people a day, one ticket per person
Pick-up: Information centre at the south end of the bridge (BIG 3: 30 to 15 minutes before your slot; BIG 2: by 7pm on the day)
Running dates: Sundays 6 September – 18 October, 2pm–9pm

Because the notice lists the rides only until 18 October, it is not confirmed whether they run on the final Sunday, the 25th. Naver Booking needs a Naver account, and the rides stop in strong wind or rain.

30 food trucks every Sunday, served in reusable dishes
South end: 35 craft stalls and a farmers' direct market
North end: street performers six times a day
On the hump of the bridge: a road you can draw on in chalk, and an LED photo zone
Tent-style picnic shelters (booked on the festival website) and a silent-disco DJ party
Banpo Bridge Moonlight Rainbow Fountain — five 20-minute shows a day in October

Piers of Banpo Bridge glowing from lights below, lined up across the river at night — Lit piers of Banpo Bridge, 2009 Photo: Song Yeong-eun (송영은) / Gongyu Madang · CC BY

Can you drive? Road closures and public transport

On festival Sundays the 1.1 km from the north end of Jamsugyo to Moonlight Square at the south end is closed to traffic from noon until midnight. The south-end roundabout stays open and buses are diverted. Banpo Hangang Park's car park can still be reached from the roundabout, but spaces are few and the roads around it jam, so the city recommends public transport.

Nearest stations and stops (festival website, directions page)

Side: Subway · bus
South end (Banpo side): Express Bus Terminal Station (Lines 3, 7, 9) via the public walkway, about 10 minutes on foot / Sinbanpo Station (Line 9), about 15 minutes · Jamsu Bridge South Hangang Park entrance stop
North end (Yongsan side): Seobinggo Station (Gyeongui–Jungang Line), about 10 minutes on foot · Seobinggo-dong stop

Portrait view of the Jamsugyo roadway running straight beneath Banpo Bridge, open to traffic — The Jamsugyo road beneath Banpo Bridge on an ordinary day with traffic, 2010 Photo: Asadal (아사달) / Gongyu Madang · CC BY

You can enter from either end, so the easiest plan is to arrive at the south end and leave from Seobinggo Station at the north, walking the whole 1.1 km once. Arrive at the south end around sunset and you will catch the fountain, the lights and the night view in that order.

Floating Island buildings near the south end of Jamsugyo glowing in coloured lights at night — Floating Island (Sebitseom) near the south end of Jamsugyo, 2014 Photo: Shin Seong-ho (신성호) / Gongyu Madang · CC BY

Getting there from central Seoul, and what needs Korean

From Myeongdong or Seoul Station, take Line 4 to Dongjak and change to Line 9 for Sinbanpo, or take Line 3 to Express Bus Terminal (Gosok Terminal); the subway is signed and announced in English. From Express Bus Terminal a public walkway leads down to Banpo Hangang Park and the south end of the bridge. On the bridge itself everything a visitor most wants — walking, the food trucks, the fountain and the light show — needs no booking and no Korean. What does need Korean is the paperwork: the festival website, Instagram updates and the yoga sign-up are Korean-only, and the rides are booked on Naver, which needs a Naver account; we could not confirm whether a foreign phone number is accepted when creating one. If a ride matters to you, ask at your hotel desk for help on the Friday evening before.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Is the Jamsugyo Bridge festival free?: Yes. Anyone can walk onto the bridge and into Banpo Hangang Park free of charge; you pay only for food-truck meals, handmade goods and the craft workshop.
Q. When does the 2026 car-free Jamsugyo festival end?: The autumn season ends on Sunday 25 October 2026. It runs every Sunday from 2pm to 10pm, and four Sundays are left in October: the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th.
Q. Which day is the Jamsugyo light show?: Seoul's press release says 11 October; the festival website says 18 October. Both list it from 7pm to 10pm. Check @ddooddoo_festa on Instagram or call the festival office on +82-2-6401-9717 before you go.
Q. When does booking open for the inflatable slide?: At 8pm on the Friday two days before, on Naver Booking. Each person can book one ticket and swaps it for a boarding pass at the information centre at the south end. The organiser's notice lists the rides until 18 October.
Q. Is it worth going if I do not read Korean?: Yes, for a Sunday evening by the river. Walking the car-free bridge, the food trucks, the rainbow fountain and the light show all work without Korean or a booking. Only the rides and the yoga session need Korean-language sign-ups.

Floating Island buildings lit purple and blue, reflected in the river at night — Floating Island (Sebitseom) at night, year not stated Photo: Choi Mun-seok (최문석) / Gongyu Madang

Editor's note · Kang Shin-wook

Written for visitors planning a Sunday afternoon and evening by the Han River. The festival's own channels are in Korean only, so this page lays out the October programme, the date conflict and the way in from the nearest subway stations. Other dated events are on What's on.

Sources

Official notice (Korean)

Written in our own words from the sources above, never copied from them, and every date and price checked against at least two pages. The originals are in Korean. Spotted a mistake? Ask for a correction.