Hwangmaesan silver grass and Gangjin reed festivals — free, both open 24–25 October 2026

Silver grass and reeds look alike in autumn, but you find them in different places: silver grass on dry upland meadows, reeds where a river meets the sea. This year the two best-known festivals for each open a week apart — the Hwangmaesan Silver Grass Festival on the plateau of 1,113-metre Hwangmaesan (opening 17 October), and the Gangjin Bay Dancing Reed Festival in the reed beds of the Tamjin River estuary (opening 24 October). We checked the dates listed on the Korea Tourism Organization's VisitKorea festival pages against the notices and leaflets that Hapcheon and Gangjin counties published themselves, and set out the schedule, transport and parking for each.

When and where are the two festivals, and what do they cost?

Hwangmaesan opens first and Gangjin takes over a week later, so the two overlap only on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October. Both are in the south of the country, but one is in the inland mountains of South Gyeongsang and the other on the South Jeolla coast, a long way apart; splitting them over two days, or two different weekends, is more realistic than trying both in one day.

What happens at the Hwangmaesan Silver Grass Festival?

This is the fifth edition of the festival, organised by the Hapcheon Hwangmaesan Festival Committee, and this year's poster tagline is "tinted by a fifth autumn". The opening ceremony is on Saturday 17 October on the Lawn Plaza in Hwangmaesan County Park. The VisitKorea festival page lists the same dates (17–25 October), venue and free entry as Hapcheon County's notice.

Hwangmaesan is a 1,113-metre peak on the boundary of Gahoe-myeon and Daebyeong-myeon in Hapcheon County and Chahwang-myeon in Sancheong County; Hapcheon County says its rock formations and pines have earned it the nickname "the Geumgangsan of Yeongnam". It hosts an azalea festival in spring and this silver-grass festival in autumn, and the grass spreads across the plateau below the summit. The county park website posts recent photos on its "Hwangmaesan now" board (Korean) — worth a look before you set out to see how the grass is doing.

• Sat 17 Oct, 1:30–4 pm — opening ceremony and celebration concert (Park Hyun-bin, Baek Pro, Taeja & Sarangi, Lim Yu-ri).
• Sun 18, Sat 24 and Sun 25 Oct, 1–3 pm — weekend concerts (18th: Semi, Jin Gwang-i, Seo Bi-gyeol / 24th: Yang Seon-ho, Semi, The Warms / 25th: Gu Da-young, Jin Gwang-i, Seo Bi-gyeol).
• Mon 19 – Fri 23 Oct, noon – 4 pm — weekday activities on the Lawn Plaza: photo booth, music listening, a "stop the clock at 10 seconds" game and a dice game.
• 3 Oct – 1 Nov — local produce stalls and a food market around the summit car park, open throughout.
• Times and line-ups are from Hapcheon County's leaflet, which notes that they may change with conditions on the day.

Two free tours run during the festival: a sharing cart tour for people who find walking difficult, and a docent walk through the silver grass with a forest interpreter. Both appear on the VisitKorea page; the details below are from Hapcheon County's leaflet.

The leaflet's viewing map marks two loops through the silver grass: Course A, 1.35 km (about 45 minutes), and Course B, 2.60 km (about 90 minutes). The wildfire lookout viewing deck, the Hwangmae plain and Starlight Hill are marked as photo spots. Some sections are marked "temporarily closed", so follow the signs on site.

How do you get to Hwangmaesan, and how much is parking?

• Address: 331 Hwangmaesangongwon-gil, Gahoe-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, South Gyeongsang (Hwangmaesan County Park).
• Shuttle bus: only on the four weekend days (17, 18, 24 and 25 October), 10 am – 5 pm, three buses every 20–30 minutes between Deokman car park and Ginkgo car park. KRW 2,000 per person one way; no service on weekdays (Hapcheon County leaflet).
• Designated taxis: run the same route for KRW 10,000 per car one way (Hapcheon County leaflet).
• County park car park: October is peak season — KRW 5,000 for a car (first four hours, then KRW 2,000 an hour) and KRW 10,000 for vehicles with 16 or more seats; the first 40 minutes are free (county park visitor information). Nothing says whether the rate is reduced during the festival.
• Public transport: intercity buses run from Seoul Nambu Terminal to Hapcheon in about 4 hours and from Daegu Seobu Terminal in about 1 hour 10 minutes; change to a county bus at Hapcheon-eup or at the Samga or Gahoe stops (county park directions page).

What is the Gangjin Bay Dancing Reed Festival like?

The 11th Gangjin Bay Dancing Reed Festival runs for nine days from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November around Gangjin Bay Ecological Park, with free entry. It is hosted by Gangjin County and run by the Gangjin County Festival Committee, and the opening ceremony is at 4:30 pm on the 24th. The county leaflet's timetable schedules stage and busking programmes every day from 10 am to 7 pm.

Gangjin Bay Ecological Park sits where the Tamjin River meets Gangjin Bay, in brackish water. According to Gangjin County, 1,572 species live here (a 2022 survey by the Research Institute for Restoration of Natural Environment), with 200,000 pyeong (about 66 hectares) of reed beds, a 4.16 km boardwalk, 26.2 km² of mudflats and some 2,500 whooper swans arriving every winter. Ten endangered species are recorded, including the otter (Class I) and whooper swan, bean goose, Eurasian spoonbill and leopard cat (Class II). The VisitKorea listing quotes the same 1,572 species.

When are the concerts at the Gangjin reed festival?

• Featured programmes — a reed-bed nature exploration for children, a multicolour stamp tour, an NFC tap-and-collect trail, an "11 seconds" timing game for the 11th edition, and a reed-watching programme.
• Hands-on activities — a kids' zone and play park, a rubbish-for-vouchers exchange, a family AI song maker, bottle-cap clicker and eco-soap making, a reed photo booth and more. Only the succulent-pot and sock-yarn keyring workshop charges a fee.
• Also — the VisitKorea listing adds a chrysanthemum display, a celadon auction, and parasol and picnic-mat lending.
• Side events — including the 2026 Cheongjagol inter-township ssireum (Korean wrestling) contest, Friday 30 October at 2 pm, in front of the cycling travel centre.

How do the Gangjin shuttle and park hours work?

According to Gangjin County's leaflet, the festival shuttle runs every 30 minutes from 10 am to 8 pm on weekdays and continuously from 10 am to 9 pm at weekends, on a loop from Gangjin Sports Complex → Gangjin County Office → Gangjin bus terminal → Gangjin Station → the festival site (Gangjin Bay Ecological Park). The leaflet gives no fare and no location for festival car parks, so ask Gangjin County (061-430-3413). From Seoul, the express bus from Central City Terminal to Gangjin takes about five hours, and the park is about 3 km from the terminal.

Outside the festival, Gangjin Bay Ecological Park is open free of charge from 9 am to 6 pm (last entry 5:30 pm). Some low-lying boardwalk sections set right among the reeds flood at high tide, closing for a few hours two or three times a month, so checking the daily tide table on the park website saves a wasted trip. Trails also close when a weather warning is in force.

When is the best time to see both?

If you want both festivals, the weekend of 24–25 October is the only overlap. That weekend Hwangmaesan has its 1–3 pm concerts, shuttle buses and docent walks before closing on the 25th, while Gangjin has its opening ceremony and Kim Yong-bin concert on the 24th and Kim Je-dong and Song Ga-in on the 25th. If you are picking just one, Hwangmaesan is quieter on a weekday (cart tours and activities run, but no shuttle), and Gangjin's 31 October – 1 November weekend is a good alternative for the concerts.

• Hwangmaesan hours: no overall opening hours have been announced. Plan around the programme times (concerts 1–3 pm, weekday activities noon – 4 pm, shuttle 10 am – 5 pm).
• Hwangmaesan on weekdays: no shuttle, so come by car or county bus.
• Hwangmaesan parking: the county park car park charges (KRW 5,000 for a car in October).
• Gangjin boardwalk: some sections flood at high tide; check the tide table.
• Both: each leaflet says shows and shuttles may change with the weather and other conditions on the day.

It is a fortnight that starts with silver grass on the mountain and ends with golden reeds on the estuary. Hwangmaesan closes on 25 October and Gangjin on 1 November, so settle the date first and then pick the festival.

Getting there from Seoul, and what is in English

Neither festival is close to Seoul, and both are easiest by car. Without one, Hwangmaesan means an intercity bus from Seoul Nambu Terminal (남부터미널) to Hapcheon, about four hours, then a rural county bus towards the park — or, at weekends, a taxi or the festival shuttle from Deokman car park (덕만주차장) for the last stretch up the mountain. Allow most of a day. Gangjin is an express bus from Seoul's Central City Terminal (센트럴시티터미널), about five hours, after which the festival shuttle calls at the town's bus terminal on its way to the park every day. Neither festival requires booking: entry is walk-in, and the only signed-up activity, Hwangmaesan's docent walk, is a Korean-language tour booked by phone or on a Korean website. The VisitKorea pages, county leaflets, stage shows and on-site signs are in Korean, and we found no English programme for either festival. That matters less than usual here: the draw is the landscape, and the trails, viewpoints and boardwalks are easy to follow. Bring cash for parking and food stalls, and save the address in Korean for a taxi driver.