Autumn foliage단풍

Danpung (단풍) means autumn leaves, and also the Korean habit of heading out to see them. Maples and oaks turn red, orange and gold first in the northern mountains, and the color moves south over roughly two weeks.

The Korea Tourism Organization and the Korea National Arboretum published a 2026 foliage map on the VisitKorea Korean-language site (대한민국 구석구석). It splits the country into six regions and picks 36 places to go, built on observations by 829 citizen scientists.

The season is here. The Korea Forest Service’s 2026 peak forecast puts Seoraksan’s maples at their best around Oct 20, Songnisan and Palgongsan around Oct 28, Naejangsan around Nov 4 and Hallasan’s 1100 Road around Nov 6. It counts the peak as the day more than half the leaves have turned.

The Forest Service puts the nationwide maple peak on Oct 31, 0.8 days later than the recent five-year average. The tourism map expects the Seoul area and Gangwon to peak from late October, and Gyeongsang and Jeolla in early to mid-November.

Go to Seoraksan and the mountains around Seoul and Gangwon in late October, and save early to mid-November for Naejangsan in Jeolla and Hallasan on Jeju. The Korea National Arboretum runs a peak-search service (단풍절정 검색서비스, opened Sep 29) where you type in an address to see the local peak date.

Tips: forecast dates can shift with the weather, so check close to your trip. Peak weekends are crowded on trails, cable cars and roads, so a weekday and an early start make a big difference. If you’d rather not drive, a guided day tour from Seoul is the easiest way to reach the mountains.