Last updated: November 2026
Quick answer: The Seoul Design Festival 2026 — the 25th edition of the city’s long-running design fair, organized by the publisher Design House — runs from Thursday, November 26 to Sunday, November 29 in COEX Hall A in Samseong-dong, Gangnam. Doors are open 10:30am–6:30pm Thursday to Saturday and 10:30am–5pm on Sunday. Entry is ticketed: the official ticketing page lists a standard admission of ₩15,000, and its 30%-off super early-bird offer (₩10,500) closed on October 11. It’s a ready-made indoor plan for a cold late-November day in Seoul, and it sits directly above Samseong Station on Line 2.
Table of Contents
- When and Where Is the Seoul Design Festival 2026?
- What Is the Seoul Design Festival?
- How Much Are Tickets?
- How Do You Get to COEX Hall A?
- Where Should You Stay Near COEX?
- What Else Is On in Late November?
When and Where Is the Seoul Design Festival 2026?
The fair runs for four days, November 26–29, 2026, in Hall A of the COEX convention center, according to the official COEX exhibition listing. Visiting hours are 10:30am to 6:30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and the final day closes earlier, at 5pm on Sunday, November 29. If you can only make the weekend, aim for Saturday so you aren’t racing the early Sunday close. Weekday mornings are the quietest time to walk the booths, since Korean visitors tend to arrive after work and at weekends.
What Is the Seoul Design Festival?
The Seoul Design Festival is an annual trade-and-public design fair run by Design House, the Seoul publisher behind several of Korea’s best-known interior and lifestyle magazines. This year marks its 25th edition, and it is generally billed as the country’s largest design fair. Expect booths from furniture and lighting studios, homeware and stationery brands, ceramicists and young independent designers, many of whom sell directly at their stands. For visitors, it works as a one-stop snapshot of what contemporary Korean design looks like right now — the same aesthetic you see in the cafés of Seongsu and the concept stores of Gangnam, gathered under one roof. If you enjoy museums with a design bent, it pairs well with the venues in our best museums in Seoul guide.
How Much Are Tickets?
Admission is paid. The festival’s official ticketing page on NOL lists a standard ticket price of ₩15,000, and it ran a super early-bird discount of 30% (₩10,500) that ended on October 11. The COEX listing had not yet confirmed the on-site door price at the time of writing, so check the ticketing page before you go in case later discounts or a different walk-up rate are announced. Booking in advance also saves time queuing at the hall entrance on busy weekend afternoons. The ticketing site is in Korean, but your browser’s built-in translation handles it well enough to complete a purchase.
How Do You Get to COEX Hall A?
COEX sits directly on top of Samseong Station (Line 2), and the underground passages connect straight into the convention halls without ever stepping outside — useful if the late-November weather turns cold. Bongeunsa Station (Line 9) is the other close option and is handy if you’re coming from the Gimpo Airport side of the city on the Line 9 express. From central Seoul, Line 2 gets you there in roughly half an hour from City Hall. Our guide to getting around Seoul explains the T-money card and the transit apps that make the trip simple, and the Gangnam neighborhood guide covers what’s around COEX — the Starfield Library, the aquarium and Bongeunsa Temple across the road — if you want to turn the fair into a full day out.
Where Should You Stay Near COEX?
Staying in Gangnam keeps the fair a short walk or one or two subway stops away. The most convenient pick is Shilla Stay Samsung, which sits directly across from COEX — you can check rates for the hotel opposite COEX🏨 and walk to Hall A in minutes.
For a little more downtime after a day on your feet, Grand Mercure Imperial Palace Seoul Gangnam near Hakdong Station has a Korean-style sauna and an indoor pool; see availability for the hotel with the sauna and pool🏨. Our where to stay in Gangnam guide compares more options by budget.
What Else Is On in Late November?
The design fair overlaps with the final weekend of Seoul Autumn Festa 2026, the city’s performing-arts season that wraps up on November 29, so you can pair a daytime visit to COEX with an evening show. Seoul’s winter light programs start a couple of weeks later — Seoul Light Gwanghwamun opens on December 11 — and our things to do in Seoul guide fills in the rest of an itinerary. If you’re still deciding on dates, it’s worth taking a moment to compare fares to Seoul✈️ before late-November demand picks up.
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