December 25 Is a Friday and a Public Holiday: Banks Close, Department Stores Open! Myeongdong Cathedral’s Midnight Mass, Shinsegae’s Light Show 5 pm–Midnight, Lotte World’s Parades at 2 and 8 pm — Christmas 2026 in Seoul and What’s Open on the Day

Christmas in Korea is not a family day; it’s a day for couples and friends. On the night of December 24, Myeongdong (명동) is the most crowded it gets all year.

And in 2026, December 25 falls on a Friday. It’s a statutory holiday, so banks and government offices close, department stores and palaces open, and the subway runs its holiday timetable. Miss that and you’ll walk to a bank to change money and find it shut.

The main event is midnight Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral: free, open to non-Catholics, and last year it followed on from the 10:30 pm crib veneration. Shinsegae’s wall-sized show, the reservation-only village at The Hyundai, Lotte World’s 8 pm parade — all pinned to the actual times of day.

The 2026 editions of these events haven’t been announced, so this guide uses last year’s (2025) schedules and will be updated when they are. First, what’s open and what’s closed on the 25th!

December 25 (Friday) Is a Holiday! Banks and Offices Close, Department Stores, Palaces and Museums Open — What’s Open on the Day

✔ Closed: banks, government offices, post offices. Open: department stores, marts, convenience stores, palaces
In Korea, December 25 is a statutory holiday, ‘the Birthday of Christ’ (기독탄신일). In 2026 it’s a Friday, joining December 26 (Sat) and 27 (Sun) for a three-day weekend. Bank counters, government offices and post offices close; the street money changers are open, but if you want a bank rate, change your money by Thursday the 24th. Subways and buses run holiday timetables, so last trains differ slightly from weekdays.

Plenty stays open. The Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai department stores trade on Christmas Day (department stores close on January 1), as do hypermarkets, convenience stores and the shops of Myeongdong and Hongdae (홍대). Gyeongbokgung (경복궁) closes on Tuesdays and Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Deoksugung on Mondays, so on Friday the 25th all four main palaces are open. The National Museum of Korea closes only on January 1 and the days of Seollal and Chuseok, so it’s open too.

The one thing to watch is restaurants. On the evening of the 24th and all day on the 25th, popular places are booked solid. Korea’s booking app CatchTable (캐치테이블) can be hard to use with a foreign card at some restaurants, so the realistic options are asking your hotel concierge to book, or relying on no-reservation chains and department store food courts.

Christmas 2026 in Seoul: what’s open on the day and the main events (2025 schedules; 2026 to be updated)

Item	Dates, times, prices	Notes
Dec 25 (Fri): banks, government offices, post offices	Closed	Statutory holiday; subway on holiday timetable
Dec 25: department stores, marts, convenience stores, four palaces, National Museum	Open	Department stores close Jan 1; Gyeongbokgung closes Tue, the other three palaces Mon
Myeongdong Cathedral, Dec 24 Christmas Mass	Doors 8:15 pm · crib veneration 10:30 pm · Mass midnight	Free; 2025 schedule; archbishop presiding
Myeongdong Cathedral, Dec 25 Masses	9 am English · noon principal Mass, otherwise as Sunday	No 7 am Mass; public transport recommended
Shinsegae main store facade show	Nov 1–Dec 31, daily 5 pm–midnight	Free; outside Hoehyeon Station; ★4.3 (below the bar)
The Hyundai Seoul Christmas village	Nov 1–Dec 31, weekdays 10 am–10 pm, weekends 10 am–8:30 pm	Free, by reservation; same-day QR waitlist from 11:30 am
Lotte World parade	Daily 2 pm and 8 pm (30 min each)	Winter festival Nov 22–Mar 2; day pass 67,000, After 4 55,000 won
Everland Christmas Fantasy	Nov 28–Dec 31	Day pass 55,000–71,000 won (from 2026-10-06)

Read next: For what to wear on a Christmas night outdoors, see 『A 7°C Drop From November! Seoul in December Averages 0.2°C With Lows of −3.4°C—Sunset at 5:23 pm, 6.4 Snow Days, and a Dry, Sunny Cold: What to Wear and What to Pack』 — sunset at 5:23 pm and an average of 0.2°C.

Midnight Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral and the Noon Mass on the 25th — Last Year It Started With the 10:30 pm Crib Veneration, and 9 am Is in English

✔ The 24th: doors at 8:15 pm, crib veneration at 10:30 pm, Christmas Mass at midnight (last year)
The center of Christmas in Seoul is Myeongdong Cathedral (명동대성당). In its official 2025 liturgy notice, December 24 had weekday Masses at 7 am, 10 am and 6 pm (no 7 pm), doors to the cathedral opening at 8:15 pm, the crib veneration rite (구유경배예절) at 10:30 pm, and the Christmas night Mass at midnight, presided over by Archbishop Chung Soon-taick of Seoul. Anyone can attend for free, but seats fill before the doors open, and last year that meant queuing before 8 pm.

On the 25th there is no 7 am Mass and the rest follows the Sunday timetable: 7, 9 (English), 10, 11 and 12 (principal Mass), then 4, 5, 6, 7 (young adults) and 9 pm, with the noon Mass on the 25th celebrated by the archbishop. If you want English, 9 am is the practical choice. On the 24th and 25th the underground car park can’t be entered from the Myeongdong-gil side, and the cathedral officially recommends public transport.

The surroundings become a venue too. In 2025 the Archdiocese of Seoul held ‘Myeongdong, Lighting Up Winter’ (명동, 겨울을 밝히다) around the cathedral on December 24–25, with a media facade, a Christmas market, concerts, theater and hands-on booths. The Buddhist temple Jogyesa (조계사) lights a Christmas tree every year as well — in 2025 the lighting ceremony was on December 18. Celebrating together across religions is the Seoul way.

For Lights: Shinsegae Main Store’s Facade Show 5 pm–Midnight, and The Hyundai Seoul’s Reservation-Only Christmas Village

✔ Shinsegae main store: Nov 1–Dec 31, daily 5 pm to midnight, free — but ★4.3, below this site’s bar
Five minutes on foot from Myeongdong, the outer wall of the Shinsegae Department Store main store (신세계백화점 본점) becomes a 3D-mapped light show from November 1 to December 31, every day from 5 pm to midnight. Shinsegae Group’s announcement last year called it a landmark that ‘a million people have visited’, with a tree road, a Christmas market and a light show as a set. Watch from the plaza in front of the Bank of Korea Money Museum opposite, or near the exits of the Hoehyeon (회현) underground arcade; weekends and Christmas Day are packed to a standstill, so weekdays between 5 and 7 pm are realistic. Google Maps gives it ★4.3 (12,889 reviews), short of this site’s bar (★4.5 and 100+ reviews), but it’s listed as unmissable in Myeongdong at this time of year.

✔ The Hyundai Seoul: Nov 1–Dec 31, 5th floor, free, but by reservation
Sounds Forest on the 5th floor of The Hyundai Seoul (더현대 서울) in Yeouido (여의도) is a Christmas village with a new theme each year — in 2025, ‘Harry’s Christmas Workshop’. It ran November 1 to December 31, 10 am–10 pm on weekdays and 10 am–8:30 pm on weekends and holidays (closed November 10). Entry is free but reserved: last year the first round sold out in 30 minutes and the second opened on November 6 at 6 pm, up to four people per booking. Without a reservation, on-site QR waitlisting opened at 11:30 am each day (within a 200 m radius), with a wait of about an hour at number 200 and two hours at 400. Google ★4.6 (437 reviews).

The free lights that need no booking are the ones in our guide to the Seoul Winter Festa and the lantern festival: Gwanghwamun, Cheonggyecheon and Seoul Plaza. Last year that ran from mid-December to early January across six venues, with the Cheonggyecheon lanterns lit from 6 to 10 pm. Myeongdong, Shinsegae and Cheonggyecheon are all within 15 minutes on foot, so the route for the 24th is that order, then back to Myeongdong Cathedral for midnight.

Theme Parks: Lotte World’s Parades at 2 and 8 pm, and Everland’s Christmas Fantasy Nov 28–Dec 31

✔ Lotte World: winter festival Nov 22–Mar 2, parade daily at 2 and 8 pm, day pass 67,000 won
Lotte World Adventure (롯데월드 어드벤처) in Jamsil (잠실) is indoors, so it works in snow or rain. Last year its winter festival ‘Twinkle Miracle Winter’ ran 101 days from November 22, 2025 to March 2, 2026, with the Christmas programs through December 31. The headline Happy Christmas Parade ran twice daily at 2 pm and 8 pm, 30 minutes each, with a Signature Band Show at 4 pm on weekends and holidays. A day pass is 67,000 won and the ‘After 4’ pass from 4 pm is 55,000 won — details in our winter indoor itinerary. Google Maps ★4.3 (52,792 reviews) is below the bar, but it’s the only indoor theme park, so it stays.

✔ Everland: Nov 28–Dec 31, parade and K-pop fireworks, day pass 55,000–71,000 won
Everland (에버랜드) in Yongin (용인) ran ‘Christmas Fantasy’ from November 28 to December 31, 2025: the Bling Bling X-mas Parade once or twice a day, a nightly ‘KPop Demon Hunters Sing-Along Fireworks Show’, and sledding and snow-play zones from mid-December. From October 6, 2026 the day pass is 71,000 won in peak season, 65,000 in high season and 55,000 on regular days (adults and teens). It’s about an hour by direct bus from Gangnam Station, and at Google ★4.5 (64,095 reviews) it clears the bar.

If it’s one or the other, with the 25th a Friday and a three-day weekend in 2026, the easiest order is Myeongdong on the night of the 24th, Lotte World on the 25th (indoors, 8 pm night parade) and Everland on the 26th (outdoors, fireworks). From Lotte World you can get back to Myeongdong on subway Line 2 after the 8 pm parade; buses back from Everland are crowded, so if you’re staying for the fireworks, base yourself on the Gangnam side.

Where to Go? Map and Summary — the Christmas Eve Route Built Around Myeongdong Cathedral

In short, December 25, 2026 (Friday) is ‘banks and offices closed; department stores, palaces and museums open’. The night runs ‘Shinsegae facade show at 5 pm → Cheonggyecheon lanterns → doors at Myeongdong Cathedral 8:15 pm → crib veneration 10:30 pm → midnight Mass’ on last year’s times, and the theme park parades are at Lotte World at 2 and 8 pm. The 2026 editions will be updated once announced. Ratings are Google Maps as of September 18, 2026.

• Myeongdong Cathedral (명동대성당) — Google ★4.7 (10,194 reviews) · 74 Myeongdong-gil, Jung-gu · about 7 min on foot from Myeongdong Station (Line 4) · midnight Mass on the 24th / noon Mass on the 25th (last year) · free
• Shinsegae Department Store main store (신세계백화점 본점) — Google ★4.3 (12,889 reviews, below the bar) · 63 Sogong-ro, Jung-gu · connected to Hoehyeon Station (Line 4) · facade show Nov 1–Dec 31, daily 5 pm–midnight · free
• The Hyundai Seoul (더현대 서울) — Google ★4.6 (437 reviews) · 108 Yeouidaero, Yeongdeungpo-gu · Yeouinaru Station (Line 5) / Yeouido Station (Line 9) · 5F Christmas village Nov 1–Dec 31 · free, by reservation
• Lotte World Adventure (롯데월드 어드벤처) — Google ★4.3 (52,792 reviews, below the bar) · 240 Olympic-ro, Songpa-gu · connected to Jamsil Station (Line 2) · parades 2 pm and 8 pm · day pass 67,000 won
• Everland (에버랜드) — Google ★4.5 (64,095 reviews) · 199 Everland-ro, Pogok-eup, Cheoin-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi-do · about 1 hour by direct bus from Gangnam Station · Nov 28–Dec 31 · day pass 55,000–71,000 won

FAQ

Is December 25 a holiday in Korea? What closes?

Yes, a statutory holiday. Banks, government offices and post offices close, and the subway runs a holiday timetable. Department stores, hypermarkets, convenience stores, the four main palaces and the National Museum of Korea are open. In 2026 it’s a Friday, making a three-day weekend with December 26–27.

What time is the Christmas Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral? Can non-Catholics attend?

Last year (2025) the 24th had doors at 8:15 pm, crib veneration at 10:30 pm and Mass at midnight; the 25th followed the Sunday timetable with 9 am in English and the principal Mass at noon. It’s free and open to anyone, but seats fill before the doors open. Check the official notice in early December for 2026.

When can I see the Shinsegae main store facade show?

From November 1 to December 31, every day from 5 pm to midnight, free. Weekends and Christmas Day are very crowded, so weekdays between 5 and 7 pm are recommended.

Do I need a reservation for The Hyundai Seoul’s Christmas village?

It’s free but reservation-only. Last year the first round sold out in 30 minutes; without a booking, same-day QR waitlisting opened on site at 11:30 am, with about an hour’s wait at number 200.

Lotte World or Everland for Christmas?

In rain or snow, Lotte World (indoors, parades at 2 and 8 pm, day pass 67,000 won); for fireworks and snow play, Everland (Nov 28–Dec 31, day pass 55,000–71,000 won). With the three-day weekend, Lotte on the 25th and Everland on the 26th is the easiest order.