In Seoul, spring generally lasts from April to June, and is one of the best times of the year to visit: flowers are in bloom, and a fluffy cloak of cherry blossom washes a brief wave of pinkish white over the city. Locals head for the hills by day, and riverside barbecues by night, and the change in weather is also celebrated in a number of interesting festivals.
The summer can be unbearably muggy, and you may find yourself leaping from one air-conditioned sanctuary to the next. You’ll wonder how Koreans can persist with their uniformly fiery food at this time, but be grateful for the ubiquitous water fountains. It’s best to avoid the monsoon season: more than half of the country’s annual rain falls from early July to late August. Although Japan and China protect Korea from most of the area’s typhoons, one or two manage to squeeze through the gap each year.
The best time of the year to visit is autumn (September to November), when temperatures are mild, rainfall is generally low and the mountains that encircle the city erupt in a magnificent array of reds, yellows and oranges. Locals flock to national parks to picnic surrounded by these fiery leaf tones, and there are plenty of festivals livening things up. T-shirt weather can continue long into October, though you’re likely to need some extra layers by the end of the month.
Seoul’s winter is long and often extremely cold, with Siberian weather fronts often seeing the temperature plummet to -20C. However, visiting at this time is far from impossible, even on the many occasions on which the capital finds itself under a thick blanket of snow. There’s almost no change to public transport, underfloor heating systems are cranked up, and the lack of rain creates photogenic contrasts between powdery snow, crisp blue skies, off-black pine trees and the earthy yellow of dead grass.
Seoul’s average temperatures and rainfall
|
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Max/min (ºC) |
0/-9 |
3/-7 |
8/-2 |
17/5 |
22/11 |
27/16 |
29/21 |
31/22 |
26/15 |
19/7 |
11/0 |
3/-7 |
Max/min (ºF) |
32/16 |
37/19 |
46/28 |
62/41 |
72/52 |
81/61 |
84/70 |
88/72 |
79/59 |
66/45 |
52/32 |
37/19 |
Rainfall (mm) |
31 |
20 |
38 |
76 |
81 |
130 |
376 |
267 |
119 |
41 |
46 |
25 |