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Seoul recently welcomed its first snow, meaning that winter is here. Familiar carols fill the streets, and the Christmas trees and luminous decorations set up for the holidays please our eyes. Seoul is in the mood for Christmas, indeed.

This edition has listed some attractions where you can enjoy Seoul’s vivid Christmas ambiance. Check out the best places for a romantic Christmas in the city. Each attraction features a different atmosphere, making you feel like you are unwrapping Christmas gifts.

Lotte World, the amusement park of dreams and romance, presents a magical winter as we wait for Christmas. The glittering Christmas decorations ornament the entire park inside and out, offering a look and feel of stepping into a fairytale. The Magic Castle, with dazzling lights and the giant transparent snowball enclosing white trees, serves as perfect photo spots. Christmas performances are also available, including the Christmas Stage Show, where you travel to dreamland with the little match girl and the Happy Christmas Parade that marches under the white snow. Check the performance schedules on the website.

Head out to the Charlotte Garden, the Lotte World Mall's outdoor garden, and enjoy an enormous tree and a merry-go-round. The 18-meter Wish Tree, bejeweled with glittering gold decorations and 5,000 lights, visible even from afar and the merry-go-round outside the amusement park, are enough to draw visitors into a fantastic mood for Christmas. Those with a purchase sum of KRW 30,000 or more can get a free ride on the merry-go-round. Visitors can also enjoy exhibits like the Cube Media Art, Glass Marble Fountain, Maze Park, and more. At Lotte World Mall (1F), you will come across a giant music box, fascinating exhibits, and a Christmas Market where you can find nutcrackers, Christmas dinnerware, ornaments, and other props for the holiday season.

Enjoy the fantastic Christmas ambiance at Lotte World and Charlotte Garden, where a world of fairytales unfolds before your eyes. The many attractions in the amusement park, added with the Miracle Winter celebrating the Christmas season, will enrich your Christmas even more.

• Address 240, Olympic-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul
• Operation Hours Sunday – Thursday 10:00-21:00 KST / Friday – Saturday 10:00-22:00 KST
• Website https://adventure.lotteworld.com

As the media façade at the Shinsegae Department Main Store has become a must-see nightscape attraction in the winter, the area is overcrowded in the evening, even in the cold wave. Note that Exit 1 from the Hoehyeon Underground Shopping Center is the best spot to enjoy the media façade that will invite you to the fantasy of a winter wonderland.

With plenty to see and enjoy, Myeong-dong – the neighborhood where the Shinsegae Department Main Store is located – is the holy ground for those shopping in Seoul. If you are a foreigner, duty-free shopping is another delight you can’t miss out on. In addition to the media façade at Shinsegae Department Store, enjoy the Christmas spirit in Myeong-dong. The colorful sculptures and glittering lights decorating the streets of Myeong-dong will offer another spectacle to Seoul’s nightscape.

Exhibitions at the Seoul Lantern Festival will be held throughout four zones. Zone 1, near the Statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin, is the “Ocean of Courage,” where you can view a large-scale exhibit of Geobukseon(turtle ship) floating on an LED ocean. Zone 2 presents various structures under the theme “Light of Companionship.” The structures on display include a giant rabbit to celebrate the upcoming year of the rabbit, a celestial planisphere that demonstrates King Sejong’s affection for his people, an enormous Christmas tree made of hanji(Korean paper), a hanji lantern with tales of Inwangsan Mountain, and more.

Zone 3, the “Garden of Light,” has a broad bamboo forest made of LED with a bonfire that never goes out. Lanterns depicting traditional Korean games and animals that have been on display during Singapore’s Harvest Festival in 2022 are also available in this zone. Zone 4 is a section entitled “Welcome My Soul Seoul,” portraying people dreaming of traveling to Seoul. This zone captures the hope for a recovery of tourism in Seoul.

At Haechi Plaza, the center of Gwanghwamun Square, the Gwanghwamun Market is taking place. Hand-made Christmas items and winter snacks will be available at Gwanghwamun Market, joined by 48 participating businesses. The Christmas Village, the epicenter of the market, will have an 11-meter-tall tree along with a Snowball Photo Zone and Christmas Photo Zone, where visitors can take photos inside. On-site photo printing services will also be available at some points.

In addition, a media façade exhibition will also be up and running by projecting images onto the exterior walls of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and the KT building. Enjoy an unforgettable festival full of warm lights at Gwanghwamun Square, the square of Seoulites.

• Address 175, Sejong-daero, Jongno-gu, Seoul
• Event Period Monday, December 19th to Tuesday, January 24th (Open Daily 18:00-22:00 KST)
• Website https://www.stolantern.com/