Rina splits Myeongdong Christmas into three boxes, from Lotte’s Street of Light to Shinsegae Square

Rina is a traveller who divides places into boxes in her notebook. She is 23 and from Japan, and every square in that notebook holds the name of a palace or a lane. One morning in early November, she writes at the top of a fresh page: “Myeongdong Christmas — when does it start?” She rules just one box. Finding one date and writing it in should be the end of it, she thinks.

Then she starts looking, and one box isn’t enough. The Lotte Department Store main store has already switched on its lights, on 30 October, while Shinsegae Square has 6 November as its first day and the Seoul Winter Festival has 11 December. “Myeongdong Christmas” isn’t the name of a single event. It is simply the light that different buildings and organisations each switch on, gathered around one neighbourhood. Rina rubs out the box on the first line and rules three side by side in its place.

So let’s walk Myeongdong with Rina on a weekday evening after the 6 November release. She comes out of Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7 on Line 2 and sees the lights and entrance decorations at the Lotte main store first. Next she passes the media poles on the streets of Myeongdong, and she finishes in the underpass in front of Seoul Central Post Office, looking across at Shinsegae Square. To go home, she heads down into Hoehyeon Station Exit 7 on Line 4. The third box, December, isn’t part of this walk, so she will only fill in its dates and places.

The Cue — At a glance

In 2026, the Lotte main store lit its 20,000 façade bulbs on 30 October (Fri), and Shinsegae Square released its Christmas film on 6 November (Fri). The Seoul Winter Festival runs from 11 December (Fri) to 31 January 2027 (Sun) at Gwanghwamun, Seoul Plaza, DDP and other sites. Shinsegae is 220 m from Hoehyeon Station (Line 4) Exit 7, and Lotte is 57 m from Euljiro 1-ga Station (Line 2) Exit 7. People have watched the Shinsegae Square façade from the underpass in front of Seoul Central Post Office, on the opposite side.

When does Christmas in Myeongdong start this year? Lotte 30 October, Shinsegae 6 November, Seoul Winter Festival 11 December

Christmas around Myeongdong starts this year on three separate dates. The first to light up was the Lotte Department Store main store. On 30 October 2026 (Fri) it switched on the 20,000 bulbs on its façade. Shinsegae Square, on the façade of the Shinsegae main store, released its Christmas film on 6 November 2026 (Fri). The Seoul Winter Festival starts on 11 December 2026 (Fri).

Open in Kakao Map — Euljiro 1-ga Station

The words in the three boxes aren’t the same either. The word in the Lotte box is “lighting” (점등). Korean writes it with the same Chinese characters as Japanese, so Rina reads it at once. The word in the Shinsegae box is “release” (공개). Switching on a light and showing a film for the first time are different things, so Rina makes up her mind not to swap the two words.

The word in the third box is “start” (시작). The Seoul Winter Festival runs for 52 days, from 11 December 2026 to 31 January 2027. This box leads away from Myeongdong, towards Gwanghwamun, Seoul Plaza and DDP. So Rina rules one thick line between the boxes. The two on the left are for walking on a weekday evening after the release date, and the one on the right is for December.

What Rina is most careful about is keeping the years apart. Shinsegae’s Christmas film goes back to 2014, and both its content and its first day change every year. The 2025 film came out on 7 November and starred Puvilla (푸빌라). The 2026 film has 6 November as its first day and a bear as its lead. Rina decides that any old value must always have its year written in front of it.

Her reason for choosing a weekday evening also comes from a number. In 2024 alone, more than a million visitors came to stand in front of the Shinsegae façade. Rina is someone who needs room to stand still and open a notebook. A weekday evening, she thinks, will suit her pace better than a weekend night. So she sets her walk for a weekday after 6 November.

What time is the Shinsegae Square film on? Daily from 5 p.m. to midnight, and shop hours are a separate matter

This year’s Shinsegae Square film screens daily from 5 p.m. to midnight, from 6 November 2026 to 31 January 2027. It was released at 5 p.m. on the first day, 6 November, and you can see it at the same hours every evening until the end of January. Screening hours have differed from year to year, so Rina doesn’t carry last year’s times over and writes this year’s down fresh. In the Shinsegae box of her notebook she puts the year first: “2026 — 5 p.m. to midnight”.

The length of the film goes into the evening plan as well. The 2025 film ran for a little over three minutes in total. Something that short would be over while she filled in a box. So Rina decides ahead of time to close her notebook in front of the film. The boxes can wait until it ends, and for a first viewing it is better to put the pencil in her bag too and keep both hands free.

The Shinsegae Square screen has changed form a few times. Shinsegae has dressed its façade for Christmas with film since 2014, and in 2024 it turned a screen put up season by season into Shinsegae Square, which can run all year. In 2025 the screen measured 1,353.64 ㎡ (409 pyeong) in total. At that size one whole side of the building becomes a screen, and the further back you stand, the more of it you take in at a glance. That is why Rina looks for a spot opposite rather than right in front of the building.

The façade film and the store’s trading hours need thinking about separately. The film carries on until midnight, long after the shop floors have closed. So it won’t do to read the store’s closing time as the time the film ends. The shop hours are listed separately in the Shinsegae main store line above. Rina, too, keeps the two times out of a single box and splits them into two.

On a weekday evening after the release date, Rina steps out onto the stairs at the front door of her lodging. Before looking at a clock, she looks up at the colour of the sky. With the question she has been carrying around since morning sorted into three boxes, all that seems left is to start walking. She pushes the notebook into the mouth of the bag on her shoulder and takes hold of the strap with her left hand. Lips closed, she gives a small smile to herself and turns towards the station.

Which station and exit? Hoehyeon Station Exit 7 for Shinsegae, Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7 for Lotte

For Shinsegae it’s Hoehyeon Station Exit 7, and for Lotte it’s Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7. The Shinsegae main store is 220 m from Hoehyeon Station Exit 7 on Line 4. The Lotte Department Store main store is 57 m from Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7 on Line 2. The numbers are identical, so at first Rina nearly writes just “Exit 7” in one box. Drop the line number and you end up at the wrong station, so she quickly corrects it to “Exit 7 ≠ Exit 7”.

If you’re going to Hoehyeon Station, there is one direction to choose after you get off. The platform at Hoehyeon Station on Line 4 is on basement level 4, and Exits 1, 2, 6 and 7 are grouped at the Myeongdong end. So when you leave the train, walk to the Myeongdong end. Exit 7 connects straight to the food floor of the Shinsegae main store. The station map shows a lift symbol on the Exit 1 and 7 side, so this end is worth a look on days when you have bags.

Euljiro 1-ga Station is simpler. It is 57 m from Exit 7 to the Lotte Department Store main store, and the street of light Lotte has dressed this year also starts at the station. Rina’s first box begins, in effect, the moment she comes out. She has another reason for making this her first step. For anyone seeing both, the end you start from sets the order of the evening.

It also helps to remember which building each exit points towards. Hoehyeon Station Exit 7 is also the Shinsegae-side exit of the Hoehyeon Underground Shopping Centre. That centre is an underground arcade on the way between Myeongdong and Namdaemun Market. Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7 is the one signposted towards Lotte Department Store. Rina adds a one-word building name beside each number, which saves her from peering around once she is above ground.

Rina decides to see the decorations at Lotte’s entrance first. The two department stores keep the same standard hours, so which one closes first can’t give her an order. What settles it is where the decorations stand. The media art is at the main building entrance, while the Shinsegae façade is something you watch from the opposite side, so it can go last. If she reaches the entrance before the shop floors close, Rina reckons, she will feel more at ease.

That is why her route uses one station to arrive and another to leave. She comes up at Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7 and goes down at Hoehyeon Station Exit 7. If you only want to see Shinsegae, you can use Hoehyeon Station Exit 7 both ways. By bus, the stop on the Shinsegae side is called “Namdaemun Market.Hoehyeon Station” (남대문시장.회현역). Get off here from trunk buses 104, 105, 463, 604, 705, 707 and N16, branch buses 7011, 7013A and 7013B, or airport bus 6015.

Where do you see Christmas at the Lotte Department Store main store? The Street of Light, about 100 m from Euljiro 1-ga Station

The Lotte box starts right at Euljiro 1-ga Station. This year the stretch of about 100 m from the station to the main building and Avenuel has been dressed as the “Street of Light” (빛의 스트리트). There is no entrance to look for, and you simply follow the lights. Seeing the figure of 100 m, Rina splits the Lotte box in her notebook into three parts. They are the station end, the main building and the Avenuel end.

In the first part, what catches Rina’s eye first is the façade. There are 20,000 bulbs on the main store’s façade. From a distance they read as one mass of light, but as she walks closer, small points separate out one by one. She goes to write the building’s name in the box, but her hand is cold and the letters come out slightly crooked. If you plan to open a notebook on a November evening, leave short breaks to warm your hands in your pockets.

The star of the second part is the 15 m-tall “Heart Light Tree” (하트 라이트 트리). Rina tips her head back and climbs to the top with her eyes. The gaze that usually goes up to palace roofs, this evening, follows the light upwards. The sights along this stretch include window displays too. She slows down in front of the glass and moves to the inner side of the pavement to let the people behind her pass.

At the main building entrance there is also media art on a scale of about 50 pyeong. This is the spot Rina made first on her evening’s list. She stands a few steps back from the entrance so as not to block the people going in and out. She tries saying the name of Lotte’s new character for this year, “Hey Yeti” (헤이예티), under her breath. The unfamiliar name is fun to roll off the tongue, and only after saying it twice does she walk on.

Rina has decided not to go inside the store on this evening. The question for tonight is what can be seen outside, and when. She walks to the third part, the Avenuel end, then turns round and follows the 100 m she has just walked with her eyes once more. Rather than walking the Street of Light one way and stopping, turn round at the end and take it in again, and the whole street comes into view at once. If you’re taking a photo, this is the moment.

When does Lotte Town Light go on? The Young Plaza façade, officially opening in December 2026

The Lotte box has one more date in it. The large screen on the Young Plaza façade, “Lotte Town Light” (롯데타운 라이트), is due to open officially in December, after a teaser film in November. It measures 77 m wide and 21 m high, with an area of 1,614 ㎡. It is described as the core content of the Myeongdong Square project. So the main store’s façade bulbs, lit on 30 October, and this screen shouldn’t be read as the same thing.

Rina mixes up the two lights at first, too. Both go in the Lotte box, and the screen has the word “Light” in its name. So she splits the Lotte box into top and bottom, writing “30 Oct — bulbs” above and “Dec — big screen” below. Anyone in Seoul in December can come and see the bottom half as well. Anyone in Seoul in November will walk the same evening as Rina with the main store’s bulbs and the Street of Light alone.

What is there to see on the streets of Myeongdong? 22 media poles on Myeongdong Jungang-gil and Myeongdong 8na-gil, and Myeongdong Station Exit 6

On the streets of Myeongdong between the two department stores, you can see the media poles. There are 22 in all, on Myeongdong Jungang-gil (명동중앙길) and Myeongdong 8na-gil (명동8나길). It’s easiest to think of a media pole as a street post with a digital screen on it. These posts went up as part of the “Myeongdong Square” project. Myeongdong Square introduces itself as Korea’s first media art plaza project, “Korea’s Times Square”.

Past the Street of Light, Rina takes out her notebook again as she enters the streets of Myeongdong. This stretch is only the way to the second box, so here she draws one thin line instead of a box. She writes 22 on the line and adds a small dot each time she sees a pole. At about the seventh dot she stops counting and looks up. The faces of the people passing between the poles, lit up bright, are more fun than the poles.

“Following Media” (팔로잉 미디어) is on these streets too. There is one in front of Myeongdong Theater and one near Myeongdong Station Exit 6. If you come by way of Myeongdong Station, the Exit 6 side is where you first meet the light of the street. The area in front of Myeongdong Theater is also where a plaza was recently reworked. Rina pauses in front of the theatre, cold hands in her pockets, and checks the map for the way left to the second box.

The area around Myeongdong was given a makeover not long ago. There was a Myeongdong streetscape improvement project, which broke ground in November 2025. It reworked the Myeongdong Underground Shopping Centre, the underpass entrance in front of Seoul Central Post Office, the plaza in front of Myeongdong Theater and more. Rina puts the project’s name in the Shinsegae box rather than the Myeongdong one. That underpass is where this evening will end.

Where do you see Shinsegae Square? From the underpass opposite, in front of Seoul Central Post Office

People have watched the façade from the underpass in front of Seoul Central Post Office. It is a spot that faces the Shinsegae main store from the opposite side. This is also the place Rina noted down in advance. On a weekday evening after the 6 November release date, she walks over to the edge of the pavement beside the underpass entrance. Then she first looks for a place where she won’t block the people coming behind her.

The area right in front of the main store is changing this year. In early October 2026, work was under way to remove and relocate the fountain, and the plan is to build a temporary plaza by the end of the year. The final goal is an open plaza large enough to hold 7,000 people. So instead of counting on the front of the store, Rina picked the spot opposite from the start. She also reckoned that, with a façade screen so large, the whole building would fit into one frame from across the road.

This year’s film has the theme “a magical journey delivering Christmas wishes”. It’s the story of a bear who loads letters full of Christmas wishes onto a balloon boat, travels with them and completes a tree. When the film starts, Rina closes her notebook as promised and hugs it to her chest. The evening she has been reading box by box flows, for as long as the film runs, as one piece. Mouth open, she laughs out loud before she knows it, just like the person next to her.

Only after the film ends does Rina open her notebook again. The Shinsegae box doesn’t need a long sentence. She writes three words in order — letter, balloon boat, tree — and puts “2026” in front of them first. It’s a mark to keep them apart from Puvilla in last year’s box. Last year’s film had a giant gift box opening and fireworks bursting, and this year’s is a bear’s journey, so the words in the two boxes couldn’t be more different.

When does the Shinsegae Holiday Market open at the main store? 24 November 2026 (Tue)

One more date goes at the very bottom of the Shinsegae box. The Shinsegae Holiday Market, a Christmas market, starts at the main store on 24 November 2026 (Tue). That is 18 days after the façade film’s release on 6 November. So if you want to see the film and the market in one evening, plan for after 24 November. The date varies by branch, with the Daejeon store on 13 November and the Centum City store on 27 November.

Rina writes the two numbers side by side: “Film 6 / Market 24”. Tonight is for the façade only, so the market stays as a box. There is one more date to mind, 30 November 2026 (Mon). The Shinsegae main store is closed that day, so if you plan to go inside, it’s better to avoid it. Rina draws a small cross on the number and attaches it beside the market box.

Where to go from 11 December? Seoul Winter Festival dates, and the order in which things end

If you’re in Seoul in December, you can widen your walk a little beyond Myeongdong. The 2026 Seoul Winter Festival starts on 11 December 2026 (Fri) and runs to 31 January 2027 (Sun). Before finding her way home, Rina finishes filling in the third box. As she fills it, she finds the end dates more useful than the start dates. What is still on depends on when you arrive in Seoul.

Setting aside the year-end events, the Gwanghwamun side ends first. Seoul Light Gwanghwamun and Gwanghwamun Market run from 11 December 2026 (Fri) to 10 January 2027 (Sun). Assume these two last as long as the festival’s 31 January end date and you’ll miss that they finish three weeks earlier. To see Gwanghwamun Market as well, you need to arrive within this period. Rina writes “To 10 Jan” in large letters in front of this line.

Next come the two that end on 31 January 2027 (Sun). The Seoul Lantern Festival (서울빛초롱축제) and Seoul Light DDP run from 11 December (Fri) until that day. Only the Seoul Plaza Skating Rink keeps a slightly different schedule. It opens on 18 December 2026 (Fri) and carries on to 9 February 2027 (Tue), so it opens a week later and ends last. For anyone arriving after the end of January, the skating rink is the one box left.

There are two more dates that belong to the turn of the year alone. SEOULCon runs from 29 December 2026 (Tue) to 1 January 2027 (Fri). The New Year’s Eve bell-ringing event spans 31 December 2026 (Thu) to 1 January 2027 (Fri). These lines suit anyone spending the changing of the year in Seoul. Rina stars both lines and rewrites the end dates as four rows: 1 January, 10 January, 31 January, 9 February.

Last winter’s values shouldn’t get mixed in here either. The 2025 Seoul Winter Festa ran for 24 days, from 12 December 2025 to 4 January 2026. This year’s lasts 52 days, more than twice as long. Remember last year’s schedule, assume everything stops in the first week of January, and you’ll give up on Seoul in January too early. Writing “2025 — 24 days / 2026 — 52 days”, Rina is glad she kept the years apart.

Your Myeongdong Christmas route: in at Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7, out at Hoehyeon Station Exit 7

Rina’s route on this evening comes in four parts. She comes out of Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7 and walks the Street of Light, about 100 m. She passes the media poles on the streets of Myeongdong. From the underpass in front of Seoul Central Post Office she looks across at Shinsegae Square, then goes down into Hoehyeon Station Exit 7. It’s an evening that suits anyone who wants to see both, and it spares you going back to the station you came in by.

If the evening is short, you can cut this route down. The Shinsegae main store is 220 m from Hoehyeon Station Exit 7. On a Lotte-only day, walk the Street of Light, about 100 m, there and back from Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7. If you plan to stop in at a store, check its closing time in the lines above before you set out. If you don’t manage both, the remaining box can wait for another evening.

Before going down to the platform, Rina posts one photo of her notebook to the chat room the four of them share. Lulu, who plans the order of her videos, is the first person who comes to mind. “Myeongdong doesn’t have just one start date. Seeing the Lotte entrance decorations first made the order work.” Without waiting for a reply, she puts her phone in her bag. Instead, she runs a finger once over the spot at the top where she rubbed out the box.

Common Mistakes

• 01

  Thinking the film ends when the store closes

  This year’s film screens daily from 5 p.m. to midnight. Shop hours are a separate matter.

• 02

  Remembering only “Exit 7”

  Hoehyeon Station Exit 7 is for Shinsegae, Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 7 is for Lotte. Note the line number as well.

• 03

  Thinking only of the spot right in front of the Shinsegae main store

  People have watched the façade from the underpass opposite, in front of Seoul Central Post Office.

• 04

  Taking Lotte’s bulbs and Lotte Town Light for the same thing

  The main store’s façade bulbs date from 30 October 2026, and the Young Plaza façade screen is due to open officially in December.

• 05

  Assuming the film and the market start on the same day

  The film is 6 November, and the main store’s Holiday Market is 24 November.

• 06

  Assuming Gwanghwamun Market runs to the end of January

  Gwanghwamun Market runs to 10 January 2027, while the Seoul Lantern Festival and Seoul Light DDP run to 31 January.

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