Seoul | International Fireworks Festival

We drove up to Seoul over a long weekend and immediately regretted it the moment we approached the outskirts of the city. What was to be a 3-4 hour drive turned into something more like 5-6. That will be the first and last time we ever drive to Seoul.

By the time we reached Seoul, a bunch of streets were closed due to the Seoul International Fireworks Festival scheduled for later that evening. As luck would have it, the apartment we rented happened to be right across the bridge from the festival grounds, something we didn’t exactly plan on when we booked our place. It took us well over an hour to cross a bridge that was literally a five minute drive from our apartment.

On the other hand, once we finally made it to our place, settled in, found a place to eat, and stuffed our faces, we only had to walk about 10 minutes from our place to reach a fireworks viewing spot.

Each year Seoul invites two other countries – hence the “International” part of the festival – to put on a firework display alongside Korea. Koreans, as you may recall, are really into their fireworks. Japan started off the festivities with a pretty decent and creative display featuring smiley faces, jelly fish, and our favorite, a boy and girl head (how did they do that?). Next came a somewhat lackluster performance by Spain. And then finally it was Korea’s turn. Naturally, Korea went balls to the wall, with multiple barges blasting fireworks every which way up and down the Han River.

Our spot kind of sucked, and it was freezing cold on the bridge, but I think we both didn’t really care at that point. We were happily fed and glad to be out of the car. Even better, we didn’t have to deal with crazy crowds, jam-packed subways, and bumper-to-bumper traffic. Once the fireworks finished, we walked the short distance back to our apartment and popped into a chicken and beer restaurant for our second dinner of the day.

DETAILS

Seoul International Fireworks Festival | COST: Free | DETAILS: The main festival grounds take place at Yeouido Hangang Park, but there are various viewpoints around and along the river. The bridge we were on, Mapo Bridge, was an ok spot for viewing. It would have been much better if we had crossed the street to the opposite side of the bridge, but we were too lazy/didn’t care enough. If you plan on watching at the park, you should know that many of the streets, parking lots, and subway stops around the park are closed 1 hour after the event.  Also, it was CROWDED, like just looking at the crowds down in the park made me feel intensely claustrophobic. The show started at 7:20, but I would say people were packing it in around 4pm. Shudder. | VERDICT: I’m not really one for lines or crowds, and I’ve seen a good amount of fireworks in my life, so it’s highly doubtful I would ever actually go to the festival grounds to watch the fireworks. As an unplanned event that we happened upon, crappy view and all, it was fun. If, for some reason, I was in Seoul with people who really wanted to attend the fireworks show, I would probably book a dinner reservation at the nearby 63 tower and watch the show from above.