Seoul Garden Festival Guide: Reading Seoul Garden, Pokemon Garden Seoul Dates, and Crowd Notes

Seoul Garden Festival is one of the practical program strands inside the 2026 Seoul International Garden Show, and the key confirmed program for May and June is Reading Seoul Garden. For visitors also searching for Pokemon Garden Seoul, the same wider garden show includes Pokemon Secret Forest at Seoul Forest, so planning around dates, locations, and crowd conditions matters.

The 2026 Seoul International Garden Show opened on May 1, 2026 and runs through October 27, 2026 across Seoul Forest and the Seongsu area for 180 days. Reports before opening described 167 gardens connected to Seoul Forest, the Han River, Seongsu, and Gwangjin, along with opening-week performances and cultural programs.¹ Within that larger setting, Seoul Garden Festival’s Reading Seoul Garden is scheduled for weekends from May 23 to June 7, 2026, around the outdoor stage area, with free participation through advance Seoul public service reservation and on-site participation.²

Seoul Garden Festival: What Is Confirmed for Reading Seoul Garden

The most useful confirmed detail for Seoul Garden Festival visitors is that Reading Seoul Garden is not a daily program. It is listed for Saturdays and Sundays during the period from May 23 to June 7, 2026. That means the operating window is short and weekend-based, so visitors should not assume it will be available on weekdays simply because the wider garden show continues for months.²

The venue is identified as the area around the outdoor stage. The official program listing also gives two participation routes: advance registration through Seoul City’s public service reservation system and on-site participation. The participation fee is listed as free.² Because the source material does not provide a detailed daily timetable, capacity, or session-by-session rules, the safest approach is to treat advance reservation as the more reliable option when it is available and use on-site participation only with flexibility.

Reading Seoul Garden sits within a larger event environment that is likely to draw people for more than one reason. The garden show includes created gardens, cultural programming, and character pop-up gardens, so visitors may be moving between program areas rather than attending a single isolated event. Seoul Forest is the central reference point in the published reporting, while the broader festival footprint extends into Seongsu and nearby areas.¹

How Pokemon Secret Forest Fits Into the Same Visit

Pokemon Secret Forest is listed by the 2026 Seoul International Garden Show as a character pop-up garden by Pokemon Korea. Its official operating period is May 1 to June 21, 2026.³ Yonhap also reported that the installation is part of Pokemon Mega Festa 2026, a Seoul-wide event connected to Pokemon’s 30th anniversary, and that Pokemon Store original merchandise would be available on site.⁴

For someone planning a Pokemon Garden Seoul visit, the overlap is clear: Pokemon Secret Forest is open before, during, and after the confirmed Reading Seoul Garden weekend period. However, the two confirmed schedules are not identical. Reading Seoul Garden runs on weekends from May 23 to June 7, while Pokemon Secret Forest is listed from May 1 to June 21.³² A visitor who wants both should target one of the Reading Seoul Garden weekend dates inside that overlap.

Crowd planning is especially important. On May 1, 2026, Newsis reported heavy crowding around Seongsu-dong and Seoul Forest during Pokemon Mega Festa, with some programs urgently suspended. Seoul City counted about 40,000 people around Seongsu Cafe Street and about 120,000 inside Seoul Forest at noon, while police guided dispersal at the site.⁵ Pokemon Korea also warned that “collisions are occurring because of the large crowd.”⁵

The opening-day numbers for the wider garden show were also high. Financial News reported that about 306,500 people visited the 2026 Seoul International Garden Show on its first day, and that character pop-up gardens including the Pokemon garden and Kakao garden drew many visitors. The same report said Seoul City created 167 gardens covering about 90,000 square meters, centered on Seoul Forest.⁶

For practical planning, that means visitors should separate confirmed program facts from assumptions. The sources confirm dates, broad locations, free participation for Reading Seoul Garden, and heavy opening-day demand. They do not confirm reduced crowds on later dates, exact waiting times, or a guaranteed ability to enter every program without delay. Seoul City garden official Kim Young-hwan said the city would manage the event “with safety as the top priority,” but visitors should still plan conservatively around busy periods.⁶

Practical Visit Planning Notes

Start with the date. If Reading Seoul Garden is the priority, choose a Saturday or Sunday between May 23 and June 7, 2026. If Pokemon Secret Forest is the priority, the confirmed operating period is broader, from May 1 to June 21, 2026. If both are priorities, choose a weekend inside the Reading Seoul Garden window.³²

Next, decide how flexible the visit can be. Reading Seoul Garden is free, but participation is listed through both advance Seoul public service reservation and on-site participation.² Since on-site participation can depend on real-time conditions, advance reservation is the clearer path when available. The source material does not specify whether every session requires reservation, whether walk-up places are limited, or whether the program has weather-related changes.

Finally, factor in movement around Seoul Forest and Seongsu. Opening-day reports showed that crowds were not limited to one garden area, and that the surrounding district also became crowded.⁵ Visitors combining Seoul Garden Festival programming with Pokemon Secret Forest should allow extra time for walking, waiting, and possible route changes.

작성자 소개

Patrick Choi

Administrator

모든 글 보기