From July 20 to August 9, a giant, free water park will welcome Seoulites on Gwanghwamun Square and Sejongno Park. After drawing about 900k visitors in 2004 and 1.5M last year, Seoul Summer Beach could be even more popular for a 3rd edition combining pools, slides, and a sand playground.
The sandy space will be under a 12 m wide dome that brings more to mind an igloo than a summer beach, and won't allow you to fully enjoy Seoul's most iconic scenery, but sand can be messy, particularly during the rainy season. And hygiene should be less an issue; as a Parisian, I've never dared basking in Paris Plage's sandy stretches.
I remember chatting with PARK Won-soon about Paris Plage, a yearly festival where the expressway along the Seine (now reclaimed by pedestrians) gives way to an actual beach that anyone can enjoy for free, but is first meant for Parisians who can't afford going on holidays. The former mayor was toying with the idea of adapting that other Parisian tradition (following Velib, La Nuit Blanche etc), but it wouldn't make much of a splash along the Han River (too wide a river, riversides more disconnected from the rest of the city, Hangang Park already has its own water activities...).
Gwanghwmun Square and Sejongdaero are much more relevant and impactful for this kind of festivities.
Which doesn't mean the rest of the city will remain dry: we've seen neighborhood parks transformed into waterparks during the summer long before Seoul Summer Beach existed, and there are so many ways of having fun while getting soaked, from the Sinchon Water Gun Festival and its giant water slide along Yonsei-ro to PSY's torrential Summer Swag concerts.
My favorite drenched memory in Seoul remains the day I was caught by a sudden downpour in Jongno-gu. The time to run twenty meters to the closest shelter, I was already totally soaked. Because there was no way a bus or a taxi could accept me, I decided to just walk back home peacefully, simply enjoying the shower with a great smile.
Of course, as Seoul and Korea well know*, too much water can be dangerous. So enjoy responsibly, and have a great summer.
Seoul Village 2026
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, Substack, and X/Twitter, follow me on Instagram.
Download 'Seoul VillageS', the free ebook.
300 tons of water in the middle of a drought.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments and remarks. Also for your patience (comments are moderated and are not published right away - only way to curb the spam, sorry). S.