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Photo by Republic of Korea from Seoul, Republic of Korea, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Pyeongchang
South Korea · East Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Pyeongchang
Tap a month for its page
- JanJPyeongchang in January: avoid
- FebFPyeongchang in February: avoid
- MarMPyeongchang in March: ok
- AprAPyeongchang in April: good
- MayMPyeongchang in May: sweet spot
- JunJPyeongchang in June: sweet spot
- JulJPyeongchang in July: ok
- AugAPyeongchang in August: ok
- SepSPyeongchang in September: ok
- OctOPyeongchang in October: ok
- NovNPyeongchang in November: ok, busy
- DecDPyeongchang in December: avoid
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too.
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Flights from
Flights
Your city is a guess from your time zone. Choose your city
Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights.
Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Things to do in Pyeongchang
- Woljeongsa Temple Famous for its Citadel Museum, which has on display numerous cultural relics and treasures, and an octagonal nine-stage stone pagoda.
- Daegwallyeong Daegwallyeong is a mountain pass in the Taebaek Mountains of eastern South Korea.
- Gyebangsan Mountain
- Odaesan National Park Odaesan National Park is one of the many famous mountains in Korea, known for its temples and waterfalls.
- Sangwonsa Established during the Silla dynasty.
- Gariwangsan Mountain in South Korea
- Balwangsan Mountain in South Korea
Tours and tickets in Pyeongchang
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Pyeongchang), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Month by month
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | -2° | 4d | 61% | 7.4h | avoid | bitter cold: -2C daily max |
| Feb | 1° | 3d | 61% | 8.3h | avoid | bitter cold: 1C daily max |
| Mar | 7° | 8d | 67% | 8.2h | ok | 7C max, 8 rainy days |
| Apr | 13° | 6d | 66% | 9.5h | good | 13C max, 6 rainy days |
| May | 17° | 8d | 71% | 9.6h | sweet spot | 17C max, 8 rainy days |
| Jun | 21° | 11d | 80% | 9.6h | sweet spot | 21C max, 11 rainy days |
| Jul | 24° | 14d | 88% | 8.2h | ok | 24C max, 14 rainy days |
| Aug | 24° | 15d | 89% | 7.9h | ok | 24C max, 15 rainy days |
| Sep | 20° | 12d | 86% | 7.6h | ok | 20C max, 12 rainy days |
| Oct | 14° | 9d | 79% | 7.0h | ok | 14C max, 9 rainy days |
| Nov | 7° | 4d | 70% | 7.5h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Dec | -1° | 3d | 63% | 7.3h | avoid | bitter cold: -1C daily max |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Alpensia and Yongpyong, the ski resorts: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Pyeongchang's March days now average 6.7°C, 2.8°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 3 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | -3.5° | -1.6° | 3.8° | 12.2° | 17.2° | 20.4° | 23.2° | 24.1° | 18.9° | 14.0° | 6.5° | 0.2° |
| 2017–26 | -2.2° | 0.6° | 6.7° | 12.5° | 17.3° | 21.2° | 24.2° | 24.0° | 19.6° | 13.5° | 7.4° | -1.0° |
| Change | +1.3° | +2.2° | +2.8° | +0.3° | +0.2° | +0.9° | +1.0° | -0.0° | +0.6° | -0.4° | +0.8° | -1.2° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
Fly into Seoul (ICN), then drive. The flights under Where to book are to Seoul.
| Seoul (ICN) | the drive is not measured yet |
|---|---|
| Seoul (GMP) | the drive is not measured yet |
The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.
How far Pyeongchang is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Busan
- from Osaka
- from Tokyo
- from Taipei
- from Hong Kong
- from Manila
- from Hanoi
- from Ho Chi Minh City
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Pyeongchang, flying or not.
Before you go
Type C and F plugs at 220 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Won. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise normal security precautions. US State Department: Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions. Everything for South Korea: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Visa and Mastercard are taken almost everywhere, even for a coffee, but phone wallets such as Apple Pay often fail. Carry some cash for the countryside; T-money also pays in convenience stores.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Not expected, including in taxis; some hotels and tourist restaurants add a 10% service charge.
Getting around Pyeongchang
- Apps — Rides: Kakao T, k.ride, TADA, Uber. Maps: Kakao Map, Naver Map. Messages: KakaoTalk. Google Maps still gives no walking or driving directions in South Korea; use Naver Map or Kakao Map.
Pyeongchang has few city bus lines, but there are many taxis. In Pyeongchang, the base rate of a taxi is ₩2,800 and it will increase by ₩200 per 152 m. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Pyeongchang, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — police 112 · ambulance and fire 119.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (17)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/south-korea/getting-help
- english.visitkorea.or.kr/svc/contents/contentsView.do?vcontsId=197907
- english.visitkorea.or.kr/svc/contents/contentsView.do?vcontsId=140663
- tmoney.co.kr/aeb/cmnctn/news/readNewsView.dev?bdSeqNo=4292
- kride.kakaomobility.com
- english.seoul.go.kr/policy/transportation/climate-card
- uber.com/global/en/cities/seoul
- koreaherald.com/article/10878189
- koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/society/20251017/seoul-to-allow-use-of-foreign-credit-cards-on-buses-subway-by-2030
- blog.google/intl/ko-kr/company-news/inside-google/google-maps-data-export-qa-kr
- 9to5google.com/2026/08/27/google-maps-turn-by-turn-navigation-south-korea
- seoulz.com/google-maps-korea
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/South_Korea
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Seoul
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- nipl.com/uploads/NPCI_International_Press_Release_LIQUID_GROUP_TO_POWER_UPI_QR_ACCEPTANCE_IN_10_ASIAN_MARKETS_bcb05ffeee.pdf
Pyeongchang in pictures
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ATR1992, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Pyeongchang is like
Pyeongchang (평창) is a city and a county in Gangwon. The city hosted the 2018 Winter Olympic and Winter Paralympic Games. Pyeongchang County's slogan, "Happy700 Pyeongchang", refers to the city's average elevation of approximately 700 m (2,300 ft), which is said to help people stay in good health. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Odaesan National Park (오대산국립공원 (Hangul)). Odaesan National Park is one of the many famous mountains in Korea, known for its temples and waterfalls. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Pyeongchang Hyoseok Culture Festival. Late August - early September. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- The Gyeonggang Line (경강선) passes through Pyeongchang from west to east, providing main-line rail service. 'Korea Train Express' (KTX) stop at 'Pyeongchang Station' and 'Jinbu Station'. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying safe
- South Korea generally has a good deal of security. Drugs, gambling, and guns are prohibited in Korea. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Pyeongchang, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Pyeongchang
Also in South Korea
- Busan best Apr, May, Jun
- Gyeongju best Mar, May, Jun
- Jeju best May, Jun, Jul
- Seoul best Apr, May, Jun
- Sokcho best Apr, May, Jun
Nearby
Kind of place
Pyeongchang is in South Korea, East Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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