Seoul International Garden Show
🗓️ 2026.05.01 ~ 2026.10.27
From May 1 through October 27, 2026, Seoul Forest will host the Seoul International Garden Show, the flagship global garden festival of the “Garden City Seoul” initiative. Held under the theme “Seoul, Green Culture,” this edition spans nearly six months and features approximately 150 distinct garden installations—a scale that distinguishes it from previous regional exhibitions through its collaborative creation model involving domestic and foreign experts, corporations, municipal governments, university students, and local citizens.
Created Gardens
The exhibition is structured around six distinct garden categories, each representing different approaches to urban green space. Invited Gardens showcase premier international landscape architects, while Artist Gardens foreground experimental and conceptual designs. Corporate Gardens demonstrate commercial applications of horticultural technology, and Student Companion Gardens offer perspectives from emerging academic talent. Citizen Companion Gardens reflect community-driven aesthetics designed by local residents, and Global Gardens facilitate cross-cultural botanical exchange between nations. This diversity of contributors creates a comprehensive survey of contemporary landscape architecture rarely presented in a single venue.
Garden Industry Exhibition
Complementing the display gardens, a large-scale trade exhibition operates throughout the event period. Unlike traditional garden shows that separate commercial and artistic components, this industry exhibition integrates directly into the visitor experience. Attendees may purchase garden plants and specialized supplies, examine cutting-edge garden facility installations, and explore leisure-related brands that intersect with outdoor living culture. This marketplace function allows visitors to acquire nursery stock and equipment for implementing design concepts witnessed in the show gardens.
Garden Culture Programs
Educational programming extends beyond visual appreciation through structured Garden Culture Programs. Docent-led tours are available in both Korean and English, providing interpretive context for plant selections and design philosophies. The schedule includes hands-on experiential workshops, academic symposia addressing urban ecology and sustainable landscape practices, and integrated cultural performances that situate gardening within broader artistic traditions. These activities transform the exhibition from a static display into an active learning environment suitable for both casual visitors and industry professionals.
Additional Amenities
Supporting the main exhibitions, food trucks and periodic flea markets operate throughout the grounds, offering refreshments and vintage gardening paraphernalia without distracting from the primary botanical displays.
📍 Address: 273 Ttukseom-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Seongsu-dong 1-ga)
🛏️ Accommodation near the event
💰 Fee: Free
📞 Inquiry: 02-550-2532
Seoul Forest covers 1.16 million square meters in the Ttukseom district, serving as the city’s largest park since opening in 2005. The land previously hosted a golf course and horse racing track; before that, it served as royal hunting grounds. Today it functions as working green space—wetlands filter stormwater, 420,000 trees mitigate heat, and the Han River connects these zones to broader ecological networks.
The park comprises five distinct areas. The Cultural Art Park occupies the former racetrack grounds, hosting outdoor galleries and performance venues. The Ecological Forest preserves mature stands of maple, oak, and pine. The Nature Experience Study Field offers observation paths through wildlife habitats housing deer, chipmunks, and waterfowl. The Wetlands Ecological Field manages water filtration through reed beds, while the Han River Riverside Park extends bike paths and floating observation decks down to the waterfront.
These zones support over 100 species, from herons and raccoon dogs in the wetlands to woodpeckers and pheasants in the forest canopy. The park receives roughly three million visitors annually—families picnicking, cyclists commuting along the river, office workers seeking shade under gingko trees. It hosts the Seoul Forest Jazz Festival and seasonal markets, but its daily work involves stormwater management and maintaining biodiversity corridors through a dense metropolitan area.
In 2026, the park will host the International Garden Show. Organizers selected the site for its existing infrastructure: mature canopy, established wetlands, and tested pathways. The event will integrate temporary installations among permanent plantings, demonstrating how large-scale horticultural exhibitions can function within established urban ecology rather than requiring cleared ground. The location remains accessible by subway from the city center, yet sufficiently wooded that traffic noise drops away behind the tree line.
