Lunar New Year 2027: What Closes in Seoul, Singapore and Bangkok

Lunar New Year 2027 is not one shared long weekend. Hong Kong and Singapore put the first day on Saturday 6 February 2027. Korea's official calendar puts Seollal, the lunar new year day itself, on Sunday 7 February. Bangkok does not take a national holiday for it. If you treat the three cities as the same closure, you will either miss a museum that is shut or skip a neighbourhood that is very much open. The dates below come from published holiday lists, and a missing festival programme is marked.

City routes that already exist, and that you can bend around these dates, are 3 days in Seoul, 4 days in Singapore and 3 days in Bangkok. February cold in Seoul is a packing problem of its own: Seoul in winter and the where to stay in Seoul split (Jongno versus Gangnam) matter more this week than in spring.

Lunar New Year 2027 on the official calendars

The year is the Goat, also called the Sheep or the Ram in English. The Hong Kong Observatory's 2027 calendar conversion lists 6 February as the first day of the first lunar month. Singapore's Ministry of Manpower, in a press release dated 18 June 2026, gazettes Chinese New Year on Saturday 6 February and Sunday 7 February, and states that Monday 8 February 2027 will be a public holiday. Hong Kong's general holidays for 2027, gazetted and published on GovHK, list Lunar New Year's Day on 6 February, the third day on Monday 8 February, and the fourth day on Tuesday 9 February, because the second day falls on a Sunday and the fourth day is the substitute.

Korea does not copy that Saturday. The Korea AeroSpace Administration's calendar notice of 29 June 2026 says Seollal, lunar 1 January, is Sunday 7 February 2027. The same notice, for workplaces on a five-day week, describes the break as 6 to 9 February: Saturday, Seollal and the days around it, plus a substitute holiday, four days in all. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute's 2027 calendar table matches that shape: Seollal holiday 6 to 8 February, substitute holiday Tuesday 9 February.

Mainland China's annual work-and-rest adjustment for 2027 was not on an official page in this check, so the length of any extended Spring Festival break there is not officially confirmed. Use the Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea lists for those three places, and do not borrow a Chinese government holiday poster you have not read.

Photo: Romain (2009) at w:Picasa / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Seoul: four days, and Sunday is the new year

For a visitor staying in the city, the practical block is Saturday 6 February through Tuesday 9 February 2027. Sunday 7 February is Seollal day, the date when many restaurants and some department stores shut. Korea Tourism Organization's guide for Seollal 2026 said the four main palaces, Jongmyo and the Joseon royal tombs were free during that holiday, and that major national museums closed on Seollal day itself. Those were 2026 arrangements. A 2027 free-admission notice was not published when this was checked. Treat free entry as not officially confirmed.

What you can use now is the ordinary winter timetable on the Gyeongbokgung site: January and February, 09:00 to 17:00, last admission 16:00, closed Tuesdays. Adults aged 19 to 64 are listed at 3,000 won, with a combination ticket for five palaces at 10,000 won. Tuesday 9 February 2027 is both the substitute public holiday and the palace's regular closed day. Do not put Gyeongbokgung on Tuesday until the palace says it will open. Monday 8 February is the safer palace day if you want a weekday inside the break.

Korail's 2027 holiday sale window was not announced in this check. In 2026 the tickets went on sale in January via Korail Talk, for rail members, split by line and day. Do not copy those sale dates onto 2027. If you are staying in Seoul, the outbound Saturday crush is mostly other people's trip. The return crush is Tuesday. Do not pair a Tuesday afternoon KTX with an evening flight out of Incheon.

February in Seoul is cold. World Meteorological Organization normals, via the Japan Meteorological Agency's ClimatView table for Seoul, give a February mean of 0.7°C and 28.1 mm of precipitation. That monthly mean hides mornings below freezing. Palaces are not heated like a mall. Coat, gloves, and shoes that can handle cold pavement belong in the bag. A broader cold-city list is in the winter packing list.

Singapore: Saturday, Sunday, and a Monday in lieu

The gazetted Chinese New Year days are 6 and 7 February 2027. Monday 8 February is the public holiday in the Manpower press release. The Ministry of Education's school-calendar note of 14 July 2026 adds a further day for schools only: Tuesday 9 February is a designated off-in-lieu, and schools, including the general office, student care and KCare, are closed. Most offices are back on Tuesday.

Banks follow the public holiday, so Monday is a bank holiday on top of the weekend. The MRT runs on public holidays. There is no published 2027 notice of extra late service in this check, so do not assume one. Hawker centres are not ordered shut as a group. Individual stalls close when the family does. Have a second food stop in mind.

Chinatown is the neighbourhood that changes character, and the 2027 street programme is not officially confirmed. The People's Association tendered light-up decorations in August 2026, and Kreta Ayer ran a centrepiece vote that closed on 19 July 2026. Neither is a timetable. No 2027 road-closure notice was up in this check. The 2026 police notice, for that year only, closed Temple Street in the evenings and named Maxwell MRT as the alternative to a crowded Chinatown station. Use that as a picture of a busy year, not as the 2027 rule. February is Singapore's driest month on the 1991-2020 normals (mean maximum 31.5°C, 105.1 mm of rain, 9 rain days). Showers still happen. A temple hall or Gardens by the Bay is the indoor backup, not proof that a light-up will be switched on.

Photo: Marcin Konsek / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Bangkok: a festival street, not a national shutdown

The Bank of Thailand's notification of 17 August 2026 (No. 37/2569) lists financial-institution holidays for 2027. Chinese New Year is not among the nationwide dates. February's only nationwide bank holiday in that list is Monday 22 February, a substitute for Makha Bucha Day on Sunday 21 February. Do not mix the two.

The same notification gives branches in Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, Satun and Songkhla an extra holiday for Chinese New Year Day if that date does not fall on a listed holiday or on Saturday or Sunday. In 2027 the day is Saturday 6 February, so that extra holiday does not arise. For a visitor in Bangkok, Saturday is an ordinary weekend day on the bank calendar, and Monday 8 February is an ordinary working day.

There is no citywide closure list for Yaowarat. In a typical year some family shops shut for part of the day of worship, the road is crowded, and temples such as Wat Mangkon Kamalawat draw people who are not there for a stage show. A 2027 street programme, with hours and a procession time, was not on an official page in this check. Do not plan the evening around a start time you found on a travel blog. Go because the neighbourhood is the point, eat earlier than you think you need to, and use the MRT (Wat Mangkon) rather than a taxi into the middle of the road if the street is closed to cars. If a closure is announced later, it will be a local traffic notice, not a national holiday.

Bangkok in early February is hot season. You do not need the Seoul coat. You do need a plan that still works if Yaowarat is crowded after dark. Monday 8 February is an ordinary working day here, which is the useful contrast with Singapore and Seoul.

Which city to pick if the dates are the reason

Seoul is the real multi-day shutdown: palaces, winter, and a train you should book before dinner. Keep Tuesday flexible until the palace site speaks. Stay on the Jongno side if the palaces are the point. Singapore is a public holiday without a freeze, with a Chinatown programme that is still blank: put 6, 7 and 8 February in the calendar, and 9 February as well if you are travelling with school-age children. Bangkok is the city that does not stop. Yaowarat is local. Museums and banks are not on a new-year holiday.

If one trip covers more than one city, a Sunday departure is Seollal day in Seoul, the second day of Chinese New Year in Singapore (with Monday still off), and an ordinary Sunday in Bangkok. RoamerPlanner is a reasonable place to park those three rows next to the flight times, so a date that looks free in one city is not a shutdown in the next.

Short answers

Is lunar new year 2027 on 6 or 7 February? Both appear on official calendars. Hong Kong and Singapore mark 6 February as the first day. Korea marks Seollal on 7 February. Singapore's gazetted holiday covers both 6 and 7 February, plus Monday 8 February.

Does Bangkok close? Not as a national holiday. The Bank of Thailand's 2027 nationwide list does not include it. Some Yaowarat shops may close for worship. A 2027 street timetable is not officially confirmed.

Will the palaces in Seoul be free? They were free for Seollal 2026, according to the tourism office. The 2027 notice is not out. Use the published winter hours and fees until it is.

Is Tuesday 9 February a day off everywhere? No. It is a substitute holiday in Korea and a general holiday in Hong Kong. In Singapore it is a school off-day, not the general public holiday (that is Monday 8 February). In Bangkok it is an ordinary Tuesday.

Sources

Hong Kong Observatory 2027 calendar text (6 February 2027 as the first day of the first lunar month). GovHK general holidays for 2027 (6, 8 and 9 February; second day on Sunday, fourth day as substitute). Singapore Ministry of Manpower press release, 18 June 2026 (Chinese New Year 6 and 7 February 2027; Monday 8 February a public holiday). Singapore Ministry of Education press release, 14 July 2026 (Tuesday 9 February a school off-in-lieu). Korea AeroSpace Administration calendar notice, 29 June 2026 (Seollal on 7 February; five-day-week break 6 to 9 February). Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute 2027 calendar table (Seollal 6 to 8 February, substitute 9 February). Korea Tourism Organization Seollal 2026 guide (palace free entry and museum closures that year only; 2027 not officially confirmed). Gyeongbokgung hours and fees page (January-February 09:00-17:00, last admission 16:00, closed Tuesdays; adult 3,000 won). Korail 2027 holiday sale not announced. Bank of Thailand notification No. 37/2569, 17 August 2026 (no nationwide Chinese New Year holiday; southern-branch exception does not apply on a Saturday). People's Association light-up tender, August 2026, and Kreta Ayer centrepiece vote closing 19 July 2026 (no 2027 street timetable). Meteorological Service Singapore 1991-2020 February normals. WMO Seoul February normal via JMA ClimatView (mean 0.7°C, precipitation 28.1 mm). Mainland China 2027 extended-holiday notice not officially confirmed in this check. Yaowarat 2027 programme not officially confirmed. Checked 24 October 2026.

Cover photo: Jakub Hałun / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0