Seoul Wellness Travel Week 2026 — Temple Meditation, Free Night Walks and How to Book (Oct 24 – Nov 4)

Bongeunsa is a thousand-year-old temple in the middle of Gangnam, right across from COEX, and it hosts 15 sessions over two days. Bongeunsa Station on subway Line 9 is at the gate.

Saturday 24 October
· 12:30 Singing bowl performance
· 13:00 Herbal pu-erh tea talk with a Korean medicine doctor
· 16:00 Seon meditation with Venerable Geumgang, head of the Jogye Order's Seon meditation committee (free)
· 16:30 Odaka yoga
· 18:00 Night walking meditation at Bongeunsa

Sunday 25 October
· 12:30 Song meditation
· 14:00 Embodied awareness through posture and movement
· 15:00 BREATHE SEOUL — travelling Seoul through the breath
· 16:00 Self-care tea time / Anatta meditation

A few sessions not listed here (spine recovery, low-intensity recovery exercise, barre-pilates flow) were already full as of 22 October. Book on the official site; people who join the on-site events get a wellness travel kit.

No booking needed for these: the audio walking meditation on 24–25 October, 12:30–17:30 (about 30 minutes from Jinyeomun Gate along the meditation path to the main hall, groups of five or fewer set off in turn), and the Seoul Wellness 100 exhibition booth in front of Bowoodang, 24 October – 4 November, 12:30–18:00.

The official listings don't say which language each session is taught in. Expect Korean unless the booking page says otherwise.

For a visitor this is the easiest thing in the whole programme: free, no booking, no headcount limit.

· Dates and time: 26 October – 4 November, daily 18:00–20:30
· How it works: play the audio guide in the TripAudio app, or scan the QR code on site, and walk the meditation path at your own pace
· Languages: Korean and English

Routes
· Bongeunsa (Gangnam): Jinyeomun Gate – meditation path – main hall, about 30 minutes; or the meditation path only, about 15 minutes. The path is narrow, so staff send people off in groups of five or fewer
· Jogyesa (Jongno): One Pillar Gate – stupa – main hall, about 30 minutes; or circling the stupa, about 10 minutes
· Hwagyesa (Suyu-dong, Gangbuk): One Pillar Gate – main hall – Samseonggak shrine, about 40 minutes; or Seon meditation in the main hall, about 10 minutes

If you are staying around Myeongdong or Insadong, Jogyesa is the closest. Inside a temple the basic etiquette is to keep your voice down and not photograph inside the prayer halls. Bring earphones.

Pilgyeongjae hanji lantern exhibition, "Jiwoo — House of Paper"
· Monday 26 October – Wednesday 4 November, 12:00–22:00 (lanterns lit from 18:00)
· In the courtyard of Pilgyeongjae, Suseo-dong, Gangnam: a 500-year-old hanok kept by descendants of Prince Gwangpyeong, a son of King Sejong, now a royal-cuisine restaurant
· Two hanji paper structures by artist Kim Won-cheon, each about 3 metres tall, shaped like a house and a jar
· Free to view without eating there, no booking. Go after 18:00 when they are lit

Sound-healing busking at Boston Chamber
· Wednesday 4 November, 12:30, Boston Chamber on Garosu-gil, Sinsa-dong
· Harp and vocals, free, no booking
· Easy to fit into an afternoon shopping on Garosu-gil

Eight of the city's "Seoul Wellness 100" venues run one-off sessions during the week. The schedule on the official site:

· Fri 30 Oct, 13:00 and 16:00 — Korean tea blending into a buncheong cup you shape yourself, with a national-team tea sommelier
· Sat 31 Oct, 14:00 — How high performers recover
· Sat 31 Oct, 18:30 — Kkotbap-e-pida Bukchon × Jeju blue-bean jang: traditional fermented food
· Sun 1 Nov, 07:00 — Perception and awareness: a feeling body, a waking mind
· Sun 1 Nov and Tue 3 Nov, 14:00 and 15:00 — A cup that wakes the senses: BODY & SENSE
· Tue 3 Nov, 10:00 and 15:00 — Waking the tea: Korean tea and tteokcha (Eocha)
· Tue 3 Nov, 19:00 — Recovery Night Run

Fees and locations differ by session, so check and sign up under "100 Special Programs" on the official site. The full list of all 100 venues, with addresses, hours and phone numbers, is under "Seoul Wellness 100" on the same site.

These are places near the Bongeunsa – Sinsa – Cheongdam area that you can book straight away. They are separate from the festival; on each LUWEI page you pick a date and time and pay by foreign card.

· Comme Nana Cheongdam — head spa, a short taxi ride from Bongeunsa
· Mosante Head Spa Gangnam — head spa on Dosan-daero, Nonhyeon-dong; pairs well with the Garosu-gil busking day
· VONESTIS MAISON — skin care, near Sinsa Station, same neighbourhood as Garosu-gil
· Yeoun Private Body Scrub — private one-to-one Korean body scrub, Yeoksam / Eonju area

All four are LUWEI partner shops, and LUWEI earns a commission on bookings made through its pages. Venue details come from the venues' published information and what they told us; LUWEI has not tried the treatments itself.

· Official site: seoulwellnesstravel.com (session booking, the Wellness 100 list and map, English pages)
· Instagram: @seoulwellnesstravelweek
· Seoul Wellness Tourism office: +82-2-2231-2011 / sbtw2026.official@gmail.com

Bongeunsa sessions can fill up early, so check remaining places before you go. The night temple meditation, the Pilgyeongjae lanterns and the Boston Chamber busking need no booking — just turn up.