Trace Korea: Korea in November: Weather, What to Pack and Where to Go

A November plan for Korea: who the month suits, what to pack and where to go, with weather and visitor estimates from November 2025.

5 min read · Human reviewed

November suits travellers who are happy to pack layers, spend their days in cities and coastal towns, and plan sightseeing around short late-autumn days.

Who Korea in November suits

November works best for city-focused trips. In November 2025, Seoul and Busan had cool monthly mean temperatures and Jeju was warmer still (figures below). The month is a weaker fit for anyone who wants a long, bright day outdoors, because late-autumn days are short, or for anyone who wants to hike the high mountains in light clothing.

If you dislike the cold, point your itinerary south. In November 2025 the monthly mean temperature was 14.4 °C on Jeju and 12.9 °C in Busan, against 9.0 °C in Seoul and 3.2 °C at the Daegwallyeong highland station in Gangwon. Those are monthly averages for one year, not a forecast and not a description of every day.

What to pack and wear

Plan on layers. A mid-weight coat, a sweater or fleece, and something light underneath cover the cities. The mean of the daily minimum temperatures in November 2025 shows why you want the extra layer for mornings and evenings: 4.6 °C in Seoul, 8.7 °C in Busan and 11.3 °C on Jeju. At Daegwallyeong it was -2.4 °C, so a warm hat, gloves and a proper winter coat make sense if the mountains are on your route. Some days are missing from the Daegwallyeong record, so treat its figures as an indication rather than a complete picture.

Seoul: a coat and scarf for the evenings, plus comfortable shoes for walking.
Busan and Jeju: a lighter jacket plus a layer you can add on cooler mornings and evenings.
Mountain areas such as Gangwon: winter-weight clothing, including a hat and gloves.

Snow was not part of the picture in the cities. Seoul, Busan and Jeju each recorded 0 snow days in November 2025. This page has no snow-day figure for Daegwallyeong.

Late-autumn days are short, which shapes how you schedule the day. This page gives no sunrise or sunset times, so check them for your travel dates. Put outdoor sights such as palaces, hillside walks and viewpoints in the daytime, and keep museums, markets and food streets for the evening.

Where to go and what to do

The weather records point to a split. For a cold-sensitive traveller the better fits are the measured southern places, Busan and Jeju. For travellers happy in a coat, Seoul works well.

Seoul: walk around the royal palaces, browse the hanok lanes of Bukchon, shop in Myeongdong and take the cable car or a stroll up Namsan for the city view before sunset.
Busan: the coastline around Haeundae, the colourful hillside of Gamcheon Culture Village and the seafood stalls of Jagalchi Market suit a cool-weather visit.
Jeju: Hallasan, the volcanic coast and the island's cafes and coastal walks are the usual draws, and it was the warmest of the four stations in November 2025.
Gangwon: Seoraksan National Park and the mountain towns around Pyeongchang, which is known for its ski resorts, are for visitors prepared for real cold.

If the weather turns

Wet or cold days are easy to fill in a country with strong indoor options. In Seoul, national and private museums, department-store food halls, covered markets, tea houses and jjimjilbang bathhouses all work when you would rather be warm. In Busan, aquariums, covered markets and cafes by the sea give you a way to enjoy the coast from inside. On Jeju, museums, indoor tea and cafe stops and a long meal fill a day when you cannot be outdoors.

Christmas and the November to December question

This page has no November public-holiday dates. The holiday fact it does carry is Christmas Day, December 25, 2026, which is a public holiday in Korea and falls in December, after November ends on November 30, 2026. If your trip runs from late November into December, check opening hours around that date. For December conditions, see our Korea in December page.

The data behind these answers

The visitor figures here are Korea Tourism Organization DataLab estimates of daily foreign visitors, based on mobile-carrier data. They count foreign visitors only and describe November 2025 against the mean of the twelve months ending November 2025, with every day of both periods present. District rows are parts of their province or city row and are not added to them. They are not a count of tourists or arrivals, and they are not a forecast for November 2026.

KTO DataLab estimated daily foreign visitors, November 2025, daily mean versus the 12-month daily mean of the same region. District values are part of the province or city value and are not added.

In November 2025, the estimated daily foreign visitors averaged 149,983 in Seoul, against a 12-month mean of 127,495 (+18%). Busan averaged 47,290 against 39,373 (+20%), Incheon 75,840 against 67,069 (+13%) and Gyeonggi 68,083 against 66,117 (+3%). Jeju averaged 33,724 against 39,092 (-14%) and Gangwon 8,404 against 9,135 (-8%).

Among the districts, Jung-gu, the district that includes Myeongdong, averaged 71,887 against 58,631 (+23%). Pyeongchang averaged 515 against 891 (-42%), Jeongseon 117 against 298 (-61%) and Hongcheon 942 against 1,271 (-26%). These are statements about estimated foreign visitors in November 2025 only. This page does not use them to say how busy any place will feel.

The weather figures come from Korea Meteorological Administration station records for November 2025: the monthly mean temperature and the monthly mean of daily minimum temperatures at Daegwallyeong, Seoul, Busan and Jeju, plus the count of snow days at the last three.

Sources

Checked on October 21, 2026.