Stay where the event is.

How booking around events works here

Korea's big travel windows are predictable: the year-end award season, the spring marathon weekend and the May stadium run fill their districts weeks out, while the summer monsoon weeks are when the same hotels discount. Event stays add a venue to the plan: each arena on this calendar pulls the sensible base towards a different subway line, and the last train home is the fact that matters, because concerts here end late and encore nights end later.

Stay near a subway station and the city's distances stop mattering. The choice is between the event district itself, with everything on foot, and a quieter base that costs you a ride each way. Decide by the evenings: festivals and concerts are night events, and the best base is the one you can ride home to after the encore.

Stays by Maison V

Maison V is our sister company, a boutique travel advisory. Book through Maison V and you receive advisor perks and, where available, upgrades at select properties, along with personal recommendations on the best places to stay to make the most of your trip. See Stays by Maison V.

Where to stay, city by city

• Seoul

  Jamsil for Olympic Park and the domes, with the tower hotels above Jamsil station; Jongno and Jung-gu for the palaces, the theatres and the year-end light festivals; Hongdae for the live houses and the late trains; Gangnam for COEX and the business hotels. In Seoul the subway line matters more than the district: stay within a few minutes of a station and every arena on this calendar is in reach.

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• Incheon

  For INSPIRE Arena shows, the resort's own hotel and the airport hotels on Yeongjong Island are the easy base: the arena sits minutes from Incheon International Airport. Staying in Seoul instead costs the best part of an hour each way on the AREX and the subway, which is fine for a matinee and miserable after an encore.

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• Busan

  Haeundae for BEXCO, the Cinema Center and the beach hotels; Gwangalli in Suyeong-gu for the fireworks, where the rooms facing the bay sell out first; Seomyeon for the city's transport hub and the ride across to the Biennale in Saha.

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• Goyang

  Ilsan stays serve KINTEX and Goyang Stadium: the hotels cluster around the exhibition centre and Jeongbalsan station, an easy ride from Seoul on subway line 3 and the Gyeongui line, with the stadium a short hop north.

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Where to stay for an event

For the biggest dates on the calendar, the stay advice is written around the event itself: