By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Chobok, the first of the three daysTuesday 20 July 2027
- Jungbok, the middle dayFriday 30 July 2027
- Malbok, the lastMonday 9 August 2027
- Where
- Tosokchon Samgyetang
- Tickets
- Ticketed
- Time of year
- July to August
- Dates
- Set by the old zodiac calendar, so they move each year
From the Korea AeroSpace Administration’s calendar for 2027, published on 29 June 2026: chobok on Tuesday 20 July, jungbok on Friday 30 July and malbok on Monday 9 August. None of the three is a public holiday. The 2028 days can be calculated, but they are listed here only once the next calendar is published, around June 2027.
Boknal are the three days that mark the hottest stretch of the Korean summer, and on each of them Seoul eats samgyetang, ginseng chicken soup, brought to the table boiling in a stone pot. The idea is that heat drives out heat. For a visitor it is the easiest way into a Korean custom there is: join the lunchtime line at a samgyetang restaurant and you are doing exactly what the office workers around you are doing. The catch is the line, which at the best-known restaurant near Gyeongbokgung can run down the street.
What Boknal actually is
The three days, chobok, jungbok and malbok, open, mark the height of and close the dog days of summer. They are set neither by the modern calendar nor by the moon but by a ten-day count from the old sexagenary calendar, reckoned from the summer solstice and from the solar start of autumn, so they move from year to year and fall ten or twenty days apart. The national calendar lists them each year alongside the public holidays.
They are not holidays. Offices and shops stay open, and the custom is simply what people eat. Samgyetang is the classic: a small chicken stuffed with sticky rice, ginseng, jujube and garlic, simmered whole and often served with a small glass of ginseng liquor. Duck and grilled eel are the other boknal dishes, and dog-meat soup, once part of the custom, is disappearing under a national ban on the trade.
Where to eat samgyetang
- Tosokchon, beside Gyeongbokgung. The best-known samgyetang restaurant in the city fills several renovated hanok buildings in Seochon, a few minutes’ walk from Gyeongbokgung station on Line 3. It is first come, first served, and on boknal the queue is the reason to arrive early.
- The chicken restaurant nearest your hotel. Samgyetang is on the menu at chicken restaurants across Seoul, and on boknal almost all of them are busy. A neighbourhood place with a shorter line serves exactly the same custom.
- In your room. Supermarkets sell ready-made samgyetang in pouches through the summer, heated in a few minutes, and on a busy boknal it is what plenty of Seoul households eat.
Tickets and what it costs
Nothing needs booking. A bowl at a well-known Seoul restaurant costs around ₩20,000, a little more for the versions with black-skinned chicken or extra ginseng. What boknal adds is the wait.
Official information and booking: www.kasa.go.kr/prog/plcyBrf/brief/kor/sub01_01_04/view.do?plcyBrfNo=431
Getting there
For Tosokchon, take Line 3 to Gyeongbokgung station and walk into the lanes on the west side of the palace. It opens at ten in the morning and closes at ten at night, with last orders an hour earlier.
Boknal falls in the hottest, most humid weeks of the year, and the first of the three often lands in the monsoon. Queue with water and an umbrella, which serves for sun and rain alike, and keep the sightseeing for the morning and the evening.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Arriving at noon
That is when every office in Jongno arrives too. Come soon after the doors open in the morning, or after two in the afternoon, and the wait shrinks.
Expecting a festival
Boknal is a meal, not an event. There are no parades or street stalls, and away from the restaurants the day looks like any other summer day.
Queueing without water
The line is outdoors in the hottest weeks of the year. Bring water and shade, and do not send one person ahead to hold the place: some restaurants seat a group only once everyone has arrived.
Skipping the salt
Samgyetang comes to the table unseasoned on purpose. Salt and pepper are set out beside it, and the broth is meant to be seasoned to taste and eaten with the kimchi alongside.
Assuming the dates never move
The three days shift every year with the old day count, and the gap between the second and the third can be ten days or twenty. This edition’s dates head the page.
Other Seoul events
Frequently asked questions
When is boknal?
On three days in the hottest part of the summer, chobok, jungbok and malbok, usually between mid-July and mid-August. They move each year, and this edition’s dates head the page.
What do Koreans eat on boknal?
Samgyetang above all: the bird simmered whole with sticky rice and ginseng inside, eaten from its own broth. Duck and grilled eel are the other boknal dishes.
Where is the best place to eat samgyetang in Seoul on boknal?
Tosokchon, near Gyeongbokgung, is the most famous and has the longest queue. Any chicken restaurant serving samgyetang is part of the same custom, often with a shorter wait.
Is boknal a public holiday in Korea?
No. Shops, offices, museums and palaces keep their normal hours; the custom is only what people eat.
Why eat hot soup on the hottest days?
The Korean saying is that heat is fought with heat. A bowl of chicken, ginseng and rice is meant to restore the strength the summer drains, and you will finish it in a sweat whatever the weather.
Sources
- Korea AeroSpace Administration, the official calendar with the boknal days
- VisitKorea, Tosokchon Samgyetang
- Korea Meteorological Administration, the summer climate
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.