I dislike dressing up. But doing it in Korea was a revelation

2 hours ago 2

Paul Marshall

October 16, 2025 — 5:00am

I’m not one for fancy dress. The effort, the cost and the idea of bringing more plastic into the world doesn’t appeal, nor does squeezing myself into a cheap polyester outfit that a hundred or so other people have sweated through before me.

But everything I think I know about dressing up goes out the window the moment I put on the hanbok for Chuseok in Jeonju, South Korea. What starts as a silly, spur-of-the-moment idea turns into one of the most enjoyable days in all my travels. After all these years, I finally understand how Batman feels when he dons the mask, the way the outfit transforms me into something more than just another boring tourist.

Chuseok is the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving. It’s a mid-autumn harvest festival where people go back to their ancestral hometowns to eat good food, drink rice wine and engage in the usual Monopoly-related stoushes that follow whenever extended families get together.

Visitors in traditional dress walk past ancient houses in Jeonju, South Korea.
Visitors in traditional dress walk past ancient houses in Jeonju, South Korea.Getty Images

Without an ancestral hometown to call my own, I pick Jeonju as my Chuseok destination for a reason that is remarkably stupid even by my standards. Jeonju is the home of the choco pie, a self-proclaimed “snack cake” that I’m hopelessly in love with and have been ever since I first laid eyes on that wagon-wheel of chocolatey goodness.

The choco pies at PNB make Jeonju a worthwhile destination, but for those of you who aren’t oddly in love with this combination of marshmallow, cake and chocolate, it’s known as a foodie town with plenty going for it. It has great restaurants, coffee shops and craft beer bars, a gorgeous river, some beautiful hikes and all the usual cultural accoutrements of a historic city.

All dressed up with many places to go… looking the part for Chuseok.
All dressed up with many places to go… looking the part for Chuseok.

My favourite coffee shop, DID, has a barista who trained in Wellington, New Zealand. We spend an hour talking about our mutual love for The Lord of the Rings, while he serves me more coffee than is medically advisable.

Maybe it is the outrageous amount of caffeine flowing through my veins that makes me susceptible to my wife’s suggestions that we, in an attempt to experience Chuseok to the fullest, get dressed up in Korean outfits known as hanboks (not to be confused with hanoks, the traditional homes). The hanbok rentals are easy to find, there are dozens of them in the hanok village, and my wife insists on paying for the premium option. Like so many other things she suggests on our travels, this seems like a good idea at the time.

It’s hard to articulate how fun it is to get dressed up like royalty and charge around Jeonju. It’s not like we do anything particularly interesting, other than walk around the hanoks (not to be confused with hanboks, the clothes we are wearing), pose for about 200 photos and eat choco pies.

Choco pies… local and addictive.
Choco pies… local and addictive.Getty Images

But the experience is less about how we view ourselves and more about how the locals view us. Seeing us embrace their Chuseok spirit, they open up to us in weird and wonderful ways.

Some simply smile and wave while we’re sitting in craft beer bars. Others stop us in the street, say hello, tell us how good we look and ask us for photos. South Korea can be a stoic place at times and yet at this festive time of the year, putting on the outfit seems to remove locals’ masks, revealing the warm, welcoming faces underneath.

Jeonju hanok village street, lined with shops and restaurants.
Jeonju hanok village street, lined with shops and restaurants.Getty Images

Another great activity for Chuseok (other than dressing up, of course) is eating songpyeon. They’re traditional rice cakes made of sesame and mugwort, a herb which might not sound appealing but goes pretty hard when mixed with rice flour. The only other thing worth mentioning is to book your train tickets and accommodation early. It’s the busiest time of the year to travel in South Korea and things will book out.

Beyond that, Chuseok is what you make of it. It’s a chance to experience all the best bits of a traditional family holiday without the family to ruin the experience. So get dressed up, embrace the festivities and give thanks that you’re in South Korea, one of the most remarkable countries in the world, at this special time of the year.

The writer travelled at his own expense.

THE DETAILS

FLY

Korean Air and Asiana offer daily flights. See https://www.koreanair.com.

WEAR

Hanboks can be rented at an hourly rate of between $10 and $30, depending on quality. You can also arrange for hairstyling and hire a photographer. See https://hanboknam.com/ (for inspiration).

EAT

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