- March
- Mean 6.1C, dry, still quiet
- April
- Mean 12.6C, blossom month
- May
- Mean 18.2C, warm and busy
- Blossom normal
- Apr 6-8; 2026 came Mar 29
- Yellow dust
- Spring haze days - pack a mask
Spring is the season everyone picks for Seoul, and mostly they are right - but March, April and May are three different trips wearing the same label. Here is what each month actually delivers, with the official climate normals and the cherry blossom maths you need before booking.
March: still winter at the edges
The March normal in Seoul is a mean of 6.1C - highs around 11C, nights down to 1.9C - with just 36.9 mm of rain across the month (long-term climate normals). It is dry, bright and genuinely uncrowded: hotels are at shoulder prices and palace courtyards are empty. The trade-off is bare branches and a real wind chill; an early-blooming year can bring the first blossoms in the last week of March, but you cannot count on it. Pack a proper jacket, not a hoodie.
April: the blossom gamble
April's normal is a mean of 12.6C (highs near 18C, nights 8C) and 72.9 mm of rain - lovely walking weather. It is also blossom month, and this is where plans go wrong. The Korea Meteorological Administration's normal first bloom for Seoul is around April 6-8, but in 2026 both the city's standard tree and the famous Yeouido group flowered on March 29 - ten days early. Full bloom runs about five days after first bloom, and the Yeouido festival in 2026 ran April 3-7. The lesson: lock a refundable hotel covering the last week of March through about April 10, keep two movable days for Yeouido or Seokchon Lake, and never buy a non-refundable trip pinned to a single "bloom day". Crowds at the festival are dense; go before 9 am or skip Yeouido for Seokchon on a weekday.
May: warm, busy and the locals' favourite
May's normal is a mean of 18.2C, highs around 23.6C, with 103.6 mm of rain building toward the June monsoon. It is the most comfortable month of the three - and the busiest with domestic travellers, especially around Children's Day (May 5) and Buddha's Birthday holidays, when palaces and trains fill. Book KTX day-trip seats and hotels for early May by March. One spring-specific nuisance across all three months: hwangsa, the yellow dust haze that blows in from the west. Seoul's own city guidance recommends sunglasses and a mask on dust days - check the AQI each morning and keep indoor backups (museums, markets, Lotte World) for the bad ones.
What to book first
In order: refundable hotels for the blossom window (by February), flights (6-8 weeks out for the midweek fares in our Delhi to Seoul flights guide), then KTX seats if you are adding Busan, then nothing else - palaces, the tower and markets are walk-up. For the days themselves, our 3-day Seoul itinerary drops straight into any of these months, and the couple's budget guide prices the whole spring trip.
A Miranda House graduate and lawyer who traded courtrooms for slow travel. Cheshta travels with the batches we host ourselves, with a soft spot for travelling alongside elders.
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