Yangju Nari Farm Globe Amaranth Festival 2026: The 7,000 Won Ticket That Comes Back as a 5,000 Won Voucher — Dates, Refund Math, and How to Get There from Seoul

Those clips of someone in a white dress turning around in a sea of pink globe amaranth, striped like a painted field, are all over the feed right now. What the clips never tell you is that the place is a ticketed farm an hour north of Seoul, that entry costs 7,000 won (about $5), and that 5,000 won of it comes straight back to you as a local voucher — which means there are specific days when a visit is effectively free. Here are the 2026 dates (September 18 to October 25), the full price table, the refund math, opening hours, and how to get there on the subway, all from Yangju City's official notices.

Photo: Official 2026 autumn opening poster and admission notice provided by Yangju City (as published by Dailian, August 27, 2026)

1. What this place is, and the short answer on price

Yangju Nari Farm (양주나리농원) is a city-run flower farm in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, on the northern edge of the Seoul metro area. It covers about 66,155 square meters (roughly 16 acres) and opens twice a year, spring and autumn. The autumn season is the famous one: fields of globe amaranth (천일홍, cheon-il-hong) planted in rainbow stripes, plus pink muhly grass, kochia, and pampas grass. In autumn 2025 it drew 200,000 visitors in 45 days, according to a Kiho Ilbo report.

The 2026 autumn season, themed "Autumn is Yangju Globe Amaranth," runs like this:

Item	Autumn 2026
Dates	September 18 (Fri) to October 25 (Sun), 38 days
Hours	09:00 to 20:00, last entry 19:00
"Festival period" (for pricing)	Sept 26 (Sat) and 27 (Sun), Oct 3 (Sat) and 4 (Sun) — two weekends only
Address	812 Gwangsa-dong, Yangju-si, Gyeonggi-do
Closed before opening	Sept 12 to 17 (both gates shut for setup)
Contact	Yangju Agricultural Technology Center, +82-31-8082-7225 to 7227 (Korean)

Now the price. The official 2026 fee table separates the "opening period" (any regular day) from the "festival period" (those two weekends). If you are not a Yangju resident, which as a visitor you are not, an adult ticket is 7,000 won (about $5.10) on a regular day and 5,000 won (about $3.60) on a festival weekend. Either way you get 5,000 won back as a Yangju local voucher. So the real cost looks like this:

Non-resident adult	You pay	Voucher back	Net cost
Regular day (weekday or non-festival weekend)	7,000 won (~$5.10)	5,000 won (~$3.60)	2,000 won (~$1.45)
Festival weekend (Sept 26-27, Oct 3-4)	5,000 won (~$3.60)	5,000 won (~$3.60)	0 won

One honest caveat. The table gives Yangju residents a note saying their voucher is "festival period only," and the non-resident rows carry no such note, which is why the regular-day refund reads as valid all season. But no official sentence explicitly says "weekdays are refunded too." The math above copies the poster as printed; if you go on a weekday, confirm at the ticket window.

Photo: Fee table attached to the Yangju Agricultural Technology Center's 2026 autumn opening notice (made by Yangju City)

2. The full price table, and who gets in free

The ticket rules (from the 2026 entrance notice, based on the city ordinance) give a lot of people free entry, and nothing in the notice ties these exemptions to Korean nationality, so bring your passport as ID:

• Free: children 13 and under, seniors 65 and over, people with disabilities (and one companion for grades 1 to 3), national merit recipients and families, basic livelihood recipients, and several other Korean-specific categories.
• 50% off: city tour groups (show your ticket), families with three or more children (proof required), and residents of 14 Korean cities whose names end in "-ju" (Jeonju, Gyeongju, Jeju, Paju, Wonju, Cheongju and so on), which is a local quirk and will not apply to you.

Here is the individual table. The "child / teen / soldier" row exists, but the city never defines where "child" starts; since 13 and under is free, it presumably means teenagers.

Who	Category	Regular day	Festival weekend	Voucher back
Yangju resident	Adult	1,000 won	5,000 won	5,000 won (festival only)
	Child / teen / soldier	500 won	3,000 won	3,000 won (festival only)
Non-resident (you)	Adult	7,000 won (~$5.10)	5,000 won (~$3.60)	5,000 won
	Child / teen / soldier	5,000 won	3,000 won	3,000 won
	Discount-eligible	3,500 won	2,500 won	2,000 won

Groups of 20 or more pay less: non-resident adults 5,000 won on a regular day, 3,000 won on a festival weekend with a 3,000 won voucher back. Discount-eligible visitors cannot stack the group rate.

3. The voucher is paper local currency, and it only works inside Yangju City

This is the part that matters most for a traveler. Starting in 2026, the refund is paid in Yangju Sarang Gift Certificates (양주사랑상품권), a paper local currency accepted at merchants within Yangju City only, valid for five years (per the city's August 27 press release as reported by Newspim and Dailian). Last year it was a "Nari coupon" that expired November 9 and worked at only about 200 shops, so the new version is a real upgrade for locals.

For you, though, "valid for five years anywhere in Yangju" really means "spend it today, near the farm." You will not be back in Yangju next month. The practical options:

• Market booths inside the farm on festival weekends and other weekends through October 18 (local small businesses run food and craft stalls).
• Nearby restaurants. The city published a list of 60 restaurants near the farm that accept the local currency — 12 Korean rice-and-soup places, 10 barbecue and grill spots, 7 Japanese and Asian, 11 chicken, pizza and snack shops, 9 cafes and bakeries, 11 others. Think of the voucher as 5,000 won off lunch.

Photo: 'Restaurants near Yangju Nari Farm' guide attached to the Yangju Agricultural Technology Center notice (August 28, 2026)

Two things we could not confirm: whether the voucher is handed over at the ticket window on the spot, and whether tickets bought with a foreign credit card are refunded the same way. The official wording stops at "refunded in paper local currency." Carrying some cash for the ticket removes the second question entirely. If you have been, tell us in the comments how it worked.

4. Only two festival weekends, and both sit on Korean holidays

The 2026 Yangju Globe Amaranth Autumn Festa (hosted by Yangju City and its festival committee) runs its main program on September 26-27 and October 3-4. Some news pieces say "four weeks, September 26 to October 18," but the official poster and the festival site define the main event as those two weekends, with busking stages and market booths on weekends and holidays through October 18. The fee table's "festival period" is those two weekends too.

Photo: Official festival poster from cheonilhong.kr (Yangju City and Yangju Festival Promotion Committee)

Put that next to the Korean holiday calendar and the crowd picture becomes clear. Chuseok, Korea's harvest holiday, is September 24 to 26 in 2026, so the first festival weekend is the tail end of the country's biggest family-travel week; expect heavy traffic. October 3 is National Foundation Day, and because it lands on a Saturday, Monday October 5 is a substitute public holiday, giving the second festival weekend a three-day stretch. On that Monday morning the farm hosts a marathon.

October 5 marathon — registration closes September 28

• Start: 08:00 (assemble by 07:00) at Yangju Nari Farm.
• Courses: 3 km walk (with or without your dog) 15,000 won (~$11); 5 km, 10 km, and half marathon 50,000 won (~$36); capped at 3,000 entrants.
• Register: by September 28 at yangjurun.kr (Korean-language site; may close early when full).
• Perks: finishers of the timed races get a shirt, medal, snacks, a 10,000 won local voucher and a festival pass; the 3 km walk gets a medal, snacks, a 5,000 won voucher and a festival pass.

Unless you are racing, avoid arriving at the farm early on October 5; the start line and 3,000 runners will clog the entrance.

Photo: Marathon poster by the Yangju Sports Council (as published by Herald Economy, September 16, 2026)

Festival programming announced so far (September 10 reports): bubble magic shows and character performances for families on the September 26 to October 4 weekends, local artists on stage, and a redesigned layout that merges the flower fields and the event zone. As of September 16, 2026, the festival site's schedule, booth map and coupon pages still say "coming soon," so exact show times are not published yet.

5. When do the flowers actually peak? Not on opening day

This is where the reels and reality diverge the most. The city posted a drone photo taken on September 14 as its official "bloom status" update, and most of the striped fields are still green and pale purple. If you show up on September 18, you will probably not get the pink ocean from the videos.

Photo: Drone image from the Yangju Agricultural Technology Center's 'September 15, 2026 bloom status' post (taken September 14, Yangju City)

The city has not published a "percent bloomed" figure, so we will not guess a peak date. Last year's festival ran September 26 to 28 and this year's main weekends start September 26, so late September into early October is the safe window. The reliable move is to check the city's Nari Farm bulletin board (yangju.go.kr/atc) the day before you go; the "개화 현황" (bloom status) posts are photos, so you do not need to read Korean to judge them. Here is what full bloom looked like in autumn 2025:

Photo: Provided by Yangju City for the 2025 festival (as published by Munhwa Ilbo, September 25, 2025) — this is last year, not 2026

It is not only globe amaranth

The official 2026 pamphlet map lists 30 zones: globe amaranth, chrysanthemum, roses, cosmos, verbena, angelonia, kochia (zone 9), pink muhly (10), white muhly (11), aster, dawn redwood, two subtropical zones, silver grass (18) and pampas grass (19), hibiscus, canna, celosia, a water lily pond and more. The city says this year's layout uses 30-plus varieties in rainbow stripes, expands the subtropical zone, adds tram routes, and moved the ticket office to cut queue time. Tram fares and hours are not published anywhere we could find.

Photo: Provided by Yangju City Hall, autumn 2025 (as published by The Trip Pick, September 2025) — last year's scenery

6. Getting there from Seoul, parking, and the fine print

By subway and bus

• Take Seoul Subway Line 1 north to Yangju Station (양주역). Line 1 is the long blue line that runs through central Seoul, so you can board at Seoul Station, City Hall or Jongno and stay on. A T-money transit card works for the whole trip.
• Leave by Exit 2, walk to the Yangju Station bus stop (stop number 39439), take bus 80 or 77-1, and get off at Nari Farm (나리농원, stop 53735). This is the festival's official 2025 directions; no 2026 route change has been reported, but check a map app (Naver Map or Kakao Map work best in Korea) before you set out.
• On festival weekends the city explicitly recommends public transport because of congestion.

By car

Last year's festival guide listed four lots, 1,130 spaces in total, free (811, 812, 699 and 710 Gwangsa-dong). The 2026 pamphlet map shows lots by the entrance and near the Yangju Sports Center, but this year's capacity has not been published.

Before you go in

• Last entry is 19:00 even though the farm is open until 20:00. For sunset photos, be through the gate before seven. Night lighting is not mentioned in any 2026 material.
• Bring your passport if you are claiming the 65-and-over or child exemption.
• Children 7 and under must be with an adult (city ordinance).
• Dogs: unconfirmed for general entry. The marathon's 3 km walk officially allows dogs, but the 2026 farm notices say nothing about pets at the gate. Call ahead (Korean only) if you plan to bring one.
• Grab the pamphlet at the information desk by the ticket office. Collect the three "천·일·홍" stamps inside it, fill in your name, phone and shirt size, and you are entered in a draw for 100 festival T-shirts (drawn October 30; winners contacted directly). Wheelchairs and strollers are lent from the same desk.
• The drone center and the grass lookout are at the far western end of the farm on the map, furthest from the entrance.

If you want to turn this into a full autumn day out, the farm pairs well with an evening back in Seoul: our guide to the Seouldal tethered balloon ride in Yeouido covers prices and hours. And if you would rather stay out of the city overnight, see how Korea's national forest cabins are booked; the lottery system trips up first-timers.

The three things to remember

Go on a festival weekend (Sept 26-27 or Oct 3-4) and your 5,000 won ticket comes back as a 5,000 won voucher; any other day costs a net 2,000 won. Last entry is 19:00. Opening week is probably not peak bloom, so check the city's photo updates first. Save this page and re-open it the night before your trip to double-check the dates and the latest bloom photo, since the detailed festival schedule is still unpublished.

Been there? Drop a comment with how the voucher was handed out, what the tram cost, or anything that has changed. We will verify and update the post.

Sources: Yangju Agricultural Technology Center Nari Farm bulletin board — "2026 Yangju Nari Farm Autumn Opening" (posted August 26, 2026, with the official poster, fee table, pamphlet and entrance notice), pre-opening closure notice (Sept 14), "September 15, 2026 bloom status" (Sept 15), "nearby restaurants and local-currency merchants" (Aug 28); the 2026 Yangju Globe Amaranth Autumn Festa official site (cheonilhong.kr) event overview, directions and poster; the Yangju Nari Farm Management Ordinance (revised June 9, 2025); Newspim, Dailian and Edaily reports of August 27, 2026; Viva100 and Munhwa News reports of September 10, 2026; Herald Economy report of September 16, 2026 and the marathon registration site (yangjurun.kr); Maeil Shinmun and Vegan News reports on 2026 substitute holidays; Kiho Ilbo (October 2025); Munhwa Ilbo (September 25, 2025). All figures checked as of September 16, 2026; transit and parking details are from the 2025 festival guide. Dollar figures are rough conversions at about 1,380 won per dollar. Tram fares, pet policy, voucher hand-out method and the detailed festival timetable were not officially confirmed and are not stated as fact above.