Lavender has emerged as the defining keyword of June travel in South Korea, and the country's flagship lavender event — the Mureung Byeolyucheonji Lavender Festival in Donghae, Gangwon Province, themed "Lavender in Starlight" this year — reached its final day Sunday.
Even after the festival closes, the lavender at Mureung will continue to bloom for a while, greeting visitors with its purple hues.
Beyond Donghae, nearby Yangwon Lavender in Uljin-gun and lavender festivals in Goseong and Pyeongchang, both in Gangwon Province, remain in full swing.
Mureung Byeolyucheonji, which opened in 2021, was creatively reclaimed from a limestone quarry that had been mined for four decades. The site has since been transformed into an unusual tourist destination featuring diverse activity facilities, an emerald lake and sweeping lavender fields.
The festival grounds, awash in purple, center on a vast lavender garden dotted with atmospheric photo zones. New installations debuted this year, including a lavender suspension bridge.
A purple-themed flea market, a bubble show, a lavender trail and a DJ booth offered a wide range of experiences designed to draw families and the MZ generation alike.
Organizers expanded hands-on activities and participatory events, pushing the festival beyond passive sightseeing into a multi-sensory, stay-and-experience format. Night lighting was significantly enhanced, and operating hours for major attractions — including a sky glider and an alpine coaster — were extended to showcase a side of the grounds distinct from the daytime experience.
Additional programming deepened the atmosphere: singing-bowl meditation sessions, an acoustic busking performance amid the lavender and a purple-themed pop-up store all added to the character of the visit.
Play areas including the Kkumoeum Playground were also fitted with additional night lighting, allowing families and children to enjoy the festival safely and comfortably during the cooler evening hours.
Family visitors turned out in particularly large numbers throughout the festival. A preview event held over two days the week before drew about 11,000 people, and roughly 30,000 visited over the opening weekend of June 13 and 14. Organizers now expect total attendance to surpass 100,000 for this year's festival.
Yangwon Lavender in Jeongok-ri, Geumgangsong-myeon, Uljin-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, is welcoming group visitors as a healing garden from this month through July.
Situated at 400 meters above sea level, the site is free of the noise that comes with large tourist attractions. Amid the quiet of a mountain village, visitors can immerse themselves in lavender blooms — the same shade of purple beloved by BTS fans worldwide.
Beyond the flower fields, a forest of Korean red pine stretches into the distance, and nearby stands Yangwon Station, a stop on the Baekdudaegan Gorge Train. Stepping off the train and setting out along a mountain path is enough to slow the pace of travel.
Yangwon Lavender began as a private garden tended for a family member battling cancer. That family's care grew into a field of flowers, which has since expanded into a group healing destination for those seeking rest for body and mind.
The surrounding village of Jeongok-ri is being developed into a themed village that revives mountain-village culture and the lives of slash-and-burn farmers through a Geumgangsong mountain resort village development project.
This year, Yangwon Lavender is also running therapeutic programs for cancer patients and those in recovery — including a Lavender Healing Day — primarily for group visitors.
Visitors walk through the flower fields, gaze into the forest and breathe in the fragrance, steadying the hurried, shallow breath that city life leaves behind.
Hani Lavender Farm in Eocheon-ri, Ganseong-eup, Goseong, Gangwon Province, is running its lavender festival through June 28, with no closures in June.
During this season, the small village at the foot of Mount Geumgang transforms into a floral hamlet where purple lavender fields grow alongside poppies, California poppies, rye and snapdragons.
The appeal of Hani Lavender Farm extends well beyond the flower fields. A vintage-style garden, a fragrance shop, charming walking paths and the farm's own buildings together evoke an inland summer that stands apart from Goseong's coastal scenery.
Visitors stroll through the lavender, enjoy fragrance experiences and pause for photographs throughout the garden.
Lavender-infused ice cream is a small but memorable treat unique to the farm.
In Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, Herb Nara Farm in Bongpyeong's Heungjeong Valley offers a lavender encounter set to the sound of a mountain stream. Recognized as South Korea's first herb-themed farm, it grows lavender, sage, buckwheat and a variety of other herbs across more than 10 distinct gardens.
Walking through named spaces — a Shakespeare Garden, a Palette Garden, a Children's Garden — visitors find lavender revealing itself not as a single scene but as a series of unfolding impressions.
Valley, forest, herbal fragrance and flower-lined paths combine to create the cool, unhurried summer that Pyeongchang is known for.
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