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Seoul Markets in Rain, Heat and Cold: What 155 Reviews Report

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📄Which Seoul market works in the rain? What 155 reviews say about rain, summer heat and winter at Gwangjang Market, Namdaemun Market and Mangwon Market.

A market vendor in a padded jacket, red apron and face mask holds out a plate of red tteokbokki above steaming pans of rice cakes and fish cake skewers, with clear plastic sheeting behind the stall

💡Quick Answer

Weather changes each Seoul market differently, going by 155 reviews. Gwangjang Market is covered: eleven reviews recommend it in the rain, and 35 say it is hot or stuffy inside, 34 of them dated June to September. Namdaemun Market is mostly outdoors: thirteen reviews struggled with heat there, and five from 2025 and 2026 describe a new canopy over the main street. Mangwon Market is a covered arcade that seven reviews call rain-proof. In the cold, 22 reviews say the hot food is the point.

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Rainy Day in Seoul: Gwangjang Market and Mangwon Market Are Covered

A market is partly a building, and the reviews notice. Across Gwangjang Market, Namdaemun Market and Mangwon Market, 155 reviews say something about rain, heat, cold or the roof over their heads.

🌦️ What the review says	Gwangjang Market (1,458)	Namdaemun Market (1,376)	Mangwon Market (1,089)
Says it works in the rain because it is covered, or recommends it for a rainy day	0.8% (11)	0.1% (2)	0.6% (7)
Describes it as covered, indoor or an arcade, without mentioning rain	0.9% (13)	0.3% (4)	0.6% (6)
Went on a rainy day and says so	0.5% (8)	0.4% (5)	0.0% (0)
Says it was hot, stuffy or humid, or that the heat spoiled the visit	2.4% (35)	0.9% (13)	0.3% (3)
Mentions air conditioning, or going into a shop to cool down	0.6% (9)	0.3% (4)	0.0% (0)
Went in the cold or in winter and says so	1.0% (15)	1.0% (14)	0.8% (9)
Says hot food is the best part of a cold day there	0.7% (10)	0.5% (7)	0.5% (5)

Twenty-four reviews describe Gwangjang Market as covered, indoor or an arcade. Eleven of them say it works in the rain, or recommend it for a rainy day. Six of the eleven are written in Japanese.

Good to explore especially during rainy day since it is covered. — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, September 2019

Eight Gwangjang reviewers went on a rainy day and say so. Three of them report that the rain thinned the crowd or closed some shops:

Although it was raining quite heavily, which probably kept some people away, the main areas with food vendors were still bustling and vibrant. — Google Maps review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, July 2025

Mangwon Market gets the same description on a smaller scale. Thirteen reviews call it covered or an arcade, and seven say it can be visited in the rain or in any weather.

it’s clean, bright, and super comfortable to walk through regardless of the weather — Google Maps review of Mangwon Market, 5 stars, August 2026

The trade-off: the roof that keeps the rain off Gwangjang Market also keeps the heat in. The section on summer below is the other half of this one.

Namdaemun Market in Rain and Heat: An Outdoor Market Getting a Roof

Namdaemun Market is the exposed one. Reviews describe streets of stalls in the open, with shops inside buildings and an arcade underground. Five reviewers went on a rainy day, and three reviews say the rain spoiled the visit: one could not enjoy it, one found shops closing early, and one, in Japanese, rates rainy weather with a single cross.

Rainy weather they are still on! — Google Maps review of Namdaemun Market, 5 stars, May 2025

Heat does more damage than rain. Thirteen reviews, every one dated June to September, say the heat made the market hard going.

with the extreme summer heat in Korea I had to walk outdoor between the shops or buildings — Google Maps review of Namdaemun Market, 4 stars, August 2026

This is changing. Five reviews from 2025 and 2026 describe a canopy over the main street. Two, from February and May 2025, saw it under construction:

construction works being carried out to build a shelter over the shop houses — Google Maps review of Namdaemun Market, 5 stars, May 2025

Three describe it as built. One of them, in Japanese in November 2025, says the main street is now a clean arcade that is safe in the rain, and wishes it reached as far as the subway entrance. We did not verify how much of the market is covered today.

The trade-off: the reviews of Namdaemun Market written before 2025 describe a market the canopy has partly replaced. For rain and heat, the older a review is, the less it tells you.

Summer Heat at Gwangjang Market: 35 Reviews Say It Is Hot Inside

The most common weather comment about any of the three markets is that Gwangjang Market is hot. Thirty-five reviews say it was hot, stuffy or humid, which is 2.4% of its sample, against 0.9% at Namdaemun Market and 0.3% at Mangwon Market. Thirty-four of the 35 are dated June to September.

As it is peak summer, the temperature is very warm and humid, without much ventilation. — Google Maps review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, August 2025

I wouldn’t recommend that time of year because it was pretty muggy — Google Maps review of Gwangjang Market, 5 stars, July 2025

It does not sink the visit. Thirty-one of the 35 still rated the market four or five stars. One reviewer disagrees outright, writing in May that the roof lets the air move.

Two reviews connect the heat to the food. One, in Japanese, describes cooked ingredients sitting out at 36 degrees before being reheated to order, and says it made them uneasy. One, in Korean, describes food left unprotected at 30 degrees and reports that the group fell ill afterwards. These are two reviewers’ accounts, and we have no way to check either.

The trade-off: summer is when the cold noodles are on the menu and when the hall is at its most uncomfortable. Four reviews advise a cooler season or an evening visit instead.

Where Reviewers Cooled Down at Gwangjang Market and Namdaemun Market

Thirteen reviews describe a way out of the heat without leaving the market. Nine are about Gwangjang Market: air-conditioned sections, a few air-conditioned shops, and the restaurants along the sides of the hall.

If you need A/C, then pick a restaurant on the sides to sit in. — Google Maps review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, July 2026

One Korean-language review from July 2026 draws the line exactly: some parts felt cool enough to walk in comfort, and the food stalls in the middle were hot. Two other reviews say the stalls have no air conditioning or poor ventilation.

Four are about Namdaemun Market, and they point down and in: the underground arcade, the wholesale buildings, a restaurant in the food alley.

there are many gate to the underground market which air-condition and good place to cool down the summer heat — Google Maps review of Namdaemun Market, 4 stars, August 2024

The trade-off: the cool seat is not the stall bench. Reviewers who went into a restaurant to escape the heat ate the same dishes and gave up the part of Gwangjang Market that people come for.

Winter: Hot Food, Heated Benches and Too Cold to Linger

Thirty-eight reviews describe going in the cold: fifteen at Gwangjang Market, fourteen at Namdaemun Market and nine at Mangwon Market. Twenty-two of them say the hot food is the best part: noodle soup, dumpling soup, fish cake in broth, hotteok straight from the oil.

At Gwangjang Market five reviews, dated 2019 to 2024, mention that the benches at the stalls are heated.

the seats are heated — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 5 stars, January 2020

At Namdaemun Market three reviewers bought their winter clothes on the spot. One cut the visit short because of the cold, and another advises going by day:

in the winter go during the day as it does get cold! — Google Maps review of Namdaemun Market, 5 stars, March 2025

Mangwon Market is covered but not closed. Two reviews say it gets very cold in winter. One, in Korean, says it is too cold to look around for long, and the other says the market is open enough to the air to be very hot in summer as well.

If you’re planning to visit during winter, be sure to dress warmly! — Google Maps review of Mangwon Market, 5 stars, March 2025

The trade-off: cold is the weather these markets are best in, by the reviews’ own account, and it is the weather in which you will stay the shortest time.

Methodology

Figures come from the SeoulFoodTour research corpus. This article uses the rated reviews of the three markets for which we hold a representative sample, collected without filtering by rating: 1,458 for Gwangjang Market, 1,376 for Namdaemun Market and 1,089 for Mangwon Market, from Google Maps and TripAdvisor. A second pass aimed at low ratings is never counted here.

What was read. We searched the 3,923 reviews for words about rain, snow, heat, cold, the seasons, roofs and air conditioning, in every language in the sample. The search returns 279 reviews, and many are false alarms: a cool market, hot soup, a warm welcome. All 279 were read and sorted by hand, and 155 say something about the weather at the market: 88 at Gwangjang Market, 42 at Namdaemun Market and 25 at Mangwon Market. A review can count in more than one row.

Dates. The month of a review is the month it was posted, which is usually close to the visit and not always the same.

Counts are floors. A review that describes the weather without any of the words we searched for is not counted.

What was not verified. We did not check the current state of the canopy at Namdaemun Market, which sections of any market are air-conditioned, or whether the benches at Gwangjang Market are still heated. Those are current facts, and the reviews are dated reports.

Quotations. Every quotation is from a review written in English and is reproduced exactly as it appears in the original record, spelling included. Reviews in other languages are counted and described in our words, never quoted.

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Is Gwangjang Market covered? Is it good for a rainy day?+

Twenty-four reviews describe Gwangjang Market as covered, indoor or an arcade, and eleven of them say it works in the rain or recommend it for a rainy day. Eight reviewers went on a rainy day; three of those say the rain meant fewer people or some shops closed, and the food areas are described as busy all the same.

Is Namdaemun Market indoors or outdoors?+

Mostly outdoors, in the reviews, with shops inside buildings and an underground arcade. Three reviewers say rain spoiled the visit. Five reviews from 2025 and 2026 describe a canopy being built over the main street, or already built. We did not verify how much of the market it covers today.

Is Mangwon Market covered?+

Thirteen reviews describe Mangwon Market as covered or as an arcade, and seven of them say it can be visited in the rain or in any weather. One review says it is open enough to the air to be very hot in summer and very cold in winter.

Is Gwangjang Market too hot in summer?+

Thirty-five reviews say Gwangjang Market was hot, stuffy or humid, and 34 of them are dated June to September. It is the most common weather comment about any of the three markets. Thirty-one of the 35 still rated the market four or five stars.

Is there air conditioning at Gwangjang Market?+

Nine reviews from 2025 and 2026 say that some sections, shops or the restaurants along the sides are air-conditioned, or describe going into one to cool down. Two say the food stalls in the middle have no air conditioning or poor ventilation. We did not verify it.

What is Gwangjang Market like in winter?+

Fifteen reviews describe going in the cold, and ten of them say the hot food is the best part: noodle soup, dumpling soup, fish cake broth. Five reviews, dated 2019 to 2024, mention heated benches at the stalls. One reviewer who went at about minus 15 degrees advises dressing for it.