Gimbap Festival 2026 in Gimcheon: Oct 23-25, Seoul Shuttle, Shows

Image generated with Gemini 3.1 Flash Image (background scene) for illustration purposes.

Last checked: 2026-10-21 · Sources: festival notice board · festival website · shuttle bus notice · zone timetable notice · Ministry of Culture festival listing · What changed recently: on October 19 the festival posted its stage timetable, parking and facilities notices; with the October 6 shuttle and Sopung Taxi notices, they now give the free bus hours and gaps, the taxi call-center number, four car parks and the exact concert slots. Weekend opening is 09:00.

Korea's festival about gimbap, the seaweed rice roll, returns to Gimcheon in North Gyeongsang Province for its third edition on Friday October 23 to Sunday October 25, 2026. If you saw the city's pop-up at Lotte Department Store Jamsil in early October, this is the main event it was promoting. The festival site sits in the parks beside Jikjisa Temple, and this year the city is running a booked shuttle straight from Seoul.

This guide is built from the official festival website (gimbapcity.kr), its venue map and lineup posts, and the Gimcheon City press release of September 10, 2026, all checked on October 3. On October 21 I read through every 2026 notice on the festival's board again, including the image-only posters for the shuttle, the taxi, QR ordering, the zone timetable and parking, and updated each section below from them.

The basics

Item	Official information
Dates	Fri Oct 23 – Sun Oct 25, 2026
Hours	Fri 10:00–18:00 · Sat–Sun 09:00–18:00
Venue	Jikji Culture Park, Samyeong-daesa Park and the Gimcheon eco-park next to them
Edition	3rd
Entry	No ticket is mentioned for general entry; the concerts are marked free
Festival office	053-965-0910 (event agency)
City tourism policy team	054-420-6714

Sources: festival website, 2026 venue map notice, Ministry of Culture festival listing.

On October 3 the site header gave 10:00–18:00 for all three days, while the vendor notices said 09:00–18:00. By October 21 the header had settled it: 10:00 on Friday, 09:00 on Saturday and Sunday, closing at 18:00 every day.

What is on: four zones

The 2026 venue map splits the grounds into four themed zones.

Zone	What the official program lists
Gimbap Plaza (main stage)	Opening and closing concerts, a "gimbap factory" where you watch rolls being made, local premium gimbap made with Gimcheon produce, snacks, a dessert zone, a flea market, and a riverside rest area
Gimbap Heaven	Regional gimbap from across Korea, a curated gimbap corner by Jeong Da-hyeon, a build-your-own gimbap workshop, award-winning rolls from the city's gimbap cooking contest, a busking stage and a gimbap literature exhibition
Event Gimbap Zone	Stage events, limited-edition gimbap, the official Kkodari mascot goods shop, hands-on booths, sponsor booths and a picnic lawn
Gimbap Playground	Kids' shows, an all-season sledding slope, a gimbap bounce house, a gimbap maze and craft booths

The city's press release says the festival will have more than 60 kinds of gimbap, plus gimbap art displays, a gimbap train and the goods shop. Every zone in the program is listed as running all three days.

Free concerts and the stage timetable

The festival's lineup cards carry the line "this day only, free" for every act, and the zone timetable posted on October 19 puts the headline sets on the Gimbap Plaza main stage.

Date	Time (Gimbap Plaza)	Act
Fri Oct 23	16:00–16:30	Bobby Kim (R&B, soul)
Sat Oct 24	13:30–14:30	Park Young-jin's gimbap talk concert (comedian)
Sat Oct 24	16:00–16:30	Jadu (pop, dance)
Sun Oct 25	16:00–16:30	Cheeze

Before each headliner the same stage runs two half-hour local sets at 15:00 and 15:30, from the Gimcheon city choir on Friday to a university taekwondo team on Sunday. The Gimbap Heaven busking stage has sets at 13:00 and 15:00 each day, the Event Gimbap Zone ends each afternoon with a DJ set at 15:30–16:30, and Gimbap Playground has magic, juggling and bubble shows between 14:30 and 16:00.

I compared the lineup cards with that timetable. The card for the Dongmi Bicycle Band says it plays every day at 13:30 and 15:30, but the band is not on the October 19 zone timetable, so I could not tie it to a stage.

Getting there from Seoul: the Kakao T shuttle

The September 10 press release from Gimcheon's tourism policy team announced a direct shuttle from Seoul, and the festival's October 6 Kakao T shuttle notice shows how to book it.

• Cities: Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju and Busan, each straight to the festival.
• Seoul pickup points shown in the app screenshot: Jamsil Station (in front of Lotte Mart Zettaplex), Sadang Station (about 200 m from exit 14) and Seoul Station (about 350 m from exit 15).
• Drop-off: Jikji Culture Park.
• Booking: in the Kakao T app, tap "전체 서비스 보기" (all services), then "셔틀" (Shuttle), open the local-festival list, pick "2026 김천김밥축제", choose your area and request the shuttle.
• Extras: every rider gets two Kkodari goods and one gimbap roll, and 30 riders are drawn for a new goods set worth 30,000 won.

Neither the notice nor the release gives departure times, the fare or seat numbers; they appear only inside the app when a route is open. If you are visiting on a foreign phone number, open Kakao T and confirm it lets you book before you rely on this option. A city release reported on October 1 adds that the Seoul routes use 28-seat limousine buses.

By train, then the free local shuttle

The KTX stop is Gimcheon (Gumi) Station; Gimcheon Station serves conventional trains. From both, and from the Gimcheon Sports Town car park, the city runs free shuttle buses to the festival. The festival's own shuttle poster gives the stops, the interval and the hours; I cross-checked them against the city's October 5 release, which adds the bus numbers and the drop-off:

Item	What the city published
Price	Free
Stops	Gimcheon Sports Town car park, KTX Gimcheon (Gumi) Station, Gimcheon Station
Buses (city release)	40 from Sports Town, 14 from the KTX stop, 6 from Gimcheon Station
Drop-off	Jikji No. 2 public car park, by the festival (city release)
Interval	About every 20 minutes, adjusted to traffic
Hours	Fri Oct 23: 10:00–19:00 · Sat–Sun Oct 24–25: 08:00–19:00
Breaks	No buses 12:00–13:00 and 16:00–17:00
Perk	1,000 won off at the Daejeong Gimbap booth if you wear the wristband handed out on the bus

The break at 16:00 matters because the headline concerts run 16:00–16:30: if you leave at the end of a set, the next bus runs from 17:00.

Sopung Taxi (관광 DRT)

The city's demand-responsive taxi runs between Gimcheon Station, KTX Gimcheon (Gumi) Station, the Sports Town and Jikjisa, according to the October 6 Sopung Taxi notice.

Item	Official notice
Hours	08:00–21:00 on festival days; calls taken until 20:30
Fare, one way	8,000 won from Gimcheon Station or KTX Gimcheon (Gumi) Station; 5,000 won from the Sports Town
Passengers	Up to 4
Payment	Pay the driver on board the fare the app shows
How to call	The Sopung Taxi app (Google Play and App Store, live from October 19) or the call center, 1877-8293
Questions	Gimcheon City traffic administration, 054-420-6251

Driving and parking

The parking notice of October 19 marks four car parks by the grounds: P1 Geungnakjeon (500 cars), P2 Daeungjeon (200), P3 Geungnakwon (150) and P4 the Jikji public car park (250). It warns that they are expected to fill early in the morning and asks visitors to use the shuttle. For that, it points drivers to the Sports Town car parks and the roads near the two stations; during the festival the city pauses its 16 enforcement cameras around the shuttle stops, but cars that block traffic or sit in no-parking zones can still be fined.

Ordering gimbap by QR

The festival's QR ordering notice of October 14, made with Kakao Pay, is one of the few posts with English text on it. Scan the booth's QR code, pick your gimbap and order; a KakaoTalk message tells you which booth number to collect from. Each person can buy two rolls per vendor, except at the gimbap factory. QR ordering opens at 10:00 on Friday and 09:00 on Saturday and Sunday. The gimbap factory, desserts and snacks are paid at each booth instead.

The facilities notice adds wheelchair and stroller rental desks, a nursing room, baggage storage and free restrooms, labelled in English on the map.

How it fits an October trip

Gimcheon falls in the same week as the Gangneung Coffee Festival, Oct 21-25, on the opposite coast, so pick one per day rather than trying both. For other dates and holidays this month, see Korea in October 2026 and Korea's October 2026 festivals with English info.

Quick checklist

1. Lock in the day: Friday for Bobby Kim, Saturday for Jadu and Park Young-jin, Sunday for Cheeze.
2. From Seoul, open Kakao T, go to Shuttle and look for the festival's Jamsil, Sadang or Seoul Station departures.
3. If the app will not book on your number, reserve KORAIL seats to Gimcheon (Gumi) and take the free shuttle, avoiding the 12:00–13:00 and 16:00–17:00 gaps.
4. Save 1877-8293 for the Sopung Taxi, 053-965-0910 (festival office) and 054-420-6714 (city tourism team).

What this article could not confirm

• Kakao T shuttle fares and departure times. Shown only in the app.
• The bus numbers and the drop-off car park for the free shuttle. The festival poster leaves them out, and the city's own site blocked my direct reads, so they rest on the October 5 release as Seoul Economic TV carried it.
• English help on site. Yonhap reported on October 13 that one of five information booths is for foreign visitors, with interpreters. The festival's notices label the information centers in English but do not mention interpreters.

Check gimbapcity.kr's notice board before you travel; the shuttle notice is titled "2026 김천김밥축제 셔틀버스 운행 안내" and the timetable "2026 김천김밥축제 구역별 타임테이블 안내".

Related on this site

• Gangneung Coffee Festival 2026, Oct 21-25
• Korea in October 2026: holidays and what is open
• Korea's October 2026 festivals with English info

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