Every summer, Daecheon beach, one of the largest sandy beaches on South Korea’s west coast, turns into one huge mud madness. Initiated as a marketing coup to promote the medicinal effects of the mud close to Boryeong in 1998, the Boryeong Mud Festival has since become one of the most popular and most international festivals in South Korea with more than 2 million visitors every year. While the festival lasts for two entire weeks, the last weekend is when the most action happens.
Boryeong Mud Festival: It’s All About The Mud!
As you might have guessed, this extraordinary festival completely centers on everything you can possibly do with mud. Around the so-called ‘Mud Plaza’, visitors can enjoy a wide variety of wellness treatments such as mud massages or interactive activities like making soap from mud powder and aroma oils.
For everybody who is looking for more action, the ‘Mud Experience Zone’ is the place to be. On the large inflatable slides, people lubricate themselves with the grey sludge and rush right down into mud-filled basins. A giant mud pool lets people enjoy baths in the medicinal slush as well as various activities such as wrestling, diving and many more. For the competitive crowd, there is a 5 km long obstacle course through the mud flats adventure park.
Getting down and dirty here is an absolute must! So you better don’t be a party pooper since anyone who wants to escape all the fun and tries to stay clean ends up in the ‘Mud Prison’ and gets an extra load of the grey sludge! But don’t worry, there are plenty of showers available on the festival grounds to get all the slush off your skin when the fun is over!
Apart from all the ‘mudness’, Boryeong Mud Festival has something on offer for everybody. With parades sponsored by the mascots ‘Muddori’ and ‘Mudsun’, pumping music raves and concerts, cultural activities as well as kid’s entertainment, nobody will have a dull moment at this amazing event.
How To Get There
Boryeong Mud Festival is approximately a two hour drive from all of the major cities in South Korea. The easiest way to get there is by bus from Seoul.
For the entire duration of the festival, there are direct buses leaving from the Central City Terminal. If you ask for directions, it is often referred to as ‘Express Bus Terminal’ in Seoul. The bus takes about 2h 30min and drops off passengers right at Daecheon beach, the location of the mud festival. Compared to the train or ordinary coaches, this ‘festival bus’ saves time and transfer!
Sign up for our newsletter and get the best of SunnySideCircus in your inbox!
The next Boryeong Mud Festival 2020 will take place from Friday, 17th July until Sunday, 26th July 2020.
Find more detailed information on event schedules, locations, admission and accommodation on Boryeong Mud Festival’s official website.
Find more events from South Korea here.
Go to other interesting issues on South Korea: Food & Drinks
Images:
Mud Fest 2008 1, Mud Fest 2008 2, Mud Fest 2008 3, Mud Fest 2008 4, Mud Fest 2008 5 by Hypnotica Studios Infinite, licensed under CC BY 2.0
