A Mud-tastic Adventure!

South Korea has blessed the world with chart-topping music and delicious dishes but the country’s greatest treasure might just lie in its festival calendar! Home to some of the biggest and best music festivals in the world, such as Electric Daisy Carnival and World DJ Festival, Korea’s biggest international summer festival is, in fact, the Boryeong Mud Festival. The annual event takes place on South Korea’s west coast along Daecheon Beach in Boryeong-si and welcomes thousands of international visitors to the epic event each year. 

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Mud Festival Facts

Boryeong Mud Festival is the largest international festival in Korea and takes the cake with a record-breaking amount of foreign visitors each year. 

The experience-based festival has been crowned the most memorable event in Korea; allowing visitors to enjoy a wide range of well-being events, as well as a variety of adrenaline pumping mud games and more. 

The festival has won 14 local and global awards for Best Festival, Best International Festival, Excellence in Festival Safety and many more. 

It has also been designated as the ‘Republic of Korea Global Foster Festival’ by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

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Origins of the Boryeong Mud Festival

The festival dates back to the late ’90s, with the first ever Boryeong Mud Festival being held in 1998. The event last 4 days and featured 16 programs. More than 30 million tourists participated and caused a ripple effect on the economy, producing great profits.

‘From the 4th edition onwards, the festival was extended to 7 days and has successfully implanted its image as the ‘mud capital’ of the world.’

The festival takes place on the coastal city of Boryeong; with a coastline rich in sea mud minerals. Boryeong initiated the sea mud business back in 1996 and has since developed a wide range of mud cosmetic products, with research showing that Boryeong mud has more healing properties than the mud from the Dead Sea!

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Why Mud?

While Mud might seem a little out of the ordinary, it actually reaps a wide range of benefits. The usage of mud dates back to ancient times, with records of mud being used in Cleopatra’s make-up; as well as in many cosmetics, traditional skin beauty products and skin disease treatments in China. Mud contains a wide range of effective components, which helps prevent skin ageing; by improving skin vitality and elasticity. It is also an invaluable component of physical therapy in sand baths, anti-bacterial saunas and more. 

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What happens at Boryeong Mud Festival

Boryeong Mud Festival is to Korea what Rio Carnival is to Brazil; so you can only imagine how big this event gets! This year’s edition will feature 10 days of mud-packed action. Throughout the entire duration of the event, you can find the Boryeong Local Products Fair and speciality boutiques selling mud beauty products and souvenirs. 

You can also take part in the coloured mud experience, featuring coloured mud painting, activities for the kids and more. A number of special events are also scheduled throughout the week, such as the Yacht Parade, the Mini Mud Parade on Daecheon Beach and the Citizens’ Plaza Festival. You can enjoy a mini water park in the middle of the beach at the Sea-Side Mini Water Park; featuring inflated slides, tubes and more. 

For the ultimate muddy experience, you can register to participate in the Mudflats Games, featuring mudflats wrestling, football and more! In the evening, you can enjoy a range of music from Korean and foreign artists at the Citizens’ Plaza Open Performance Stage; or the exciting EDM clubbing experience on the beach at the Mud-Night Mob Scene. 

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Plan Your Trip

The Boryeong Mud Festival takes place at Mud Square at Daecheon Beach. You can find the event at 897-15 Daehae-ro, Boryeong-si, Chungcheongnam-do. The main site of the festival is Daecheon Beach, a 3.5km long beach resort; famous for being one of the best summer vacation spots in the West Sea. Located just two hours outside of Seoul, Boryeong is easily accessible by car and public transport. You can find out more about how to get to Boryeong here. 

Photo credit: Boryeong Mud Festival