The Most Popular Christmas Pop-up in Seoul: Le Grande Theater

The Hyundai hosts a massive Christmas pop-up every year and 2024 is no different! To follow up last year’s H Village, The Hyundai is hosting a festive circus themed holiday market this year, Le Grand Theatre. And spoiler, it is quite the spectacle.

Just like last year, The Hyundai Seoul set up their holiday decor to start on November 1st and online reservations for the entire month was filled up in 15 minutes flat. So, now what?

There’s so much to do in December that it would take us days to write it out in a list… so we did.

Check out our list of Things to do in Korea, December.

How to visit the Le Grand Theatre

If you missed out on reservations, you can still sign up for the virtual queue on-site. For anyone with a Korean phone number, you can scan any of the QR codes located by the escalators on the 2nd through 4th floors.

If you don’t have a Korean phone number, you’ll have to visit the 5th floor where the pop-up is in order to receive a physical ticket. That’s right, you don’t need a Korean phone number or KakaoTalk to reserve your spot in line.

We went on the weekday and ended up getting in after a relatively short 2 hour wait. That’s essentially lunch and browsing the mall. If you arrive on a weekend, expect a much longer wait, not to mention much denser crowds.

What is there to do at Le Grand Theatre?

Last year’s H Village was an immersive recreation of a French Christmas market. Le Grand Theatre is a massive detailed recreation of a turn-of-the-century circus show. There are several different tents which offer small shows featuring 2D cutout characters walking tight ropes, hanging from rings and dancing across stages.

It feels much more active compared to last year and many of the tents accomodate multiple groups of visitors at once making it a much shorter wait for each “photo zone”. There are intricate designs, animatronic bears, and beautifully realized hot air balloons to make you feel like you’re really in a different world.

And, of course, no Christmas popup is complete without actual shops. There are The Hyundai’s branded teddy bears, ornaments, jams and chocolates. Much of the food comes imported from Europe, so expect to pay a bit of a premium if you indulge.

Is it worth the visting?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is yes, if you’ve got the time for it.

The entire pop-up requires at least half an hour to walk through, but more likely an hour to take photos for the ‘gram and videos for the ‘tok. That being said, it’s not a bad way to spend an hour when you’re already browsing through one of the nicest malls in Seoul.

Where is Le Grand Theatre?

Le Grand Theatre is located on the fifth floor of The Hyundai Seoul. The QR codes for the virtual queue are located by the escalators on each floor from the 2nd to the 5th.

Location:

The Hyundai (Naver Map, Google Maps)

How much does it cost?

There is no entry fee to go to Le Grande Theater. There is quite a long wait, but entry is free. On the other hand, there is merch and shopping to be done in the pop-up that does cost money.