2,000 drones light up Chuncheon's autumn sky in largest show yet

Uiam Lake, one of Chuncheon's signature tourist attractions, is reinventing itself as a stage for night tourism, drawing visitors long after the sun goes down.

Chuncheon is combining drone shows with the scenic backdrop of Uiam Lake and Chuncheon Bridge to keep tourists in town longer and channel their spending into local restaurants, cafes and accommodation.

The season finale of the 2026 Chuncheon Lake Drone Light Show took place Saturday, with a swarm of 2,000 drones painting the night sky with images including a girl holding a star and a horse with wings spread wide. Colorful lights reflected off the surface of Uiam Lake and blended with the illuminated Chuncheon Bridge to create a striking nightscape. Each new formation drew gasps from the crowd, with many spectators reaching for their phones to capture the moment.

Saturday's performance was the last of this year's series. The city staged the show under the theme "Autumn night in Chuncheon under starlight," deploying 2,000 drones — the largest fleet used in the series to date.

Chuncheon hopes the drone show will grow beyond a spectacle into a night tourism draw that keeps visitors in the city through the evening hours.

The plan is to layer drone shows on top of the city's existing daytime nature tourism — centered on its mountains and lakes — to extend visitor stays and funnel spending into local businesses.

In practice, crowds of residents and tourists had already gathered around Munhwa Plaza Forest and the Hwadong 2571 area before the show began Saturday, with outdoor pop-up bars, food trucks and DJ sets adding to the atmosphere.

Integrating advanced drone technology with established attractions such as Uiam Lake and Chuncheon Bridge is seen as a key competitive advantage. Because the drones can be programmed to tell different stories tied to the seasons and local culture, organizers believe that staging the show on a regular schedule and linking it to nearby businesses could turn it into a signature overnight tourism product for the city.

"We will connect night tourism content with the broader local tourism offering to extend visitor stays and inject new energy into the local economy," Chuncheon Mayor Yuk Dong-han said.