Getting around Korea

Non-stop to Seoul Station: 43 minutes from Terminal 1, 51 from Terminal 2, reserved seats. ₩13,000 per adult, ₩9,500 per child aged 6 to 12.

The same line, subway-style: about an hour to Seoul Station, with useful stops at Hongik Univ. and Gimpo Airport. ₩4,750 from Terminal 1 and ₩5,350 from Terminal 2 with a T-money card. The best time-for-money option.

Comfortable coaches to every district, often right to the door of major hotels. About ₩17,000 to ₩18,000, 60 to 90 minutes depending on traffic. The easiest with heavy luggage.

Between ₩65,000 and ₩100,000 to the centre, tolls included, for about an hour. Worthwhile for three or four people, or in the middle of the night.

Trains stop around midnight and resume around 5.30 am. In between, there are a few night buses and taxis.

A rechargeable card valid nationwide: subways, city buses, most taxis, convenience stores. It costs a few thousand won and is sold in any convenience store, including at the airport.

Cash only, at convenience stores or station machines. Load ₩20,000 to start; the remaining balance can be refunded before you leave, less a small fee.

Free between subway and bus if you tap out and change within thirty minutes. So always tap your card when getting off the bus.

Seoul's unlimited pass for visitors: about ₩5,000 for one day, ₩8,000 for two, ₩10,000 for three, ₩15,000 for five and ₩20,000 for seven. Valid on Seoul's subway and buses; not on the AREX express, the Shinbundang line, or outside the city. Pays off from four rides a day.

Six cities have one: Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon and Incheon. Numbered stations, English announcements, platform screen doors everywhere. In Seoul it runs from about 5.30 am to midnight.

In Seoul the colour shows the role: blue for trunk routes, green for neighbourhood feeders, red for the suburbs, and night buses carry an N. Board at the front, alight in the middle, tap twice.

Naver Map and Kakao Map tell you which subway car is closest to your transfer and the real arrival time of your bus.

The priority seats at the end of each car stay empty even at rush hour, as do the pink seats for pregnant women. People speak quietly, and let passengers off before boarding.

Since 1 September 2026 the two high-speed networks — KTX and SRT — have been merged under the KTX banner, with a single booking app, Korail+. Trains leave from Seoul Station, Yongsan (for the south-west) or Suseo, in the south of the city.

Fares dropped by about 10 per cent on that occasion: Seoul–Busan costs about ₩54,000 and takes 2 hrs 15 to 2 hrs 40. The slower conventional ITX and Mugunghwa trains cost half as much.

Sales open one month before departure, on Korail's site or app, in English and with a foreign card. Book early for Friday evenings, Sundays and public holidays.

An unlimited pass reserved for foreign visitors, for two to five days. It only becomes worthwhile from two long return trips: do the sums.

Numbered seats, no systematic ticket checks, relative quiet. Standing tickets exist when the train is full.

They go everywhere, including where the train does not — Sokcho, Andong or the small towns of the coast. They cost about half the high-speed train.

Standard, "udeung" with wide reclining seats, and premium with individual screens. The price gap is small; the comfort changes everything.

The Express Bus Terminal (lines 3, 7 and 9) for the south and east, Dong Seoul (line 2, Gangbyeon) for the east coast and centre, Nambu (line 3) for the south-west. Check carefully which one your bus leaves from.

At terminal counters and machines, with no need to book outside weekends and holidays. Online sales exist but sometimes refuse foreign cards.

Useful for Jeju only: Seoul Gimpo–Jeju is one of the busiest routes in the world, with a flight every few minutes and an hour's journey. There are many low-cost airlines; book through an international site if theirs refuses your card.

Affordable: the flag-fall is about ₩4,800 in Seoul, with a surcharge between 10 pm and 4 am. Few drivers speak English; use an app (k.ride, Kakao T or Uber), which sends your destination and shows the estimated fare.

A paper International Driving Permit is required in addition to your national licence. Pointless and painful in the big cities; very useful on Jeju, in the south-western countryside and for Ganghwado. The sat-nav is set by entering the destination's phone number.

Seoul has its public bikes along the Han River, Gyeongju is ideal by bike, and a cycle path of more than 600 km links Seoul to Busan.