Seoul's subway is one of the best in the world — fast, spotless, cheap, and signposted in English on every platform and every exit. The only thing standing between you and it is the card, and that takes five minutes to sort out.
Get a transport card on day one
Buy a T-money card at any convenience store — CU, GS25, 7-Eleven, Emart24 — or from a machine in any subway station. It costs around ₩3,000, and then you load it with cash at the counter or the machine.
Two things nobody tells you:
- The ₩3,000 is not a deposit. You don't get it back. Only the unused balance is refundable, at a convenience store when you leave.
- One card can pay for several people. Tap it once per person at the gate. Useful for a couple or a family — you don't need four cards.
T-money works on subways, buses and taxis nationwide, not just Seoul. The same card will pay for a bus in Busan or Gyeongju.
What it costs
The base fare is ₩1,550 for the first 10 km. Beyond that it's roughly ₩100 more per 5 km. Most journeys inside central Seoul are the base fare, and even crossing the whole city rarely passes ₩2,000.
Paying cash for a single-journey ticket costs more and requires a ₩500 deposit you have to claim back from a machine at the other end. Use the card.
The transfer discount is the real saving
This is the part worth understanding, because it turns four journeys into one fare.
Tap out, and you have 30 minutes to tap into your next bus or train and have it counted as a transfer rather than a new fare. Between 21:00 and 07:00 you get 60 minutes. You can do this up to four times — five rides in total on one continuous fare.
It works across modes: subway to bus, bus to bus, bus back to subway. The catch is that you must tap out as well as in, every time, including on buses. Miss the tap-out and the system can't see a journey ended, so your next ride starts a fresh fare — and you'll be charged a penalty on the one you didn't close.
Should you get a Climate Card instead?
Seoul sells an unlimited-travel pass, the Climate Card (기후동행카드), with short-term versions aimed squarely at visitors:
| Pass | Price |
|---|---|
| 1 day | ₩5,000 |
| 2 days | ₩8,000 |
| 3 days | ₩10,000 |
| 5 days | ₩15,000 |
| 7 days | ₩20,000 |
Unlimited subway and bus inside Seoul for the period. The maths is simple: the 1-day pass beats T-money once you make four or more journeys in a day. On a sightseeing day in Seoul that's easy. On a day where you walk one neighbourhood, it isn't.
Things to know before you buy one:
- Foreign visitors must use the physical card, not the phone app.
- It covers Seoul. Travel out to Suwon, Incheon or the DMZ and you're paying separately.
- On the Airport Railroad it only covers Gimpo Airport to Seoul Station. You can get off at Incheon T1 or T2 at no extra charge, but you cannot board there — so it won't get you into the city when you land.
- Paying with a foreign card adds roughly a 3.7% service fee.
One caveat on timing: Seoul is in the middle of changing this scheme — the 30-day version is being retired and replaced, while the short-term visitor passes continue. Check the current options when you arrive rather than assuming.
Riding it
- Lines are numbered and colour-coded. Line 2 (green) is the circle line and passes most of what you came for.
- Exits are numbered, and the numbers matter — a big station can have fifteen, several minutes' walk apart. Every Korean giving directions will say "Exit 6", never "the north entrance". Signs at each exit list what's nearby.
- Platform screen doors everywhere, with the car number above them. Apps tell you which car to board for the fastest transfer at the other end.
- Free wi-fi on trains and platforms.
- Seats at the end of each car are priority seating for elderly, pregnant and disabled passengers. Koreans leave these empty even when the train is packed. Do the same.
- Eating, and phone calls on speaker, are frowned on. Nobody will say anything — everybody will notice.
Use the right app
Naver Map or KakaoMap. Not Google Maps — Korean law restricts the export of mapping data, so Google's walking and transit directions are patchy to unusable here. Both Korean apps have full English interfaces, and both give you the platform, the transfer car and the exit number.
Download one before you fly, and search place names in Korean where you can — copying the Hangul straight into the search bar finds things the English name often won't.
Late night
The subway stops around midnight (last trains vary by line — check the app, not the clock). After that it's taxis, which are cheap by European or North American standards, or the owl buses (올빼미버스), night routes numbered with an N, which run roughly 23:30 to 06:00 and take the same card.
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