Getting Around

Subway & Buses

Which app to use, how to read a bus stop, and the mistakes that cost you time.

Use a Korean map app, not Google Maps

Google Maps cannot give walking directions in Korea because of mapping data restrictions. It is close to useless for getting from A to B on foot. Install Naver Map or KakaoMap before you arrive — both have English interfaces.

For public transport specifically, KakaoMetro or the transit view inside either map app will tell you which car to board so you exit next to the right staircase. That is a small thing that saves several minutes per transfer.

Subway basics

• Lines are numbered and colour-coded, and every station has an English name and a number.
• Signs and announcements are in Korean and English throughout.
• Tap in and out. Missing the tap-out charges you later.
• The last train is around midnight — earlier than you might expect for a big city. Check the time of the last train, not just the last transfer.

Buses

Buses are colour-coded by role rather than by route: blue for long trunk routes across the city, green for shorter local feeders, red for express routes to outer areas, and yellow for short circular routes in the centre.

1. Check the bus number on your map app, not the destination text — routes are signed in Korean.
2. Wave or step forward as it approaches. Buses do not always stop if no one is visibly waiting.
3. Board at the front, tap on.
4. Press the stop button before your stop.
5. Get off at the rear door and tap off.

Korean buses pull away briskly. Be seated or holding on before that happens rather than after.

Mistakes that cost you time