Getting around Seoul: T-money, subway exits, and the apps that actually work
Google Maps won't route you in Korea. Here is the small set of things that make Seoul easy on your own: one card, two apps, and the habit of reading exit numbers.
Seoul's subway is one of the easiest big-city systems in the world to use on your own. The part that trips up visitors is not the trains; it is the apps and the exits.
One card for everything
Buy a T-money card at any convenience store (GS25, CU, 7-Eleven) or airport kiosk and load it with cash at the store counter or a subway machine. It works on the subway, every city bus, taxis, and most convenience stores. Tap in and tap out. Transfers between subway and bus are free within 30 minutes if you tap out of the first ride.
If you have a Korean-issued card you can tap that too, but foreign credit cards do not work at turnstiles. Keep T-money.
The apps
- Naver Map is the one to install. Searching in English works for most places, and the transit directions are accurate to the minute, including which car to board for the fastest exit.
- Kakao Map is a fine second choice and sometimes has better walking routes inside neighborhoods.
- Google Maps shows places and reviews but cannot give turn-by-turn or walking directions in Korea. Use it to look, not to navigate.
- Kakao T calls taxis. Base fares are low by global standards and drivers rarely refuse a destination entered in the app.
Read the exit number
Big stations have 10 or more exits, and the wrong one can put you across an eight-lane road. Every place on a checked itinerary carries its exit number (for example, Anguk stn, exit 1). When you search in Naver Map, the route result tells you the exit too. Look for it before you climb the stairs.
A few habits that help
- Rush hour is roughly 7:30–9:30 and 17:30–19:30. Trains run, but Line 2 and Line 9 get genuinely packed. Plan museum hours or a long lunch over those windows.
- The last trains leave around midnight, earlier on some lines. After that it is taxis, which are easy to get except right after midnight in Hongdae and Itaewon on weekends.
- Elevators exist at nearly every station but are not always near the exit you want. If you travel with a stroller or someone who avoids stairs, the itinerary notes which exit has the lift.
- Eating on the subway is frowned upon; coffee in a closed cup is fine.
That is really all of it. Card, Naver Map, exit numbers. The rest of Seoul is walking.
#transit#subway#apps#basics
