Getting Around Korea
Trains first, then buses, flights, ferries and the car — and how to use them without speaking Korean
South Korea is a train country. The KTX, the high-speed train, links Seoul with Busan, Gyeongju, Jeonju, Gwangju, Mokpo and Gangneung in two or three hours, and it is easy to book in English. Express buses reach the places the train does not and cost less. Jeju is an hour's flight away, and it is the one place where a hire car makes sense for most visitors. Inside the cities, a T-money card pays for the metro, buses and most taxis.
- Between cities: the KTX, booked on Korail's English site with your passport.
- Where the train does not go: an express bus, bought at the terminal counter.
- To Jeju: fly from Gimpo, then hire a car — or use the island's buses.
- Inside cities: a T-money card, topped up with cash, and Naver Map for directions.
How this page was madeWe have not yet been to South Korea. Everything here comes from the operators, the government sources and the reporting named on the page, checked in October 2026. When we go, we will say so here.
Last updated 22 October 2026
Choose how to travel
Most first trips need only the first and last rows of this table.
| Mode | Best for | Reach | Booking or payment | Typical cost basis | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KTX and SRT trains | The main corridors between cities | Seoul to Busan, Gyeongju, Jeonju, Gwangju, Mokpo and Gangneung | KTX: Korail's English website with a passport and foreign card; SRT: foreign-card booking unconfirmed | Per seat; Seoul–Busan ₩59,800 standard | Peak days sell out; the station may be outside the old centre |
| Express and intercity buses | Towns without a fast train, and saving money | Almost every town in the country | At the terminal counter by foreign card; online booking for visitors still patchy | Per seat; Seoul–Busan ₩24,000–29,000 standard | Slower; less English; two terminals in some towns |
| Domestic flights | Jeju | Gimpo and other airports to Jeju; a few mainland routes | Airline websites | Per seat; varies widely with season | Airport time eats the saving on mainland routes |
| Ferries | Ulleungdo, and Jeju with a car | Mokpo and Wando to Jeju; Pohang, Gangneung and Mukho to Ulleungdo | Operator sites or the port; original passport required | Per person; vehicles extra | High waves and fog cancel fast ferries |
| Hire car | Jeju and the countryside | Everywhere | Rental firms; International Driving Permit needed | Per day; a small car on Jeju from about ₩45,000 | Unnecessary in cities; permit and insurance to arrange |
| City metro, buses and taxis | Getting about inside a city | Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon and Gwangju have metros; buses and taxis everywhere | T-money card; taxis also by card or app | Per journey, distance-based | Bus announcements less often in English |
The journeys that shape the route
Six journeys teach most of what a visitor needs. Each time runs from one station or terminal to the next, not from door to door; add the walk or the metro at each end.
| Journey | Best way | Time | Booking | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incheon Airport to Busan | AREX train to Seoul Station, then the KTX | About 3½–4½ hours with the change | Book the KTX once you know your landing time | No fast train runs from the airport itself since 2018; allow an hour for the change |
| Seoul Station to Gyeongju | KTX to Gyeongju Station, then a local bus | About 2 hours, plus 20 minutes into town | Korail | The station is outside the city; it was called Singyeongju until 2023 |
| Seoul to Jeonju Station | KTX — check which Seoul station your train leaves from | About 1½ hours | Korail | Or an express bus from the Central City terminal in Seoul |
| Seoul to Gangneung | KTX-Eum from Seoul or Cheongnyangni | About 1 hour 55; ₩27,600 | Korail; about ten trains a day | Cheongnyangni has more departures than Seoul Station |
| Seoul to Jeju | Flight from Gimpo | About 1¼ hours in the air | Airline websites | Add the trip to Gimpo and check-in; a ferry from Mokpo takes about 4½ hours |
| Busan to Gyeongju | KTX | A little over half an hour | Korail | Gyeongju Station is outside the town; a local bus takes about 20 minutes into the centre |
Using the national system
Pick how you’ll travel, or show all seven.
KTX and SRT
Trains
Book on Korail's English website: there is no need for an account, you choose "Foreigner", enter your passport number exactly as printed, and pay by foreign card.
- Book
- Korail’s English website; no account needed
- Pay
- Foreign card
- On board
- Your e-ticket and your passport
- Watch for
- Friday and Sunday evenings and holidays sell out
On the train you show the e-ticket and carry your passport. In August 2026 Korail replaced its KorailTalk app with a new one, Korail+, which books both KTX and SRT trains for journeys from 1 September.
Few visitors have yet reported using Korail+ with foreign cards, so keep the website as your fallback. The SRT is a separate high-speed service from Suseo, in south-east Seoul, to Busan and the south-west; we could not confirm that visitors can now book it online by foreign card.
Seats open about a month ahead; one report says from 60 days since October 2026, which we could not confirm. On ordinary weekdays you can usually book a few days ahead; for Friday and Sunday evenings and the Seollal and Chuseok holidays — 6–9 February and 14–16 September in 2027 — book as soon as you can. Our guide to the Korea Rail Pass works out when an unlimited pass pays for itself.
T-money
Cards for the metro, buses and taxis
One card, T-money, pays for the metro, city buses and most taxis in every Korean city. Buy it for ₩2,500–4,000 at a convenience store or station machine, including at the airport, and top it up with cash at the counter.
- Buy
- T-money, ₩2,500–4,000, at stores and stations
- Top up
- With cash, at the counter
- Covers
- Metro, city buses and most taxis
- Watch for
- Foreign bank cards don’t open the gates
Tap in and tap out on the metro and buses: the transfer discount depends on it. You cannot yet tap a foreign bank card at the gates. Seoul also sells its own unlimited tourist pass, the Climate Card, for 1 to 7 days, which suits a long stay in the capital and nothing beyond it.
Express and intercity
Buses between cities
Express buses run non-stop between big cities; intercity buses stop on the way and reach the small towns. Without Korean, the main express routes are manageable but harder than the train.
- Buy
- At the terminal counter, by foreign card
- Online
- Bustago and InterCity Bus apps
- Seoul–Busan
- About 3½–4 hours; the KTX takes 2½
- Watch for
- No toilet on board; one stop on long routes
The ticket counter is the surest way to buy: every one of the 243 intercity terminals has taken foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB and UnionPay cards at the counter since July 2024, and showing the staff your destination written in Korean avoids any confusion.
Online booking for visitors is improving but uneven: the intercity apps Bustago and InterCity Bus take foreign cards, and express buses were due to accept them on the Kobus site from August 2026, which we could not confirm had happened.
Your ticket gives the departure time and the platform or gate; match them to the terminal's departure board, and check the destination on the bus before you load your case into the hold. We could not confirm whether ticket machines, the signs on the buses or the announcements are in English, so do not count on it.
Buses have no toilets; on long routes they stop once at a motorway service area, and you must be back on board by the time the driver gives. Seoul–Busan takes about 3½–4 hours, against the KTX's 2½; premium buses, with about 21 wide reclining seats, are the comfortable choice for a long ride.
From what we have read: take the KTX wherever it goes, and keep the bus for the towns it does not reach.
— Andrew + Margaret
Jeju and Ulleungdo
Flights and ferries
Jeju is the reason most visitors fly. Several airlines link Gimpo, Seoul's domestic airport, with Jeju in about an hour and a quarter, many times a day; fares swing widely with the season.
- Fly
- Gimpo to Jeju, about 1¼ hours, many daily
- Sail
- Mokpo or Wando to Jeju; three ports to Ulleungdo
- Bring
- Your original passport, not a copy
- Watch for
- Waves and fog cancel fast ferries
Ferries carry visitors and cars from Mokpo (about 4½ hours) and Wando (about 2½ hours) to Jeju, and from Pohang, Gangneung and Mukho to Ulleungdo. Take your original passport: a photocopy or a photo on your phone is refused. High waves and fog cancel fast ferries, so leave a spare day around an island trip.
Naver Map, k.ride
Maps, apps and taxis
Install Naver Map before you travel. Google Maps shows places and public transport in Korea but, as of late August 2026, still gave no turn-by-turn directions; Google has given no date for full navigation.
- Install
- Naver Map, before you travel
- Taxis
- Metered and good value
- Taxi app
- k.ride works with a foreign number
- Watch for
- Google Maps gives no turn-by-turn directions
Naver Map and Kakao Map give walking routes, platform numbers and live bus times; search by the Korean name if an English one fails.
Taxis are metered and good value. Kakao T, the main taxi app, needs a Korean phone number; k.ride, from the same company, works with a foreign number and card, and Uber works through its local taxi partner, UT, mainly in Seoul. Our guide to staying connected covers the phone data the apps need.
Train, bus, taxi
Travelling without a car
Most visitors never need a car: the trains and express buses join the cities a first or second trip uses, and taxis cover the last few kilometres. Off the railway the pace slows, so plan one move a day.
- Spine
- KTX between the main cities
- Small towns
- A bus, then a taxi
- Pace
- One move a day
- Watch for
- Places a bus reaches only once or twice a day
| Place | Without a car | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Seoul, Busan, Gyeongju, Jeonju, Gwangju, Mokpo, Gangneung | KTX, then the city's metro, buses or a taxi | The spine of a car-free trip; fast and frequent |
| Small towns and temples off the railway | Express or intercity bus, then a taxi | Slower, and fewer departures; plan one place a day |
| Sokcho and Seoraksan | Express bus — Sokcho has no railway yet | A day's travel from Seoul either way; worth a night |
| The DMZ | An organised tour from Seoul | Visits are arranged through tours; see our DMZ guide |
| Jeju | The island's buses, or taxis | Workable along the coast; for the interior take a taxi or a day tour, or leave it out |
Without a car, leave out places a bus reaches only once or twice a day unless you can stay the night there. If you miss the last bus, a taxi to the nearest KTX station or express terminal is the fallback.
Sokcho: no railway yet, as our Korea itinerary research found. DMZ visits: see our DMZ guide.Hire car
Driving and hiring a car
Korea drives on the right, and the steering wheel is on the left. The law first: GOV.UK says a UK licence on its own is not enough, and you need the paper International Driving Permit in the 1949 format, carried with your licence. US and Australian permits are usually in that format too, but we could not confirm it from their governments; check yours before you travel.
- Licence
- Yours plus a 1949-format International Driving Permit
- Hire
- Usually 21+, a year’s driving, a credit card
- Best for
- Jeju and the countryside, not cities
- Watch for
- Speed cameras; 30 km/h near schools
Then the rental firms' own terms: most require you to be at least 21 with a year's driving, and a credit card for the deposit. A car is not worth having in the cities, where the metro is quicker and parking is scarce; we found no dependable figure for city parking charges. It comes into its own on Jeju and in the countryside.
| Item | Typical price |
|---|---|
| Small car (Kia Morning, Chevrolet Spark) | ₩45,000–65,000 a day |
| Mid-size car (Hyundai Avante, Kia K3) | ₩70,000–100,000 a day |
| SUV (Kia Sorento, Hyundai Tucson) | ₩110,000–150,000 a day |
| Zero-excess insurance | ₩32,000–50,000 a day extra |
| Petrol | ₩1,500–1,800 a litre |
Motorway tolls are usually charged through the car's Hi-pass tag and added to your bill. Speed cameras are everywhere, and the limit outside schools is 30 km/h. We found no published guide to realistic driving times on Jeju, so allow plenty.
Car-seat guidance for families reports that Korean law requires a child seat for children under 6 in a private or hired car, and that taxis are exempt; we could not confirm the rule from the law itself. Ask the rental firm for a seat when you book, and bring a travel seat if you plan to use taxis with small children.
Travelling with children
The train is the easiest way to travel with children.
Travel guides report that under-6s ride the KTX free without a seat of their own and that 6–12-year-olds pay about half; Korail sells four-seat tables facing each other at a discount, and a family discount we could not confirm visitors can use. Check the child fare when you book, since we could not confirm it from Korail.
On the Seoul metro, Seoul's tourism guide says under-6s travel free and older children need a registered youth T-money card; we could not confirm whether visiting children can register.
By the end of 2025 every Seoul Metro station had at least one step-free route, so a pushchair is manageable in Seoul; we found no equivalent figure for KTX stations, other cities' metros or ferry terminals.
From Incheon, the AREX train to Seoul Station is the simplest transfer with a pushchair and bags. Long bus rides have no toilet on board, which matters with small children; the train is the better choice for a long day. On Jeju, a car with a child seat is the practical choice with young children.
Keeping the journey on the road
Most journeys in Korea are uneventful. They go wrong in three ways: a sold-out train on a busy day, a phone that cannot find the way, and a visitor at the wrong terminal or without the right document. The train, ferry and passport points are covered above; three more habits deal with the rest.
- Save every address in Korean script before you leave home, so you can show a driver or a ticket counter where you are going even when your phone has no signal.
- Check the terminal and the station by name. Many towns have separate express and intercity bus terminals, and some KTX stations are outside the old town, as Gyeongju's is.
- Carry some cash for topping up a T-money card at a convenience store, where foreign cards are not taken.
Ask at the ticket office or the port about a refund or the next service, and keep your booking reference. For help in English at any hour, call the Korea Travel Hotline on 1330.
A final word on getting around South Korea
From what we have read, Korea is one of the easiest countries in Asia to cross without a car: book the train, carry a T-money card and Naver Map, and keep the bus and the hire car for the places the railway does not reach.
Andrew + Margaret
- Visiting South Korea Overview
- South Korea itineraries Journeys
- How many days in South Korea Decide
- Do you need the Korea Rail Pass? Decide
- Jeju Island Overview
- What South Korea costs Practical
- Staying connected in Korea Practical
- Can I cycle in South Korea? Decide
- The KTX from Seoul to Busan Journeys
- Busan to Mokpo by train Journeys