Transit

T-money card

Buy a T-money card at any convenience store (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven, Emart24) for ₩4,000, then load cash onto it at the same store or at any subway station kiosk. You tap it on:

• Subway turnstiles in every city
• City buses
• Taxis (most accept T-money)
• Even some convenience-store purchases

Transfers between subway and bus within 30 minutes are essentially free. A typical 10-km subway ride costs around ₩1,500.

Subway

Seoul has 23+ lines covering nearly the entire metro area. Stations are bilingual (Korean / English) and announcements are usually in four languages. Service runs roughly 5:30 AM to midnight. Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, and Incheon all have their own systems.

Buses

• Blue — long-distance arterial routes within the city
• Green — feeder routes connecting to subway
• Red — express routes to suburbs / Gyeonggi-do
• Yellow — short downtown loops

Use Naver Map or Kakao Map to plan — Google Maps still struggles with Korean transit.

Intercity travel

KTX high-speed rail connects Seoul to Busan in ~2.5 hours (₩59,800). SRT serves similar southern routes, usually slightly cheaper. Intercity buses (express bus terminals in Seoul) cover everywhere the trains don't and are very cheap.

Taxis and ride-hailing

Kakao T is the standard app — book a regular taxi, black taxi (premium), or large van. Uber operates in Korea but only through Kakao's network. Base fare for regular taxis is ₩4,800 (Seoul), with a small late-night surcharge.