Transport and the shape of the city in Seoul

T-money and fares

A T-money or Cashbee card covers the subway, buses and taxis, and is topped up at convenience stores and station machines. Fares are distance-based and you must tap both on entry and exit, including on buses — failing to tap out costs you a penalty fare on the next journey. Transfers between subway and bus within a set window are free or discounted, which is what makes multi-leg journeys cheap.

• Buy T-money at any convenience store; top up with cash there or at station machines.
• Tap in and tap out, on buses as well as the subway.
• Free or discounted transfers apply within a time window across modes.
• The Climate Card offers unlimited monthly travel within Seoul for a flat fee — worth pricing against your commute.

Subway, bus and rail

The Seoul metropolitan subway is extensive, punctual, clean and signed in English, and it reaches well beyond the city into Gyeonggi Province. Buses are colour-coded by function — blue for trunk routes, green for local feeders, red for express services into the suburbs, yellow for circulating within a district — which tells you what a route does before you look it up. Intercity travel runs on KTX and SRT high-speed trains from Seoul and Suseo stations.

• Blue trunk, green feeder, red suburban express, yellow district circulator.
• Subway runs until around midnight, with late-night bus routes filling the gap.
• KTX and SRT tickets are bought through the operators' apps, which want a verified local identity.

Taxis and driving

Taxis are plentiful and cheap by international standards, and Kakao T is how almost everyone hails one, which also removes the language problem because you set the destination in the app. Street hailing late at night in busy districts can be difficult. Driving in Seoul is possible but rarely worth it: parking is scarce and charged, traffic is heavy, and residential parking in older neighbourhoods is a genuine constraint on where you can live with a car.

• Kakao T for hailing; payment is taken through the app once a card is registered.
• An International Driving Permit has a limited validity; converting to a Korean licence is the longer-term route.
• Ask whether a flat comes with a parking space before you assume one exists.

Airports and getting out

Incheon handles nearly all international flights and sits well west of the city, connected by the AREX airport railroad — an express service to Seoul Station and an all-stops line — and by limousine buses that pick up across the city. Gimpo is much closer and handles domestic flights plus short-haul services to Tokyo Haneda, Osaka, Shanghai and Taipei, which is worth knowing when booking regional travel.