Getting around
Transit refunds only work if you register
Buying a card gives you nothing back. You need a Modu-ui Card, registered on the website, and at least fifteen trips a month before any refund starts. Seoul's unlimited 30-day pass ended on 1 October, and a single nationwide refund scheme now does its job.
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KTX tickets go on sale at 7:00, two months ahead
KTX and other train tickets go on sale at 7:00 on the same date two months before departure. The window grew from one month to two on 1 October 2026. If you cannot use a Naver or Kakao identity check, buy on KORAIL's site for foreign visitors, and use the email address and password you entered there to find your ticket again. Non-member booking in the KORAIL+ app and on the Korean website only lets you pay after that identity check. If your plans change, the cancellation fee depends on the day your train leaves. For a Monday to Thursday departure, cancelling is free until 3 hours before the train goes.
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Getting a train or bus out of Seoul for Chuseok
Holiday train booking ran through one Korean-language page, for KORAIL members only, on a day fixed by each line, and all of it closed on 11 September. Since 15:00 on the 11th, whatever is left has been on open sale to anyone in the app, on the website and at station counters, membership or not. If the train you want is sold out, join the waiting list. Express buses have been on sale since 25 August and keep selling until an hour before departure, and cancelling one two days ahead costs nothing.
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Riding city buses in Seoul
The color tells you half of what you need. Blue and green stay in the city, red runs to Gyeonggi-do, N means night. You tap a card on and off just like the subway, and quite a few routes no longer take cash at all.
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Changing trains on the Seoul subway
Find the color of the line you are changing to and follow it, and you are done. You almost never pass through the gates again, and even boarding in the wrong direction costs nothing if you fix it within 15 minutes.
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How to ride the Seoul subway
One card covers almost everything. Tap when you get on and tap again when you get off, and the rest is easy.
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Riding a bike along the Han River
One Ttareungi pass covers almost the whole Han River bike path. As a visitor you buy a foreigner pass with a card issued outside Korea, and the part that trips people up is not the price but the way the clock works. Electric scooters follow completely different rules, so as long as you stay on the bicycle side of that line, this is simple.
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From the airport to where you are staying
Even with heavy bags, tired, and late at night, the ways from the airport to your place come down to a few. If your address is right, the rest is not hard.
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