Getting around in Korea

Travelling around in Korea is not difficult and transportation is not as expensive as compared to in Japan. I would like to recommend tourist to buy T-money card (similar to our Ezlink card). This card is easy available in any convenience stores, roadside stores and subway stations. As long as there is a T-money logo displayed outside the stores, you can purchase the card from them.

You may want to have a initial top up value of 5000 won when you purchase you card. You can subsequently top up at any subway station. 5000 won may be used for approx 3-4 rides depending on your journey. You can use T-money for bus ride. The minimum bus fare could starts from approx Sin$1.50. Usually we will top up 10,000 won which can last for approx 3 days.
The card will be expired within 30 days. Just recharged the card during your next visit to Korea and card will be activated again.

Travel by Train
The subway has 8 Lines and they are differentiated by different colours. Be prepared to walk many stairs as most stations we visited do not have escalators (The lift is usually for old folks). To make thing worse, most of the time, you have to transfer from 1 Line to another and each transfer means that you got to get up and down of the stairs to go to another Line. My friend's ankle was swollen after our trip. I guess that is why the Korean women have nice and slim legs. Another point to note is that there are designated seats for the elderly in the train. Even if the train is crowded, most young people will not sit on that designated row.

Travel by Bus
The bus stops sign are easy to read and understand. All stops are labelled in Korean and English names. Below is an example of how the signage look like at each bus stop. However, do not underestimate the distance between each stop. Their distance between 1 stop is equivalent to our 4-5 stops in Singapore.


Travel By Taxi
I have also tried taxi and price was slightly expensive compared to Singapore. For about 15mins ride, the fare was approx Sin$12-$15. It is still affortable if you really need to take one. However, I find that the local taxi driver have problem reading map and could not recognise destination in English names. We took a cab and despite showing him the map where the hotel is located, he has no idea where it is. Half way through, he get out of the taxi (which give us a fright thinking he has abandoned us) and ask for direction from other locals. But he is very honest as he gave us discount because he had made a detour to reach our destination. Therefore, it will be good if you can ask the local to write destination in Korean name so that it will be more convenient for them to locate the place.

Useful Link :
Seoul Metropolitan Subway:-
http://www.smrt.co.kr/Eng/index.jsp
To get a Korea travel guide or to know more infomation, you may visit the official site:-
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto