Here are 5 things that I would have liked to know before traveling to Seoul, Korea. I hope these little tidbits of advice will help you out!
1. T-Money Card
If you know that you are going to be using the subway or bus for the majority of your stay in Seoul, I would recommend buying a T-money card.
Not only will having one save you the hassle of buying a single journey subway/bus ticket for every single ride you take, but you will also be charged less when using the card.
These cards can be found in convenience stores (starting from around ₩2,500) – and you can find some in the airport as well! So, once you get to the airport, you can purchase a T-money card before going to your first destination.
You will be able to “charge” (i.e., put money into) your T-money card at subway stations, and I believe also at convenience stores. Although, I am not a 100% sure about the latter as I always charged my card at the subway stations.
2. There are washrooms EVERYWHERE
“Why is this important Iman?”
“Why would you even care?”
“wut?”
All of these are valid questions. BUT
I know that whenever I go to European countries I find myself stressing over the fact that I have to pay to go to bathrooms (and so, I try not to drink liquids and try to schedule my day around my bathroom breaks – #firstworldproblems).
However, not only are there an abundance of free bathrooms in Seoul, but they are also so well taken care of! I can’t think of a time where I went into a public bathroom and it was not clean.
3. There is a lack of garbage cans
Know ahead of time that if you have to throw something out (e.g., a container that your take-out food was in or a coffee cup), you may have a harder time finding a garbage can than if you were in another country.
In Canada, there is an abundance of garbage cans all around. You don’t need to worry about having to carry your garbage around with you because you will find a garbage can somewhere every few minutes.
However, the opposite is the case in Seoul.
I did see some garbage cans in the subway stations, and I did see one or two in the streets – but they were so uncommon!
Interestingly though, the streets of Seoul were not filthy. In all the countries that I have visited, there is no doubt in my mind that Seoul has been one of the cleanest.
4. Easy to navigate
In Seoul, I would say that 99.9% of signs also have English written on them. Not only that, but the subways also announce each station in English (and Japanese, and Chinese).
So, don’t worry about not being able to find your destination.
I would, however, also recommend that you try learning the Korean alphabet before going on your trip – it is simple to learn and will help you very much when you do see subway stop names written in Korean.
The subway and bus system in Seoul is also magical. You can literally get wherever you want in a decent amount of time with the least amount of hassle.
5. People will help
Okay, so say you do get lost – what do you do?
Although people may not feel comfortable speaking in English, they will still go out of their way to help you and try to communicate with you.
Everyone I asked for help was so amazing. Even though I only knew very few words in Korean (and had horrible pronunciation of the words I did know), they still tried to help me get to my destination. One couple even got off at the bus stop I was wanting to get off at and walked me to the subway station I was looking for!
I hope these five tips and facts were helpful!
Is there anything else you would like to add to this list!
For some Seoul adventures, click here!
xx
It’s interesting that you found it easy to navigate Seoul. I always found the transfer stations confusing and got lost so many times trying to change trains. I didn’t always see English either. But yes to the T-money.
That’s really interesting, did you go recently? Because everywhere I went (thankfully) had English signs as well as the Korean ones – I wonder if perhaps that’s because I went to places where tourists might frequent often?
I was there for one year just outside of Seoul. Maybe there’s more English now because of the Olympics next year.
That would make sense! I wonder if it’s also because you were just outside of Seoul? (Totally guessing here, I have no idea since I haven’t actually gone anywhere in Korea other than Seoul) And how did you enjoy your one year stay? It must have been loads of amazing!
I was ready to leave after one year, but overall it was a good year.
Yes Korea people were so helpful with my suitcase everywhere but didn’t stay to chat. Also remember NEVER to sit on the free seat at the end of the subway carriage they are for elderly people. I was wondering g why I was the only one sitting until I realized !!! But people didn’t tell me off. Also if you went too far in the subway don’t think that you can get off at the next one and take à train in the opposite direction with the same ticket . Only in stations with the Korean flag. Otherwise you need to exit and pay again.
I’m so glad my friend told me about the subway seating when I first got on!! And I never knew about the last point you mentioned – thank you for sharing!!
I knew it from Japan but people in Korea are even stricter I thought. With all my bags I was glad to sit down though. ^^
I like the toilet section because I am terrified of dirty toilets and end up completely dehydrated on most trips. Assuring to know!
I am quite similar to you! I used to not drink enough water on trips because I hated having to use washrooms (especially when you don’t know what they’ll be like, or when one might be!) — but on a few of my trips I got quite dehydrated and realized that it wasn’t the smartest thing to do ahah. Better to be healthy and hydrated!