The subway and buses stop running around midnight?
The subway and buses stop running around midnight. What are my options for getting home late at night in Korea?
Note: This is an editorial persona question created from common experiences of foreign residents in Korea.
1 Answer
Once the subway and most buses stop, with last trains running roughly midnight to 1am depending on the line, you still have solid options. The most common is a taxi through the Kakao T app, which works nationwide and lets you set the destination on the map so there is no language barrier; just note that late-night taxis add about a 20 percent surcharge, typically midnight to 4am, and on weekend nights demand is high so it can take a while to catch one. Many cities also run night buses, and in Seoul these are the Owl Bus (올빼미버스), the blue N-numbered routes that run through the night on major corridors between roughly midnight and 5am, cheap with a T-money card.
If you are out until dawn, waiting for the first subway around 5:30am is a very Korean solution, and it is easy because the city stays alive late with 24-hour cafes, restaurants, PC rooms, and jjimjilbang saunas. Jjimjilbang are an especially popular and cheap place to shower, rest, and even sleep a few hours until transit resumes. For intercity trips some late trains and buses run, but those do end, so plan ahead. On weekend nights especially, deciding in advance whether you are catching the last train, taking a Kakao taxi, or simply waiting out the night saves a lot of stress.