Travel in Korea

It’s good to get out of the house and the regular routine. If you don’t have enough time or money to hit another part of Asia, don’t miss out on what’s often right under your nose. There is lots to do and much to see if you’re willing to take a little initiative. If your motivation isn’t very big or you’re not sure where to start, some of these groups offer planned excursions.

• Adventure Korea: This is a travel group that organizes trips for foreigners of all persuasions around Korea and into North Korea on occasion. The man who runs it is particularly interested in seeing everyone enjoy what Korea has to offer. The trips tend to fill up quickly and suddenly, so try to sign up as early as possible (and make sure you pay right away!).

Inter-city Buses

If you’re taking a trip to one of the rural areas of the country (or basically anything short of a major center), you can use the inter-city bus system. If you’re going to a major center, try the express buses below first. Inter-city buses tend to make many stops at little communities along the way and spend a lot of time on secondary highways which have much lower speed limits than the express highways used by the express buses.

You need to be able to read a little Korean to read the timetables, but the intercity bus schedules are available here. The blue buttons across the top next to the bus icon are the stations in Daejeon, the first column of the table below is the destination, the middle section the departure times, and the rightmost column the current ticket price.

Express Buses

These buses travel between major centers via the express highways. They cost only a little more than the intercity buses and are much, much faster.

The timetable for express buses is available here. Reading the table is the same as that listed above for the inter-city buses.

Trains

Korean trains have three classes: Mugunghwa, Saemaeul and KTX.

The Mugunghwa is the basic train, and although it’s the cheapest it is quite comfortable. When the train seats are full in Mugunghwa class people buy standing tickets. This makes for very packed trains at peak seasons (Chuseok and Solnal holidays) since the trains run on time even when the highways are jammed. These trains will stop at most every station on the line.

Saemaeul trains are the first-class tickets on the standard train lines. They don’t go everywhere but to exist on most of the major routes. They are usually separate trains from the Mugunghwa trains, some with meal service. They tend to stop at fewer stations than the Mugunghwa and before the KTX were considered express trains.

The KTX is Korea’s high-speed train (speeds up to 300km/h). They travel on two major routes: Seoul to Mokpo and Seoul to Pusan. These lines branch at Daejeon, making travel to the densely-populated edges of the country possible quickly and cheaply. Tickets for the KTX to Seoul are 2-3 times more expensive than the buses and get you there in 55 minutes. Depending on where you’re heading in Seoul and where you’re starting from in Daejeon, the bus can be just as fast as the KTX.

Maps:

National Train Routes Map

Chungcheong Area

Gangwon Area

Gyeonggi Area

Honam Area

Yeongnam Area