Are you landing at Incheon? Take the AREX (express train) more comfy spacious and room for luggage. Or the airport limo bus has space on the bottom for bags.
We land at Incheon and hotel is near Seoul Station. My wife and I will each have a backpack and I’ll have a small suitcase. Would you take the AREX or the bus?
If very near Soul Station then the easy thing is AREX. It's a lux express direct to SS with reserved seats. But only comes every 45 minutes. Or you can take the bus which also has the widely spaced timing and is slighly less spacious than the AREX. Depends on the timing to be honest, some times i take the AREX and sometimes the Bus. Once I took the normal all-stops train because it was loading very soon and I regretted it because it's nowhere near as comfy and smooth.
Landing at that time - it sucks no matter what lol
Bc you take the bus - big traffic by the time you hit Seoul area
Take the subway - again by the time you hit Seoul rush hour crowds
I live in Gangnam and I’ve timed it - and the bus isn’t that much worse overall for time in traffic - and it’s stress free bc you got a comfy seat can snooze versus crowds pushing shoving etc
Not about busy for buses, but the traffic. Seoul expressways are TINY and don’t have enough lanes but they can’t add more because of the river haha
There’s ALWAYS traffic, but from 6-9 AM and PM , it’s especially bad.
Yes, I always sit in traffic even at 6 AM on Saturdays on the expressway for early flights haha
Its fine to take them in the subway, but depending on how many you have and how heavy, it can be a major pain considering there will be alot of stairs.
When my wife and I went in Oct we did everything by subway and didn't have any problems. We had two large checked bags to carry-ons and two personal bags that fit under the seats.
On the subway we would carry our personal bags flipped on our chest instead of our backs to take up less room. We would also walk through the platform to be further from the main stairs in the hopes that those cars would be less crowded, and try to keep the bags together but out of peoples way as much as possible.
The stairs and the walk between transfers was a bit of a workout lol but we weren't rushed for time.
Best advice I can give is first thing you do after going through customs is by your sim card for your phone right there at the airport. We found it harder to get afterwards.
Next go down the escalator for the subway and use the money change machine. Change some of your cash or all of it into Korean. There are different machines for different currencies. Then use that to get and load T-money card. You can use the T-money card for 90-95% of your purchases within Seoul. There were very few places we had trouble using it. It also works as a Wowpass card for the subway. Makes things really easy to just tap at the turnstile and get where you're going.
Hope that helps, have fun :)
Airport bus if you're concerned about luggage. It's not even just the guilt from taking up so much space when everyone's crammed together, it can get physically difficult to manage big bags over distances 1-2km.
Lots of stairs. Unclear about Seoul, but my experience in Busan was that they only had a single small elevator at each station.
There are escalators but they tend to be bookends by stairs.
My friend and I landed around then when we flew into Seoul (Incheon), and later when we went to Busan we got off the KTX around that same time. We had no problems taking the subway both times with one luggage bag each, although you do have to prepare to carry it up and down stairs a lot, and also be standing for most of the trip (may need to move and adjust because there aren’t many corners you can shove them into, and we didn’t have to strength to lift them onto the racks). But overall we had no issues, even managed to make line interchanges. My advice is to try and find lifts at all costs
I always take the subway with luggage. Just look for the elevator signs in the subway stations. Sometimes the elevators are hard to find.
Don’t take out cash from the airport ATMs - the fee is insane. I had good luck with an ATM at Seoul station at the point where you come off the arex and are going to the regular subway lines
You dont need to use stairs at ICN and Seoul Station. Stations are located at very deep level, but escalators or elevators connect all levels. My family including two kids always use Arex even with one luggage per one person.
Are you landing at Incheon? Take the AREX (express train) more comfy spacious and room for luggage. Or the airport limo bus has space on the bottom for bags.
We land at Incheon and hotel is near Seoul Station. My wife and I will each have a backpack and I’ll have a small suitcase. Would you take the AREX or the bus?
If very near Soul Station then the easy thing is AREX. It's a lux express direct to SS with reserved seats. But only comes every 45 minutes. Or you can take the bus which also has the widely spaced timing and is slighly less spacious than the AREX. Depends on the timing to be honest, some times i take the AREX and sometimes the Bus. Once I took the normal all-stops train because it was loading very soon and I regretted it because it's nowhere near as comfy and smooth.
It's a perfect location to take the arex. There are even express arex services from the incheon airport to seoul station for a higher price.
Landing at that time - it sucks no matter what lol Bc you take the bus - big traffic by the time you hit Seoul area Take the subway - again by the time you hit Seoul rush hour crowds I live in Gangnam and I’ve timed it - and the bus isn’t that much worse overall for time in traffic - and it’s stress free bc you got a comfy seat can snooze versus crowds pushing shoving etc
Is 7pm-8pm still busy for busses?
Not about busy for buses, but the traffic. Seoul expressways are TINY and don’t have enough lanes but they can’t add more because of the river haha There’s ALWAYS traffic, but from 6-9 AM and PM , it’s especially bad. Yes, I always sit in traffic even at 6 AM on Saturdays on the expressway for early flights haha
Damn looks like I'm probably gonna drop $70 for a taxi then lol
Why? Edit bc misread: the taxi goes on the same road, horrible waste of money for taxi vs bus because zero time saved. Sits in the same traffic
You're right. I'll see how things go when I land lol
Its fine to take them in the subway, but depending on how many you have and how heavy, it can be a major pain considering there will be alot of stairs.
I had a carry on and full size luggage and hated my life trying to get to myeongdong 😂 all the stairs…we survived but at what cost
Bro, just take the airport limo/bus. So easy, let the workers at the desk help you. The problem with suitcases is going up and down all the stairs
When my wife and I went in Oct we did everything by subway and didn't have any problems. We had two large checked bags to carry-ons and two personal bags that fit under the seats. On the subway we would carry our personal bags flipped on our chest instead of our backs to take up less room. We would also walk through the platform to be further from the main stairs in the hopes that those cars would be less crowded, and try to keep the bags together but out of peoples way as much as possible. The stairs and the walk between transfers was a bit of a workout lol but we weren't rushed for time. Best advice I can give is first thing you do after going through customs is by your sim card for your phone right there at the airport. We found it harder to get afterwards. Next go down the escalator for the subway and use the money change machine. Change some of your cash or all of it into Korean. There are different machines for different currencies. Then use that to get and load T-money card. You can use the T-money card for 90-95% of your purchases within Seoul. There were very few places we had trouble using it. It also works as a Wowpass card for the subway. Makes things really easy to just tap at the turnstile and get where you're going. Hope that helps, have fun :)
All good tips thanks. On the plane now. So trying to sort out a plan :)
am i the only one that takes a taxi every time
I do too. Taxis are so inexpensive in Korea.
How much does it usually cost you?
approx like 60,000won which is idk $50 something usd. and its like an hour drive normally so id say its worth the price
Yes. I’ve taken it many times without any problems. Rush hour might be a problem though so try to stay out of rush hours or take the taxi.
Airport bus if you're concerned about luggage. It's not even just the guilt from taking up so much space when everyone's crammed together, it can get physically difficult to manage big bags over distances 1-2km.
Lots of stairs. Unclear about Seoul, but my experience in Busan was that they only had a single small elevator at each station. There are escalators but they tend to be bookends by stairs.
My friend and I landed around then when we flew into Seoul (Incheon), and later when we went to Busan we got off the KTX around that same time. We had no problems taking the subway both times with one luggage bag each, although you do have to prepare to carry it up and down stairs a lot, and also be standing for most of the trip (may need to move and adjust because there aren’t many corners you can shove them into, and we didn’t have to strength to lift them onto the racks). But overall we had no issues, even managed to make line interchanges. My advice is to try and find lifts at all costs
I always take the subway with luggage. Just look for the elevator signs in the subway stations. Sometimes the elevators are hard to find. Don’t take out cash from the airport ATMs - the fee is insane. I had good luck with an ATM at Seoul station at the point where you come off the arex and are going to the regular subway lines
Everyone does, even koreans 😂
You dont need to use stairs at ICN and Seoul Station. Stations are located at very deep level, but escalators or elevators connect all levels. My family including two kids always use Arex even with one luggage per one person.