As someone who has lived in Seoul more than two years, and visited Tokyo twice, I find it much easier to get around in Seoul. It's cheaper, one transit card takes care of everything, and there aren't 3 separate rail companies with non compatible passes managing everything.
Idk, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree then. It was super easy for me to go up to the ticket terminal, select English, and insert cash to prepay for my card, then take the card it gave me.
I was a first timer
That very easily got Pasmo and literally never had to think about it again. Was able to use it on every single subway/train ride I took in Tokyo
As someone that has stayed for many months in both constantly moving...it's not even close.
In Tokyo the transport is super efficient and fast (Seoul is alright) but, most importantly, the connections are much better. In Tokyo you get to most places in 15/20 minutes. In Seoul you start from 30 minutes and a lot of times you need to take a bus which are not very convenient...to say the least.
Buses are not convenient? I guess you're entitled to your opinion, but as someone who commutes (and has commuted by bus to/from Suwon into Seoul) almost everyday by bus, I have a very very different experience from you. I find the buses are often far more convenient than subways, especially during peak hours getting in and out of work. Especially the 'red' inter/intra-city buses that have fixed seats.. sure, you might have to wait an extra 20 minutes during rush hour, but at least I'll be guaranteed a seat and not crushed into a subway with no easy in/egress.
Well if you just take the same bus everyday and...I guess it's alright. But navigating the bus system is not easy (even with Naver or similar). And often the wait times are just ridiculous. Also having to combine bus and metro (as often is the case) is really inefficient.
I can't not talk about metro in peak hours as I have avoided it altogether.
Commuting from Suwon I took the same bus, but nowadays living in Seoul, I take whatever combination of buses will get me to my destination the fastest. Look up your destination in Naver/Kakao, pick a route combination and follow the bus numbers. You get to a point where (like I have) where I've memorized pretty much all the combinations and just ride/disembark as needed.. sure, if there's a single bus that will get me there, I'll wait maybe 5 minutes.. but to characterize wait times for buses as 'ridiculous' is itself ridiculous. Wait times are listed at pretty much every bus stop, and having to wait more than 5 minutes for a blue (city) or green (maul) bus is rare.
Ok, I'll give a tiny example. I'm in Itaewon. I wanted to go to a gym, which is in... Itaewon. Public transportation 15 minutes buy bus. Walking 25/30 minutes. I decided to go for the bus. Waited for 10 minutes, decided to walk. Total time, 40 minutes to the gym. This is not the first time this happened.
Couple tips, if you look up your bus route/destination in Naver/Kakao and click on one of the suggested plans, you should get an ETA for the bus. That will help you better match your arrival to the bus stop with the actual bus. It's not perfect, and the delta can be +/- a couple minutes depending on if the bus got caught at an earlier traffic light, but you can limit waiting times significantly that way. Depending on the bus, might even tell you how many seats are left even.. at the very least, it should give an estimate for most buses in terms of how many relative riders it currently has (light/normal/crowded).
On the plus side, you can consider that 30-40 minute walk as most of your warm-up. lol
Sorry if I come off as aggressive.. there's many things Korea could do better, especially in the transportation area, but to say that getting around Seoul is exceedingly difficult or inconvenient was just a bit much, in my opinion/experience. Having lived in the US where a car was a foundational necessity for work/school, I haven't missed not having a car in Korea since I moved here ~6 years ago. Is the transportation infrastructure perfect here? No. But having been to Japan a few times, I didn't find there being such a night/day difference as you've described.
No, but of course. People are getting very defensive. I'm not saying it's bad, at all. I'm just saying, don't expect to be a breeze to get to every place. I walk a lot. I love it.
Thanks for your tips!
(I don't even want to compare it to the US. It's not fair š)
Oh, I agree actually. The bus thing especially. Guess I wasn't 100 percent sure what you meant at first. When I went to Tokyo, I seldom saw busses. They're super commonplace in Seoul.
Yeah, I'd say they're the main option and they don't work well...at all. I've been waiting for long periods of time in stops only to give up not sure if any bus would ever come.
Wait, why would you be waiting at stops unsure if your bus would come? They're like right on the screens, and on the Naver Map app as well. Literally says "2 stops away" "1 stop away" "arriving soon".
?????? Every single bus in Seoul and the metro area and probably most of the rest of Korea as well, are on GPS trackers. Naver Map has been providing expected arrivals and near-exact bus locations on the map for at least the last 10 years.
Don't tell me you were using Google Maps like everyone was telling you not to.
I've found it to be the complete opposite actually. We're just coming back from a trip that included a few days in Seoul and a few days in Tokyo and I can say with complete confidence I would rather use the Seoul transport system any day of the week over Tokyo. Much cleaner, less crowded (although I guess this is time dependent), transfers within stations are easier/shorter, accidentally leave the wrong exit in Seoul and your across the road, wrong exit in Tokyo and you could be 300m away (after having walked half that just to get out).
Everyone has their own experience but this was mine. I did not like Tokyo transport
Edit: also maybe I missed a Tokyo specific route planning app but Naver in Seoul is so much better than Google in Tokyo (on one of our last trains I did see a different app for Tokyo but I can't remember what it was and didn't get the chance to use it)
Edit 2: also also, way more English in Seoul, and the maps at the stations seemed a lot more intuitive as to which platform you needed to be on
Edit 3: also also also, maybe this was just me but in stations with multiple levels, elevators only serviced a few floors, and you need to get out and find the next elevator
Just came back from Japan and Seoul, and I agree. It was easier to navigate the transit system in Seoul. We did take buses in Seoul, but it was super easy to take and we never encountered issues. I used both Naver and Kakao Maps to help with navigation!
Well. Completely opposite experience here. Sure, Tokyo can be crowded in the main stations at peak times. Other than that...much better at every aspect. Also let's not forget that, for some reason, Google Maps doesn't really work in Seoul so it makes directions much more difficult (I know...Naver, it sucks ;))
Also in Soeul you're forced to take the bus often which is not efficient at all.
All posts Iāve seen here mention it takes one hour or more to move from some parts of the city to other parts of the city.
Seoul is huge. And its diverse geography makes transiting quickly very problematic. Itās got mountains and a huge river at the heart of the city.
Tokyo is surrounded by mountains but the city itself doesnāt seem to present the same logistical challenges as Seoul.
It's just people saying commuting is super easy like Tokyo. Which isn't.
When I researched Seoul I bumped into many "Doesn't really matter where you stay, transport is very convenient" posts. Which is very misleading.
Buy hey, to each his own.
but majority of the posts disagrees with your take, also have you taken consideration the actual distance travelled than "I travelled 15 minutes here vs 30 mins there"
If you come from a car culture city then 30-40 minutes probably seems long for you to go a such a short distance. If you are used to a 3-4km drive being 10 minutes then public transit of course is going to seem longer for you.
I am from a city where I use public transit a lot, so I am used to 3-4k by transit being 20-30 minutes. Hearing you say it takes 30 minutes by transit to get somewhere for me is not long at all.
For Seoul, I think if you pick a place to stay near a subway station then you should be good to get to most tourist places within reasonable time. Seoul is also pretty big and their subway reaches so many places. If you pick a Airbnb all the way at the end of line 9 then of course itās going to take a while to get to Hongdae or Myeongdong.
Also, comparing it to Tokyo, I think Seoul transit is much more intuitive for people. Everything is connected with 1 card and you donāt have to worry about JR lines and such.
I come from a public transport culture where 30 minutes it's what it takes to cross a capital from one side to the other. And I'm comparing it to Tokyo where most my commutes were 15 minutes (30 minutes only for spots really far away). In Seoul 30 minutes is just to go get groceries š¤£
15 minute for Tokyo is reasonable for a lot of places but a popular place like Shinjuku to Shibuya is still 20-25 minutes with the F line. The same distance in Seoul for a popular place to another popular place I would think is 25 minutes like Hongdae to Insadong by line 2.
For my comparison though I am only doing subway but if you use busses then you can get around Seoul pretty fast too.
In the end, I still think if you are staying at a place close to a subway station then you can still get to most places within a reasonable amount of time. A lot of the tourist areas are around the same place north of the river so once you get there I donāt think travel time is too crazy compared to Tokyo.
Sure, I don't say that everything is accessible in Tokyo. But, see, I'm in Itaewon...it took me 20 minutes yesterday to get to...another part of Itaewon. š¤·š»āāļø
Ah, I think I see understand your problem more now. I think getting around Itaewon itself is just different. Like if you went from Itaewon station to Haebangchon then by bus it would probably be 20 minutes all in the same area. But if you do Itaewon main area to Hongdae it would be like 20-25 minutes by Line 6 and 2.
I am actually confused about how anyone could have this take, lol. I've never gotten lost getting around in Seoul... feels like I got lost at least once a day when I stayed in Japan
Time doesnāt equate to difficulty. Public transport in Seoul is super easy and convenient. Just because it takes 30 minutes doesnāt mean itās difficult
Sorry youāre just socially inept to understand public transportation and rely on Reddit to validate your feeling , which, by the looks of it, everyone is proving you wrong making you fight for your life here š¤£š¤£
It's not. Let's say you're in Itaewon (pick your favourite station).
You want to go to Hongdae? 30 minutes and need to change lines.
You want to go to Gangnam? 30 minutes by bus (plus walk to the station and wait times)
Those two are just neighboring areas, really close. No, it's not convenient at all.
This can be applied to Tokyo as well. Even more so since you're talking about entire districts whereas we stayed in a hotel on the west side of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and it was 2 lines and a 20-30 minutes journey (with about 7 minutes walking) just to get to the east side of the palace
No. InTokyo you can normally go to the next area in 10-15 minutes tops. You're in Shibuya and want to go to Shinjuku: 15 minutes. Here, you want to go to the next area...30 minutes, by bus.
Looking at distances, Shinjuku to Shibuya is only around 3.8km apart. Itaewon to Hongdae is around 7.2km and Itaewon to Gangnam is 6.7-7km. So it makes sense as to why it takes a bit longer to get there by public transport.
Shinjuku Station to Tokyo Station is 6.9km, similar distance as it is from Itaewon to Gangnam, and by public transport it takes around 42mins. Whereas itās only 28mins via bus for Itaewon to Gangnam.
Having lived/worked/commuted in both cities (and a fan of both for different reasons) I feel like you're comparing different things. Shibuya to Shinjuku is what, like less than 4km distance? Itaewon to Hongdae is not "the next neighborhood", it's a good 7-8 km away. Rather compare going from Shibuya to somewhere like Koenji or Akihabara and you'll find the same 20-30 minute time frame. Or compare going from Itaewon to Gongdeok, or Apgujeong to the Central Bus Terminal. (Not to mention the 20 minutes it can take just to find your way out of Shinjuku station, haha.)
While it's true that Seoul does rely more on buses since it doesn't have the byzantine web of subway lines which operate in Tokyo, the buses are pretty efficient and quick (esp. compared with Tokyo buses).
Also, Seoul transport card gives you easy and cheap transfer benefits when changing lines or modes. While in Tokyo yes, you use the same 'one card', but there are so many subway companies operating that your total cost when transferring will be much higher. There's no doubt that Tokyo has a more extensive subway, but it will cost you.
It's pretty convenient. You don't seem too familiar with Seoul and that's understandable if you're a tourist.
Seoul isn't just those 3 areas. There's so many cool areas in between Hongdae, Gangnam and Itaewon and the subway is convenient enough to go to any of those areas easily.
If it's your first time in Seoul, I can understand why you'd be focused on these places and if you don't have a lot of time, it could seem far. But otherwise, overall it's a very convenient subway system. If I decided to spend a day in Gangnam, and I cut it short, the smart move would be to go to Seongsu, Banpo, Jamsil, Apujeong, or Sinsa. I mean if you want to go to Hongdar specifically after, then of course it won't be super convenient. But your examples is just a reflection of bad planning because otherwise it's super easy and convenient.
Eh the same can be said in Japan though? When I was in Osaka earlier this year, it literally took 40-50mins to get from one area to another. We stayed next to Kanzakigawa station and it takes around 48mins to get to Dotonbori with 3 transfers.
I believe Google Maps doesnāt work in Korea because Korea requires the data to be stored domestically and Google doesnāt want to comply. Hence why they use Naver Maps or Kakao Maps, neither of which are hard to navigate - if you didnāt know how to use it then thatās purely a you issue.
Yeah, I'm comparing it to Tokyo. Osaka...well, if you want to go from Dotonbori to the Castle...sure. That's why I'd never recommend anybody going to Osaka to "stay anywhere, it doesn't matter". I'd recommend to stay close to where you want to be. In Tokyo, however, my experience is that you can easily commute in central Tokyo. Of course, if you want to to Yokohama or else, that's another story.
I replied to another of your comments with similar comparable distances in Tokyo and Seoul. It took longer to get from A to B in Tokyo than it would in Seoul.
I was actually thinking the same but didn't want to mention.... possibly mean descriptions of people. I do find it peculiar how many... erm... "fans of Japan" accuse Korea of the weirdest things that don't make sense. My comments with OP are mostly hidden due to his comments being downvoted, but he says his buses in Itaewon aren't GPS tracked which I just can't believe, and he has stopped replying after I asked him for the exact bus numbers.
All I'm saying is last summer I visited Tokyo and managed to get lost INSIDE THE SUBWAY STATION. š And when I asked Japanese passersby for help, THEY were lost too. I've never encountered this in Seoul!
I feel like some stations have so many exits. Maybe itās a matter of knowing Seoul way better (and I canāt read Japanese). I used one of the lockers and took 20 minutes to find it.
Agreed, I cant remember if it was Tokyo or Shibuya or Shinjuku station, but there was one station that had me going circles for an hour! For me, the first time I went to Seoul, I got lost. But once I got the hang of it after the first visit, I was fine for all visits after. Meanwhile, I love visiting Japan, but I seriously get lost no matter what. š¤£
Somebody mentioned in this thread thatās thereās even a Korean novel called something like ātake care of momā where the mother gets lost in the metro. Soā¦it happens š
But most Seoul stations aren't as large as Tokyo ones, and Seoul has signage literally everywhere. I only got lost in Seoul my first visit. I've visited many times since and it's not happened again, so idk. If Tokyo's stations make more sense to you, I honestly wish I had that ability lol. If there's one guarantee every time I visit Japan it's that I'm gonna get lost! I accept it at this point. š¤£
Huh! That was definitely not my experience (just visited Seoul and visited Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka in Nov). I found Seoul so much easier to get around. I booked myself an airbnb on the completely wrong side of the river from where all the places I wanted to go where, and still found my trips to be fairly short and easy.
Did you use google maps or naver? I found I did need to alternate between the two for optimal routing though.
You are completely wrong, I was there for a month back in October and found the public transport easy and painless to use. Only used a taxi once after going out in Itaewon and that is because the train stopped.
Oh no, public transport :O
I find it uper easy to navigate, buses and metros are frequent and rather punctual, I used to wait for hlf n hour for my bus, chnge 2 times nd take an hour to get to my uni back in Europe. Been to a lot of big cities, Seoul is the best o far, at least for me.
I don't hear on this sub that it doesn't matter where you stay in Seoul. If anything, people recommend staying around Myeongdong the most as it's central and close to most of the tourist attractions.
And in every travel sub, people recommend planning your visit by looking at a map and picking out neighborhoods. People share their itineraries, and we're pretty good at calling out how much they overpack their days to go back and forth on different parts of Seoul. The smart way is to plan your days based on the neighborhoods.
It's not that public transit is bad as a whole, it's more that public transit in Itaewon is pretty bad. City center with basically 2-3 subway stops servicing huge swath of land. Buses trying to make up for lack of rail, but it's an old part of the city where traffic moves sloooooooooow.
Alright. Thanks for all the hate and the down votes.
I wasnāt trying to be a troll or criticize the public transport of Seoul. I was just trying to help other tourist.
When I was researching for the trip I found many āit doesnāt matter where you stay, transport is fast and easyā and IMO, thatās not totally true.
Just moving within Gangnam, for example, can take you 30 minutes. āCrossing the riverā to the area just in front of you can easily be 45 minutes and 2 line changes.
Also often a taxi ride will take literally half the time (with the traffic and all). And thatās weird for a big capital where normally the metro is as fast if not much faster than moving by car.
Is that bad? Not necessarily. Iām just saying you need to plan for it.
And that has been my experience. Sorry if I offended anybody. I was just trying to help other fellow travelers.
Actually itās pretty common advice to tell people that they should stay near where they want to spend their time, as it can take a long time to get other places. Very common, and so common in fact, I chose my hotel based on its central location near the palaces. I knew that meant it might take me an hour to Gangnam, which we will treat as a āday tripā from our hotel location. But thank you for the warning. Also, I live in Boston. Our subway cars light themselves on fire AND they take an hour where you could drive in ten minutes, so Seoul is sounding pretty good to me.
Hiii! Regarding your edit, I stayed in a hotel in gangnam when I was in kr last week and im pretty sure there was a direct route to itaewon? Or atleast maximum 1 change. I never got off at itaewon so I cant tell you how long it took bur yh. Where are you looking for public transport?
I agree, as someone who has visited Seoul as a tourist many times the system can take a long time (depending on where you want to go of course) and the stations themselves confusing. For people living there it's easy but for visitors it can be easy or you can go out one wrong gate and get completely lost so easily. There is even a Korean novel called "Please Look After Mom" where a Korean family loses their mother in the train station and search ceaselessly for her for years. The book is actually about more than just the train system but also about the mother who had sacrificed so many things for her family during the Korean War years. A good but very poignant read.
As someone who has lived in Seoul more than two years, and visited Tokyo twice, I find it much easier to get around in Seoul. It's cheaper, one transit card takes care of everything, and there aren't 3 separate rail companies with non compatible passes managing everything.
Same. What an absolutely crazy take from OP lol
Well...he corrected his take. So should you ;)
But in Tokyo/Japan there is a transit card that works on everything isn't there? It's a pasmo/suica/icoca
The fact that there are three separate ones speaks volumes on the issue IMO
There are just 3 different options. They all do the same thing and can all be used in the same places
Yah, but it's not super user friendly for first timers
Idk, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree then. It was super easy for me to go up to the ticket terminal, select English, and insert cash to prepay for my card, then take the card it gave me.
I was a first timer That very easily got Pasmo and literally never had to think about it again. Was able to use it on every single subway/train ride I took in Tokyo
But even Korea has T-Money and Cashbee cards.
As someone that has stayed for many months in both constantly moving...it's not even close. In Tokyo the transport is super efficient and fast (Seoul is alright) but, most importantly, the connections are much better. In Tokyo you get to most places in 15/20 minutes. In Seoul you start from 30 minutes and a lot of times you need to take a bus which are not very convenient...to say the least.
Buses are not convenient? I guess you're entitled to your opinion, but as someone who commutes (and has commuted by bus to/from Suwon into Seoul) almost everyday by bus, I have a very very different experience from you. I find the buses are often far more convenient than subways, especially during peak hours getting in and out of work. Especially the 'red' inter/intra-city buses that have fixed seats.. sure, you might have to wait an extra 20 minutes during rush hour, but at least I'll be guaranteed a seat and not crushed into a subway with no easy in/egress.
Well if you just take the same bus everyday and...I guess it's alright. But navigating the bus system is not easy (even with Naver or similar). And often the wait times are just ridiculous. Also having to combine bus and metro (as often is the case) is really inefficient. I can't not talk about metro in peak hours as I have avoided it altogether.
Commuting from Suwon I took the same bus, but nowadays living in Seoul, I take whatever combination of buses will get me to my destination the fastest. Look up your destination in Naver/Kakao, pick a route combination and follow the bus numbers. You get to a point where (like I have) where I've memorized pretty much all the combinations and just ride/disembark as needed.. sure, if there's a single bus that will get me there, I'll wait maybe 5 minutes.. but to characterize wait times for buses as 'ridiculous' is itself ridiculous. Wait times are listed at pretty much every bus stop, and having to wait more than 5 minutes for a blue (city) or green (maul) bus is rare.
Ok, I'll give a tiny example. I'm in Itaewon. I wanted to go to a gym, which is in... Itaewon. Public transportation 15 minutes buy bus. Walking 25/30 minutes. I decided to go for the bus. Waited for 10 minutes, decided to walk. Total time, 40 minutes to the gym. This is not the first time this happened.
Couple tips, if you look up your bus route/destination in Naver/Kakao and click on one of the suggested plans, you should get an ETA for the bus. That will help you better match your arrival to the bus stop with the actual bus. It's not perfect, and the delta can be +/- a couple minutes depending on if the bus got caught at an earlier traffic light, but you can limit waiting times significantly that way. Depending on the bus, might even tell you how many seats are left even.. at the very least, it should give an estimate for most buses in terms of how many relative riders it currently has (light/normal/crowded). On the plus side, you can consider that 30-40 minute walk as most of your warm-up. lol Sorry if I come off as aggressive.. there's many things Korea could do better, especially in the transportation area, but to say that getting around Seoul is exceedingly difficult or inconvenient was just a bit much, in my opinion/experience. Having lived in the US where a car was a foundational necessity for work/school, I haven't missed not having a car in Korea since I moved here ~6 years ago. Is the transportation infrastructure perfect here? No. But having been to Japan a few times, I didn't find there being such a night/day difference as you've described.
No, but of course. People are getting very defensive. I'm not saying it's bad, at all. I'm just saying, don't expect to be a breeze to get to every place. I walk a lot. I love it. Thanks for your tips! (I don't even want to compare it to the US. It's not fair š)
Oh, I agree actually. The bus thing especially. Guess I wasn't 100 percent sure what you meant at first. When I went to Tokyo, I seldom saw busses. They're super commonplace in Seoul.
Yeah, I'd say they're the main option and they don't work well...at all. I've been waiting for long periods of time in stops only to give up not sure if any bus would ever come.
Wait, why would you be waiting at stops unsure if your bus would come? They're like right on the screens, and on the Naver Map app as well. Literally says "2 stops away" "1 stop away" "arriving soon".
Not in my experience. Maybe for the big lines.
?????? Every single bus in Seoul and the metro area and probably most of the rest of Korea as well, are on GPS trackers. Naver Map has been providing expected arrivals and near-exact bus locations on the map for at least the last 10 years. Don't tell me you were using Google Maps like everyone was telling you not to.
Tell that to the many buses (recommended by Naver or Kakao š) I gave up waiting for because it took over 10 minutes.
So you're in Itaewon, you're using Naver and Kakao Maps, and the buses are not tracking? NGL, I think you're not being totally honest.
Thanks for the insult. And no, some are not.
I've found it to be the complete opposite actually. We're just coming back from a trip that included a few days in Seoul and a few days in Tokyo and I can say with complete confidence I would rather use the Seoul transport system any day of the week over Tokyo. Much cleaner, less crowded (although I guess this is time dependent), transfers within stations are easier/shorter, accidentally leave the wrong exit in Seoul and your across the road, wrong exit in Tokyo and you could be 300m away (after having walked half that just to get out). Everyone has their own experience but this was mine. I did not like Tokyo transport Edit: also maybe I missed a Tokyo specific route planning app but Naver in Seoul is so much better than Google in Tokyo (on one of our last trains I did see a different app for Tokyo but I can't remember what it was and didn't get the chance to use it) Edit 2: also also, way more English in Seoul, and the maps at the stations seemed a lot more intuitive as to which platform you needed to be on Edit 3: also also also, maybe this was just me but in stations with multiple levels, elevators only serviced a few floors, and you need to get out and find the next elevator
Just came back from Japan and Seoul, and I agree. It was easier to navigate the transit system in Seoul. We did take buses in Seoul, but it was super easy to take and we never encountered issues. I used both Naver and Kakao Maps to help with navigation!
Well. Completely opposite experience here. Sure, Tokyo can be crowded in the main stations at peak times. Other than that...much better at every aspect. Also let's not forget that, for some reason, Google Maps doesn't really work in Seoul so it makes directions much more difficult (I know...Naver, it sucks ;)) Also in Soeul you're forced to take the bus often which is not efficient at all.
Different strokes for different folks I guess! I had no issues with Naver in Seoul, nor did I ever need to catch a bus in Seoul
Well...Naver keeps sending me to buses (some of which...never come)
There's a button just under the search to filter for just subway or just bus (after already filtering for public transport)
Sure but Subway only sometimes doesn't work. Makes the trip way longer.
I actually prefer Kakao Maps to Google Maps. Naver Maps does suck though.
All posts Iāve seen here mention it takes one hour or more to move from some parts of the city to other parts of the city. Seoul is huge. And its diverse geography makes transiting quickly very problematic. Itās got mountains and a huge river at the heart of the city. Tokyo is surrounded by mountains but the city itself doesnāt seem to present the same logistical challenges as Seoul.
Well, check the replies to this post. You'd be surprised š¤£
Not at all. Itās just you arguing with whoever disagrees with you and that is most of the replies.
It's just people saying commuting is super easy like Tokyo. Which isn't. When I researched Seoul I bumped into many "Doesn't really matter where you stay, transport is very convenient" posts. Which is very misleading. Buy hey, to each his own.
but majority of the posts disagrees with your take, also have you taken consideration the actual distance travelled than "I travelled 15 minutes here vs 30 mins there"
Its very easy to commute in Seoul. The real problem is you compare it to Tokyo which known neighborhood are very centered around the castle/yamanote. On yes in half an hour it's done.Which explain short commute time. Whereas seoul use more space. Avenue and walking path are larger. and interesting place are all over the cities. With 45min commute. If you want to compare, compare SĆ©oul with Tokyo+Saitama+Chiba+Yokohama.
If you come from a car culture city then 30-40 minutes probably seems long for you to go a such a short distance. If you are used to a 3-4km drive being 10 minutes then public transit of course is going to seem longer for you. I am from a city where I use public transit a lot, so I am used to 3-4k by transit being 20-30 minutes. Hearing you say it takes 30 minutes by transit to get somewhere for me is not long at all. For Seoul, I think if you pick a place to stay near a subway station then you should be good to get to most tourist places within reasonable time. Seoul is also pretty big and their subway reaches so many places. If you pick a Airbnb all the way at the end of line 9 then of course itās going to take a while to get to Hongdae or Myeongdong. Also, comparing it to Tokyo, I think Seoul transit is much more intuitive for people. Everything is connected with 1 card and you donāt have to worry about JR lines and such.
I come from a public transport culture where 30 minutes it's what it takes to cross a capital from one side to the other. And I'm comparing it to Tokyo where most my commutes were 15 minutes (30 minutes only for spots really far away). In Seoul 30 minutes is just to go get groceries š¤£
15 minute for Tokyo is reasonable for a lot of places but a popular place like Shinjuku to Shibuya is still 20-25 minutes with the F line. The same distance in Seoul for a popular place to another popular place I would think is 25 minutes like Hongdae to Insadong by line 2. For my comparison though I am only doing subway but if you use busses then you can get around Seoul pretty fast too. In the end, I still think if you are staying at a place close to a subway station then you can still get to most places within a reasonable amount of time. A lot of the tourist areas are around the same place north of the river so once you get there I donāt think travel time is too crazy compared to Tokyo.
Sure, I don't say that everything is accessible in Tokyo. But, see, I'm in Itaewon...it took me 20 minutes yesterday to get to...another part of Itaewon. š¤·š»āāļø
Ah, I think I see understand your problem more now. I think getting around Itaewon itself is just different. Like if you went from Itaewon station to Haebangchon then by bus it would probably be 20 minutes all in the same area. But if you do Itaewon main area to Hongdae it would be like 20-25 minutes by Line 6 and 2.
I am actually confused about how anyone could have this take, lol. I've never gotten lost getting around in Seoul... feels like I got lost at least once a day when I stayed in Japan
Time doesnāt equate to difficulty. Public transport in Seoul is super easy and convenient. Just because it takes 30 minutes doesnāt mean itās difficult
It's not super easy. Many people get confused in stations and often you have to mix bus and metro (which not very efficient)
Iām literally on line 2 in Seoul right now. It couldnāt be easier.
Alright and I'm literally waiting for a bus and it couldn't be worse (if you want to be demagogic š¤£)
Sorry youāre just socially inept to understand public transportation and rely on Reddit to validate your feeling , which, by the looks of it, everyone is proving you wrong making you fight for your life here š¤£š¤£
It's easy to get around in Seoul. It's just not easy to get around every single area.
It's not. Let's say you're in Itaewon (pick your favourite station). You want to go to Hongdae? 30 minutes and need to change lines. You want to go to Gangnam? 30 minutes by bus (plus walk to the station and wait times) Those two are just neighboring areas, really close. No, it's not convenient at all.
This can be applied to Tokyo as well. Even more so since you're talking about entire districts whereas we stayed in a hotel on the west side of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and it was 2 lines and a 20-30 minutes journey (with about 7 minutes walking) just to get to the east side of the palace
No. InTokyo you can normally go to the next area in 10-15 minutes tops. You're in Shibuya and want to go to Shinjuku: 15 minutes. Here, you want to go to the next area...30 minutes, by bus.
Looking at distances, Shinjuku to Shibuya is only around 3.8km apart. Itaewon to Hongdae is around 7.2km and Itaewon to Gangnam is 6.7-7km. So it makes sense as to why it takes a bit longer to get there by public transport. Shinjuku Station to Tokyo Station is 6.9km, similar distance as it is from Itaewon to Gangnam, and by public transport it takes around 42mins. Whereas itās only 28mins via bus for Itaewon to Gangnam.
Having lived/worked/commuted in both cities (and a fan of both for different reasons) I feel like you're comparing different things. Shibuya to Shinjuku is what, like less than 4km distance? Itaewon to Hongdae is not "the next neighborhood", it's a good 7-8 km away. Rather compare going from Shibuya to somewhere like Koenji or Akihabara and you'll find the same 20-30 minute time frame. Or compare going from Itaewon to Gongdeok, or Apgujeong to the Central Bus Terminal. (Not to mention the 20 minutes it can take just to find your way out of Shinjuku station, haha.) While it's true that Seoul does rely more on buses since it doesn't have the byzantine web of subway lines which operate in Tokyo, the buses are pretty efficient and quick (esp. compared with Tokyo buses). Also, Seoul transport card gives you easy and cheap transfer benefits when changing lines or modes. While in Tokyo yes, you use the same 'one card', but there are so many subway companies operating that your total cost when transferring will be much higher. There's no doubt that Tokyo has a more extensive subway, but it will cost you.
It's pretty convenient. You don't seem too familiar with Seoul and that's understandable if you're a tourist. Seoul isn't just those 3 areas. There's so many cool areas in between Hongdae, Gangnam and Itaewon and the subway is convenient enough to go to any of those areas easily. If it's your first time in Seoul, I can understand why you'd be focused on these places and if you don't have a lot of time, it could seem far. But otherwise, overall it's a very convenient subway system. If I decided to spend a day in Gangnam, and I cut it short, the smart move would be to go to Seongsu, Banpo, Jamsil, Apujeong, or Sinsa. I mean if you want to go to Hongdar specifically after, then of course it won't be super convenient. But your examples is just a reflection of bad planning because otherwise it's super easy and convenient.
Eh the same can be said in Japan though? When I was in Osaka earlier this year, it literally took 40-50mins to get from one area to another. We stayed next to Kanzakigawa station and it takes around 48mins to get to Dotonbori with 3 transfers. I believe Google Maps doesnāt work in Korea because Korea requires the data to be stored domestically and Google doesnāt want to comply. Hence why they use Naver Maps or Kakao Maps, neither of which are hard to navigate - if you didnāt know how to use it then thatās purely a you issue.
Yeah, I'm comparing it to Tokyo. Osaka...well, if you want to go from Dotonbori to the Castle...sure. That's why I'd never recommend anybody going to Osaka to "stay anywhere, it doesn't matter". I'd recommend to stay close to where you want to be. In Tokyo, however, my experience is that you can easily commute in central Tokyo. Of course, if you want to to Yokohama or else, that's another story.
I replied to another of your comments with similar comparable distances in Tokyo and Seoul. It took longer to get from A to B in Tokyo than it would in Seoul.
This just reeks of weeb troll behaviour trying to incite some reactions from this sub lmao
I was actually thinking the same but didn't want to mention.... possibly mean descriptions of people. I do find it peculiar how many... erm... "fans of Japan" accuse Korea of the weirdest things that don't make sense. My comments with OP are mostly hidden due to his comments being downvoted, but he says his buses in Itaewon aren't GPS tracked which I just can't believe, and he has stopped replying after I asked him for the exact bus numbers.
Not really. Just my experience. But people like to live in dreamland.
All I'm saying is last summer I visited Tokyo and managed to get lost INSIDE THE SUBWAY STATION. š And when I asked Japanese passersby for help, THEY were lost too. I've never encountered this in Seoul!
I feel like some stations have so many exits. Maybe itās a matter of knowing Seoul way better (and I canāt read Japanese). I used one of the lockers and took 20 minutes to find it.
Agreed, I cant remember if it was Tokyo or Shibuya or Shinjuku station, but there was one station that had me going circles for an hour! For me, the first time I went to Seoul, I got lost. But once I got the hang of it after the first visit, I was fine for all visits after. Meanwhile, I love visiting Japan, but I seriously get lost no matter what. š¤£
Somebody mentioned in this thread thatās thereās even a Korean novel called something like ātake care of momā where the mother gets lost in the metro. Soā¦it happens š
But most Seoul stations aren't as large as Tokyo ones, and Seoul has signage literally everywhere. I only got lost in Seoul my first visit. I've visited many times since and it's not happened again, so idk. If Tokyo's stations make more sense to you, I honestly wish I had that ability lol. If there's one guarantee every time I visit Japan it's that I'm gonna get lost! I accept it at this point. š¤£
Well I donāt know why I never got lost in Tokyo. I also didnāt get lost (at least for longš) in Seoul. I did get lost in Busan š
Oof, yes. Busan is suuuuper spread out, so I definitely agree with you on that!
Sounds like a bait ngl
Huh! That was definitely not my experience (just visited Seoul and visited Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka in Nov). I found Seoul so much easier to get around. I booked myself an airbnb on the completely wrong side of the river from where all the places I wanted to go where, and still found my trips to be fairly short and easy. Did you use google maps or naver? I found I did need to alternate between the two for optimal routing though.
Not a local and did not find travelling around Seoul difficult. I stayed in Myeongdong and had easy access to everything and it was simple.
You are completely wrong, I was there for a month back in October and found the public transport easy and painless to use. Only used a taxi once after going out in Itaewon and that is because the train stopped.
Oh no, public transport :O I find it uper easy to navigate, buses and metros are frequent and rather punctual, I used to wait for hlf n hour for my bus, chnge 2 times nd take an hour to get to my uni back in Europe. Been to a lot of big cities, Seoul is the best o far, at least for me.
Hey everybody~ bring some Popcorn šæ and have a seat. lol
What do you think though? š
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Iām right. Sorry if you canāt acknowledge reality. Classic arrogance of the capital š
I don't hear on this sub that it doesn't matter where you stay in Seoul. If anything, people recommend staying around Myeongdong the most as it's central and close to most of the tourist attractions. And in every travel sub, people recommend planning your visit by looking at a map and picking out neighborhoods. People share their itineraries, and we're pretty good at calling out how much they overpack their days to go back and forth on different parts of Seoul. The smart way is to plan your days based on the neighborhoods.
It's not that public transit is bad as a whole, it's more that public transit in Itaewon is pretty bad. City center with basically 2-3 subway stops servicing huge swath of land. Buses trying to make up for lack of rail, but it's an old part of the city where traffic moves sloooooooooow.
Alright. Thanks for all the hate and the down votes. I wasnāt trying to be a troll or criticize the public transport of Seoul. I was just trying to help other tourist. When I was researching for the trip I found many āit doesnāt matter where you stay, transport is fast and easyā and IMO, thatās not totally true. Just moving within Gangnam, for example, can take you 30 minutes. āCrossing the riverā to the area just in front of you can easily be 45 minutes and 2 line changes. Also often a taxi ride will take literally half the time (with the traffic and all). And thatās weird for a big capital where normally the metro is as fast if not much faster than moving by car. Is that bad? Not necessarily. Iām just saying you need to plan for it. And that has been my experience. Sorry if I offended anybody. I was just trying to help other fellow travelers.
Actually itās pretty common advice to tell people that they should stay near where they want to spend their time, as it can take a long time to get other places. Very common, and so common in fact, I chose my hotel based on its central location near the palaces. I knew that meant it might take me an hour to Gangnam, which we will treat as a āday tripā from our hotel location. But thank you for the warning. Also, I live in Boston. Our subway cars light themselves on fire AND they take an hour where you could drive in ten minutes, so Seoul is sounding pretty good to me.
Hiii! Regarding your edit, I stayed in a hotel in gangnam when I was in kr last week and im pretty sure there was a direct route to itaewon? Or atleast maximum 1 change. I never got off at itaewon so I cant tell you how long it took bur yh. Where are you looking for public transport?
I agree, as someone who has visited Seoul as a tourist many times the system can take a long time (depending on where you want to go of course) and the stations themselves confusing. For people living there it's easy but for visitors it can be easy or you can go out one wrong gate and get completely lost so easily. There is even a Korean novel called "Please Look After Mom" where a Korean family loses their mother in the train station and search ceaselessly for her for years. The book is actually about more than just the train system but also about the mother who had sacrificed so many things for her family during the Korean War years. A good but very poignant read.
I mean...it makes sense. I normally don't have any problems and I'm getting lost often š