How to get around Seoul by Subway? Tips. Do's & Dont's

What is the Best way to get around in Seoul?????
To get the best answer from the question, you really have to know :-
- How you like travel? do you like to travel light?
- How much you budget for transportations?
- Are you the backpacker type like me? like to mingle with the locals to get the best experience with their lifestyle & culture?..

In Seoul you have many transportation options.. you can get around by bus, or train or if you don't care about budget and you would like to travel with comfort you can either rent a taxi or rent a car...
But if you are a backpacker like me, you might want to travel by subway. Its cheap, its easy to figure out (might be a bit hard if they have a construction work going on).. and you'll love it not only because of the two former reasons but also because you get to mixed up with the locals.. For a day, I spent approximately about 8,000-10,000 won (that's about RM30?) using subway and that is cheap considering the many places I go in a day. Using Taxi from Incheon Airport to Seoul would be approx. 60,000 - 80,000 won a trip. Consider that!


Getting around by Subway/Underground train...

The Soul underground is very good, easy to use and on time.
They have a bi lingual language over both the speaker announcement and on the signs.
The only downside to the Metro is that they dont have a circle line like on the London undeground system, which would link more of the stations together, but thats a minor point.
They have 8 lines which are all colour coded and easy to navigate around the system.

Here's a tip about Seoul Subway Map : Make sure you get an updated one! Latest one! This thing happened to me, when you are in Seoul you can find the subway map almost everywhere, at the subway stations, from the internet and also from the tourist attractions brochures at your hotels for free. I got one of those! because it was easier for me to have it on my hand & navigate myself here and there. What I didn't check was the year the brochure was released so relying on the map in the brochure, instead of going to this place (don't remember what place it was) the fastest way we ended up using this old connection route (sometimes when using the subway you had to change trains to get to another coloured route, and we ended up using a longer coloured route instead of the fastest one lol). So check your map my friend!
All the stations and trains are clean every single day.
Even the free local paper (like the Metro paper in London) gets cleaned up during the day.
I love travelling by train and underground when I am abroad. You get to see how the locals are and learn a few things about how they behave and their culture (yes, even on a train. You'll be surprise how much you can learn just by observing people).
All Soul stations are wheel chair accessible and easy to navigate through. Seoul Sation and City Hall, the majority of the lines through these 2 stations, its very easy to get lost there.
I would recommend that you find out which station exit is the one that is closer to your destination otherwise you could walk out of the station a couple of miles away from where you wanted to be.
I would recommend people buy the underground travel card (T-Money), as it can save you allot of money. the travel card machine is very easy to use as its in English.

 

Important things to learn before you board the subway...

When you are traveling to other country you must respect the people culture & lifestyle because remember you are the foreign one. You must learn what to do or what not on a subway.
Here are the Do's & Dont's you might want to know...

1. Don’t Sit in the Priority Seating (Stank Eye Warning!)

So maybe you decided to go hiking at Bukhan Mountain and you’re on your way back. You’re sweaty, stinky and most of all tired, but all the seats are taken – all except for the priority seats at the end of the subway cars. You might be tempted to sit there, but you shouldn’t. Here’s a little secret… it’s a death trap! Well… culturally at least. Korean people really don’t like it when non-pregnant, non-elderly, uninjured people sit there. Even when the Seoul subways are extra full, people will avoid sitting there because they want to make sure that people who actually need those seats can sit down easily. Also, they are afraid of Korean stank eye. Scary!

Tip 1: These seats are also reserved for little children as well.
Tip 2: Koreans usually don’t sit there, and think “I’ll just get up when someone comes.” Leaving those seats empty is normal protocol. Try to do the same :)

2. Give Up Your Seat To Be Awesome!
If you’re sitting in the middle seats, you’re totally ok to just sit and watch that last episode of Gossip Girls on your smart phone. No one will say anything, and they shouldn’t! But… if you want to be an awesome Seoul subway rider, you should give up your seat for those that need it more than you do. That means pregnant women, the elderly, injured people, and in Korea… children! One of the awesome things about Korean culture is that it’s focused on helping each other, and the subways are really excellent places to see this in action. Help out a Korean that needs a seat, and the mayor of Seoul might just give you the totally unofficial “Seoul Awesome Subway Rider Award”! Yay!
Language tip: 앉으세요 (anjeuseyo) – Please sit.

I remember my experience giving up my seat to an elderly women, me & my friend were boarding the subway from Yeoido going to Jamsil and at our next stop there were 2 elderly women boarding the train. Like a good backpacker & foreigner we are :) without hesitating we standup and offer our seats to the women. At first the two women decline us with a smile but we politely insist, I told them it was okay for us to stand. ( 괜찮아요) So they accepted it. The two ladies were so nice & politely. They ask us where we stop and everything and when it was time for us to get off the train they even waved us goodbye. Can you imagine? waving us two foreigners goodbye when the train was packed with people??! I felt proud of my self :)

3. Be a Righty on the Escalators

Have you ever been frustrated by slow walkers? You know… those people that are always in your way and have no idea that you’re trying to get past them? Don’t be that person. Nothing’s more frustrating than congested foot traffic, and the escalators found at the Seoul subway stations are excellent places to be locked behind a Korean couple that have no idea that 32 people are waiting to walk ahead of them! If you’re not planning on walking up the escalators, stay to the right and let everyone walk past you on the left. Some people in Korea forget to do it, but keep in mind that it’s what you’re supposed to do. Also, you’re supposed to give a high five to everyone that passes you by! “Come’on ajumma, high-five!”

Tip: 잠시만요 (jamsimanyo) – excuse me

 

3. Be Cool with Pushing and Shoving

For whatever reason, a lot of Korean people don’t say excuse me on the subways. Maybe it’s their aversion of talking to strangers in Korea. But instead of a polite little “excuse me” from someone about to get off, you might just get a forearm shiver to your lower back. That’s mostly the older Korean people who are probably humming Ludacris’ Move B—- when they’re shoving people out the way. The younger people though, tend to be just as annoyed as you!

What can you do about it? Be cool homie! When you’re getting off, you can of course, say “excuse me” (see language tip below), and people will move away just the same. You have the option of shoving everyone right back too. But if you’re reading this… you’re cool! So stay cool, friends ;)

Language tip:
잠시만요 (jamsimanyo) – excuse me.
내릴게요 (naerilgeyo) – I’m getting off.

 

4. Seoul Subway Do’s and Don’ts – Stuff You Already Know (or Should!)

Sometimes, people can forget some common subway etiquette that is translatable nearly every where in the world (Koreans and foreigners alike!). But we’re going to play the common sense police just in case ;). Here are some common subway etiquettes for riding the subway in Korea:

 

1. Talk at normal decibel levels – that goes for phones and super hilarious jokes.
2. Sit on seats (wow, can’t believe we just wrote that!). Unless you want to make the Korean news like these guys.
3. There are plenty of trains. Try not to hold doors.
4. Seats are for people. Put your bags up on top.
5. Sleeping is ok, just don’t make the subway your bed ;)


 Happy traveling :)