Life hack. How to use the subway in Seoul

"Do not try to ride the subway in Seoul, there is some kind of wild hemorrhoids with payment. Better a taxi," one of my friends who recently visited the capital of Korea recommended me, and the second scared that they would go to jail for taking prostitutes in Korea.

But, as they say, to be afraid of teeth - do not go to the forest. In fact, Seoul has a very cool subway and there is no hemorrhoids in using it. It is much more convenient, faster and cheaper than a taxi. The main thing is to deal with the payment.

Below is a detailed photo and video instruction.

The Seoul metro is considered one of the most technologically advanced and modern in the world, everything is automated as much as possible, and the navigation is so convenient that everything is clear even if you first appeared in the Seoul subway and do not know how to read hieroglyphs.

There are no tokens in the Seoul metro, payment is made using special Citypass + transport cards. They work not only in the metro, but also in land transport, taxis and some other municipal places where entrance fees are required.

That is, the first thing you need to buy such a card. And then replenish it with money.

Cards are sold in special machines that are available at each metro station. They look like this.

First, on the screen you need to switch to English, then from two menu items select Get a transit card.

The next item is the type of card. We need the leftmost icon - Adult card.

It costs 3,000 won. You need to pay in cash.

The machine will give you such a box.

It contains the card and instructions for use.

Now you need to replenish the card with money. We put it in a special window in the machine, which is called Ticket Vending and Card Reload or Top-up t-money in another type of machine.

Then on the screen we select the amount we are going to put on the card. One trip by subway costs from 1250 won, depending on the distance. Therefore, replenish the map, taking into account your potential movement by public transport. In any case, the card can be replenished at any station.

Now you can go through the turnstiles. Just attach the card to the specified location.

Yes, when leaving the metro, do not forget to attach the card again. The fact is that this way you close the trip and, if necessary, an additional amount is removed from the card if the trip turned out to be too long.