Maps, taxis and transit as a visitor
지도앱·택시·교통카드
Getting to the place is usually the part that decides whether you go at all, so here is the short version.
Maps
Consider a Korean map app. A government study of foreign visitors found more of them using the domestic map app than the global one for getting around, and noted that domestic apps give precise transit times and the exit and platform numbers for the quickest transfers. The global map is still useful for reading place names in the alphabet you know, so many people run both and switch.
Subway exit numbers are worth following. If a venue tells you exit four, that is the instruction, and coming out of the wrong exit can mean a long walk around a block.
Taxis
Hailing a taxi from an app is common. The friction can be registration: some apps may ask for a local number, or may not accept every overseas card. The national tourism board lists a ride app aimed at international visitors that accepts overseas cards.
Show the driver the Korean name and address on your screen rather than saying it. Written Korean removes any doubt about which place you mean.
Transit cards
A prepaid card aimed at visitors can be loaded at subway stations and convenience stores and works as a transit card as well as for ordinary payments. A mobile transit card app lets you tap your phone to board instead of carrying a card.
What we do
Every venue in this app has both names and a link out to the map app you prefer.
Sources
- Korea Tourism Organization, Helpful Apps and Resources (Mobile Tmoney: tap your phone to board, supports some international cards; k.ride: ride service for international visitors that accepts overseas cards; WOWPASS: prepaid card with transit function, loadable at subway stations, convenience stores or the app)
- Korea.net, MCST and KTO study of travel app use by foreign visitors (56.2% used the domestic map app, 33.9% the global one; domestic apps give precise transit times and exit and platform numbers)