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As a foreigner, it is always challenging to navigate around a new city. Getting lost and confused by public transportation is one stressful thing that we’d all want to stay away from. So, I’m sharing with you some essential transportation apps that helped me make my way around Korea hassle-free and more convenient!

1. For Navigation       

Naver Map is probably my most used application here in Korea. It is a detailed navigation app that provides routes to your chosen destinations. Its public transport routes are very helpful as it gives all the possible routes by bus, subway, and train. I like using this compared to Google Maps because it is more localized to Korea and so the directions and location details are more accurate. It also provides real-time bus locations and train timetables which I find very convenient.

Another feature that I love is that you can see details of restaurants, cafes, tourist places, salons, markets, hotels, etc. in the app itself. You can even place orders for restaurants and cafes through the app. Aside from that, it includes photos and reviews from visitors. This feature has helped me a lot when it comes to deciding on what places to go to around Korea. You can also save your favorite places for easier reference.

Another good alternative would be the KakaoMap and KakaoBus which also have very similar features with Naver Map.

2. For Purchasing Train and Bus Tickets

KorailTalk is basically where you purchase tickets for the KTX express trains. When you use the English version of the app, you can be able to purchase tickets using your foreign card. 

For buses, BusTago allows you to book intercity buses and has and English language option. KoBus, on the other hand, which is operated by T-Money allows you to book express bus services. The app is only available in Korean, but you can go to it website for English services.

3. For Getting a Taxi

Kakao Taxi is a taxi-hailing app that I find useful whenever I am in places or need to go to places that are not very accessible by public transport. The taxi will come to your pinned location, and you will be brought directly to your pinned destination. This is an advantage especially for non-Korean speakers. The app can also be accessed in English.

Other features I like about the app is that it gives you the estimate cost of your ride and for the payment method, you can either register your Korean card but if you don’t you can choose to pay directly to the driver.

What are other transportation apps that you use? Hope you can share it with us too!

Until next time!

Dana