Pick by your hotel, not by the mode. Every way into Seoul takes about an hour and they differ mostly in where they drop you and what they cost, from 4,750 won to about 90,000.
If you are sleeping in Hongdae, take the ordinary train. Myeongdong or Dongdaemun, take the 6001 bus to the door. Near Seoul Station, take the express. Arriving after midnight with luggage and a child, take a taxi and accept the surcharge. That is the whole decision, and the rest of this page is the fares and the traps behind it.
Fares were read from the operators’ own pages, AREX, Airport Limousine, Incheon Airport and International Taxi, on 1 September 2026.
The train, two kinds
AREX runs two services on the same track from both terminals to Seoul Station, and they are priced as if they were different companies.
The all-stop train, 일반열차 (ilban-yeolcha, “ordinary train”), is the one that matters for most visitors. It costs 4,750 won from Terminal 1 and 5,350 won from Terminal 2 to Seoul Station on a T-money card, or 100 won more on a single-journey ticket. It takes 67 minutes with 13 stops, and the stops are the point: Hongik University is 4,650 won and no change, and Gongdeok and Seoul Station follow. Tap in with the same card you will use on the subway; the transport guide covers getting one. First train around 05:20, last around midnight.
The express, 직통열차 (jiktong-yeolcha, “direct train”), runs non-stop to Seoul Station in 43 minutes from Terminal 1 and 51 from Terminal 2, with a reserved seat. AREX’s page lists 13,000 won for adults and 9,500 for children, against a printed regular fare of 18,500 and 19,100 won that nobody currently pays. Departures run from about 05:16 to 23:00. Buy at the AREX counter or machines in the terminal.
Choose the express only if your hotel is near Seoul Station. For anywhere else you will be changing trains there anyway, and the all-stop train has already taken you closer for a third of the price.
The bus, to the door
The Airport Limousine buses are the answer when your hotel is on the route, because they stop outside it. The 6001 runs Dongdaemun, Myeongdong, Seoul Station and Sinyongsan for 17,000 won, 12,000 for a child, roughly every 10 to 15 minutes at busy times, first departure from Terminal 1 at 05:39 and last at 22:49. Other 6000-series routes fan out across the city; the airport’s bus search lists them by destination.
Two payment traps, both new enough that older guides miss them.
At Terminal 1 you board outside exits 3 to 7 and pay on the bus with cash or a T-money card. Credit cards are not accepted on board, and neither is the Climate Card or a Discover Seoul Pass.
At Terminal 2, since 5 March 2026, you cannot board any Airport Limousine bus without a ticket bought first. The counters and machines are on B1 in the transport centre, and the Seoul buses leave from stalls 11 to 35 on the same floor. Whether those machines take a card issued abroad is not stated anywhere official, so carry cash for the counter.
The taxi, and the surcharge clock
Licensed taxis queue at stands 5C, 6C and 6D outside Terminal 1 arrivals and 7C outside Terminal 2. Nobody who approaches you inside the hall is one of them; the taxi guide explains the Call Van scam that lives in the arrivals hall.
By the meter, central Seoul runs about 48,000 to 65,000 won plus the expressway toll, which is charged to you. Then the clock: 20% on top from 22:00 to 23:00, 40% from 23:00 to 02:00, 20% from 02:00 to 04:00. A destination outside Seoul, Incheon, Bucheon, Gwangmyeong, Gimpo or Goyang adds an out-of-area surcharge too.
The International Taxi removes the arithmetic. It charges a flat rate by zone of Seoul, 70,000 to 95,000 won for a standard car and 100,000 to 140,000 for a large one, tolls included, in English or Japanese, paid in cash or by Visa, Mastercard or Amex. Book on intltaxi.co.kr at least 24 hours ahead, then find the desk at stand 4C in Terminal 1 or 3C in Terminal 2. At two in the morning with two suitcases, this is the calm option.
After midnight
The express stops at about 23:00 and the all-stop train at midnight. From then on:
- N6000 to the Express Bus Terminal in Gangnam, and N6002 through Dongdaemun, Gwanghwamun and Hongik University. Both are Airport Limousine night routes; check the departure times at the counter, because they run only a handful of times before dawn.
- A taxi, at the 40% rate until 02:00 and 20% until 04:00.
- Or the arrivals hall itself. It is open all night, and the first train at 05:20 is sometimes the better plan.
If you land at Gimpo
Gimpo Airport is on the same AREX line, closer in, with Lines 5 and 9 alongside it. The all-stop train and the subway do everything there.
