Seoul spent years talking about putting boats on the Han River, and now it has: the 한강버스 (Hangang Bus) is a public ferry that runs the river like a bus route. Service began in 2025, and the city restored the full Magok-to-Jamsil route on 1 March 2026 after a round of safety work.
The reviews at home have been unkind, and the criticism is the reason to care. End to end, Magok to Jamsil takes about two hours and seven minutes — Korean coverage at launch called it a sluggish failure as a commuter service, which it is. Nobody is going to catch this to the office. What that leaves is a 3,000-won riverboat that runs until 22:30, which is a very different proposition when you are a visitor and the journey was always the point.
The service, in numbers
Seven piers strung west to east: Magok, then Mangwon, Yeouido, Apgujeong, Oksu, Ttukseom and Jamsil, with about 32 sailings a day. Yeouido is the hub — the route works as a western half (Magok to Yeouido) and an eastern half (Yeouido to Jamsil), and changing between them at Yeouido is free.
Fares are flat, not by distance: 3,000 won adult, 1,800 youth, 1,100 child. Boats run 06:30 to 22:30 on weekdays and 09:30 to 22:30 at weekends, every 15 to 20 minutes at peak and every 30 to 60 minutes otherwise — the gap that makes checking the timetable worth the thirty seconds.
One caution on paying: Seoul’s transit passes changed in September 2026, and the Climate Card that older guides recommend has been replaced for residents by a scheme that needs a Korean bank card. The transport guide has the current picture; a normal transit card remains the uncomplicated answer.
Ferry or cruise
They are not the same purchase. A tourist cruise from Yeouido or Jamsil runs about USD 14–15 and gives you a round trip on a fixed loop with commentary and a snack bar; the dinner cruise past the 63 Building is nearer USD 63, and there are yachts and speedboats at Sevit Island for about USD 26 if you want the fast version. All of those are experiences with a beginning and an end.
The ferry is a one-way ticket at 3,000 won that leaves you somewhere else. That is its whole advantage. You are not buying a loop back to the car park; you are buying passage from Yeouido to Ttukseom at sunset, and then you are in Ttukseom, where Seoul Forest is, and the evening continues.
How to actually use it
Pick a leg, not the whole line. The Yeouido to Ttukseom or Yeouido to Apgujeong stretches give you the river’s best skyline in under an hour, and both ends are places you would want to be anyway. Ride in the last hour of daylight so the bridges light up on the way.
Pair it with the parks: buy fried chicken and a mat at a convenience store and do the Han River evening properly at whichever end you get off. And use Naver Map to find the pier — they sit inside the riverside parks, not at the nearest subway exit, and the walk is longer than it looks on a map.
Whatever is happening along the river while you are here — festivals, markets, fireworks — is on the live Seoul calendar.
Route, pier list, sailing counts, hours, headways and fares are from the operator’s service information and Seoul city sources; the end-to-end journey time and the commuter criticism from Korean press coverage at launch; cruise prices from the Klook catalogue. Checked 7 September 2026. River services suspend for weather and water levels more often than land transport does — check before you build an evening around one.
