How to actually leave Seoul: trains, buses and what they cost
The practical mechanics of reaching the rest of Korea — which train to book, when the intercity bus is the better option, and the mistakes that strand people at the wrong terminal.
Updated
The KTX is not the only train, and often not the right one
Korea's high-speed KTX network reaches Busan in about two and a half hours and Gangneung in roughly two. It is fast, it is comfortable, and for the most-travelled corridors it is the obvious choice. But the KTX only serves a limited set of lines, and a large number of the places worth visiting are not on them.
For everywhere else there is the ITX-Saemaeul and the Mugunghwa, which are slower, considerably cheaper, and stop at towns the KTX skips entirely. A Mugunghwa ticket to a small station is frequently under 10,000 won. If your destination is a county rather than a metropolitan city, this is usually the train you want.
Tickets are sold through Korail. Reserved seats sell out on Friday evenings, Sunday afternoons and around public holidays; outside those windows you can generally buy on the day.
When the bus beats the train
Korea's intercity and express bus network is genuinely excellent and reaches places no train does. For a great many regional destinations the bus is not the fallback option — it is the primary one, and sometimes the only one.
Buses leave from dedicated terminals, not from train stations. This catches people out constantly: Seoul has several major bus terminals in different parts of the city, and the one you need depends on where you are going. Confirm which terminal your route departs from before you set out, because they are not close together.
Express buses come in standard and premium classes. Premium buses have wide reclining seats in a 1-2 configuration and are worth the difference on any journey over two hours.
The transit card solves most problems
A rechargeable transit card — T-money is the most widely sold — works on subways and city buses nationwide, not only in Seoul. You can buy one at any convenience store and top it up at the same counter or at station machines.
It also works as a payment card in convenience stores, which is more useful than it sounds in smaller towns where a foreign credit card may not be accepted.
Keep some cash. Rural bus routes, market stalls and small family-run restaurants are the places most likely to be cash-only, and they are also the places most worth eating in.
A realistic first trip beyond the capital
If you have only a few days and want to leave Seoul once, the two easiest choices are Gangneung on the east coast and Jeonju in the south-west. Both are reachable in about two to three hours, both work as a day trip if you start early, and both are substantially different from Seoul rather than being a smaller version of it.
Gangneung gives you the sea, pine forest trails and a coffee culture that grew up around the beach. Jeonju gives you the best-known hanok village in the country and the food culture of Jeolla province, which many Koreans will tell you is the best in Korea.
Staying a night changes the trip completely. Regional towns empty of day-trippers by early evening, and that is when they are at their best.