Money: cards, cash, and the machines that will refuse you
Korea is largely cashless until suddenly it is not. Where a foreign card works, where only cash does, and how to avoid being caught out in a small town.
Updated
Cards work almost everywhere, until they do not
Korea is one of the most card-friendly countries in the world. Foreign Visa and Mastercard are accepted in shops, chains, hotels and the great majority of restaurants, including small ones.
The exceptions cluster in predictable places: traditional market stalls, festival food tents, rural bus fares, small family-run restaurants in the countryside, and temple or park entrance booths. These are also, awkwardly, the places most worth going.
The practical rule is to treat cards as the default and carry enough cash that a cash-only day never becomes a problem. Fifty to a hundred thousand won covers most situations.
Not every ATM takes a foreign card
Korean ATMs are everywhere but many are domestic-network only and will simply decline a foreign card without a useful explanation.
Look for machines marked as accepting Visa, Mastercard, Cirrus or PLUS. Machines in convenience stores and at bank branches in larger towns are the most reliable, and airport ATMs always work.
Withdraw before you head into the countryside rather than after you arrive. A small town may have one bank branch with limited hours and an ATM that does not take your card.
The transit card is also a wallet
A T-money or similar transit card covers subways and buses nationwide and doubles as a payment card in convenience stores. Topping it up is a cash transaction at any convenience store counter, which makes it a convenient way to convert cash into something you can tap.
It is the only sensible way to pay for rural bus fares, where the driver may have no change and no card reader.
Tipping and tax
Tipping is not customary and is not expected in restaurants, taxis or hotels. Attempting to tip occasionally causes genuine confusion. This is not a country where service staff depend on gratuities.
Prices shown are the prices you pay; sales tax is already included. Some hotels and higher-end restaurants add a service charge, which will be stated on the bill.
Tax refunds on shopping exist for visitors above a spending threshold, handled either by immediate deduction at the till or at an airport kiosk on departure. Keep the receipts if you buy anything substantial.