T-Money Card and the Seoul Subway: A Foreigner’s Complete 2026 Guide
Getting around Seoul comes down to one small plastic card. Here’s everything you need to know about T-money before you land.
What It Is and Where to Buy It
A T-money card is a rechargeable transit card that costs between ₩2,500 and ₩4,000, and you can buy one at nearly any convenience store or subway station. CU, GS25, 7-Eleven, and Emart24 all sell them, and in Korea you’re rarely more than five minutes from one of those stores. If you’re arriving at Incheon Airport, grab a card at the convenience store right before the AREX platform so you’re ready to go the moment you land.
Loading Money
For a typical 3–4 day Seoul trip, loading ₩30,000–₩50,000 is usually enough. You can recharge at subway station machines or at any convenience store displaying the T-money sign, and there’s no fee either way. The machines have English-language options, so the language barrier isn’t really an issue.
How to Ride
Tap your card on the yellow reader when you enter the gate, and tap again when you exit — the system calculates your fare by distance and deducts it automatically. A single base subway ride costs ₩1,550. Two details matter more than people expect: always tap off when you get off a bus, or you’ll lose your transfer discount, and if you switch between subway and bus within 30 minutes, you skip paying a second base fare entirely — your fare is calculated as one continuous trip by distance instead.
Getting a Refund
Before you leave, you can get your balance back. Convenience stores handle refunds for balances under ₩20,000, while subway station service centers handle up to ₩50,000. There’s a ₩500 service fee either way, and the original card purchase price isn’t refundable — so it’s not worth overloading the card right before you fly home.
Bonus: Foreigner-Specific Cards
If you’d rather have a card that also unlocks tourist discounts, look at the T-Money Travel Card, a version built specifically for international visitors.
