LANDING IN KOREA?
Arrival setup — your first 24 hours, in order
Five things, most of them doable from your sofa before you fly. Each step links to the full article where every number was checked against a Korean primary source.
This article contains affiliate links, marked where they appear. If you book through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you — how this works.
Before you fly
- Call your card issuer about 3D Secure — the one fix that only works from home.
- Buying an SKT voice eSIM online? Its passport verification runs 8am–10pm Korean time — do it before the flight, not after landing at 1am.
- Secret Garden tickets sell out ahead — if it is on your list, book it now.
1Get your phone working
Most tourist eSIMs sold through travel platforms are data-only: mobile data works, but there is no usable Korean 010 number, no calls and no SMS. Read the product page before you pay.
A data eSIM bought from a Korean carrier does carry an 010 number, and if you need to send texts — some booking apps demand it — the voice plans differ by carrier: SKT sells and verifies online (8am–10pm Korean time), KT and LG U+ hand over the QR at the airport counter.
The eSIM article — what a tourist eSIM can and cannot do →
Get an eSIM
Klook · Affiliate link — we may earn a commission→LTE eSIM with Data, Call and SMS — buy online, verify passport by voucher (SK Telecom)
SK Telecom · Suggested→Voice eSIM — sold at the airport roaming centre only (KT)
KT · Suggested→
Links marked as affiliate links earn us a commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you. The rest are official operator and government pages that pay us nothing. We were not paid to write any of this.
2Make your cards work before you need them
Your foreign card will work in most shops and restaurants. Korean online checkouts are a different story — many run 3D Secure, and a card that is not enrolled gets declined with no useful explanation.
The fix is a phone call to your card issuer before you fly. Bring a second card from a different bank, and some cash.
The 3D Secure article — the call to make, and the three questions to ask →
3Pick up a transit card
T-money is the rechargeable card that works on subways and buses nationwide. Physical cards sell at airport convenience stores; some carrier eSIM bundles include one.
We are still verifying the mobile T-money apps on foreign phones — until then, the physical card is the answer we can stand behind.
4Get from the airport into the city
From Incheon: the all-stop train is the cheapest, the Express is the fastest rail option, limousine buses go door-ish to door, and after the last train the N6701/N6703 night buses are the option nobody tells you about.
Incheon → Seoul, compared — fares, times, and the 1am problem →
Book airport transport
Every link above is an affiliate link: if you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. We were not paid to write any of this and nobody reviewed it before publication but us.
5Know the quirks before they find you
Korean trains have no ticket gates — sit in your assigned seat and that is the whole procedure. Clinics take walk-ins. Glasses take about ten minutes. And the signs stop being wallpaper after one evening with the alphabet.
The full list: every moment that stumps visitors, with one-line answers →
＋Where to sleep
The honest position has not changed: we do not have a Seoul neighbourhood guide yet, and we do not recommend hotels we have not evaluated. What we can do is hand you the search rather than an answer — the link below opens Seoul on Trip.com, where you filter by area yourself. Myeongdong, Hongdae and Gangnam are three different trips. A guide to choosing between them is still on the list.
Where to sleep
Every link above is an affiliate link: if you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. We were not paid to write any of this and nobody reviewed it before publication but us.