Taxi fares and how to hail one

The four kinds of taxi you will see

The deluxe taxi (모범택시) is the point of confusion. It is not a better version of a regular taxi at the same price — it is a separately licensed premium grade with its own meter, roughly 45–80% dearer over a typical journey. Gimpo Airport (김포공항) publishes both columns side by side and the gap is plain: Gimpo to Myeongdong (central Seoul's main shopping street, and its cosmetics district) is about ₩20,000 regular against ₩36,000 deluxe. Choose the category deliberately and confirm the fare before boarding. A deluxe classification does not guarantee an English-speaking driver.

The premium app grades are a third category again, priced by the operator rather than by the city, with surge pricing applied on top. Seoul publishes each one's filed tariff: Kakao Black starts at ₩6,000 with no free distance and a flexible multiplier of 0.7–4.0×; Uber Black at ₩8,000 with 0.8–4.0×; Kakao Venti at ₩4,000 for 0.8 km. A 4× multiplier is legal and disclosed. Read the quoted fare before you confirm.

Seoul's meter, in full

The figures below come from Seoul’s taxi fare page.

Regular (중형)

Deluxe (모범택시) and large saloon (대형승용)

Three conditions explain how the fare changes. The time charge only cuts in below about 15.7 km/h, so in stopped traffic the meter keeps climbing while the car does not move — that is normal and not a scam. The night surcharge is stepped, not flat: 20% either side of a 40% core running 23:00 to 02:00, which is when the bars empty. And the out-of-city surcharge (시계외 할증) is 20% and applies to qualifying journeys outside the operating area. Joint operating zones, including the Seoul–Incheon Airport arrangement below, have exceptions. Night and out-of-city stack, to a ceiling of 60% on a regular taxi and 40% on a deluxe one. Whatever the meter reads, the final fare is rounded to the nearest ₩10.

Tolls are not in the meter. If your route uses a toll road at your request, you pay the actual charge on top.

Every other city is different

Fares are set by each metropolitan or provincial government, so there is no national taxi fare. Gimhae Airport publishes the Busan-region tariff, and almost every figure differs from Seoul's:

Busan also discounts a stacked surcharge by 10 percentage points, which Seoul does not. On Jeju, the island's airport publishes indicative fares rather than a tariff: airport to Jeju City Hall about ₩9,000 regular, to Jungmun resort about ₩35,000, to Seongsan about ₩45,000 — and the deluxe column runs consistently 1.8× those.

Hailing, and the light in the windscreen

A taxi with its red 빈차 ("empty car") light lit is free and you raise a hand. A taxi showing 예약 is booked. Seoul's own enforcement guidance treats switching that light off, or falsely showing 예약, in order to cherry-pick passengers as a refusal offence — which tells you how the lights are supposed to work and how they are sometimes abused.

Ranks (택시 승강장) exist at stations, hotels and airports, and at a rank you take the front car; asking for one further back is explicitly not treated as a refusal if the driver declines. Otherwise apps do the work — “Hailing a taxi with Kakao T on a foreign number” covers hailing by app, which is the right choice for a visitor who cannot say the destination out loud.

Two conventions worth knowing. Korean taxis have no partition and the front passenger seat is normal to use, especially if you are alone or there are four of you. And doors are not automatic: you open and close your own, unlike in Japan.

Paying

Where a taxi has the relevant equipment, the law prohibits refusing card payment or a receipt without the applicable justification. Article 16(1) of the Taxi Transport Business Development Act (택시운송사업의 발전에 관한 법률) lists four things a taxi driver may not do: refuse a passenger, charge an improper fare, force a shared ride, or refuse to issue a receipt or accept a card where the equipment is fitted. Article 16(2) lets the ministry suspend or revoke the driver's licence for any of them. In Seoul the fine ladder is ₩200,000, then ₩400,000, then ₩600,000.

Foreign cards are a separate question and a real one: the terminal must support your card network and your bank must authorise the transaction — see “Will my foreign card work at restaurants and shops?” and “Why was my card declined?”. Carry ₩30,000–₩50,000 in cash as a fallback. There is no tipping, and there is no expectation of one — “Do I tip at restaurants and in taxis?”.

Since December 2025, Seoul paper receipts have been reprinted with English alongside Korean: the final fare, the boarding and alighting times, and — the useful part — whether a night or out-of-city surcharge was applied. Fare wording across apps was standardised at the same time to "Meter Fare" and "Toll fee". Take the receipt. It helps document the fare and any surcharges.

Check airport surcharges and the vehicle category

The out-of-city surcharge you should not be paying. Seoul, Incheon, Bucheon, Gwangmyeong, Gimpo and Goyang share a joint operating zone with Incheon Airport, so a taxi journey between Seoul and the airport falls within that joint operating arrangement and must not carry the 20%. When Seoul analysed illegal taxi operations against foreign passengers in 2022, that single trick was 84% of all cases, and 94% of them happened at Incheon Airport. If the receipt shows an out-of-area surcharge for a covered journey, ask the driver to explain it. A separate late-night charge may still apply.

Call vans (콜밴) are not taxis. A call van is a licensed freight vehicle. Seoul's own guidance is blunt: it may carry a passenger only if that passenger has cargo of at least 20 kg or 40,000 cm³ — about a 35 cm cube — per person. Its fares are unregulated and negotiated before you get in, and fitting a meter to one is illegal. Carrying a passenger with no luggage is punishable by up to two years' imprisonment or a ₩20m fine. The vans that idle outside airport arrivals with TAXI painted on the door and an imitation vacant light are committing an offence before you even open the door. Seoul records one case where a tourist's meter started at ₩4,500 and read ₩57,000 on arrival at the hotel.

Booked and flat-fare options

Seoul's International Taxi (인터내셔널택시) sells fixed airport fares with tolls included, by district, and Seoul publishes the zone map that the operator does not: zone A (Gangseo) ₩70,000; B (Yangcheon, Guro, Yeongdeungpo, Mapo, Eunpyeong, Seodaemun) ₩75,000; C (Geumcheon, Gwanak, Dongjak, Yongsan, Jung, Jongno) ₩85,000; D (Seocho, Gangnam, Seongdong, Dongdaemun, Seongbuk, Gangbuk) ₩90,000; E (Songpa, Gangdong, Gwangjin, Jungnang, Nowon, Dobong) ₩95,000, with a deluxe column at ₩100,000–₩140,000. Charter is ₩70,000 for three hours up to ₩240,000 for a day, tolls extra. Note the same page permits a 20% foreigner surcharge on a metered International Taxi ride — legal, disclosed, and worth knowing before you see it.

Phone-hail call fees in Seoul are ₩1,000 by day and ₩2,000 at night. App dispatch fees are filed with the ministry rather than set by the city, so read the figure on screen before you press call.