Getting home after the subway stops

First: when does the subway actually stop?

There is no single answer. Seoul Metropolitan Government publishes last-train times station by station through its open-data service, and the spread is wide. These are weekday last departures.

Check both the direction and the train’s final destination.

Direction matters more than the station does. At Seoul Station the last Line 1 train going one way leaves at 00:48 and the last one going the other way left at 00:12 — thirty-six minutes apart, from the same platform level. At Gwanghwamun the gap is seventeen minutes. Standing on the right platform at 00:40 and the wrong platform at 00:40 are completely different outcomes.

Check Line 2 in the operator’s timetable or a current route planner. Seoul's own last-train service lists no times for Line 2 stations — the loop line that carries Hongdae, Sinchon, Gangnam, Jamsil, Euljiro and City Hall, and by some distance the line a visitor is most likely to be standing on at midnight. An omission from this dataset does not mean that Line 2 has no timetable. Check the service for your station and destination before planning your return.

A last-train time is also not a get-home time. If you need a transfer, the connecting line may have already finished; and if you miss the exit tap, Seoul Metro deducts ₩1,550 from your next journey automatically.

Find a night bus serving your destination

Routes serve popular visitor areas, including the Hongdae university district and Myeongdong shopping district. Check the stop closest to your accommodation.

Seoul runs 14 dedicated night routes, 140 buses, 23:00 to 06:00, and the city publishes the whole roster. The adult base fare is ₩2,500. Have a funded transit card ready because cash acceptance varies — the same as it has been since the 2023 schedule, with no early-bird discount, ₩1,600 for teenagers and ₩1,400 for children. Against a ₩20,000 taxi that is a very large difference for a 40-minute ride.

How to pick one in thirty seconds: put your hotel into Naver Map (Korea's default map app, and the one carrying the most English) or KakaoMap and let it route you — night buses are in both, and the route number always begins with N. If you are working it out from the stop, the practical shortlist is N62 for Hongdae to the centre, N61 or N31 for Gangnam, N72 or N31 for Itaewon, N75 or N15 for Seoul Station, and N30 or N31 for Myeongdong.

The normal transfer conditions also matter at night:

• The eligible transfer window extends to sixty minutes between 21:00 and 07:00. Seoul's own transfer rules set the window at 30 minutes from tapping off, "but 60 minutes between 21:00 and 07:00", up to four transfers on one card, judged on the time you board the second vehicle. An eligible connection avoids a second full base fare, although a distance-based additional charge may apply.
• Tap off as well as on. Miss it and the transfer chain breaks and the next fare is charged in full.
• Re-boarding the same route never counts as a transfer, so overshooting your stop and doubling back is a fresh ₩2,500.

There is also one oddity worth knowing about: late-night route A21 (심야A21), a self-driving night bus running Hapjeong ↔ Dongdaemun via Hongdae, Sinchon, Ewha, Chungjeongno, Gwanghwamun and Jongno, weekdays only, on roughly a 70-minute cycle from about 23:30. Seoul introduced it in December 2023; whether it is still free or has moved onto the normal fare is not something the city states on any current page.

The taxi, and the hour it costs most

Taxis operate overnight, but availability varies and night surcharges increase the fare. Seoul publishes its tariff on the city's own taxi fare page.

A black deluxe taxi (모범택시) is a separate, dearer grade — ₩7,000 for the first 3 km, rising to ₩8,400 with a flat 20% between 22:00 and 04:00. Leaving the city adds another 20% on top, and the two together are capped at 60% on a regular taxi. Premium app services have their own pricing. Check the quoted fare and conditions before confirming.

So the expensive hour and the hour you want a taxi are the same hour. Between about 01:00 and 02:30 on a Friday or Saturday in Gangnam, Hongdae or Itaewon you are competing with everyone else who just missed the last train, at the +40% rate, on a street where empty cabs do not stop. Hail it in an app instead of standing in the road — Kakao T (the taxi-hailing app Koreans use) and k.ride let you request a car from a specified pickup point. Check the displayed fare conditions; an estimate is not necessarily a fixed fare. That is covered in “Hailing a taxi with Kakao T on a foreign number”. And check the receipt: since December 2025 Seoul's paper receipts print in English whether a night or out-of-city surcharge was applied.

Not travelling at all

If you would rather stay nearby, compare the cost and comfort of an available room with a bathhouse that permits overnight rest.

The bathhouse (찜질방, jjimjilbang). A jjimjilbang is a Korean bathhouse with heated dry rooms. Some operate overnight; confirm the venue’s hours and whether it permits resting overnight. Legally it is a bathhouse business (목욕장업) — the Public Health Control Act defines it at Article 2(1)3(b) as a business providing rooms heated with elvan stone, ochre or jade, or by far infrared, for the purpose of sweating. Expect roughly ₩12,000–₩17,000 for the night; Spa Lei (스파레이) in Seocho, which is women-only and open 24 hours, charges ₩16,000 for the first 12 hours including the gown, then ₩1,000 an hour.

What happens: you leave your shoes in a small locker at the door, pay, are handed a numbered wristband, a towel and a cotton shirt-and-shorts set, bathe on your own side of a gender-separated bathhouse, then put the issued clothes on and go up to the mixed common floor where the heat rooms are. You sleep there, on the floor, with a wooden block or a firm pillow. That is not a cost-cutting choice — it is the law. The Enforcement Rule's list of operator duties forbids a bathhouse from keeping bedding used for sleeping accommodation, allowing only large towels and pillows "for a user's temporary sleep or rest". The same list is why the issued clothes exist: a mixed-sex sweat room may only be entered wearing them.

Three warnings from the same rule, and they are worth taking seriously at 2am. Operators must post a notice barring the heat rooms to anyone within two hours of drinking alcohol, anyone with a systolic blood pressure of 180 or more, and pregnant, frail or feverish users — a very hot room on top of a night out is a genuine medical risk, not a technicality. A 24-hour bathhouse must also bar under-19s during a window the city sets somewhere inside 22:00–05:00 unless a parent or guardian comes too. And the price list must be posted at the counter, so read it before you hand over your shoes.

Everything else that is simply open. Convenience stores run 24 hours almost everywhere. So do a great many internet cafés (PC방) — the gaming-venue decree imposes no closing time at all on internet café operators, only a 09:00–22:00 access window for under-19s, which is precisely why the adult ones stay open all night. Karaoke rooms (노래방) and 24-hour cafés fill the same gap. These venues do not provide hotel accommodation. Check their prices and opening hours, then confirm the first train from your station.

And there is the frank option: a motel (모텔). A private room for the night is usually ₩40,000–₩70,000, walk-in, no booking, and availability and prices vary by area and date. “Love hotels and the ordinary motel (모텔)” explains how to recognise one and why nobody in Korea finds it odd.

Plan your return journey and stay aware of your surroundings

The UK Foreign Office's Korea advice states that "crime against foreigners is rare but there are occasional thefts" — and, in the same section, that "there have been cases of assault, including sexual assault, particularly around bars and nightlife areas", advising you to "take care when travelling alone at night and only use legitimate taxis or public transport". Korea's own criminology bears the shape of that out: the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, analysing national police crime statistics, found violent and sexual offences follow a U-shaped daily curve that peaks late at night, while theft peaks in the late afternoon and evening instead.

These reports do not establish that an empty street is safe or that every nightlife district is dangerous. Plan how to get home, stay aware of your surroundings and use a legitimate taxi or public transport.

Seoul does run an escort service, the safe-return-home scout (안심귀가스카우트), which walks you from a station or bus stop to your door on weekday nights from 22:00 to 01:00, booked through Seoul's own safety app, Ansimi (서울시 안심이); the districts describe it as open to "any Seoul citizen", so it is built for residents rather than visitors and you should not plan a night around it.

The decision, in order

1. Check the subway first. Use it if trains and any required connections still reach your destination.
2. Look for a suitable night bus. Check its actual stop and departure time; the network does not provide a bus from every location throughout the night.
3. Compare a taxi. The cost depends on distance, traffic, vehicle type and the night surcharge.
4. Consider an overnight bathhouse only if communal rest suits you. Confirm opening hours, admission conditions and the available sleeping area.
5. Book a hotel or motel if you want a private room. Confirm availability and the full overnight price.
6. Check intercity departures separately. Overnight coaches operate on some routes, while train timetables vary. See “Getting between Korean cities: train, bus or plane”.