Arriving in Seoul: AREX, the International Taxi, and Paying for the Subway with a Foreign Card
How to get from Incheon into Seoul by the airport railroad, bus or the International Taxi for foreign visitors, how to buy subway tickets with a foreign card, and the 1330 travel hotline.
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✓ Checked and fact-checked
Most international flights to Seoul land at Incheon International Airport (ICN). Check whether you need a K-ETA before you board, and what Korea customs allows on arrival. The airport itself advises allowing 1 to 2 hours for immigration after your flight arrives before you plan onward transport.
AREX: the airport railroad
The Airport Railroad (AREX) runs from Incheon to Seoul Station, where you can change to the KTX and subway lines 1 and 4. Incheon Airport’s page puts the general train at 66 minutes to Seoul Station. AREX also runs a direct express train.
The airport sends fare and timetable questions to the airport railroad hotline, 1599-7788, and its website. We could not read the AREX fare table on 4 November 2026, so we publish no fares.
Airport buses
At Terminal 1, bus tickets are sold at “ticket booths located inside the terminal (next to exits 4 and 9)”. For Seoul city buses, the airport points to the Dasan Call Center on 02-120.
The International Taxi
Incheon Airport runs International Taxis “For Foreign Nationals Only”, booked on 1644-2255. For trips into Seoul, the airport says a “flat fare applies”, but its page does not give the amount, so ask when you book. Ordinary taxis add a night surcharge: “approximately 20% to 40%” between 22:00 and 04:00.
Paying for the subway with a foreign card
Since 17 March 2026, 440 new ticket vending machines at 273 stations on Seoul subway lines 1 to 8 accept “credit and debit cards issued overseas for fare payment”, the government’s Korea.net reports, naming Visa, Mastercard, Kakao Pay and Naver Pay.
That is at the ticket machine. We found no official source saying you can tap a foreign bank card at the subway gate itself, so buy a ticket or a stored-value card at the machine first.
Help in English
The Korea Travel Hotline is “1330 (in Korea), +82-2-1330 (from Overseas)”. VisitKorea says it can also be reached by online voice call over Wi-Fi and by messenger apps, including KakaoTalk, Line and WhatsApp.
We could not open the police and fire agencies’ English pages on 4 November 2026, so we do not list their numbers here. Save 1330 before you land.
Most of that help, and the AREX fare tables, sit behind an app or a website, so a connection on landing matters. With Saily installed before you fly, your phone has data in the arrivals hall. If Seoul is one stop of several, keep the same Saily profile and add a country.
Saily, a data eSIM you install before you fly and top up per country Our full write-up. (affiliate link)