🇰🇷South Korea

Decision flow

1. Are you visa-free? Most European, North American and developed-Asian passports enter for tourism without a visa, for 30 to 90 days depending on nationality. Check your own on the official K-ETA portal, which tells you both whether you are visa-free and whether you need the authorisation.
2. Are you exempt from K-ETA? A large group of countries and territories is temporarily exempt until 31 December 2026 - the UK, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao among them. If you are on it, you file the free e-Arrival Card instead.
3. Not exempt but visa-free? Apply for K-ETA at k-eta.go.kr before you fly. 10,000 KRW, non-refundable even if refused, valid 3 years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. Holding one exempts you from the e-Arrival Card.
4. Not visa-free, or staying over 90 days, or working? A visa from a Korean mission before departure. There is no route at the border.

Entry formalities

• e-Arrival Card - the online replacement for the paper arrival form, at e-arrivalcard.go.kr, free, in several languages. Submission is accepted within three days of your arrival, Korea Standard Time. Holders of a valid K-ETA, a residence card or an e-Group visa are exempt from it. You get a QR confirmation, but you do not have to present it: the record is linked to your passport number.
• The Korean phone number field trips people up. The form wants a Korean contact number and rejects foreign ones. Enter the reception number of your first hotel, without an international dialling code.
• Q-Code health declaration - required only if you are arriving from a designated quarantine-inspection area. The list is maintained by the KDCA and revised quarterly, and it has covered parts of China, parts of the United States, several Gulf states and a number of countries in South Asia and Africa at different times. Check the current list at cov19ent.kdca.go.kr rather than relying on any published snapshot. Travellers from areas not on it do not need it at all.
• Customs declaration - only if you exceed the allowances. Either the paper form or the "Korea Customs Declaration for Travelers" app.

Duty-free allowances

• Goods - up to USD 800 in total value.
• Alcohol - 2 bottles, up to 2 litres combined and USD 400 combined, counted separately from the USD 800.
• Tobacco - 200 cigarettes.
• Perfume - 100 ml.
• Under 19s get no duty-free allowance for alcohol or tobacco.

Smart Entry Service

The e-gates cut immigration to seconds and are open to short-stay visitors, not only residents.

• Foreigners aged 17 or over from the 42 eligible countries can register and then use the automated gates on that visit and on every future one.
• US, Hong Kong and Macao nationals are covered by mutual agreements with Korea.
• Registration means enrolling your fingerprints and face; after that the gate reads the passport, the fingerprint and the face and lets you through.

What matters in practice

• The commonest mistake is paying for a K-ETA you are exempt from. The portal blocks the application with a pop-up, and travellers then arrive without having filed the free e-Arrival Card, which is the form they actually needed.
• Airlines, not Korea, enforce six months of passport validity. Korea asks only that the passport cover the stay; the carrier's conditions of carriage are what stop you at the check-in desk.

• Meat and meat products may not be brought in. African swine fever controls carry fines that start around a million won and climb steeply for a second offence, and the declaration form asks explicitly.
• The allowance is 200 cigarettes and a bottle of spirits per adult, plus a value limit for other goods that the airport applies to the receipts in your bag.
• Cash equivalent to USD 10,000 or more must be declared, in any mix of currencies.
• Cannabis remains illegal for Korean nationals even abroad, which is why arrivals from countries where it is legal are questioned about it - visitors are not the target, but the questions are asked at the same desk.
• Fresh fruit, vegetables and plants need clearance, and the beagle teams at Incheon work the belt rather than the hall.

Health, insurance and where to be treated

• Vaccinations - none is required to enter. Malaria and dengue are effectively absent from urban areas; ordinary insect precautions are sensible in the countryside in summer.
• Tap water is safe - chemically and bacteriologically - across the country. Many Koreans still drink filtered or bottled water, which is about taste rather than safety.
• Pharmacies are marked "Yakguk" (약국). Basic painkillers and cold remedies are also sold in convenience stores, which are open 24 hours.

Hospitals with international departments in Seoul

Paying

Korean healthcare is good and it is not free to you. A visitor without insurance pays the full cost of care directly.

• 119 brings an ambulance at no charge, but examination, tests, treatment and medication at the hospital are all billed separately.
• 1339 is the emergency medical information line for foreign visitors - use it when you need to know whether and where to go.
• Keep every receipt and the itemised bill for your insurer.

Which district

• Seoul - Myeongdong (Jung-gu) - the default first choice for families and first-time visitors: central, right by Line 4 stations, and on the airport limousine bus routes so you arrive without an interchange.
• Seoul - Hongdae (Mapo-gu) - the student and nightlife district. Its practical advantage is the AREX All-Stop train straight from Incheon with no transfer.
• Busan - Seomyeon (Busanjin-gu) - the city's transport crossroads, where metro lines 1 and 2 intersect, and an easy base if you have come down by KTX.

At check-in

• A physical passport is legally required for scanning at any licensed hotel. A photo of it is not enough.
• Expect a credit-card pre-authorisation to cover incidentals; it is released when you check out.

If you are in a private apartment

Waste sorting is a legal obligation, not a house rule. Korea runs a volume-based bag system: general waste, food waste and recyclables go into separate streams, food waste into designated paid bags. Get it wrong and the fine goes to the property, which will pass it to you. Ask the host which bags to use before you generate any rubbish.

Why the connection matters more here

Google Maps cannot give you reliable walking directions in South Korea. Korean law restricts the export of detailed mapping data, so the global apps run on a degraded dataset. The apps that work - Naver Map and KakaoMap - are excellent, and both need a live connection to do anything.

So the goal is to land connected, not to sort it out after immigration.

Saily plans for South Korea

Buying locally

• The three networks are SK Telecom (SKT), KT and LG U+. For a visitor the coverage differences are academic; what differs is the price and what comes bundled.
• The standard tourist product is a 10-day unlimited-data prepaid package, "unlimited" meaning a few gigabytes a day at full speed and a reduced speed after that.
• Some LG U+ and KT tourist SIMs come with a free T-money card, which is a genuine saving if you have not already bought one.
• Passport registration is required for every SIM sold in Korea. Budget a few minutes at the counter.
• Where - official operator counters in the arrivals hall of Incheon Terminal 1, and in the arrivals hall and Transportation Center of Terminal 2. Standard hours are roughly 06:00 to 22:00, with some kiosks running around the clock. Flagship stores in Myeongdong, Hongdae and Gangnam in Seoul, and near the station in Busan.
• Convenience stores (GS25, CU, 7-Eleven) sell tourist SIMs too, but you then do the registration and activation yourself online.

Short verdict

Buy the eSIM before you fly unless you specifically want a Korean number or the bundled T-money card - in which case pick up a physical SIM at the airport counter and accept the queue.

Sockets in South Korea are Type C and F at 220 V, 60 Hz - the German Schuko outlet, on an American frequency.

• The country used to run at 110 V. The conversion to 220 V finished in 2005, so anything you remember or read from before then is out of date, and the old flat-pin sockets are gone from ordinary housing.
• A Europlug and a Schuko plug both fit. European travellers need no adapter at all, which is unusual this far east.
• American, British and Australian plugs need one. The 60 Hz supply does not change that.
• 220 V is the trap for American appliances, which fit nothing here anyway but will be destroyed through an adapter unless marked 100-240 V.
• Convenience stores sell adapters and most hotels keep a few at the desk.

Local rules worth taking seriously

• Defamation is criminal, and truth is no defence. Under Article 307 of the Criminal Act, a statement that damages someone's reputation can be prosecuted even if it is entirely accurate. A bad restaurant or hotel review posted publicly is enough to expose a visitor to a fine or worse. Complain to the business, or through the 1330 tourist helpline, not on a review site.
• Photographing or filming people without consent is a criminal offence, prosecuted under Korea's illegal-filming laws with serious penalties. Every phone sold in Korea makes a shutter sound that cannot be turned off - an industry standard in place since 2004, adopted precisely because of covert photography. A foreign phone can be silent; the law still applies to you.
• Drugs: zero tolerance, and it includes CBD. Possession or use of cannabis, CBD oil or any recreational drug leads to detention and deportation. Prescription medicines containing stimulants such as methylphenidate, and strong opioid painkillers, need approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety obtained before you travel, or they are confiscated at the airport.
• Drones are realistically not an option for a visitor. Anything over 250 g must be registered on the drone one-stop portal, and registration requires Korean identity verification and a Korean phone number, which a tourist does not have. Aerial photography needs a permit applied for at least four business days in advance. The area around the government complexes in Seoul is a hard no-fly zone, greater Seoul sits inside a restricted buffer needing military authorisation, and the northern border areas are closed. Fines reach the low millions of won.
• Smoking outdoors is restricted and enforced. Cigarettes and e-cigarettes are allowed only in designated smoking areas; most major streets, and everything within 10 metres of a subway entrance, are non-smoking. On-the-spot fines run to 100,000 KRW, with some districts charging 50,000 for a first offence.
• Waste sorting is a legal requirement, run through paid volume-based bags with general waste, food waste and recyclables strictly separated.
• Etiquette - cover shoulders and knees at Buddhist temples, do not point at people or sacred objects, and hand or receive anything - a card, money, a glass - with both hands when the other person is older.

Everyday practicalities

• Power - type C and F sockets at 220 V, 60 Hz. Continental European plugs fit without an adapter; British, American and Australian ones do not.
• Tap water is safe to drink, though hotels usually also provide bottled water.
• Time - UTC+9, with no daylight saving.
• Opening hours - shops and malls roughly 10:00 or 10:30 until 20:00-22:00; banks 09:00 to 16:00; convenience stores around the clock.
• The holidays that stop the country are Seollal and Chuseok. Most shops close, domestic transport is jammed, and KTX tickets sell out weeks ahead.
• Public toilets are free, clean and in every metro station and public building.

Cards and cash

Korea is close to cashless. Cafés, restaurants, shops and taxis take cards as a matter of course. Cash in won is still needed at traditional markets such as Gwangjang, at street-food stalls, and to top up a physical T-money card at a machine.

• ATM withdrawals - use machines marked with the "Global ATM" logo; a domestic-only machine will simply reject a foreign card. Woori, KB Kookmin, KEB Hana and Shinhan have the widest Global ATM networks. The Korean-side fee is a flat amount per withdrawal - broadly 2,000 to 4,500 KRW, with Woori typically at the low end - so a larger, less frequent withdrawal costs proportionally less. Your own bank's foreign-ATM fee and exchange margin come on top of that.
• Decline dynamic currency conversion. When a terminal or ATM offers to bill you in your home currency, say no and take won. The conversion is then done by your own bank rather than by the merchant's provider.
• Exchanging cash - airport counters are the worst rates in the country. The certified exchange offices in Seoul's Myeongdong district, around the Chinese embassy, are where the good rates are, and they need to see your physical passport.
• WOWPASS - a prepaid card made for foreign visitors. Bought from the orange self-service machines at airports, major metro stations and hotels for a 5,000 KRW issuance fee, topped up directly in foreign cash across a range of currencies, and usable as a debit card anywhere cards are taken. It has a T-money transit chip built in, and the app shows and tops up the transit balance, so you are not hunting for a cash machine to ride the subway.

Tipping

There is no tipping culture in South Korea. Restaurants, hotels and taxis do not expect one, and offering it can read as a misunderstanding rather than a courtesy. The price on the menu is the price you pay.

• Solo traveller - the AREX Express to Seoul Station. Fastest, straightforward, and it cannot be caught in traffic on the way in.
• Family with children - the limousine bus. It costs more than the train but it stops at the major hotels, which removes hauling suitcases up and down the stairs of a metro interchange. Several routes carry a family discount.
• Late-night arrival - AREX stops before midnight. Take a night limousine bus - N6000 to Gangnam Express Bus Terminal at 17,000 KRW, N6002 to Cheongnyangni at 18,000 KRW, N6701 to Dongdaemun Design Plaza at 18,000 KRW - or a taxi, on which the late-night surcharge applies.
• Tight budget - the All-Stop AREX, about 4,750 KRW from Terminal 1 with a T-money card, just under an hour, and it puts you down at Hongdae if that is where you are staying.
• Once you are in the city, transit runs on tap-in and tap-out - on the metro and on buses. Missing the tap-out is charged as a penalty on your next ride.

Transit in the Korean cities is integrated, punctual, and needs a tap in and a tap out - on the metro and on buses alike. Missing the tap-out is charged as a penalty on your next ride.

Paying

• T-money is the standard card, bought at any convenience store for 3,000 to 4,000 KRW and topped up with cash at station machines or over the counter.
• A foreign bank card still cannot be tapped at the gate. What changed on 17 March 2026 is that visitors can buy and recharge tourist transit cards with an overseas-issued credit or debit card at supported vending machines - so you no longer need Korean cash before you can move.
• The base fare in Seoul is 1,550 KRW with a transit or bank card, 1,650 KRW for a cash single ticket, after the June 2025 increase.

Climate Card Tourist Pass

Unlimited rides on the Seoul metro and city buses for a fixed number of days: 1 day 5,000 KRW, 2 days 8,000, 3 days 10,000, 5 days 15,000, with a 7-day version as well.

• Sold at tourist information centres, at the customer safety centres in stations on lines 1 to 8, and at convenience stores near stations.
• It activates the day you charge it, not on a date you choose.
• It is not valid on the AREX from Incheon Airport, nor on airport buses. Budget for those separately.

Apps worth installing

• Naver Map - the one that works. Public transit routing and walking navigation, in English. Google Maps is crippled in Korea by mapping-data export restrictions.
• Subway Korea - light and fast, works offline, gives you the quickest transfers on the Seoul and Busan metros.
• k.ride - Kakao Mobility's taxi app for foreign visitors. It accepts a foreign phone number and links an international card for automatic payment.
• Kakao T - the dominant national taxi app, but registering a foreign card for automatic payment frequently fails. Select "pay to the driver" before you send the order, then pay by card or T-money at the end.
• Uber - works through the local UT taxi network, which makes it the least-setup option if you already have the app.

Hi-pass tolling on the expressways, speed cameras on everything else, and near-zero tolerance for alcohol.

• Hire cars carry a Hi-pass transponder and the tolls are billed back; cash lanes still exist at most plazas.
• The alcohol limit is 0.03 % and a licence is suspended at that level. Enforcement includes checkpoints, and the social norm is absolute abstinence when driving.
• Speed cameras are fixed, signposted and everywhere. Navigation apps announce them; the traffic slows for each one and speeds up after.
• Navigation in English is limited. Google Maps does not do turn-by-turn driving directions in Korea for legal reasons; Naver Map and KakaoNavi do.
• Seoul is a poor place for a car and the KTX plus a car hired on arrival at the other end is the usual local pattern.

What the risk actually is

South Korea is among the safest countries you can travel in. The FCDO's summary is that crime against foreigners is rare but there are occasional thefts - take care of passports, cards and money in crowded areas and in the districts foreigners frequent, such as Itaewon. It adds that while most reported crime is theft, there have been assaults, including sexual assault, particularly around bars and nightlife areas.

Fraud, which is where the numbers have moved

Reports of fraud by foreign nationals nearly quadrupled in two years - from 5,307 cases in 2023 to 19,907 in 2025, against visitor numbers that rose from 11.03 million to 18.94 million over the same period.

• K-pop tickets and merchandise are the dominant category. Overseas fans send money to someone in Korea to buy official merchandise or concert tickets on their behalf, and the seller disappears once paid. Around the BTS concerts in Busan on 12-13 June 2026, five of seven reported crimes against foreign nationals were scams of this kind.
• The rule is simple: pay only through official ticketing and official stores. An intermediary you found on social media has no accountability and no recourse.

The street approach

Groups recruiting for Korea's new religious movements work the streets of central Seoul, and foreigners are a deliberate target. The method is consistent: well-presented, English-speaking people ask you to complete a short survey, a personality test or to talk about Korean culture, then invite you on somewhere else to continue.

• Decline the follow-on invitation. Nothing you actually want to do requires being recruited on a pavement, and the pressure only starts once you are somewhere private.
• The same instinct covers the bar version. Being walked to a quiet, empty bar by someone who approached you is the setup for a bill you did not agree to. Choose your own venue.

Emergency numbers

• You do not need Korean to call 119. The operator connects a three-way call with an interpreter - English, Japanese and Chinese are covered.
• The 119 ambulance ride is free. What follows at the hospital is not: examination, tests, treatment and medication are all billed.
• Police stations mostly have no English-speaking officer on duty, but free interpretation is provided in an emergency.
• Travel insurance is not an entry condition but is close to essential - an uninsured foreigner pays the full cost of care.

See the Health section for the Seoul hospitals with round-the-clock English-speaking coordinators.