Seoul to Busan train - best to book online or buy at station?
 

Hi all,

I'm looking to go from Seoul to Busan on 13-15 March round trip. Is it best to buy online or just at the train station? Will there be local rates if we just wait or do the trains book up?

Thanks in advance

Absolutely book online. However, you will only get local rates if you book on the Korean site. The English page doesn't offer the same rates. If you wait until you arrive, you will probably have limited or no seat selection. And that means standing in the vestibule.

Anything on Friday afternoon to Busan and coming back on Sunday afternoon to Seoul usually sells out.

That being said, I just checked the Korean KORAIL app for those days. Reservations are available on every train for 1 ticket all day at all times. The local discount is actually only 5% (2,500W roughly).

Really appreciate the tip - thank you - I just booked the trains no issues. Now time to find some amazing traditional spots to eat at!

No problem. The line to pick up your tickets at Seoul Station can be kind of long (for the windows). There should be a counter in the very middle (doors to the platforms on either side of it) that can speak English. There's often much fewer people there. Try there first to pick up your tickets.

-OR- You can get them in the train station at ICN airport from the window. Much, much fewer people. Much easier.

KTX Direct Seoul to BUSAN
 

Hi,

TO take the KTX Bullet Train non stop from Seoul > Busan, I am residing in Myeongdong (Westin Chosun) area, for travel any day from April 28-May1. For 1 ticket, do I need to make an RSVP, or can I just walk up to the ticket counter? I just want to zip down in the early morning, and zip back after supper time.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

LFC^

Those are weekday times and they should be ok for seats to just get a walk up ticket. There are trains every 20 minutes to Busan on KTX, so really, you don't even have to schedule it. Same for the return.

Also, for you, if you use the foreigner page, you still have to go to a ticket window and get your tickets there.

One more tip - you can save a few bucks by getting a standing ticket. This means that you don't have an assigned seat on the train. You can sit wherever you want in any seat until someone shows you their ticket. You don't have to say or do anything. Just sit until someone shows you their ticket for you to move. Alternatively, in the vestibule of each car, there is a single seat you can fold down and sit in.

Thanks for the tips and advice mikesaidyes. I will probably go with the seating option, in case the train is full. Not sure if there is a "milk run" train, but my plans are to take the direct non-stop routing.

Funny, I did all that in my last trip back to TPE, where I inexplicably felt like taking the local train from TPE (Taoyuan Station) airport to Taichung, (Shalu Station) Taiwan. I was caught without an RSVP ticket, just a standing room only ticket, with 1 carry-on & 2 checked luggage.:o:D. So much for my "adventures" of the day that time out. Now I travel "real" light, with max 1 checked luggage, plus carry-on wheelie.^

All KTX trains run the same route to Busan. Some take just a few minutes longer because they make a few more stops, but it's nothing out of control. You will be there in 2.5 hours or less.

We bought them at the station the day before our trip and it was very easy... but this was in 2009 so not sure if things have changed.

Only if there's a major festival or Korean public holiday then trains are full.

Or any weekend these days!

Nighttime KTXes for sure! Book ahead OP if you're coming back to Seoul from Busan at night. Don't expect to waltz up and get seats. I slept in a jjimjilbang once when I thought I'd be able to do that years ago!

I am back from the KTX, Busan & Korea! :D All went well on the walk up to the counter, and grabbed the next KTX trains traveling in both directions. Bought both one ways, as I had no idea when I would be traveling back from Busan. Free WIFI was awesome, and trains very clean and efficient. I loved it more than the HSR in Taiwan. I "almost" love trains as much as I love flying. :cool:

The next day was May Day the 1st, and Seoul was a friggin ZOO.:-:, that was teaming with locals and tourists. It felt like Lunar New Year's in Myeongdong that day.

The long weekend of May 1 - May 5 was an absolute zoo of people. In the many years I've lived here, I guess I've just never actually stayed during a holiday haha. I took my boyfriend around to some touristy places (since he's lived here a year and never been), and it was AWFUL.

Places like Insadong and Samcheon-dong were WALL TO WALL Koreans.

I guess, normally, for long weekends I've always left the country (and when you stay for Chuseok, everybody leaves Seoul).

The standing seat tip is slightly inaccurate. Each train departure will have one or two cabs designated as "free seats." This means you pay for standing seats but you can sit in either cab 18 and sometimes 17 on a first come first serve basis and no one can kick you out of your seat. As there is a departure at most 30 minutes apart on the KTX to busan, buy the ticket for the next train and when it pulls up to the platform, usually 15-20 minutes prior to departure, be among the first to board and you will get a seat. I never had a problem with this even during weekends and normal holidays. Only time you need to be concerned with booking in advance is during the big holiday seasons. This only works for departing cities, if you are in a connection station such as Yongsan or Daegu and don't have confirmed seats, expect to stand