Since 17 March 2026, Seoul subway ticket machines take foreign Visa and Mastercard cards. Seoul buses do not yet, and Tmoney plans tap-to-pay on Seoul buses in 2027 (Korea Herald, 18 September 2026). Korail's English site takes credit cards. Keep some won for buses and anything a card cannot pay. We checked the Seoul city press page, Korail, the Bank of Korea, the Korea Customs Service and the card networks' pages on 11 October 2026, and the Korea Herald report again on 12 October 2026.
Where a foreign card works, with a source
Subway: Since 17 March 2026, the new ticket machines at 273 stations on Seoul Lines 1 to 8 take foreign-issued Visa, Mastercard and similar credit and debit cards (Seoul city press page, 17 Mar 2026). The city counts 440 machines
Price: You can buy a one-time ticket and buy or top up a Climate Card short-term pass for 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7 days. The 30-day pass was not included. A fee of 3.7% on average applies to foreign cards (same page)
Booking: Korail's English site takes "credit card" (Korail English ticketing guide, read 11 Oct 2026). A news report of the 20 September 2026 Korail announcement names Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay
The 3.7% is the city's own figure for foreign cards. Your card issuer may add its own fees on top. We did not check any issuer.
Our Korail guide has the booking steps and what to try if a card fails.
Where a foreign card does not work yet
On Seoul city buses you cannot tap a foreign card today. A transit card is the way to pay, and some passes are sold at the subway machines for a foreign card, as above. We did not check which pass works on which bus. The plan to change the bus rule has moved.
| Detail | One source says | Another says | What we use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tap-to-pay with a foreign card on Seoul buses | An October 2025 report of a Seoul city plan: 2026 for buses, 2027 for the eight main subway lines | Korea Herald, 18 Sep 2026, quoting Tmoney: Seoul city buses in 2027, with testing through the end of 2026 | The newer report. We found no Seoul city page that sets the date |
| Which cards | Not stated in the 2025 report | Tmoney named Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB, with Hana Card as its local partner | Korea Herald, 18 Sep 2026 |
The Seoul city page of 17 March 2026 covers ticket machines only. It says nothing about buses.
Cash: what to carry and what we could not confirm
Price: The Bank of Korea lists four notes in use, ₩1,000, ₩5,000, ₩10,000 and ₩50,000, and six coins, ₩1, ₩5, ₩10, ₩50, ₩100 and ₩500 (Bank of Korea English site, undated). It lists several older note series with an end-of-issue date of 1 June 2016
Note: We found no official source on which shops, markets or stalls take only cash. Traveller posts say some stalls do. We did not read forum threads for this page
A sensible plan is to carry enough won for a day of small purchases. This is our advice and not a rule. Refill from an ATM when you run low.
ATMs: what the card networks say
Visa lists its Plus network ATMs in a locator at visa.com/locator/atm. Mastercard has an ATM locator that covers Mastercard, Maestro and Cirrus machines. Mastercard says the ATM owner sets any fee and shows it before you confirm. Mastercard also says its locator may not list every machine.
We found no official figure for what a Korean ATM pays out per visit or per day, and no official list of fees. One travel guide says daily limits can be as low as ₩300,000 and that many Korean ATMs accept only four-digit PINs. That guide is undated, so treat both points as unconfirmed. Ask your own bank for its overseas limit and fee before you leave.
Cash you bring in, and the tax refund
Note: Bringing in more than US$10,000 in cash, won notes or cheques, in total, must be reported to Korea Customs on arrival. The page gives the penalty as up to 1 year in prison or a fine of up to 100 million won. The certificate cannot be issued after you pass immigration (Korea Customs Service English page, undated)
The Customs page names a paper Traveler Declaration Form. Our entry guide covers the e-Arrival Card. We did not check how the cash question appears there.
What is checked here and what is not
Checked on 11 October 2026: the Seoul city press page of 17 March 2026 on foreign cards at subway machines, the Korea Herald report of 18 September 2026 on Tmoney's bus plan, an October 2025 trade report on the earlier plan, Korail's English ticketing guide, the Bank of Korea's English pages on notes and coins, the Korea Customs Service English page on cash, and the Visa and Mastercard ATM locator pages.
Not checked: which shops, markets and restaurants take foreign cards, ATM withdrawal limits and fees at any Korean bank, how a given US issuer treats Korean charges, exchange-booth rates, whether subway machines at every station took a card on the day you travel, and tipping. We did not use an ATM or a ticket machine.
Re-checked on 12 October 2026: the Korea Herald report of 18 September 2026 on Tmoney's plan for Seoul buses in 2027. The Seoul city press page was not re-opened.
