Bus stations
Seoul sorted its intercity buses by destination decades ago: Gyeongbu, Honam, intercity and east-coast traffic each got their own terminal. Getting it right is the whole game.
Seoul Express Bus Terminal (Banpo, subway lines 3/7/9) is the flagship — the Gyeongbu and Yeongdong lines to Busan, Daegu, Gyeongju and Sokcho; the run to Busan takes 4 hours 30 minutes, departures 06:00 to midnight. Next door, Central City Terminal serves the Honam line to Gwangju, Jeonju and Mokpo — with a Shinsegae department store attached for the wait.
Two more complete the compass: Nambu Terminal (Line 3) for intercity routes into Chungcheong and the smaller southern cities, and Dong Seoul Terminal (Gangbyeon, Line 2) for the east — 1,200 buses a day, 30,000 passengers, and the widest net into Gangwon-do’s mountain and coast towns.
Korea splits its network in two, and so does its booking: express buses (premium, direct, pricier) sell through Kobus, intercity buses through Bustago and TxBus — the same destination can leave from different terminals depending on class. Check the terminal name on your ticket twice; Express Bus Terminal and Dong Seoul are 40 minutes apart by subway, and the bus will not wait.
THE TIO READ
Our Seoul habit: for Busan take the KTX — but for everything east of the mountains the bus beats the train outright. Gangneung, Sokcho and the ski towns are Dong Seoul territory, hourly, and the express buses have single-seat rows worth the small premium. Book on Kobus with a foreign card via the English site, and be at the platform 15 minutes early — gates are numbered, not announced.
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