Dodori Korea TripGetting around
Intercity buses in Korea, and the two booking sites nobody explains
The train gets the attention, but the intercity bus network is how most of Korea actually moves. It reaches coastal towns, national parks and provincial cities that no rail line serves, it costs less than the fast train, and the seats on the better tier are wider than business class on a short-haul flight. What stops visitors using it is not price or comfort. It is that there are two different booking websites and nothing tells you which one your bus is on.
Two systems, one country
Korea splits long-distance buses into two legal categories, and they do not share a booking system.
Express buses (고속버스) run terminal to terminal on motorways with few or no stops. They are booked at kobus.co.kr.
Intercity buses (시외버스) take slower routes, stop in towns along the way, and reach almost everywhere. They are booked at bustago.or.kr.
The same pair of cities is often served by both. If a route you expect to exist does not appear, you are probably on the wrong site rather than looking at a route that does not run. Check the other one before giving up.
This is the single reason visitors conclude Korean buses are hard. They are not hard. They are on two websites, and no English guide mentions the second one.
The tiers
| Tier | What it is |
|---|---|
| 일반, standard | Four seats across. Cheapest, and fine for an hour |
| 우등, premium | Three seats across, much wider, reclining |
| 프리미엄, first | Three across with a much deeper recline, a privacy screen, and a footrest |
For anything over two hours, the middle tier is the one to take. The price gap over standard is small and the difference in the seat is not.
Discounts that are published and rarely claimed
These are official, listed on both booking sites, and apply to adult tickets on the premium tier.
- 10% off for booking two days ahead. Any ticket bought more than 48 hours before departure.
- 10% off for a group of five to ten people.
- 10% off for a return booked as a return, applied to each direction.
They do not stack. Children aged 6 to 12 pay 50%, middle and high school students 20%, and under-6s travel free unless they need their own seat.
Booking
Both sites take reservations up to 1 hour before departure. Inside that window the website stops selling and only the mobile app will do it, which is worth knowing while you are standing in a terminal watching a bus you could still catch.
Foreign cards hit the same domestic payment gateway problem described in the declined card guide. The terminal ticket counter does not have that problem, and outside holiday periods buses rarely sell out, so turning up and buying is a genuine strategy here in a way it is not for the fast train.
Late-night services departing between 02:00 and 04:00 carry a surcharge.
When the bus is the right answer
Where there is no station. Most of the coast, the national parks, and a large number of towns worth a day of your trip.
When you are going somewhere the train reaches awkwardly. A rail journey with two changes and a taxi at the end frequently loses to one direct bus.
When the train is sold out. Around Seollal and Chuseok the trains go first, and bus seats often remain.
When you want to sleep. The reclining tiers are built for it, and an overnight bus is a real way to move between distant cities.
The train wins on speed and on any journey where you would rather not spend three hours on a motorway. Seoul to Busan by rail is under three hours and by bus is a different kind of afternoon.
At the terminal
Express bus terminals are large, signposted in English, and connected to the subway in every major city. Seoul has more than one and they are not interchangeable: the Gyeongbu terminal and Central City sit next to each other at the same subway station but serve different routes, and Dong Seoul and Nambu are elsewhere entirely.
Check which terminal your ticket says. Arriving at the right subway station and the wrong building is the local version of getting the airport terminal wrong.
Quick answers: intercity buses in Korea
What is the difference between an express bus and an intercity bus in Korea?
Express buses (gosok) run long distances between major cities with few or no stops; intercity buses (sioe) cover shorter routes and stop at towns along the way. They use two separate booking sites, which is why searching one can make a route look like it does not exist.
How do I book a Korean intercity bus in English?
Both networks have English booking, but they are separate systems - if your destination is not on one, check the other before concluding there is no bus.
Are Korean buses cheaper than the KTX?
Usually yes, and they reach hundreds of towns with no train station at all. On routes the KTX serves, the train wins on time; off that network, the bus is the only option.
Figures on this page come from Korea Express Bus Booking (Kobus) and Bustago, Bustago intercity bus booking. Checked against the published source on the date below.
LAST VERIFIED 15 AUGUST 2026