Dodori Korea TripGetting around
Taxis in Korea, and the two things that go wrong
Taxis in Korea are one of the easier things about this country. The meter is not negotiable, the driver is licensed, and the fare is lower than in most cities you have flown from. What actually goes wrong is narrower than the internet suggests, and it is two specific things: the app will not take your card, and you have read somewhere that foreigners pay twenty per cent more. One of those is true and fixable. The other is not true at all.
What the meter does
Seoul mid-size taxis, the ordinary orange, white or silver ones, start at 4,800 KRW (about $3.58) and that covers the first 1.6 kilometres. After that it adds 100 won every 131 metres. When traffic drops the car below about 15.7 km/h it switches to charging by time instead, 100 won every thirty seconds, which is why a jam costs you money even though the numbers on the door say distance.
The final amount is rounded to the nearest ten won. That rounding is the only discretion in the system.
Late at night the whole scale moves.
| When | Starting fare | Surcharge |
|---|---|---|
| 04:00 – 22:00 | 4,800 KRW | none |
| 22:00 – 23:00 | 5,800 KRW | 20% |
| 23:00 – 02:00 | 6,700 KRW | 40% |
| 02:00 – 04:00 | 5,800 KRW | 20% |
Leaving the city boundary adds another 20%, applied automatically. Late night and out-of-city together are capped at 60%.
The 23:00 to 02:00 band is the expensive one, and it is also when you most want a taxi. A ride that costs 12,000 won at nine in the evening is closer to 17,000 at midnight. If you are choosing between the last subway and a taxi, that gap is the actual decision.
The surcharge that does not apply to you
You will find English posts saying foreigners pay a twenty per cent surcharge in Korean taxis. The number is real. It is published by the Seoul city government. It does not apply to the taxi you flag down on the street or call in an app.
It belongs to International Taxi, a separate pre-booked service with an interpreter, aimed at visitors who want a driver who speaks their language. If you book that service, a 20% surcharge for a foreign passenger may be applied. That is the entire scope of it.
An ordinary taxi may collect only what the meter says. Charging anything else is an offence and the driver is subject to administrative penalty. There is no legal price for a foreigner and a different price for a Korean.
This matters more than it sounds. Visitors who half-remember the surcharge sometimes accept a made-up flat fare from a driver at a tourist spot, because they think a foreign premium is normal here. It is not. If the meter is not running, that is the problem, not the number at the end.
Getting into a taxi
Three ways, in the order most visitors end up using them.
Kakao T is what Koreans use, and it dispatches from most of the country's taxi fleet. You can now register with a non-Korean phone number. What you usually cannot do is add a foreign credit card, and this is where people give up.
The fix takes two seconds. On the booking screen, swipe the payment selector across until you reach Pay to Driver (기사님께 직접 결제). Book with that. When you arrive, you pay at the card terminal in the car, and the same Visa or Mastercard that the app just rejected works there without any trouble. The wall is the app's payment gateway, not your card and not the taxi.
Uber operates here as UT, dispatching the same licensed taxis. Your existing Uber account and saved card work, which makes it the least effort if you already have the app. Dispatch is thinner outside central Seoul.
Standing on the street still works, and outside rush hour in a busy area it is often faster than either app. Late at night in a nightlife district it is the worst of the three, because drivers are choosing among people waving at them.
Paying
The card terminal in the car takes foreign Visa and Mastercard, a T-money card, or cash. Drivers carry change, though handing over a 50,000 won note for a 6,000 won fare early in the morning will not make you popular.
There is no tipping. Rounding up is not expected and refusing change is mildly confusing rather than generous.
From the airport
A regular metered taxi from Incheon to central Seoul does not attract the out-of-city surcharge, because the airport and Seoul are treated as one joint operating area along with Incheon and several Gyeonggi cities. The surcharge only starts beyond that boundary. If a driver tells you the airport run is automatically surcharged, that is wrong.
International Taxi runs published flat fares instead, tolls included. Incheon Airport to the Jung and Jongno districts, the area most hotels sit in, is 85,000 KRW (about $63) in a mid-size car. Fares rise by zone across the city.
A flat fare is not a negotiation. It is the published price, and it is worth taking when you have luggage, a late arrival, and no appetite for working out which train goes where. The airport transfer guide compares it against the train and the bus, which are both considerably cheaper.
When something goes wrong
Write down the four-digit number on the dashboard or the plate. Seoul takes taxi complaints on 120, the city hotline, in English as well as Korean, and a fare dispute needs the vehicle number to go anywhere.
The two complaints worth making are a refused ride and a fare that did not come off the meter. Both are things the city acts on. Being taken a longer way is harder to prove and, on Seoul's traffic, frequently not what happened.
If your card is refused at the terminal at the end of a ride, that is a different problem with its own causes. The declined card guide covers which wall you have hit.
Quick answers: taxis in Korea
How much is a taxi in Seoul?
The meter starts at 4,800 KRW for the first 1.6 km, then 100 won every 131 metres, switching to time in slow traffic. From 22:00 to 23:00 and 02:00 to 04:00 the starting fare is 5,800 KRW; from 23:00 to 02:00 it is 6,700 KRW.
Do foreigners pay more for taxis in Korea?
No. The 20% "foreigner surcharge" belongs only to International Taxi, a pre-booked service with an interpreter. A street or app taxi may charge only what the meter says, and anything else is an offence.
Can I use Kakao T with a foreign credit card?
Registering the card in the app usually fails. Swipe the payment selector to Pay to Driver, book, and pay with the same card at the terminal in the car. Uber also works here with your existing account and card.
Is there a surcharge for a taxi from Incheon Airport to Seoul?
Not on a regular metered taxi: the airport and Seoul are one operating area, so the 20% out-of-city surcharge does not apply. International Taxi charges published flat fares instead, 85,000 KRW to the Jung and Jongno districts.
How do I complain about a taxi in Seoul?
Note the four-digit vehicle number on the dashboard and call 120, the Seoul city hotline, which handles complaints in English. Refused rides and fares not on the meter are the complaints the city acts on.
Figures on this page come from Seoul city price index, Seoul Metropolitan Government. Checked against the published source on the date below.
LAST VERIFIED 15 AUGUST 2026