Seoul Subway Foreign Card: How to Pay and Why You Can’t Tap Yet
A Seoul subway foreign card works at the ticket machines, not at the gate. Since March 17, 2026, new machines on Lines 1 to 8 take overseas-issued Visa and Mastercard for single-use tickets and short Climate Card passes. Tapping your own card to enter is still not possible.
Machine payments carry a service fee, and the 30-day Climate Card no longer exists. The city plans gate tapping, but not this year.
What can a Visa or Mastercard buy at the machine?
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What can I pay for? | A single-use ticket, a Climate Card (기후동행카드), and 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7-day passes loaded onto it |
| Which cards? | Overseas-issued credit and debit cards such as Visa and Mastercard. The city also lists Kakao Pay and Naver Pay |
| Where? | 440 new machines at 273 stations on Lines 1 to 8 (Seoul Metro lines) |
| Fee | An average service fee of about 3.7% on foreign-card purchases |
| Plastic card | 3,000 won for the Climate Card itself |
| Single-use ticket | Fare plus a 500 won deposit, refunded at a deposit refund machine |
| Tap your card at the gate | Not available yet |
| Questions or refunds | T-money customer center 1644-0088; the city’s English line is 120, then press 9 |
Checked November 4, 2026 on the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s notices and FAQ, and Visit Korea’s subway page. The 3.7% is the city’s average, so your bill may differ.
Look for the new ticket machines (신형 교통카드 발매기) on Lines 1 to 8.
What does a pass cost in dollars, Singapore dollars and Australian dollars?
| Pass | Won | USD | SGD | AUD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | 5,000 | 3.74 | 4.77 | 5.32 |
| 2 days | 8,000 | 5.98 | 7.64 | 8.52 |
| 3 days | 10,000 | 7.47 | 9.55 | 10.65 |
| 5 days | 15,000 | 11.21 | 14.32 | 15.97 |
| 7 days | 20,000 | 14.94 | 19.09 | 21.30 |
| Plastic card (once) | 3,000 | 2.24 | 2.86 | 3.19 |
Prices from the Seoul city Climate Card page, checked November 4, 2026. Converted at the Frankfurter rates of November 4, 2026 (1 won = 0.000747 USD, 0.000955 SGD, 0.001065 AUD), before any card fee.
Add the fee on top. If the average fee applied, a 7-day pass would cost about 740 won more. Check the final amount on the screen before you confirm.
Can a Seoul subway foreign card be tapped at the gate?
Not yet. The city’s plan is an open-loop system, where you tap a Visa or Mastercard directly. It starts with buses, moves to Lines 1 to 8 in 2027, and reaches the rest of the network by 2030.
Don’t plan this trip around it. Buy a ticket or a pass at a machine.
Should you buy a single-use ticket or a Climate Card?
A single-use ticket is one ride. You pay the fare plus a 500 won deposit, and get the deposit back by putting the card into a refund machine at your destination. Every ticket is a separate foreign-card purchase.
A Climate Card pass covers Seoul subway lines and Seoul city and village (마을) buses until the pass ends.
- It starts the day you load it. You can’t load it ahead, and a pass runs from the first train (4 a.m.) on the day you load it to the last train on the final day, usually until 4 a.m. the next morning.
- It is not everything. The Ttareungi bikes, the Hangang Bus, the Shinbundang Line (to Pangyo), GTX (the new express commuter rail), express and airport buses, and subway stations outside Seoul are not covered.
- It doesn’t start at the airport. You can get off at Incheon Airport Terminals 1 and 2, but you can’t board there, so pay the airport railroad fare separately on arrival. I couldn’t confirm what its machines take, so don’t count on a foreign card; the late-night arrival guide below covers that leg.
- It is not discounted. The short-term pass has no tourist discount. Only a 7-day youth pass is cheaper, at 13,000 won, after verification on the T-money site.
Riding most days? Check the break-even table below.
How many rides make a pass worth it?
T-money’s fare table lists the Seoul subway at 1,550 won a ride with a transit card, and a pass pays for itself once you reach these counts. Rides above the base fare tip it sooner, because Seoul charges by distance.
| Pass | Rides to break even | With the 3,000 won card |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day | 4 | 6 |
| 2 days | 6 | 8 |
| 3 days | 7 | 9 |
| 5 days | 10 | 12 |
| 7 days | 13 | 15 |
Rides at the 1,550 won base fare, rounded up, checked November 5, 2026. T-money’s transfer discount lowers the pay-per-ride total a little, so the real break-even runs slightly higher.
A 7-day pass breaks even at just over two rides a day once you count the plastic card. Fewer rides than your row? Pay per ride instead.
Is the 30-day Climate Card still sold?
No. Recharging the 30-day card ended on August 31, 2026, and the program closed on October 1. The short passes for visitors, from 1 to 7 days, stay on sale, so pick one by your trip length.
Which phone and card setup should you use?
The mobile Climate Card runs on Android 12 or newer and needs ID verification in your own name. On an iPhone, use the plastic card, which the city lists as the iOS option.
You can use the plastic card without registering it. Register it on the T-money site for usage checks or a lost-card report; the city says an unregistered card can’t be refunded. A lost card never gets its remaining days restored, registered or not.
Site sign-up needs ID verification, with a phone in your own name or an I-PIN (which requires an alien registration number). I couldn’t confirm how a short-stay visitor passes it. Either way, a cash or overseas-card refund runs through the T-Town desk (see below).
What if you load the wrong pass?
Press the stop-and-refund button on the machine right away. That resets the card so you can choose again.
The money you already loaded comes back only by refund, and if you don’t ask, it is lost. The amount is what you loaded minus your rides and a 500 won fee.
If you paid with cash or an overseas card, T-money’s foreigner guide says to stop the card at a station reload machine first. Then apply in person at the T-Town Customer Center (1F, Seoul City Tower, 110 Huam-ro, Jung-gu) before the pass expires.
You go back to the same desk three business days after you apply to collect the cash, and a passport may be needed. Only the latest pass loaded that way is refundable. The city says an unregistered card can’t be refunded, but this desk guide doesn’t mention registration, so call T-money at 1644-0088 before you count on a refund.
Haamoni guides to read next
- Landing in Korea after dark? Incheon Airport Late Night Arrival covers how to reach Seoul after midnight.
- Shopping on the way? Korea Tax Refund Guide explains instant refund and airport claims.
Pass or single tickets for a short trip?
If I had only a foreign card and planned to ride most days, I’d load a 3-day or 5-day Climate Card at the first new machine once I reached Seoul. It is one fee, and Visit Korea says single-use tickets usually cost more than a transit card fare.
If I’d ride only once or twice, I’d take the single-use ticket and skip the 3,000 won card.
The short version
Foreign Visa and Mastercard work at Seoul’s new ticket machines for single-use tickets and 1 to 7-day Climate Card passes, with an average fee of about 3.7%. They can’t be tapped at the gate yet, and the 30-day Climate Card ended on October 1, 2026.
Some links on Haamoni may be affiliate links. If you buy through one, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Store hours, prices and refund rules were correct when I checked and can change, so confirm on the official site before you go.
Sources
- Seoul Metropolitan Government: Climate Cards and Single-Journey Transit Tickets Now Accepting International Credit Cards, March 17, 2026
- Seoul Metropolitan Government (Korean): 기후동행카드·일회용 승차권, 현금없이 해외 신용카드로 구매가능해진다
- Seoul Metropolitan Government: Climate Card short-term pass overview, updated October 12, 2026 (기후동행카드(단기권) 소개)
- Seoul Metropolitan Government (English): Climate Card, service coverage effective October 1, 2026
- T-money Card & Pay: public transport fares in Seoul (대중교통 이용요금 안내)
- T-money Card & Pay: Climate Card user guide for foreigners
- Seoul Metropolitan Government: Climate Card short-term pass FAQ (기후동행카드(단기권) FAQ)
- Seoul Metropolitan Government: Climate Card 30-day pass end-of-service FAQ (기후동행카드(30일권) 운영종료 FAQ)
- Seoul Metropolitan Government: open-loop transit payment plan, October 16, 2025 (외국인 교통결제 편의 개선 위해 오픈루프 결제 도입)
- Korea Tourism Organization (Visit Korea): Subway, single-use card deposit
- Frankfurter exchange rates, KRW base, November 4, 2026
