We’re currently living in a tech-friendly age, which helps us travel safer and in a more convenient way. As a traveler, you probably already have apps like Google Maps and Airbnb on your smartphone.
However, you need a few more than these apps to travel to Korea, mainly because of the language barrier and functionality. For example, some apps function better than Google Maps, and I’m here to tell you which ones are a must to navigate from big cities to small towns.
Most importantly, all the apps offer English and are totally free to download! Here are the ten essential apps.
Getting Around – Maps
Naver Map is one of the best tools you can have wherever you go. It tells you which public transportation to take in detail, ETA, and the total fare to reach your destination. I use Naver Map daily to find the best route wherever I go, no matter how far or close the place is. Also, I like to pin different places I want to visit or even the ones I’ve already visited and it’s easy to do so in this app.
Kakao Map is also a great app to navigate through Korea. It shows which public transportation or route to take just like Naver Map. Then, why am I writing about two map apps? Well, it’s actually a matter of preference on whether you want to use Naver or Kakao. However, there have been some reported cases where Naver Map was inaccurate in small cities and towns, so it’s good to have both just in case.
Getting Around – Transportation
Kakao Taxi is just like Uber or Lyft. You put in the “from” and “to” and call the cab of your preference. I tend to take a cab only when I have a lot of things to carry or when I’m outside of Seoul. I always take the subway or the bus, but there are places that you just can’t reach by public transportation or if it’s too far to walk. So, I end up using Kakao Taxi. Make sure you put in the credit card info before using the app!
Kakao Metro is the go-to app to check all the subway lines in Korea. There are subway lines in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, and Daejeon and you just need to select the city you are in. This app allows you to see the best routes when only using the subway as well as the real-time train information. There’s English romanization of each station so it’s easy to use the app.
Kakao Bus allows you to search for any bus in Korea. When you select a bus, it shows all the stops and real-time information on the location of the bus. It also shows how crowded the bus is, so you can decide whether to take the incoming one or the next one. I use this app only to see how crowded the bus is and get the route suggestion from Naver Map.
Trip.com is an app where you can find hotels, flights, trains, and car rentals. If you’re planning to visit multiple cities, you will need to either rent a car or get a train ticket. I recommend traveling by train since there are KTX trains that travel up to 300km/h! I recommend this app mainly to book a train ticket.
Accommodation
Airbnb is probably already downloaded on your smartphone. I have never stayed in an Airbnb just because my family always opted for hotels. However, I look through the app every now and then for fun! It’s just exciting to find places that look amazing. I will definitely visit the saved accommodations one day!
Expedia is my go-to app when I look for flights and hotels at the same time. They have great deals and it’s easy to make a reservation in one platform and see the itinerary in one app. I do use other apps like Skyscanner to check if there are better deals on flights. If I see that the prices are the same or similar, I just book them through Expedia.
Language Tool
Papago is an AI Translating app. Google Translate works, but sometimes the translations can get funky! Since Papago is an AI translating app, the translations are quite accurate. The only unfortunate part is that it’s available in just 15 languages, unlike Google Translate which offers 133. If you speak one of the 15 languages, Papago should be a great language tool!
Currency
XE Currency is useful since it has live updates of the exchange rates. XE also allows you to send money online to 200 countries in 100 currencies! This is very useful especially when you go on a long-term travel. The best part is that XE provides low-fee or even free-fee international money transfers. Just make sure the app provides the money-sending service in your country before traveling. If it doesn’t work, PayPal would be an alternative option.
