The Seoul subway station, despite the numerous colored lines that make up the Seoul metro system is easy to navigate. With your T-money card you are all set to ride the bus, take a taxi or use my favorite the Seoul subway. I love using the subway in Seoul as I can say for almost certain when I’ll get to my destination (about 2 minutes a station, and around 5 minutes a transfer depending on the time). Try that with a bus in Seoul and the traffic. Sure a bus can be faster in some cases but for me I love the clean, safe, cheap Seoul metro.
I use the interactive Seoul subway map to plan my trips on the subway when I have time to, but I have to say the Korea Sparking Korea Public Transportation guide is a great resource too. It may be the only website you need for all your subway, bus trips in Seoul and other KTX and flights in Korea.
It is a comprehensive transporation guide to not only the Seoul subway, but you can check out a map of the Busan subway, Daegu subway, Gwangju subway, and Daejeon subway. The visit Korea site has all this plus transportation information and maps on South Korea buses, KTX, Express Bus, ferriers and flights so you might want to boomark this page so you save all the links on one convenient page.
If you are just visiting Seoul then you could get subway tickets each time you need one for 1000 won, but really the best option for travellers in Seoul would be a SEOUL CITYPASS+ card or a regular SMART T-money card. These cards can be used for buses, subways, taxis, public parking, tunnel fees, cultural facilities like palaces, museums, vending machines and convenience stores! The best part is this transportation card gives you a 100 won discount for the subway, bus and at other places in Seoul! The SEOUL CITY CITYPASS+ card is 3,000 won and a SMART T-Money card will run you 2,500 won and you can top it up with 1,000 won at a time, but it’s more efficient to put about 10,000 or 20,000 won on at a time I find.
You can pick up your T-Money card at any ticket booth in the subway station, GS25 (used to be called LG25), Family Mart and any place that has the T-Money sign.
Just have 12,500 won ready to pay for and charge up your card. T-머니 카드 주세요 T-Money Card please.
Now you have your T-Money card and it’s time to ride the subway. First you’ll want to see which direction you want to go as there are two choices unless you are at a transfer station, but that’s the advanced course. Well, just find your destination either on the left or right subway sign and you’ll know which subway platform you want or you can see on the subway map by the ticket booth which major stop (usually also a transfer station) is in the same direction as your stop and then head in that direction. The nice part is that you’ll hear both Korean and English announcing the subway stops so you shouldn’t miss it (famous last words). Some of the more modern subway cars will have the stops lit up so it’s easy to see where you are and what stop is next.
So you’ve got your T-Money card, you know which platform you are going to use and you’re ready to go through the turnstile. Just put your card on the T-Money reader and push your way through and you’ll be able to see your balance light up in red. I hope that worked. If not, try sliding your card (in the picture the card is in a wallet) over again and if it beeps at you and you see some weird number and symbols then go over or under. The good think is this happens to foreigners and other Koreans alike from time to time so don’t be shy. Just keep going like you meant it to happen, you know like you are walking and then trip, but you run to cover it up and ride the subway and when you finally exit it should read your card properly when you go through the next turnstyle at the exit.
Before exiting make sure you know which exit you what or which direction on the subway line you need if at a transfer point. The exit signs are numbered and usually on the platrom you can find a big map with all the station exits labeled and other points of interest and major buildings, although this isn’t always useful. So, hopefully you’ve planned a bit ahead and know which exit number you want and then you can simply follow the signs for that exit.
Note: A great thing about the T-Money card is that you can transfer to a bus or subway for free if you do it within 30 minutes, so if you are just heading from say Chungdamn station to Nonhyun station and then a bus to Kangnam you’ll have plenty of time to get of the subway and make your way over to the bus lane in the middle of the road to catch almost any blue bus down to Kangnam station or Gangnam station if you prefer the ‘G’ spelling 
Well I think you are ready to give it a spin. Good luck!<
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