Bus or Subway? Most travel guides tell you to pick one and stick with it. Take the subway, they say — it’s reliable, it’s fast, it’s easy to navigate. And for a first-time visitor, that’s reasonable advice.
But after years of living in Jongno and commuting through Seoul in every season, I’ve stopped thinking of it as a permanent choice. For me, the decision changes depending on one thing more than anything else: what the weather is doing outside.
Monsoon Season & Heavy Rain: The Subway Wins, Almost Every Time
On a rainy day in Seoul, especially during the humid summer monsoon season, I almost always head to the subway.
The reason isn’t complicated. A crowded bus during rush hour is uncomfortable enough on a dry day. Add heavy rain, and everyone boards with a wet umbrella dripping onto the floor, onto other passengers, and onto your bag. The bus sways and jolts, and if you’re standing — which you will be during peak hours — you’re balancing yourself while managing a soaking umbrella and trying not to knock anyone with it. The high humidity inside a packed bus makes it feel even more suffocating.
The subway, by contrast, gives you more space. The platforms are underground and covered, the carriages are wider, and once you’re inside, the rain simply doesn’t exist anymore. On days when I know I’ll be dealing with an umbrella anyway, the stability of the subway feels worth the longer walk to the station.
That said, if it’s raining lightly and I’m traveling outside rush hour, I’ll still take the bus. A quiet bus in the middle of a rainy Tuesday afternoon is perfectly comfortable. It’s the combination of rain and a packed bus that I avoid.
Summer Heatwaves: Surprisingly, the Bus Often Wins
This one surprises people, but during Seoul’s intense summer heatwaves, I often prefer the bus.
Both the bus and subway are air-conditioned, so the ride itself is equally comfortable either way. The difference is the time you spend outside melting on the asphalt. My nearest bus stop is about a two-minute walk from my front door. My nearest subway station is a ten-minute walk. On a day when the heat index is pushing 35 degrees Celsius and the humidity makes the air feel heavy, those extra eight minutes of walking matter more than people expect.
The goal on a heatwave day is simple: minimize your time outdoors. The bus wins that calculation for me almost every time.
Clear Autumn & Spring Days: This Is When I Actually Enjoy the Commute
When the weather is good — the kind of clear, breezy morning that Seoul occasionally produces between the seasonal extremes — I choose the bus for a completely different reason.
I want to see the city.
On the subway, you’re trapped underground for most of the journey. On a bus, Seoul passes by through the window at street level. The Han River on a clear morning. The old city walls near Inwangsan. The way the golden autumn light hits the trees and rooftops around Gyeongbokgung. These are things you simply don’t see from a dark subway tunnel.
On a good weather day, the bus commute becomes something I actually look forward to rather than just endure.
The Distance Rule That Overrides Everything
Weather aside, there’s one practical rule I always apply: short distances by bus, long distances by subway.
For destinations within a few stops — Gwanghwamun, City Hall, Anguk — the bus is almost always faster when you factor in the time it takes to walk down to the deep subway platform and back up again. For longer trips — Gangnam, Jamsil, or anywhere requiring a transfer across multiple lines — the subway’s consistency beats the bus regardless of what the sky is doing.
Traffic can make buses unpredictable on longer routes. The subway doesn’t have that problem.
The Honest Answer
There’s no single right answer for getting around Seoul. The best commuters here aren’t loyal to one mode of transport — they read the conditions and adjust. Rain, heat, distance, time of day, how much you’re carrying — all of it factors in.
After enough time living here, these decisions stop feeling like decisions at all. They just become the way you move through the city.