Best apps for South Korea travel ~ The Historian Traveller

Last Updated on February 25, 2026 by Laura

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Annyeonghaseyo readers! I am just back from the most incredible trip to South Korea! A destination I was dreaming to visit for a decade now! The organisation of this trip was lengthy and deeply researched. Indeed, as many of you know, despite being worldwide famous, South Korea is not the easiest country to get around as a tourist. Linguistic barriers and logistical problems are often the top reasons to make this trip challenging. In this blog, I decided to share with you months of research for my own trip to make your travel life a little easier. Here you will find the best apps for South Korea travel.

New to South Korea travelling? 🇰🇷 Perhaps you want to add these useful readings to your list!

Why I need extra apps to travel to South Korea?

If you are planning a trip to South Korea, you will soon discover that many apps we use in Europe and US just don’t make the cut there. Things like WhatsApp or Google Maps or Just Eat they just don’t work or partially work. This because most countries in Asia have completely different apps from what we use and even if we share some of them, you’ll soon realise they don’t work pretty well.

For example, WhatsApp is not a thing in Korea as most people in use instead Kakao Talk. We discovered they use WhatsApp only if they need to communicate with foreign people. E.g. the landlady in one of our accommodations sent us a message via WhatsApp and I was very grateful she did it.

Why Google Maps doesn’t work in South Korea?

One of the most daunting things you will discover as soon as you start planning your trip, is that Google Maps doesn’t work in Korea. With this I mean that you can open the app, see the locations, but once you try to plan how to reach them, NOTHING. The route doesn’t exist. If you, like me, plan your trips heavily on Google Maps you’ll probably get a little desperate when learning this truth. Apparently the simple reason why Google Maps doesn’t work in South Korea is that the government has requested the data to be stored in a domestic server (for security reason), but Google refused to comply with this request. The result, is that you can’t navigate or drive or do anything if you decide to rely on Google Maps.

Best apps for South Korea travel

Because of the issues with most of all our western apps, I researched the best apps for South Korea before travelling. I honestly I can’t even imagine how my trip would have been without these app! They are really life-savers! Therefore, I warmly recommend downloading and setting an account for all these apps BEFORE departing. This because we discovered that once you are there, your phone number won’t be recognised and you won’t be able to verify your account for the set up. I know this because I tried to set-up an account for my husband while there and it didn’t work.

See below for a list of useful apps.

NAVER Map

Best apps for South Korea travel – Naver App icon

Given that Google Maps doesn’t work, Naver Map is the best alternative you have to navigate and plan your routes in South Korea. I heavily relied on Naver Map when in Korea and I didn’t know what the trip could have been without this app!

There are multiple apps to get around in South Korea like Kakao Map or Subway Korea but, despite they are good, they miss something. Naver Map, instead, is the perfect combination of all these 3 apps all together. In fact, when choosing a location to reach it integrates with the Korean public transportation systems giving live times for both buses and subway.

Naver Map can be used both with or without an account. Nevertheless, if you want to save your preferences you’ll need to register for an account. I warmly recommend this option. Especially to save your favourite locations/restaurants etc.

To note that Naver Map is not 100% in English. The basic commands are, but if you need to dig into the destination or read reviews about a restaurant this is still unfortunately just in Korean. Despite this issue, Naver Map remains still the most complete app to get around South Korea both by car or on foot.

Naver Map features

Navigation

The primary use of Naver App is, of course, navigation. This app is great for both on foot travelling, public transport and driving. If you simply want to walk from a place to another, it gives you various options: fastest, easy and avoid stairs. In all of them it gives you as much details as possible for your trip (including pictures with directions!). If you select the public transport option, you can filter by bus or subway. In the subway option, it gives you also some extra information that will make you save time (see the picture below highlighted in Yellow).

By knowing in advance the correct entrance and exit of the subway you’ll loose less time to reach a destination. Also the app will give you the “fast arrival number”. This is basically the number of the door you’ll need to board in the subway if you want to exit fast towards your destination. If you don’t know where these numbers are on the subway, just look on the floor and on each of the doors.

Most rented car in South Korea have a fantastic GPS system that works pretty well. But if you need to use Naver this is pretty useful too as the app will give you three roads to choose: real-time traffic, easy and avoid tolls (for motorways). In case you’ll need a taxi, the app will give you also the estimate fare for the route you’ll need to cover.

READ MORE: Best things to do in Seoul

Location finding

If you need to find a certain spot but unsure where to go, Naver App has some pre-set categories that can help you find quickly what you are searching for. These are fully in English. For example, if you are searching for a cafe’ in your area, just click the icon and it will give you what is available. You can also scroll down the places one by one with their reviews but unfortunately this part is in Korean. Please note that if you are searching for a small supermarket/convenience store the icon is branded as “CVS”.

Other useful amenities are: subway map integration, restaurants, attractions, gas/pump stations, parkings, hotels, coupon (which I am not 100% sure what it is?), bigger supermarkets, banks, hair salons and N Order (this one see below).

N Order

Naver Order is perhaps one very useful feature (especially if you are on the go). Indeed it’s a less complicated version of Uber Eats/ Just Eat and it’s just for pre-ordering (collect or eat in). The only problem with this is that is fully in Korean, but if you have another phone, you can translate roughly what you are ordering. It is divided into two sections: cafes (on the left) and main dishes/convenience stores (on the right). You can pre-order your drinks and dishes to dine in or take away and pre-pay them. I haven’t personally used this but it’s good to know.

Bookmark

One very useful tool you can use on Naver is the “Bookmark”. This is nothing else than a list (or multiple lists) of favourite places you can add to avoid searching them every time. You can create both list of places or routes to save. This will help you a lot if you plan ahead like me. I literally created my whole itinerary and saved this in different days. The app automatically divides your saved places into categories. Therefore, you can filter restaurants, attractions, shops etc.

Naver Map Faults

As any other app on the market, Naver Map is not perfect. It’s great but still has some issues that could potentially be a problem for your trip. The first is, of course, that is not fully in English. This pose some limitations in what you can do with the map itself such as ordering food or reading reviews when it comes to choose a restaurant. A translator integration would have been appreciated but it’s not there YET. The second issue we found is that names of the places, particularly when in foreign languages or peculiar are completely wrong or distorted. This will make your navigation to these places a little challenging.

To give you an example. A pizzeria in Jeju that we were searching called “La Una” on Naver Maps appears as “Rauna”. Or a place where we stayed called “Around Follie” is called “Around Poly”. Another hotel in Busan where we stayed called “The Coolest Hotel” on Naver is registered as ” The Kulliseteu Hotel”. ??? What??? And the list goes on and on. Honestly, we found this quite hilarious as it looks like they registered these places based on the way how they pronounce them. But of course you won’t find them with their original name. The best thing is to double check that the location on the map is where it should be and the address is the same.

Download Naver Map

If you want to download Naver Map you can do it from the following links:

Naver for IOS devices

Naver for Android devices

Kakao T

Kakao T is the main app that Koreans use to book Taxis. This is another life-saver app because if you find yourself in a remote area or just you don’t feel to walk 20 mins to get to the next bus stop, this app will be your go to. Taxis are inexpensive and fast to arrive in South Korea. We found ourselves relying on them more than expected. Especially in large cities like Busan where taking the public transport from one point to another takes hours. Calling a taxi saved us a lot of time and hassle!

To note that you must set-up an account with Kakao-T BEFORE getting to South Korea. In fact, my husband tried to set-up an account once there, as a back up if my phone was death and he couldn’t verify his mobile phone. Therefore, before travel set-up your account and link-it to your preferred credit card and you will be ready to go!

Best apps for South Korea travel – Kakao T navigation mode

Once you set-up an account, the app is very straightforward to use. I saw it has a lot of additional functions in addition to taxi, but I haven’t tried those so not sure what they do! If you want to call a taxi on the spot, just click the “taxi” icon, set up your pick-up and destination points and search. You will see different options with their estimated prices.

If you want to pre-book a taxi (for example for the airport) use the “book taxi” icon and set-up your ride.

As soon as you set up the route you a series of different taxis will display. This initially got me confused as the explanation for them was only in Korean. By using the app, I kinda learnt the difference between them and what is best to use if you are on a hurry.

Different types of Taxi on Kakao T

General Request. It’s a midsize taxi. Booking is done through the app but payment is directly to the driver (cash or card). No fees are applied. It cost less but it can take longer to arrive. We also noted that not many drivers accept the call through this request.
Blue Taxi. This was our favourite. It comes as soon as you call it, in any location you are. It is very reliable and we used also in very last minute trips. Taxis are big enough to fit 3 luggage and 2 people. Price is slightly higher. In fact, there is an additional fee for the service (0-3000 won), and a cancellation fee of 2000 won. You don’t need to pay the driver as payment go through the app with your linked card.
Black Taxi. Is similar to the blue one but more elegant and fancy. It doesn’t have a “taxi” sign and it’s more expensive than the blue one. There are limited black taxis on certain areas so it’s not as quick as the other two. Payment go through the app with your linked card. Cancellation fee is 5,000 won
Venti. This is a small minivan that is very useful when travelling in group or with many luggage. People use it often for rides to the airport. Payment go through the app with your linked card. Cancellation fee is 4,000 won.
Deluxe Taxi. Is the classic Black with golden stripes taxi. You should expect a fare to be 40 to 50% more than regular taxis. It has larger seats and more English-speaking drivers. Some people say drivers are also more careful on the roads. We didn’t try this, so I can’t confirm.
Combination Call. This option will search the first available car near you (Blue, Venti, Deluxe or Black) for 10 minutes without need requesting a car again.

Kakao T Faults

We loved Kakao T. However, if there are any faults are the not fully functioning “general request”. We tried several times but no taxi was ever available through that option. Also (not directly app fault), taxi drivers in Korea are really the worst. I thought I was dying a couple of times (particularly in Busan) and some of them are very very rude. Generally, they don’t respect the road speed limits and seems that drive purposely to get into a road accident. The last time I experienced something similar it was in India. Not the best experience.

Download Kakao T

If you want to download Kakao T you can do it from the following links:

Kakao T for IOS devices

Kakao T for Android devices

T Locker

Having changed accommodation almost everyday for about 4 days in Seoul, I don’t know how I would have got around without T-Locker keeping my luggage! To note that T-Locker is available only in Seoul and other cities have different types of lockers.

Differently than the apps above, you don’t need an account to use T-Locker. You’ll need just to download the app and find your space. T-lockers are available at every stop on the subway station and every train station in Seoul.

Type of T-locker services

First thing first. You will discover that with T-Locker you can not only book lockers but pre-book also other different services. On the upper right side of the map there are 3 small boxes. Each correspond to one of these services:

Locker. Are the small to XL lockers that you can find at any station. These have a minimum fee of 3,100-6,100 won for 4 hours. You’ll pay an additional 500- 1,000 won per any extra hour depending on the size of the storage locker. They are not convenient if you need a locker for the whole day.
Luggage. Is actually a store where you can bring your luggage. This is more convenient if you need storage for a longer period as they have flat rates. To note that T-Luggage stores are only in major hubs like Seoul Central Station. You can pre-book online but the form is only in Korean. They offer also the delivery service but is better to speak to the employee in person rather than doing through the app (unless your Korean is very fluent).
Storage. These are self-service storage spaces inside a small warehouse. You can basically rent a small storage space (like a mini garage). This is ideal when you have a lot of luggage or you have to store items for longer periods. I am not 100% sure you can use them for a daily rent (the fee starts at 49,000 won per month). But we used a small storage similar in Seoul (not T-storage though) for 25,000 won for all the items we had.

How to use the T-Locker App

T- Locker App is connected to Naver Map and shows you the lockers/luggage store and storage in each area you are searching and those near you according to which box you click. You can book a locker into 2 different ways.

The first is by pre-booking. If you click “locker” all the locker locations in your area will appear. Just click in the location you need and the app will redirect you to the specific locker space where you can see which locker is available. Just chose the size you need and pay via the app. A one-time password will be sent to you to unlock the locker when in location.

The second method (the one I used) is directly in location. Just scan the QR code at the top of the locker you want to leave your stuff. This will give you the availability page. Choose your locker, pay and the app will give you a one-time pass code to open the locker.

To retrieve your items, use the app. Check your storage box and click “release”. If you are within the 4 hours, the app will give you again a one-time code to open your storage box. If more time is passed, you will have to pay the difference first.

Keep an eye on the app to check that you are in the correct T-Locker location. This because inside the same subway there are multiple lockers. The app will tell you something like “near exit 5” etc.

We used this service a lot and found it super helpful to avoid bringing our bulky luggage all the way around Seoul.

Other Locker applications in different cities

As I said before, T-locker is exclusively in Seoul at the moment. Cities like Busan have different systems to storage luggage. Busan, in particular, has 2 different types of lockers. One that can be unlocked only on the spot. We saw this at the main train station. You’ll need to check the availability on the screen by clicking “Keep”. A second one that is very similar to T-Locker. This is called OTP Locker and you’ll need an app too in order to use it.

Usage is exactly the same as T-Locker. The app is integrated with Naver Map so it will display the locations of the lockers. Click on your preferred one and pay to reserve it. If you are on the spot, just scan the QR code to get the exact location and availability. You can retrieve the item once again from the app by releasing the locker.

Locker apps faults

I honestly didn’t notice any particular faults with these apps. The only issue might be that some locations (particularly near the main train stations) are extremely busy. Therefore finding a free locker is almost impossible. I would recommend check the availability on the app before going to the location with all your items.

Download T-Locker and OTP Locker Apps

If you want to download T-Locker and OTP Locker apps, you can do it from the following links:

T-Locker for IOS devices

T-Locker for Android devices

OTP Locker for IOS devices

OTP Locker for Android devices

Papago

Papago is a translation service app provided by Naver. I found this much more accurate than Google Translate and also less robotic. Maybe because it is specifically made to facilitate translation of the Asian languages but it’s really really good!

Papago main functions are Voice translation (live mode), Conversation mode and image translation. We really find useful the image translation to read ingredients or particularly complicated explanations. You just need to scan a picture and the app will translate the text for you.

Papago Educational functions

Not many people know that in addition to the basic translation functions, Papago has also some hidden educational functions that are very useful to learn some basic words in Korean (or other languages needed).

If you go on the side menu (upper left corner) you will see some additional functions. These are:

Phrasebook. This is divided into different categories according to the social context. For each context it gives you the correct phrases to say (with audio) and provides you some possible conversation scenarios.
Word Cards. For those who learn easily with visual aids, this function is really perfect. In fact, for each category there are a series of cards associated with picture of certain objects/functions. These are associated with their audio and translation.
Edu. This is still on his Beta version but I suppose it will be like a sort of Duolingo. In fact, you can choose a language to learn. At the moment there are only English, Chinese and Japanese. Hopefully, they will add more languages soon.

Download Papago App

If you want to download the Papago app, you can do it from the following links:

Papago for IOS devices

Papago for Android devices

Food delivery apps

I am a big fan of food delivery apps! There is nothing best than ordering some warm food from your hotel/accommodation’ sofa after a crazy day walking around! Don’t get me wrong, I love eating out but there are days where I just want to relax and have some nice food in the comfort of my hotel room. That’s why I always check-out what are the best delivery apps in the location I am visiting. In South Korea, the most reliable and famous delivery services are Shuttle Delivery and Coupang Eats.

Shuttle Delivery

Shuttle Delivery is probably the most famous delivery app in South Korea. It’s a bit like Uber Eats or Deliveroo for people who live in Europe. The interface is also very similar and straightforward to use. It is also fully in English which is a huge pro! You just need to set up your account, the location of the delivery and what you want to eat!

Ps: To note the choice of the restaurant for the picture above is completely casual. I haven’t tried this restaurant or being sponsored by it.

Dowload Shuttle Delivery App

If you want to download the Shuttle Delivery app, you can do it from the following links:

Shuttle Delivery for IOS devices

Shuttle Delivery for Android devices

Coupang Eats

Coupang Eats is another company that is becoming very very popular in South Korea. I saw their drivers practically everywhere. They have a lot of options on their app but unfortunately the interface is only partially in English and you’ll need a translation app with you. It works similarly to Shuttle Delivery by setting up your location and choosing your food but being almost fully in Korean might generate some issues for English speaking users.

Dowload Coupang Eats App

If you want to download the Coupang Eats app, you can do it from the following links:

Coupang Eats for IOS devices

Shuttle Delivery for Android devices

Klook

Last but not least, one of my favourite apps for travelling in South Korea was Klook. This is essentially an online travel and experiences platform that allows you to buy tickets and services at heavily discounted prices. Usually you can save between 30 and 50% with their offers on attractions and services. I used Klook to rent my portable Wi-Fi, to book my Hanbok and even to book my Arex train from the airport! The latest one is very convenient as we saved 50% on the fare price you will pay at the airport.

Klook is available in different cities around the world, so you’ll need to find the city or service you need. Be also aware that once you pay, a voucher will be given to you. You’ll need to exchange this voucher to receive your service. E.g. to get your Arex tickets, you have to go to the ticket machine at the airport and click on the screen “Exchange Klook voucher”.

Download Klook App

If you want to download Klook you can do it from the following links:

Klook for IOS devices

Klook for Android devices

Korail Talk App

New to the best apps for South Korea Travel, Korail!Best known as Korail Talk. I wish I had this when I originally planned my trip, but the app (with English translation) has been launched only last year. I had to book my train tickets relying heavily on my basic Korean and a translator app. Luckily it was for the best but you can consider yourself lucky as this new app will save you a lot of time!

Korail is the main company for all the trains in South Korea (including the AREX train). Once the app is set into English, is quite straightforward to use and you’ll need to just to follow the flow and choose your trip details (day, date, class of travel).

The only small issue I noted is that perhaps is a little slow when receiving commands. But this seems a common thing with Korean websites in general. In the end, you will get there but you’ll need a some extra patience!

Download Korail Talk

If you want to download Korail Talk, you can do it from the following links:

Korail Talk for IOS devices

Korail Talk for Android devices

Conclusions Best apps for South Korea travel

That’s it! With these few apps your South Korea trip will be smooth and you will be able to get around, talk to people, order food and even book discounted tickets for attractions!

Happy Travels!!!