Do I need cash in South Korea, or can I use cards?

Korea is overwhelmingly cashless: cards are accepted for even small amounts at shops, cafes, restaurants and convenience stores. Two catches for visitors: Amex acceptance is limited (mostly big hotels and department stores), so carry a Visa or Mastercard, and Korean banks sometimes flag a foreign card as suspicious, so set a travel notice before you fly and bring a second card. If a terminal declines, try the other card or ask for a different terminal.

Skip the Korean wallet apps. Kakao Pay, Naver Pay, Toss and Samsung Pay all need a Korean bank account, phone number and ID, so tourists cannot use them. Apple Pay now works at some chains (convenience stores, Starbucks, department stores) with a foreign Visa or Mastercard, but acceptance is still patchy, so do not rely on it.

You need far less cash than in most countries, but not zero. The cash-heavy places are exactly the ones travelers seek out: traditional markets (like Gwangjang), street-food stalls and small local restaurants. Carrying 50,000 to 100,000 won as backup is plenty for a normal trip, more if you plan to graze the markets.

For won, use a Global ATM, the ones marked as such at convenience stores (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven) and major banks, which take foreign cards and run in English around the clock. Not every Korean ATM accepts foreign cards, so look for the Global label, and choose won, not dollars, on the screen.

Transit runs on a rechargeable T-money card, tapped on the subway, buses, taxis and even in convenience stores. You buy it at any convenience store or station. The old headache was that you could only top it up with won cash, but that changed: since March 2026, Seoul subway kiosks accept foreign cards for top-ups (some add a small service fee), and there are mobile options too.

If you would rather carry one card for everything, a tourist prepaid card like WOWPASS combines currency exchange, card payments and T-money, and you load it with foreign cash at airport and subway kiosks. It is optional, a plain contactless Visa or Mastercard plus a cash-loaded T-money works fine.

Two quick notes. Tipping is not customary in Korea, so there is no need to add anything. And as a visitor you can reclaim most of Korea's 10% VAT on shopping at Tax Free stores (a net refund of roughly 5 to 8%), on purchases from 15,000 won per store, claimed at the airport, so bring your passport when you shop.

For the fuller money picture, see the South Korea money guide.

Common questions

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