Travel from Busan to Seoul by bus
 

Hi!

We're planning going straight to Seoul upon our arrival in Gimhae International airport at 8:50pm. May I ask your help on where is the nearest bus station going to Seoul and how much for the ticket (estimate will do)? Will gladly appreciate your response. Thank you :)

You will most likely need to go to Busan bus terminal (there are buses, light rail and taxi to get you from the airport to the bus or train terminal).

There are a variety of buses from standard to premium (called standard, excellent and m/excellent) Excellent are like business class and have a lot more room. Cost is from 23k won to 45k won. I would definitely recommend the excellent ones if possible.

See this site for times and prices - select english and put in Busan to Seoul
http://www.kobus.co.kr/web/main/index.jsp

There is also the train (KTX) which is faster but you may not make the last one of the evening. You still have to get to the train station in Busan - its also more expensive at between 60 and 84k won.

Check here by doing a dummy booking.
http://www.letskorail.com/ebizbf/EbizBfTicketSearch.do

Thanks @MaryW :) can we buy the tickets in the bus terminal or should we book it in advance? Also, would you know what bus terminal in Seoul we will be arriving?

I think buying tickets depends on your schedule. You would have to allow for a late enough bus in case you are held up at the airport or in between whereas you may be able to take an earlier one if there is room when you get to the bus station. Its easy to buy tickets at the station.

They may or may not allow you to change a booked seat as there are several bus companies and types running the route. I haven't ever bothered booking but just caught the next bus and had no trouble but I have been on other routes. Do also check if its a busy holiday time as that alters things a lot.

Your bus should go to the main Express Bus Terminal at Gangnam. It would comes up in the booking as - 서울경부 Seoul Gyeongbu [010]

The subway station is also at this terminal so its easy to get around Seoul from there.

My information is a few years old, but FWIW: If you want to take the bus, I believe you need to get from Gimhae Airport to the Busan Central Bus Station (not the Busan Seobu Intercity Bus Terminal). As MaryW noted, from Gimhae, you can use a bus, taxi, or combination of light rail and either bus or taxi to get there, and I think the transportation alone would take more than an hour. The bus to Seoul would, I think, take at least 4.5 hours, if not longer. Plan accordingly.

Hope that helps and enjoy your time in South Korea!

Thanks for the detailed information. I appreciate your help. Will definitely enjoy our time in South Korea. :D

Hi @irenyka! I was wondering if you could probably share with me a detailed information of how you went to Seoul from Busan. I'm also flying to Korea next month and plan to go straight to Seoul upon arrival at Gimhae International airport at 8:50pm. I've read the replies and the information above and also checked out the links provided, and it's really helpful. But if you could let me know how was your experience and what exactly the options that you chose, that would be really great. :D Appreciate your response on this. Thank you!

Hi @annakatarina will let you know how my trip goes. My flight is scheduled next week. Can't wait to see South Korea :D

Hi @irenyka! Oh wow, that's great, thank you :D Have a wonderful time and safe travels! Talk to you again soon!

Hi @annakatarina

Sorry for the long wait.. anyway here's what happened from our trip. I asked the lady by the info desk in the airport to where's the nearest bus terminal going to Seoul and she informed us that it would be at Sasang station. We bought the t-money card in the 7-11 store inside the airport and get on the subway going there. (btw, you may also use the t-money card in Seoul). Sasang station is the 3rd stop from Gimhae international airport. When you get off at Sasang, the bus terminal is just walking distance from the subway station. If I’m not mistaken the bus terminal name is seobu intercity bus terminal. You may check on google maps how to get there but for us, we just asked some locals and pointed us the direction going there. Ticket for the 10:30pm bus is 27,100won. Seats are comfy as you may recline it to almost 180-degree and bigger than the bus seats in the Philippines. Lol. Bus stop in Seoul is at Nambu bus terminal, and we arrived there at 2:30am. Earlier than we expected. You may find the subway station across the bus terminal. Then, based on my research subway operation is 5:30 to 24:00. So plan accordingly :)

Hi @irenyka! Thank you so much for sharing your experience in detail :) appreciate it! It'll be really helpful for us, our flight is on Saturday already!!!

One more thing, when you arrived at Nambu bus terminal in Seoul at 2:30am, how did you go to the place/hotel? Given that the subway will open at 5:30am? Did you take a bus/cab instead? Thank you!

No problem @annakatarina ;) You may take the cab going to your hotel (not sure how much for the fare. Well it depends on where you are staying). There are cab drivers in the terminal who offers for a ride. As for taking the bus, I don't have any info on this. What we did was stayed in the bus terminal and bought some food/snacks in the convenience store and had some planning on our itinerary. Then, we left at about 6am. We stayed in Myeongdong area and luckily when we got to our hostel our rooms are available and we checked-in early.

I hope everything goes well on your trip. Enjoy!!

great convo you got there @irenyka and @annakatarina. very informative. im so thankful i found this thread. nwy,im going to busan as well and will also travel to seoul the next day. ill be taking the night bus too. by the way, do you happen to know the last trip to seoul?

Hello again @irenyka! I shall take note of that :) thank you again for the awesome tips! You're a lifesaver!!! ;)

Hi @tayettz, there's also an 11pm schedule but I'm not sure if it's the last trip going to Seoul. We were given the 10:30pm and 11:00pm options when we were buying the ticket. I was not able to check the timetable anymore.

I'm glad to be of help for fellow travelers @annakatarina :)

Hi thre @irenyka, may I ask is it advisable to book online or just walk in on the bus station? We are planning to take a bus from busan(sasang) terminal to seoul late night so we can arrive early morning. I tried mock booking online however there was no late night schedule. But as I can see, u are able to secure a night trip.do u know where I can see the updated timetable of the busan-sasang to seoul? Thank u so much ������

thx for the sharing of the experience as this really helps me planning my trip next this weekend.

Hi @vjcadiz, you may check in the website given by MaryW:
http://www.kobus.co.kr/web/main/index.jsp

I also tried doing a mock booking online but since our time of arrival in the bus station is uncertain we opted to buy tickets in the terminal.