We’ve rented a car twice in South Korea now. The first time was in Jeju Island which was super easy and chill to drive around.
The second time was on our most recent trip to South Korea last month when we decided to rent a car in Seoul, South Korea and do a road trip across Korea to the east coast.
From finding an affordable rental car agency (spoiler, they’re not listed on the usual sites like Expedia or Booking) to getting used to the much higher volume of traffic and frequent speed cameras, driving in Korea on the mainland was definitely an adjustment!
So I want to share my experience with you from the start, including how we found our rental car company in Korea and my top tips for driving in Korea as a foreigner.
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Driving in Korea
How to rent a car in South Korea
Renting a car in Korea is pretty straightforward but finding a local rental car company is the tricky bit.
After looking on our usual rental sites (we usually browse deals on Expedia or Booking) we could only see limited rentals available at Seoul Incheon Airport for big brands like Enterprise, Avis and Alamo. That was it. And they cost hundreds of pounds per day, I’m talking £180+ per day minimum ($247+ per day)!
From our previous trip to Jeju Island we knew that there were loads of local rental agencies in Korea like SK Rental and Lotte Car, so why weren’t these showing up?
This is another quirk of travelling in Korea, just like how Google Maps doesn’t work there, Expedia, Booking and other platforms we’re familiar with are just not used by Korean car rental agencies there.
Instead you need to use Klook. Klook is similar to GetYourGuide/Viator but it started in Hong Kong and has a huge presence in the Asia-Pacific region for car rentals, tours and attraction tickets. They are growing a bit more in popularity in Europe and the U.S. but all this to say, we booked 4 rental cars and 2 activities through their website on this trip so I promise they’re legit to use!
As soon as we looked on Klook, we found car rentals from just £21 per day ($29) - much more like the price I was expecting for renting a car in South Korea!
Rental Car
What do you need to rent a car in South Korea?
A full driving license from your home country
An International Driving Permit (1949 version)
Be over 21 years old
Have a credit card in the main driver’s name
Show your passport
You categorically will not be able to pick up your rental car in South Korea without these two documents.
An International Driving Permit (IDP) is required by law for foreigners to drive in South Korea (as well as many other countries in the world) and you must get it from your home country before you leave as it’s a physical document that cannot be emailed.
In the UK, they cost £5.50 and you can get them from any shop with a PayPoint (they are no longer available to buy from the Post Office unfortunately, unless that Post Office has a PayPoint). Check your nearest PayPoint here.
If you’re in the US, you can get it from AAA and it costs $20 (I only know this because my husband is American and he forgot to pick one up on his last visit to the States so I had to do all the driving for a month in Korea and Japan!)
Jeju Island
Tips for driving in South Korea for foreigners
1. Don’t forget your International Driving Permit
Just in case you skipped over the paragraphs above, you cannot rent a car without an IDP in South Korea. You will be asked to show it when you pick up your rental car.
Make sure you get one from your home country before you travel and you’ll need to have a passport sized photo and your passport with you when you get one in your home country. Then it’s valid for 1 year.
2. They drive on the right hand side of the road in Korea
It’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with this and other rules of the road in Korea before you travel.
I had driven on the right plenty of times before but I always feel better when I’m driving on the other side of the road and the car is automatic - one less thing to worry about! So you’ll be pleased to know that if you’re not used to driving on the right side of the road, all cars are automatic in South Korea.
3. Google Maps doesn’t work, use Naver Maps or Kakao Map
One of the quirks of the country is that you can’t use Google Maps in South Korea, I mean technically you can open Google Maps and look at it and click on places for more info like you usually would. But you can’t use it for any type of navigation, whether that’s driving, public transport or walking.
Naver Map or Kakao Map are the two main map apps used in Korea. I’ve always used Naver Map and found it really easy to use and you can type in English on it.
TIP: sometimes you need to type the words without spaces in Naver Maps for it to find the destination. E.g. Seoul Station is seoulstation. I would recommend downloading it and familiarising yourself with the app before you go.
You do definitely need a navigation system to drive, there are speed cameras, signal enforcement cameras, school zones, silver zones and more (I’m talking about all of these below) and your navigation app will warn you when you’re approaching or entering these so you don’t get fined.
4. Get an eSim so you have mobile data for navigation
Connected to the last point, make sure you have data so you’re able to navigate while driving. Many modern cars in South Korea have in-built satnav which you can change the language on. However we found our car’s satnav wasn’t the most up to date so we used Naver Maps to navigate which you’ll need an internet connection for.
Get your eSim here to get mobile data and stay connected while you travel.
5. Get a HiPass for toll roads from convenience stores
If you’re planning on driving outside of cities then it’s likely you’ll be going on an expressway road. Most expressway roads have a toll in Korea.
There are two types of lanes when you approach a toll, the blue lanes are for those that have a Hi Pass or similar payment unit in their car. The other lanes are for those that need to pay with cash or card.
We decided to get a Hi Pass because the rental company said that some of the queues for the cash lanes on expressways getting out of Seoul could be huge.
You can get a Hi Pass card from any convenience store, I actually went upstairs in the airport terminal and picked one up from the arrivals floor where there’s a CU Convenience Store. You buy the card then top it up with money then that is deducted from your card every time you drive through a toll.
I think I only put 30,000 won (£16) on the pass the first time and we had to top it up a little bit at another convenience store towards the end of our trip.
If your car is able to carry an onboard payment unit like this, it’s usually on the windshield behind the rearview mirror or built into the back of the rearview mirror (this is where ours was). As your car rental agent to show you where the Hi Pass slot is.
6. Speed limits are very low and there’s lots of speed cameras - stick to speed limits!
This was probably my biggest frustration with driving in South Korea as a foreigner…
Speed limits on Expressways with one lane on each side are 60km/h, with two lanes it’s 80km/h.
In urban areas it’s 50km/h or in some built up areas it’s 30km/h.
This means even on an expressway, the max speed limit is 80km/h which is 50mph!!!
I felt like I was driving sooo slow all the time and everywhere took so long to get to.
Apparently there are some expressways and motorways that go up to 100km/h but none of them were on the route we took driving from Seoul to Sokcho.
Speed limits are exclusively enforced by speed cameras which are EVERYWHERE. I’m talking every couple of km. And that’s why you need to have the navigation system on at all times because it is constantly telling you “there is a box-type speed camera ahead,” “there is a signal enforcement camera ahead,” “there is a speed checker ahead.”
The most frustrating thing is that Koreans around you will all drive much faster, especially on the expressways. We read online that there’s generally a 10km/h tolerance for going over the speed limit, well people seemed to be driving much faster than that… but I guess if you know the roads and where the cameras are.
All this to say, know the speed limits, use navigation so it tells you where speed cameras are and allow plenty of time for your car journeys, even on expressways.
7. Use cruise control over long distances
This is an extension of my last point, but because it feels so unnaturally slow to drive at 50mph on the Expressway, I found the car’s cruise control system really helpful to make sure I stuck to the speed limits.
Plus it’s more comfortable to use cruise control over long distance driving anyway.
8. You can turn right on red
For Americans this won’t feel weird, but you can’t turn on red in the UK or most of Europe so this is a good one to know.
You can turn on red unless there’s a sign telling you that you can’t. Or if there’s a filter arrow for your turn then you can wait for that to turn green.
If you’re not sure whether you can turn on red, waiting to see if the cars behind you honk the horn at you is a good test!
9. Look out for school zones and silver zones
Speed limits are reduced to 30km/h or even 20km/h around school zones and penalties for violations are stricter than they are for regular speeding.
Silver zones are elderly people areas (so cute!) and again the speed limit is reduced.
The navigation system should also tell you when you are approaching or entering these zones so you have warning.
10. Hazard lights are used by vehicles to give warning and thanks
If you’re from Europe, this is likely something that’s already familiar to you. But in a lot of other places in the world, hazard lights are only used for a breakdown or warning.
In South Korea, drivers use their hazard lights as a warning for sharp braking, a road obstruction or accident, emergency service vehicles and other hazards.
But they also use them for saying “thank you” if you let them merge or give way to allow them to pull out ahead of you.
11. Don’t drink and drive
This sounds obvious but the tolerance for drink driving in Korea is almost zero. The legal limit for blood alcohol concentration in South Korea is 0.03% and punishments are severe, including large fines and imprisonment. So if you’re used to having one beer at home and still being good to drive, that pretty much won’t fly here.
12. Keep your rental agency contact details handy in case of emergency
Your car rental company should give you a pack with their details and their emergency number, should you need to contact them for an incident.
They should also explain that if you’re in an accident you need to call the police first (112) then contact them.
Hopefully you don’t need this information but it’s good to keep the contact details and info handy or saved on your phone for the duration of your trip.
Summary: renting a car and driving tips for South Korea
I hope these tips and info give you some extra guidance before you head out for your trip.
A Korea road trip is so much fun and I’ve loved both times we’ve driven there, but it definitely pays to familiarise yourself with the rules of the road in Korea and anything that’s different or unusual to what you’re used to.
