Cash or Card in Korea: How Much Won to Bring, and WOWPASS

Cash or card in Korea is an easy call for most visitors: you can use a card at nearly every shop, cafe and convenience store, and you only need won for traditional markets, street food and transit top-ups. If you’re arriving with foreign cash, WOWPASS is the easiest prepaid card to turn it into won, and the one-time registration fee is 6,000 won.

Korean money comes in four notes (50,000, 10,000, 5,000 and 1,000 won) and four coins (500, 100, 50 and 10 won), per the Bank of Korea. Handing a street vendor a 50,000 won note for one skewer can make for an awkward moment over change, so the rule of thumb is to keep a mix of 10,000 and 1,000 won notes.

Cash or card in Korea: what to carry

The Korea Tourism Organization says Visa, Mastercard and American Express are widely used, though a few places don’t take cards, so it suggests asking before you pay.

Whatever your card charges on foreign purchases is set by the bank or card company that issued it, not by anything in Korea. Check your own card’s foreign transaction fee before you fly.

Financial and travel analysts note that while South Korea operates predominantly cashless, maintaining a modest reserve of physical won remains essential for street-food stalls, subway card top-ups, and highway tolls.

Currency exchange in Korea: airport or downtown?

The Korea Tourism Organization says you can exchange money at a bank or a licensed exchange office, and that the airport exchange counters are the easiest option for most tourists. Bank branches usually close at 4 p.m. on weekdays, so if you land in the evening you’ll be using the airport or a private exchange office in the city.

Incheon Airport Terminal 1 hosts exchange counters for KB Kookmin, Woori, and Hana Bank; select booths in the 1st-floor arrivals hall operate 24 hours daily, while remaining branches run from 06:00 to 22:00. Terminal 2 houses parallel banking facilities across both arrival and departure levels.

In downtown Seoul, independent currency exchange booths concentrate heavily around Myeongdong, particularly in the pedestrian alleys surrounding the Chinese Embassy (downtown exchange booth mapping). These private booths post real-time rates on electronic boards and frequently host self-service WOWPASS kiosks. While licensed private counters offer extended operating hours into the late evening, compare rates across 2–3 nearby stalls before converting large sums (Myeongdong exchange analysis).

Rates differ by place and by day. A Visit Seoul answer says banks have better rates but close around 4 p.m. That post is from 2017, though, so your best bet is to compare a few counters on the day. Many people only change what they need for day one at the airport and do the rest downtown.

Using an ATM in Korea as a foreigner

Standard domestic Korean bank ATMs frequently reject foreign cards outright; always seek out machines explicitly badged as Global ATM or displaying international payment network logos (ATM withdrawal guidance).

If the machine asks whether to charge you in won or in your home currency, choose won and decline the conversion, as the inCorea guide also advises. Fees depend on the machine and your home bank, so read the fee on the screen before you confirm. The inCorea guide adds that bank-owned ATMs are cheaper and more reliable than independent ones: “Prefer ATMs belonging to banks to independent ATMs; they cost less to withdraw and are more reliable.”

WOWPASS Korea: how it works

WOWPASS is a rechargeable card for foreign visitors. You put foreign cash into a machine, it turns into won on the card, and you pay in shops and tap it on subways and buses. The FAQ says Korean nationals can’t use it yet.

The official site says you can top up with cash in 16 currencies, with foreign cards such as Visa, Mastercard and JCB, or with PayPal. You can pick up a card from an unattended machine at the airport or in the city, or reserve one ahead. Your passport gets scanned at the machine, so bring it.

Not every machine does the same job. According to the machine list in the FAQ, the ones at the Incheon Airport Terminal 1 CU store no. 1 and the Terminal 2 CU store no. 3 only issue cards and take won cash; they don’t exchange foreign currency or let you withdraw. The machine in the Gimpo Airport international terminal’s subway passage does everything.

An older English guide on Trazy from 2025 lists what to bring to the machine: “You will need your Passport and cash (minimum 5,000won for balance top-up) to issue the card.” That minimum is for topping up; the card’s own registration fee is a separate charge, covered below.

At automated WOWPASS kiosks (kiosk issuance workflow), users select their operating language, scan their passport, and enter contact details to receive an activated card instantly. While conversion spreads carry a small markup compared to prime bank rates, the kiosk network eliminates bank teller wait times and provides immediate transit card functionality.

WOWPASS fees and limits

Official WOWPASS terms set the card issuance fee at 6,000 won (discounted to 5,500 won with promotional advance reservations). While legacy online travel guides still quote an outdated 5,000 won figure, budget 6,000 won for on-site kiosk issuance.

Getting leftover WOWPASS money back

The only way to get it back is as won cash. At a WOWPASS machine that allows withdrawals, you take out up to 100,000 won at a time using the card registered in the app, and each withdrawal costs 1,000 won. Per the FAQ, you can’t get it back as foreign currency or have it sent to a bank account, at least for now.

So try to spend most of the balance by the day before you fly. Duty-free shops and convenience stores at the airport will take the rest. The SMBC guide says balances of 99 won or less can’t be withdrawn. If you shop a lot, don’t forget the tax refund.

Buying subway tickets with a foreign card

Seoul subway ticket machines started taking foreign cards this year. I checked the Seoul city traffic news board, and from March 17, 2026, 440 machines at 273 stations on Lines 1 to 8 accept foreign credit and debit cards for single tickets, Climate Card purchases and short-term top-ups (1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 days), with an average fee of 3.7%. Thirty-day passes aren’t included yet. None of the English guides I read this week mentioned the change, so some of them still make it sound like cash is your only option.

WOWPASS also has a Tmoney function, so you can tap on subways, buses and taxis. The shopping balance and the transit balance are separate, though, so you either move money to the transit side in the app or top up with cash at a station machine or convenience store. Money moved to the transit side can’t be moved back.

If you have an iPhone, the Tmoney app is worth a look. A Korea JoongAng Daily article from March says the iOS app now has a sign-up button for foreigners, so you can top up with Mastercard, American Express or UnionPay and add the card to Apple Wallet. Visa wasn’t supported when the article came out, and I couldn’t check whether that has changed. Our Tmoney card guide covers the regular card.

What to do on your first day

At the airport, change a little cash or get a WOWPASS, top up a transit card and head into the city. Our Incheon Airport to Seoul guide covers getting to your hotel.

Exchange hours, WOWPASS fees and limits can change, so check the official sites once more before you leave. More trip-planning posts are on the travel page.