Incheon Airport to Seoul: the fares and last trains, checked
The English pages about this trip do not agree with each other. One of the ones ranking near the top says the airport train stops running at 11:32pm. The operator’s own timetable says the last one out of Terminal 1 leaves at 22:48. That is a 44 minute gap between what you read and what is actually sitting on the platform, which is the sort of thing you find out at the wrong moment.
Everything below comes off the rail operator’s Korean pages, read on the date stamped at the top.
Your four options
| Option | To Seoul Station | Adult fare | Take it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| AREX Express | 43 min from T1, 51 from T2 | 11,000 won | Heavy bags, or you booked something at a fixed time |
| AREX all-stop | about 60 min | 4,750 won to T1, 5,350 to T2 | Most of you |
| Airport bus | 60 to 90 min | 17,000 to 18,000 won | Your hotel is nowhere near a station |
| Taxi | 60 to 90 min | roughly 65,000 to 85,000 won | You landed late, or there are three of you |
The Express
Reserved seats, no stops between the airport and Seoul Station. The operator’s own ticket machine guide shows 11,000 won for one adult to Terminal 1, so that is the number to budget.
The timetable is the same on weekdays and holidays:
| Direction | First | Last |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal 2 to Seoul Station | 05:16, in at 06:07 | 22:40, in at 23:31 |
| Terminal 1 to Seoul Station | 05:24, in at 06:07 | 22:48, in at 23:31 |
| Seoul Station to Terminal 1 | 06:00, in at 06:43 | 23:00, in at 23:43 |
| Seoul Station to Terminal 2 | 06:00, in at 06:51 | 23:00, in at 23:51 |
Terminal 2 sits further out, so add eight minutes if you are flying from it. And this is not a subway. Trains come every 40 to 60 minutes, so a train you just missed is a real problem rather than a mild annoyance.
Updated 7 August 2026. This paragraph used to name the Terminal 2 airlines as Korean Air, Delta, Air France and KLM, which was the list when the terminal opened. It is no longer the list. Asiana moved its whole Incheon operation across on 14 January 2026, and Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul are there too, alongside several others. The current list, and the two ways of crossing between the terminals if you get this wrong, are here.
Machines are on basement 2 at Seoul Station, and basement 1 in the transport centre at each terminal.
If Seoul Station is a connection rather than a destination and you are carrying on to Busan or Daegu the same day, note that the high-speed booking rules changed under your feet: Korail and SR merged and every high-speed train is now sold as KTX in one app, so the old advice to search KTX and SRT separately no longer applies.
The all-stop train
Same tracks, same tunnel, fourteen stops instead of none. It takes about an hour instead of 43 minutes and costs roughly a third as much. If you are one person with a carry-on, this is the obvious choice and the Express is mostly buying you a guaranteed seat.
The fare is not flat, which is why you will see four different numbers quoted around the internet. The operator stacks three separate distance bands:
- Seoul Station out to Cheongna International City: 1,550 won for the first 10 km, then 100 won per extra 5 km up to 50 km, then 100 won per 8 km.
- Cheongna out to Terminal 1: priced on its own at 1,200 won for the first 10 km, then 130 won per extra kilometre.
- Terminal 1 to Terminal 2: 1,200 won, then 108.02 won per kilometre.
That middle band is a separate concession with its own pricing, which is why the airport stretch feels expensive for the distance you cover.
You do not have to do that arithmetic yourself. The same page carries a station to station grid, and the two rows that matter read 4,750 won from Seoul Station to Terminal 1 and 5,350 won to Terminal 2, for one adult on a transit card. Those are the numbers the gate will charge you.
The bit nobody translates
On the all-stop train, the operator publishes these categories:
| Who | Fare |
|---|---|
| Age 65 and over | Free, with ID or a concession transit card |
| Registered disability, national merit recipients | Free, with ID |
| Under 6 | Free, up to three children per adult |
| Ages 6 to 12 | 550 won base, distance charged at half |
| Ages 13 to 18 | 900 won base, distance charged at 80% |
Read that first row again. It is written by age, not by nationality. A visiting grandparent with a passport showing 65 falls inside it, and I have not found a single English page that says so. If you are travelling with an older relative, go to the staffed window rather than the machine and show the passport.
None of this touches the Express, which charges one adult fare and that is that.
Buses and taxis
The airport buses put you closer to your actual hotel than any train can, which is the entire reason anyone takes them. Reckon on 60 to 90 minutes depending on how bad the river crossing is.
Updated 30 July 2026. This used to say “around 17,000 won, not yet confirmed”. Here are the fares from the Seoul city government’s own table, which lists the three operators separately:
| Operator | Seoul to Incheon Airport | Set on |
|---|---|---|
| Airport Limousine | 18,000 won | 8 June 2022 |
| Seoul Airport Limousine | 17,000 won | 15 June 2022 |
| Korea City Air Terminal | 18,000 won | 15 June 2022 |
All three are the premium class, and cash and card are the same price. The “around 17,000” everybody quotes is the cheapest of the three, so budget 18,000 unless you know which company you are boarding.
Gimpo to Incheon Airport is 8,500 won, and Seoul to Gimpo Airport is 9,000 won.
Taxis run roughly 65,000 to 85,000 won into central Seoul, a range I have not pinned to an official tariff and am quoting as an estimate. Worth it after the last train, or split three ways at 2am with luggage. Rarely worth it otherwise.
Landing late
The cutoff arrives earlier than people expect. Last Express from Terminal 1 is 22:48. Now add immigration, the wait at the belt, and the walk down to the transport centre. A flight scheduled to land at 21:30 is already tight, and flights are not always on time.
Miss it and you are choosing between a night bus and a taxi. Neither is a disaster. Neither is 11,000 won either, so it is worth doing that arithmetic before you book the cheap late flight.
One thing that does help at that hour is already having data when you land, rather than queueing at a counter. That is a different decision with its own trap, and it is covered in eSIM or SIM card.
About these numbers
I read these off the operator’s Korean pages on the date at the top of this page. Korean transport operators announce changes in Korean first, and the English versions follow whenever they follow, which is part of why so much of what is written about this trip in English is quietly out of date.
Where I have not checked something, the page says so instead of repeating what everyone else says. If a number here has moved, tell me and I will fix it and re-date the page.
What changed on 30 July 2026. The airport bus fare, which this page originally carried as an unconfirmed “around 17,000 won”, is now taken from the Seoul city government’s fare table and split by operator. The stamp at the top moved to the day of that re-check. That is the loop this site is supposed to run, so it is worth showing it running: an admitted gap, then the source, then a new date.
Still open on this page: the all-stop train’s exact total fare between Seoul Station and the airport. The fare structure is confirmed and the figure quoted here is calculated from it, not read off a ticket.
Questions people actually ask
- How far is Incheon Airport to Seoul, and how long does the train take?
- Far enough that the number worth knowing is the timetable, not the kilometres. The AREX Express runs Terminal 1 to Seoul Station in 43 minutes, nonstop, and Terminal 2 in 51, because Terminal 2 sits eight minutes further out. The all-stop train uses the same tunnel with fourteen stops and takes about an hour. A taxi covers the same ground in 60 to 90 minutes, and a bus the same, both at the mercy of the river crossing.
- Travel time from Incheon Airport to Seoul Station: is the Express worth it over the all-stop?
- The Express saves about 17 minutes and costs roughly two and a half times as much, so the honest answer is usually no. It earns its fare in two situations: heavy bags, because it is nonstop with luggage space, and a booking at a fixed time, because it runs to a published schedule rather than a subway frequency. One person with a carry-on should take the all-stop. Note that the Express is not frequent either, at 40 to 60 minutes between trains.
- How much is train from Incheon Airport to Seoul, and what is the exact fare?
- The Express is 11,000 won for one adult, flat. The all-stop is not flat, which is why four different numbers circulate, so here are the operator's own station to station figures on a transit card: Seoul Station to Terminal 1 is 4,750 won, and to Terminal 2 it is 5,350 won. Under that sit three separate distance bands, and one of them prices the airport stretch on its own, which is why the last leg feels dear. A taxi is 65,000 to 85,000 won and the airport bus 17,000 to 18,000.
- ICN to Seoul late at night: what is the last train, and what if I miss it?
- The last Express leaves Terminal 1 at 22:48 and Terminal 2 at 22:40, both reaching Seoul Station at 23:31, and the operator's table ends there. Going the other way the last one leaves Seoul Station at 23:00, reaching Terminal 1 at 23:43 and Terminal 2 at 23:51. The train before the last one goes fifty minutes earlier, so the margin is thinner than it looks. Miss it and it is a bus or a taxi at 65,000 to 85,000 won.
Where these numbers came from
Read on . 5of5are the operator's own Korean pages.