[Transportation] Driving Through Seoul: Major Tunnels, Toll Fees & Rental Car Tips 🇰🇷

🚗 [Transport] Driving Through Seoul: Major Tunnels, Toll Fees & Rental Car Tips 🇰🇷

Driving in Seoul can be surprisingly convenient once you understand the city's network of bridges, expressways, underground roads, and mountain tunnels.

Because Seoul is surrounded by mountains and divided by the Han River, tunnels play an important role in connecting downtown Seoul with Gangnam, northern Seoul, and neighboring cities.

The good news for international travelers is simple:

👉 Most tunnels in Seoul are free to use.

However, several important routes require either a toll or a congestion charge, so travelers using a rental car should understand the difference before driving.

Here is the DiscoverKoreaGuide overview of the major tunnels you are most likely to encounter while driving around Seoul.

📅 Fee information checked for 2026.

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🚇 1. Namsan No. 1 Tunnel — 남산1호터널

📍 Area: Jung-gu ↔ Hannam-dong / Yongsan

🚗 Main Route: Downtown Seoul ↔ Hannam Bridge ↔ Gangnam

📏 Length: About 1.53 km

💰 Fee: ₩2,000 congestion charge under applicable conditions

Namsan No. 1 Tunnel is one of the most important road tunnels in central Seoul.

The northern side leads toward areas such as Myeongdong, Chungmuro, Euljiro and Jongno, while the southern side connects with Hannam-daero, Hannam Bridge and routes toward Gangnam.

⚠️ The ₩2,000 payment is technically a congestion charge, not a normal tunnel toll.

Since January 15, 2024, the congestion charge applies only to vehicles traveling toward downtown Seoul.

🚗 Standard congestion charge: ₩2,000

🕖 Charging hours:

Monday–Friday

07:00–21:00

✅ Gangnam/outbound direction: FREE

✅ Saturday: FREE

✅ Sunday: FREE

✅ Public holidays: FREE

The standard charge applies mainly to passenger cars and passenger vans with 10 seats or fewer when two or fewer people, including the driver, are inside the vehicle. Vehicles carrying three or more people are among the exempt categories. Small passenger cars under 1,000cc receive a 50% reduction.

💳 The Namsan congestion charge can be paid using cash or supported prepaid/postpaid transportation cards.

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🚗 2. Namsan No. 3 Tunnel — 남산3호터널

📍 Area: Yongsan ↔ Hoehyeon / Myeongdong

🚗 Useful for: Myeongdong, Seoul Station area, Itaewon and Yongsan

📏 Length: About 1.28 km

💰 Downtown-bound congestion charge: ₩2,000

Namsan No. 3 Tunnel is another major route through Namsan Mountain.

It connects the Yongsan side of Seoul with Hoehyeon and central Seoul and is especially useful when traveling between the Yongsan/Itaewon area and Myeongdong or downtown Seoul.

Its congestion-charge rules are essentially the same as Namsan No. 1 Tunnel.

➡️ Toward downtown Seoul:

₩2,000 on weekdays from 07:00–21:00

⬅️ Toward Gangnam / outer Seoul:

FREE

📅 Weekends and public holidays:

FREE

For tourists driving rental cars, this is one of the Seoul road charges worth remembering because your navigation app may simply route you through the tunnel without explaining the congestion-charge system.

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🚗 3. Namsan No. 2 Tunnel — 남산2호터널

📍 Central Seoul / Namsan area

💰 Separate congestion charge: FREE

One important distinction is that Seoul's Namsan congestion-charge program applies to Namsan No. 1 and No. 3 Tunnels, not Namsan No. 2 Tunnel.

Therefore, travelers sometimes hear that "Namsan Tunnel costs ₩2,000," but that statement is too broad.

✅ Namsan No. 1 → Conditional congestion charge

✅ Namsan No. 2 → No Namsan congestion charge

✅ Namsan No. 3 → Conditional congestion charge

This distinction can be useful when comparing routes on Korean navigation apps.

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🚘 4. Umyeonsan Tunnel — 우면산터널

📍 Seocho-gu

🚗 Connects: Seoul Arts Center / Seocho ↔ Umyeon-dong / southern Seoul

📏 Road section: About 2.96 km

💰 Toll: ₩2,500

Umyeonsan Tunnel is one of Seoul's best-known privately financed toll tunnels.

It provides an important north-south connection through Umyeonsan Mountain and is useful for drivers traveling between central Seocho, Seoul Arts Center, Yangjae, Gwacheon and surrounding areas.

Unlike the Namsan charge, this is an actual road toll.

💰 Passenger vehicle toll:

₩2,500

According to Seoul's restructuring agreement for the tunnel, the ₩2,500 toll is scheduled to remain frozen through 2033. The tunnel also operates a Hi-Pass toll collection system.

🚘 If your Korean rental car has a working Hi-Pass device and card, follow the designated Hi-Pass lane.

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🚙 5. Yongma Tunnel — 용마터널

📍 Eastern Seoul

🚗 Connects: Jungnang-gu, Seoul ↔ Guri, Gyeonggi-do

💰 2026 toll:

🚗 Small vehicle: ₩1,700

🚐 Medium vehicle: ₩2,900

🚛 Large vehicle: ₩3,800

Yongma Tunnel is particularly useful for travelers driving between northeastern Seoul and Guri or the eastern Gyeonggi region.

For 2026, an inflation-based increase was calculated, but Seoul announced plans to keep its private-road charges frozen at the existing levels. Therefore, the applicable Yongma Tunnel rates remain ₩1,700 for small vehicles, ₩2,900 for medium vehicles and ₩3,800 for large vehicles.

Hi-Pass is available, making it much more convenient for rental cars equipped with a compatible Hi-Pass unit and card.

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🛣️ 6. Gangnam Ring Expressway Tunnels — 강남순환로

📍 Southern Seoul

🚗 Main corridor: Geumcheon ↔ Gwanak ↔ Sadang ↔ Seocho

💰 2026 passenger-car toll: ₩1,900 per toll plaza

The Gangnam Ring Expressway is especially interesting because a large part of the road runs underground through some of Seoul's longest road tunnels.

Major tunnels include:

🚇 Gwanak Tunnel — approximately 4,990 m

🚇 Bongcheon Tunnel — approximately 3,230 m

🚇 Seocho Tunnel — approximately 2,653 m

There are two major toll plazas:

🎫 Geumcheon Tollgate

🎫 Seonam Tollgate

For 2026, Seoul decided to keep the existing private-road rates rather than apply the proposed inflation increase.

🚗 Small vehicle:

₩1,900 per tollgate

🚐 Medium vehicle:

₩3,200 per tollgate

Therefore, if a passenger car passes through both toll plazas:

💰 ₩1,900 × 2 = ₩3,800

If your route passes only one toll plaza:

💰 ₩1,900

One useful detail is that the Gwanak IC ↔ Sadang IC section was designed as a toll-free section, so depending on your entrance and exit, you may use part of the tunnel network without passing a toll plaza.

Hi-Pass lanes are also operated at the Gangnam Ring Expressway tollgates.

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🚙 Other Major Free Tunnels in Seoul

Many other tunnels function as ordinary sections of Seoul's urban road system and do not require drivers to stop at a separate tunnel toll booth.

Examples include:

🚇 Hongjimun Tunnel — 홍지문터널

🚇 Jeongneung Tunnel — 정릉터널

🚇 Guryong Tunnel — 구룡터널

Hongjimun and Jeongneung tunnels are part of Seoul's Inner Circular Road (내부순환로). The Inner Circular Road includes both tunnels and serves as one of the major road corridors across northern Seoul.

These routes can be particularly useful when driving between western Seoul, Seodaemun, Jongno, Seongbuk and eastern Seoul.

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💰 Quick Seoul Tunnel Fee Guide — 2026

🚇 Namsan No. 1 Tunnel

➡️ Downtown direction: ₩2,000 congestion charge

⬅️ Outbound direction: FREE

🚇 Namsan No. 2 Tunnel

💰 FREE

🚇 Namsan No. 3 Tunnel

➡️ Downtown direction: ₩2,000 congestion charge

⬅️ Outbound direction: FREE

🚇 Umyeonsan Tunnel

💰 ₩2,500

🚇 Yongma Tunnel

🚗 Small vehicle: ₩1,700

🚇 Gangnam Ring Expressway

🚗 Small vehicle: ₩1,900 per tollgate

🚇 Hongjimun Tunnel

💰 No separate tunnel toll

🚇 Jeongneung Tunnel

💰 No separate tunnel toll

🚇 Guryong Tunnel

💰 No separate tunnel toll

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🚗 Rental Car Tip for Foreign Travelers

If you plan to rent a car in Korea, ask the rental company:

✅ Does the car have a Hi-Pass device?

✅ Is a Hi-Pass card already installed?

✅ Is the toll deducted automatically or charged later?

✅ What happens if you accidentally use a Hi-Pass lane without sufficient balance?

Do not suddenly stop or reverse if you accidentally enter a Hi-Pass lane.

Many Korean toll facilities can identify the vehicle by its license plate, and unpaid tolls can normally be settled afterward. With rental cars, the rental company may later charge the toll according to its own billing procedure.

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📱 Navigation Tip

For driving in Seoul, Korean navigation services are usually more useful than relying only on Google Maps for turn-by-turn driving.

📱 Naver Map

📱 KakaoMap

📱 TMAP

Before selecting a route, check whether the app shows:

💰 Toll road

🚧 Traffic congestion

🚇 Tunnel

🛣️ Expressway

⏱️ Estimated travel time

💵 Estimated toll cost

Sometimes paying ₩1,900–₩2,500 can save considerable time during Seoul's rush hour, while at other times a free road may be almost as fast.

Always compare both travel time and toll cost before choosing your route.

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🚗 Driving

🚇 Transport

🅿️ Parking

🛣️ Roads & Tunnels

📱 Essential Apps

🗺️ Local Travel Tips

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👉 discoverkoreaguide.com

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