Nami Island Day Trip from Seoul: Take the ITX, Not the Shuttle, and Catch the Real Last Train

Search Klook for a Nami Island shuttle and the planning seems to be over. You board near Myeongdong at 09:40, step off at the island’s car park at 11:20, and the bus home leaves at 16:30. No timetables to decode, no taxi to find outside Gapyeong Station.

Read the same timetable from the island’s side and it looks different. The shuttle and the coach tours from Seoul tend to land around that hour. A Taiwanese traveler who went in July 2025 watched the tour groups pour in around noon and suggested arriving at about 9 for a quiet walk. The way back is tight too. The shuttle operator asks passengers to be at the wharf by 16:00 and, in the spring and autumn peaks, to join the return ferry queue 40 minutes earlier than usual. The hours the bus delivers you so comfortably are the island’s busiest.

So for a first visit, this is what I would do. Take the ITX-Cheongchun train to Gapyeong Station, a five-minute taxi to the wharf, and be on a boat before 10 am. From Myeongdong, board at Cheongnyangni; from Hongdae, at Yongsan. Get on the subway near your hotel before 8 and you will usually be on the island before 10. On a weekend, buy the outward ticket in advance.

There is one more time to know before you go: not the last train on KORAIL’s timetable, but the last train that actually gets you back to your hotel. On weekdays and weekends alike it leaves more than an hour earlier than the timetable’s last train, and at weekends Seoul’s subway stops early as well.

Four ways to go, four different arrival times

There are four common ways to get from Seoul to Nami Island. The fares differ, but what really separates them is when you arrive on the island, and who decides that.

The first three options need a Nami Island ticket on top, which includes the ferry both ways: ₩19,000 for adults. The ITX fares are ₩5,700 one way from Cheongnyangni (searched 27 September 2026) and ₩6,900 from Yongsan (searched 7 October), plus a ₩1,550 subway ride each way to that station. The subway fares are Seoul Metro’s transit-card fares from its route search on 27 September. Klook prices are as shown on 7 October. The operator and Klook give the shuttle’s arrival as 11:20; Nami Island’s own page says 11:30.

Here is how to choose. If you only want the island and plan to spend the whole day there, the shuttle is easy: your seat is guaranteed, and five hours is plenty for a slow loop. If you want three stops in one day, or you are travelling with parents and want fewer changes, take a tour. On a weekday budget, take the subway. For most other travelers, the ITX is the answer. You reach the island before the crowds, and the afternoon is yours to plan.

How far it really is from Myeongdong and Hongdae

Rather than guess how much faster the ITX is, I lined up the timetables. I combined KORAIL’s Gyeongchun Line, ITX-Cheongchun and Gyeongui-Jungang Line timetables in force from 1 September 2026 (still the current ones on 7 October), journey times from Seoul Metro’s route search, and the island’s ferry schedule. Then I assumed you step onto the platform at Myeongdong or Hongik University station at any minute between 07:00 and 10:00, and calculated, minute by minute, when you would land on the island. The walk from your hotel to the station is not included.

The assumptions: an average 3-minute wait for Line 4 at Myeongdong, 8 to 10 minutes to change onto the ITX, 4 minutes to change at Sangbong, 10 minutes by taxi from Gapyeong Station to the wharf including finding one, 20 minutes on foot (the island’s figure), and 5 to 10 minutes to buy a ticket. Boats every 15 minutes between 09:00 and 18:00; the island says every 10 to 20.

On weekend mornings the ITX runs every 20 to 50 minutes and saves about half an hour. Weekdays are a different story. The morning ITX leaves Yongsan only at 07:51, 08:50 and 10:11, so if you just miss one, the subway gets there first. The subway needs no booking, either. On a weekday when the morning ITX is sold out, there is no reason to wait for it.

The ITX-Cheongchun is not the subway

The ITX-Cheongchun is a reserved-seat train on the Gyeongchun Line. It shares tracks and stations with the subway, but it needs its own ticket. On KORAIL’s English booking site, choose Yongsan or Cheongnyangni to Gapyeong, pay with a foreign credit card, and keep the QR ticket. The ITX gates at Gyeongchun Line stations have a separate reader for that QR code. A KORAIL PASS also covers the train.

Seats go on sale at 07:00 two months before travel, a window KORAIL extended from one month on 1 October 2026. Weekend mornings go faster than you might expect. On 7 October I searched Saturday 17 October, ten days ahead, from Yongsan: all seven departures from 07:51 to 10:55 were sold out, and only the 06:15 and 07:00 still had seats. Every return from Gapyeong that day had seats except the 20:01. For Saturday 31 October, only the 07:51 outward train was sold out.

So book the outward train first. If you are late, the 07:00 may be the one still available, which also happens to fit this guide’s advice to beat the crowds. If you plan to stay for the last train discussed below, buy the return at the same time.

Treating it like the subway goes wrong. A traveler in December 2024 boarded the ITX by mistake on a transit card and was told by the conductor to buy a ticket by card or get off at the next station for the slower train. Tapping a transit card does not buy you an ITX seat.

If you cannot work out the return ticket, there is still a way home. A Taiwanese traveler who posted in October 2025 could not figure out how to buy the return ITX and came back on the Gyeongchun Line with a change. The subway needs no booking, so it is always a fallback. Just check the last connections into Seoul in the table further down.

Seoul’s Climate Card unlimited pass does not reach Gapyeong. On the Gyeongchun Line it covers only Cheongnyangni to Sinnae. For the subway, use a T-money balance or a single-journey ticket.

Gapyeong Station to the wharf: 1.5 km

The wharf is 1.5 km from Gapyeong Station. The island puts it at 20 minutes on foot, or 5 by taxi or bus. Two Taiwanese travelers who took a taxi, in posts from February 2025 and October 2025, each paid around ₩5,000. With two or more people, the taxi is the easy choice.

On a fine day you can walk. But if you are chasing an early boat, take the taxi. Bus 10-4 runs 18 times a day on the county’s timetable, with gaps of anything from 30 minutes to an hour. Miss one and the wait can be longer than the walk.

Tickets: at the wharf, or on Klook with a foreign passport

If you hold a foreign passport, you can also buy the Nami Island ticket on Klook. It was US$13.85 on 7 October 2026, is valid only on the date you choose, and must be shown at the main gate (“Immigration”) by 18:00. The voucher gets you straight in, so you skip the ticket queue, and it is refundable until used. Klook vouchers are not accepted for evening entry, and children and the before-8 early boat have their own ₩13,000 tickets at the counter, so buy those there.

From 18 September to 22 November, the first boat leaves at 07:30, and the ticket is ₩13,000 if you buy it and board before 08:00. From Myeongdong you can make it on a weekend with the first trains and a taxi. For the foliage forecast by date and the train math for that first boat, see the Korea autumn foliage timing guide.

Boats run every 30 minutes from 08:00 to 09:00, every 10 to 20 minutes until 18:00, and every 30 minutes until 21:00. The crossing takes about five minutes, and the island is open every day of the year.

You can also fly in. The Skyline Zipwire Family Course costs ₩55,000 a person and includes Nami Island admission and the ferry fare. Take away the ₩19,000 ticket and the ride itself costs ₩36,000. It is about 940 m long and lasts about a minute and a half. Riders must be 140 to 200 cm tall and weigh 35 to 120 kg, and it stops in strong wind or heavy rain. If ₩36,000 for 90 seconds sounds fair, go for it. If not, the five-minute boat gets you to the island just as well.

Coming back: don’t trust the timetable’s last train

KORAIL’s timetable shows trains from Gapyeong towards Seoul until almost midnight: the last at 23:58 on weekdays and 23:38 at weekends. But those trains terminate at Pyeongnae-hopyeong. The ones before them, 23:12 on weekdays and 23:13 at weekends, do reach Sangbong, after midnight. By then, the Gyeongui-Jungang trains from Sangbong towards central Seoul have stopped running.

At weekends Seoul’s subway also finishes early. Seoul Metro’s last-train data for Saturdays, Sundays and holidays shows the last southbound Line 4 train leaving Dongdaemun at 23:52, and the last Line 1 train towards Seoul Station leaving Cheongnyangni at 23:48. On weekdays the same last trains leave at 00:51 and 00:42.

Put those together, and these are the last departures from Gapyeong that still connect to a Myeongdong or Hongdae hotel by public transport:

Why 22:07 and not 22:25 for Myeongdong by subway at weekends? The 22:25 reaches Cheongnyangni at 23:31. Miss the 23:35 Line 1 train there, and the next one cannot reach Dongdaemun before Line 4’s last train at 23:52. A four-minute change from the KORAIL platforms to Line 1 only works on paper. The 22:25 to Hongdae is tight as well: the 23:28 Gyeongui-Jungang train you change to at Sangbong is the last one that day to Hongik University. Miss it and there is no next one.

This matters most on autumn weekend evenings. Until 22 November, the last boat leaves at 21:30 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Take it, then a taxi, and you still have time for the last ITX. If you want to stay on the island until dusk, book the return ITX when you book the outward one. Coming off the last boat, that means the 22:05 or 22:31 on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, and the 22:33 on a Friday, which runs on the weekday timetable. Without that ticket, your evening runs on the subway’s clock, and at weekends a Myeongdong hotel means leaving Gapyeong at 22:07.

Train times are from KORAIL’s 1 September 2026 timetable; subway last trains are from Seoul Metro’s data on the Seoul Open Data Plaza, read on 7 October. If KORAIL changes its timetable, this table changes too. It does not cover onward routes from Sangbong on Line 7 or other lines.

One more stop in the afternoon: Petite France, the Garden of Morning Calm or a rail bike

If you have seen the island by lunchtime, there is room for one more stop. The Gapyeong Tour Bus, the county’s tourist shuttle, makes the connection. On the county’s March 2026 leaflet it runs as two routes. Route A links Gapyeong Terminal, the Gapyeong Rail Bike, Jaraseom, Gapyeong Station, the Nami wharf and Petite France. Route B runs from Petite France to Cheongpyeong Station and the Garden of Morning Calm. You change at Petite France. The same county web page also carries a different, single-route table, which is easy to mix up; this guide follows the leaflet.

A day ticket costs ₩8,000 for adults and ₩6,000 for teenagers and children, bought from the driver. If the bus is full, you wait for the next one. It does not run on Wednesdays, unless the Wednesday is a public holiday. If your plan puts this bus on a Wednesday afternoon, start again.

Route A leaves the Nami wharf for Petite France at 09:05, 10:05, 11:35, 12:35, 14:05, 15:05, 16:35 and 17:35. It reaches Petite France 25 minutes later, and the timetable has route B leaving for the Garden of Morning Calm at the same minute (except after the 17:35, when route B does not go on to the garden). Because both buses share that minute, if route A runs late and you miss route B, the next one is an hour to an hour and a half later. Going the other way, route A passes the Nami wharf towards Gapyeong Station between 10:10 and 18:40.

The Garden of Morning Calm is open every day, usually from 08:30 to 19:00, with last entry at 18:00. From early December to mid-March, during its light festival, it opens 10:00 to 21:00. Adults pay ₩11,000. If I were pairing one stop with Nami, I would choose the garden over Petite France. It stays open until 7, so you can spend two or three unhurried hours there, and the route B bus back drops you at Cheongpyeong Station in time to step onto an ITX. Petite France, a theme park built like a French village, is 25 minutes from Nami by bus: a good short stop on a day when you have an awkward hour left.

From Myeongdong on a Saturday, the day could look like this:

If you want a rail bike, choose the Gapyeong Rail Bike of the two. It is an 8 km round trip to Gyeonggang Station on electric-assisted bikes, 10 minutes by taxi from Gapyeong Station, and route A has a Rail Bike stop. As of 7 October 2026, departures are at 10:00, 11:30, 13:30, 15:00, 16:30 and 18:00. See the island in the morning, take a boat back at about 12:25 and the 12:40 route A bus from outside the wharf, and you reach the Rail Bike stop at 12:50. You need to be there 20 minutes before departure, so the 13:30 ride fits.

The Gimyujeong Rail Bike near Gangchon is a different place. It is a three-minute walk from Gimyujeong Station, four stops past Gapyeong on the Gyeongchun Line. You ride 6 km one way through themed tunnels, then 2.5 km on the Romance Train, with a free shuttle back to the start. If the rail bike is the point of the day, go there. If it is a side dish to Nami, choose Gapyeong.

You pay per bike, not per rider. A two-seater costs ₩36,000 at Gapyeong and ₩40,000 at Gimyujeong; a four-seater ₩48,000 and ₩56,000. A group of three must book a four-seater. Four friends sharing one four-seater at Gapyeong pay ₩12,000 each, ₩24,000 less than two two-seaters (₩72,000). You cannot change the date, cancelling the day before costs 30%, and the same rules apply in the rain.

When a tour is the better day

A tour trades time on the island for convenience. A Taiwanese traveler who posted about a KKday tour with their mother in April 2025 was picked up near Myeongdong at 07:45, had just under two hours on Nami, and got back to Seoul at 19:30 after two and a half hours in Friday traffic.

There are still days when a tour wins. When you want three places that are fiddly by public transport, such as Alpaca World, a rail bike and the Garden of Morning Calm. When you are with family members who need less walking and fewer changes. Klook’s Nami Island day tour packages include Nami admission and the ferry, with an English-speaking guide. The link opens the whole list, so pick the package with the stops you want. Changing the date after 10:00 the day before costs 50% of the booking, so settle the date first. If two hours on the island sounds too short, take the train.

If you choose the official shuttle, move early for public holidays. On Hangul Day, 9 October 2025, one traveler found the shuttles sold out. The official Nami shuttle bus on Klook can be cancelled free until a day before, so book it as soon as your date is set. Admission is not included.

By ITX you walk the island in the morning, give the afternoon to the garden or a rail bike, and can even stay for the last boat. In return, two tickets and one last-train time are your job. For a day that runs in the order you choose, that is a fair trade.

Prices are for adults, as of 7 October 2026.