Why does everyone give directions by exit number?
Short answer
Because every subway exit is numbered, and "Exit 2" pins down a street corner better than an address does. Learn to read it and the city opens up.
The system behind the habit
Every station exit is numbered, and the numbers are on the signs — colour-coded, in Korean and English. A big interchange can have a dozen or more exits spilling onto different streets, so which staircase you climb decides which corner of the neighbourhood you surface on.
That is why directions here name an exit rather than an address: "the station, exit 2" ends the conversation. Restaurants, hotels and meeting arrangements all use the same convention.
How to use it without getting turned around
Inside the station, follow the yellow exit signs to your number rather than surfacing at the nearest stairs and correcting outside. At a big station the difference between exits can be a ten-minute walk and a wrong side of an eight-lane road.
Stations also carry numbers of their own — the redesigned metro map shows a line number with a station number precisely because finding the right station by name alone was the slow part for visitors. In testing, international users found stations dramatically faster with the numbers than without.
When you come out wrong anyway
Nothing is lost — go back down and cross underground rather than braving the surface crossing. The station concourse is the pedestrian bridge.
Before leaving the platform level, check the neighbourhood maps by the fare gates: they mark every numbered exit and what is above it, which turns the choice of staircase from a guess into a decision.
Good to know
- Follow the exit signs to your number underground — surfacing early costs more
- Station numbers on the map help when the name is hard to spot
