Field notes / Korea
How to Read a Korean Address and Show It to a Taxi Driver
Keep the Korean place name, full address and entrance together on one screen.
Two different address strings can refer to the same building. A road-name address uses a road and building number; a jibeon address identifies a land parcel. For a trip, start with the destination’s own Korean address and keep its map pin beside it. The details after the street can matter just as much as the street itself.
address / practical notes
Read the address from the area to the building
서울특별시
Seoul—the city.
중구
Jung-gu—the district.
세종대로
Sejong-daero—the complete road name.
110
The building number. This public-building example does not identify your hotel.
Road-name address vs jibeon address
Korea's road-name system identifies a building by the road it faces. A typical Korean road-name address moves from a large area to a small one:
Seoul → Jung-gu → Sejong-daero → Building 110
A jibeon address uses the neighborhood and land-lot number instead. You may still see it on an older booking page, restaurant listing or property document. Do not assume two different-looking addresses mean two different places. Paste each complete address into a Korean map and compare the map pin, business name and phone number.
How to read -daero, -ro and -gil
The ending is part of the road name, so keep it when copying or typing the address.
- -daero (대로): a major boulevard, generally the broadest road category.
- -ro (로): a road or avenue, such as Teheran-ro.
- -gil (길): a smaller street or branch road, often the final turn into a neighborhood.
You may also see names such as Sejong-daero 11-gil or Yulgok-ro 10-gil. The number belongs to the street name; it is not the building number. The separate number after the full road name identifies the building. In 15 Yulgok-ro 10-gil, “Yulgok-ro 10-gil” is the road and “15” is the building.
Building numbers usually increase as you move away from the road's starting point. Odd and even numbers are placed on opposite sides. That can help you decide whether to keep walking, but a map pin remains safer in a maze of short alleys.
The details after the street
The road-name address gets you to the building. A courier or visitor may still need the building name, apartment building number, floor or room:
- 동 (dong) can mean a neighborhood, but inside an apartment complex it can also mean a numbered building.
- 층 (cheung) means floor.
- 호 (ho) means unit or room.
- 우편번호 (upyeonbeonho) means postal code; current Korean postal codes have five digits.
For example, 101동 1203호 means Building 101, Unit 1203. Never drop this line when ordering food or receiving a parcel at an apartment. At a hotel, include the guest name and ask the front desk whether they accept deliveries before placing an order.
Korean and English order
A Korean address normally begins with the city or province, then narrows through the district, road and building. An English international address often presents the detailed location first. That difference changes the order, not the destination. A practical English line might read [Unit], [Building], [Building number and road], [District], [City] [Postal code], South Korea (format only). For a domestic Korean app, keep the Korean order supplied by the address-search result.
Watch the hyphens. A hyphen may be an official part of a building number, while the hyphen in -ro or -gil joins a romanized road name to its suffix. Do not remove numbers or punctuation merely to make the address look more familiar. Also remember that a neighborhood ending in -dong, such as Myeong-dong, is different from the apartment-building marker 동. Context tells you which meaning applies.
How to find the correct Korean address
- Start with the official name. Search the hotel, restaurant or attraction, then check its phone number and photos.
- Copy the address in Korean. Romanized spellings vary, while Korean text usually produces a cleaner match in local services.
- Confirm the road-name version. Use Korea's official Road Name Address service when you need the standardized English address.
- Check the postal code. Korea Post provides an official English postal-code finder.
- Save a screenshot and the place phone number. This is useful if mobile data is weak or the driver needs to call the destination.
For everyday navigation inside Korea, search the Korean address in a Korean map service. If the English search fails, paste only the business name, road-name address or phone number. Do not translate a street name word by word.
What to show a taxi driver
A long romanized address is difficult to read quickly from the front seat. Show one clean screen with the Korean destination name, Korean road-name address and phone number. A saved map pin is helpful, but the Korean text lets the driver confirm the entrance with you.
여기로 가 주세요. (Yeogiro ga juseyo.) — Please take me here.
이 주소가 맞아요? (I jusoga majayo?) — Is this the correct address?
여기에서 내려 주세요. (Yeogieseo naeryeo juseyo.) — Please let me off here.
Some buildings have a driveway, side gate or hotel entrance on a different street from the official pin. If you carry luggage, ask the hotel for its preferred taxi drop-off point rather than relying only on the building center shown on a map.
Hotels, deliveries and international forms
Before leaving your hotel, ask the front desk to write or print a destination card. For your own hotel, keep a card that includes the Korean name and telephone number. This takes seconds and can rescue a late-night return when a translated listing does not match the local map.
For a Korean delivery app, use the Korean road-name address and complete the apartment, building, floor or room fields exactly. For an international form, use the official English version and include the five-digit postal code plus “Republic of Korea” or “South Korea.” Keep the recipient's telephone number in the format requested by the sender.
Never post a private home address, room number or phone number in a public review or social-media screenshot. Crop personal details before asking strangers for help.
Korean address checklist for travelers
- Save the destination name and road-name address in Korean.
- Keep the phone number and a map pin with the address.
- Check the building entrance, not only the center of the pin.
- Add 동, 층 and 호 details for apartments or deliveries.
- Keep the jibeon address as a backup search term.
- Confirm the five-digit postal code for mail or online forms.
A question for your trip
Which part is confusing: road name, building number, floor or unit? Replace private address details with placeholders.
Leave a question or suggest a correction in the comments below. Keep personal details and booking information private. Replies depend on availability.
Go to comments ↓Sources and photograph credits
Editorial review: September 14, 2026. Check the linked operator or destination information for your travel date. Photographs illustrate the subject; they are not live access or price information.
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