Why Google Maps Falls Short in Seoul, and What Changed in 2026
The first surprise for most visitors is that the map app they use everywhere else does half a job in Korea. For years South Korea did not allow detailed map data to be taken out of the country, on national security grounds, and without it Google Maps could not offer turn-by-turn walking or driving directions there. It shows restaurants, reviews and subway and bus routes. The walk between them appears as a dotted line.
That is changing, slowly. On February 27, 2026 the government conditionally approved Google’s request to export the map data, after refusing it in 2007 and 2016. Approval is not a launch. In late August 2026 Google said it was preparing a full Maps service for Korea, including walking and driving navigation, and gave no date. When we checked in October 2026 we found no announcement that it had gone live.
So the practical advice has not changed yet: install a Korean map app before you land, and treat Google Maps as a place to read about a restaurant, not as the way to reach it.
❓ Does Google Maps work in South Korea?
Partly. Google Maps in Korea shows place listings, reviews and public transit routes, but it does not yet give turn-by-turn walking or driving directions. The government conditionally approved the map data Google needs on February 27, 2026, and Google has said full navigation is coming without giving a date. Until it launches, use Naver Map or Kakao Map to get around.
The trade-off: Google Maps is the app you already know and the one whose reviews you can read without effort. In Seoul that familiarity gets you a pin on a map and leaves you to find the door yourself.
Naver Map and Kakao Map: Finding the Restaurant
Two Korean apps do what Google Maps does elsewhere. Naver Map works in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese, and since late 2024 it has translated visitor reviews and its place filters into those languages, including a filter for places suited to eating alone. Kakao Map has an English mode as well, with more of the content left in Korean. They cover the same ground, and you need one of them, not both.
| 🗺️ What you need it for | Google Maps | Naver Map | Kakao Map |
|---|
| 🚶 Step-by-step walking directions | ❌ Not yet in Korea | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| 🚇 Subway and bus routes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| 🍜 Restaurant listings and reviews | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes, with reviews translated | ✅ Yes, mostly in Korean |
| 🔤 English interface | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes, plus Chinese and Japanese | 🟡 Yes, with parts left in Korean |
| 🔎 Searching in English | ✅ Works | 🟡 Works for big names; paste the Korean name for small places | 🟡 Same advice |
To switch Naver Map to English, open the MY tab, then Settings, then Language. Saved places are worth the minute they take: bookmark the restaurants you want before the trip, group them in a list, and the map shows you which ones are near each other.
Search is where English runs out. Large restaurants and landmarks come up under their English names. Small neighborhood places often do not. Paste the Korean name, copied from the restaurant’s own page or from wherever you read about it, and it will. If that fails, search the Korean address. Keep the Korean name on your screen too: it is what you show a taxi driver.
❓ Is Naver Map or Kakao Map better for tourists?
Either one will get you there, and you only need one. Naver Map supports English, Chinese and Japanese and translates visitor reviews and filters into them, which helps when choosing where to eat. Kakao Map also has an English mode, with more content left in Korean. In both, small restaurants are easiest to find by pasting in their Korean name.
The trade-off: the Korean apps know every alley and every small restaurant, and they know them in Korean. The English layer is good enough to navigate and thin enough that you will still be copying and pasting names.
Reading the Menu: Papago and the Camera
Papago is the translation app made by Naver, the company behind the map. It translates typed text, speech and two-way conversation, and it works offline if you download the language pack first. The feature that matters at a restaurant is the camera: photograph the menu and the translation appears over the picture.
It is a tool for getting the gist. Handwritten boards on a wall are harder for it than printed menus, and dish names often come out as a literal description of the words, which tells you what is in the name and not always what arrives on the plate. Knowing a dozen dish names by sight does more than any app, because the same dozen appear on menu after menu.
Be careful with what you ask a translation app to do. It can tell a cook that you do not eat pork or that you have a shellfish allergy. It cannot tell you what went into the stock, and the person reading your screen may not know either.
❓ How do you read a Korean menu without knowing Korean?
Use the camera in a translation app such as Papago: photograph the menu and the translation appears over the image. Handwritten wall menus are harder for it than printed ones, and dish names often translate literally. It helps to learn the names of a dozen common dishes by sight, since the same ones recur. Many restaurants also show photos, and pointing is normal.
The trade-off: a camera translation is fast and approximate. It is good enough to choose dinner and not good enough to stake an allergy on.
Ordering in Seoul asks less speech of you than you would expect. Many restaurants take orders through a tablet at the table or a kiosk by the door, and some of those have a language button. Some do not, and an English screen can be patchy when it exists. Where there is neither, pointing at the menu and saying “igeo juseyo” is a complete order.
| 🗣️ Korean | Say it | What it does |
|---|
| 저기요 | jeogiyo | Excuse me — calls a member of staff |
| 이거 주세요 | igeo juseyo | This one, please — said while pointing |
| 하나 / 둘 | hana / dul | One / two — how many you want |
| 안 맵게 해주세요 | an maepge haejuseyo | Not spicy, please |
| 포장이요 | pojang-iyo | To take away |
| 계산이요 | gyesan-iyo | The bill, please |
| 영어 메뉴 있어요? | yeongeo menyu isseoyo? | Do you have an English menu? |
Two habits of Korean restaurants save a lot of confusion once you know them. Staff do not hover; you call them, either with a button on the table, sometimes mounted on the table leg or the wall, or by saying “jeogiyo.” And a good deal is self-service. Water is often yours to fetch, signed 물은 셀프, cutlery may be in a drawer under the tabletop, and at many places you pay at the counter on the way out.
❓ Do restaurants in Seoul have English menus?
Some do and many do not. Restaurants in the districts visitors frequent often have an English or picture menu, and table tablets and kiosks sometimes offer a language button. Small neighborhood places frequently have a menu only in Korean, on the wall. Pointing at a dish or a photo and saying “igeo juseyo,” this one please, works everywhere.
The trade-off: a tablet or a kiosk removes the conversation and with it the chance to ask a question. It is the easiest way to order what you already recognize and the hardest way to find out what something is.
When the Apps Are Not Enough: The 1330 Helpline and a Guide
Korea runs a public backup for exactly this problem. The 1330 Korea Travel Helpline, operated by the Korea Tourism Organization, gives travel information and interpretation by phone and by text chat. English, Chinese and Japanese are answered around the clock; several other languages are covered during the day. From a phone in Korea you dial 1330.
It is useful in the moments when an app fails: a restaurant that wants to explain something you cannot follow, a booking that needs a phone call, a dish you need to ask about properly.
The other answer is a person at the table. A guided food tour is, among other things, a way to hand over the ordering: the guide reads the wall menu, asks what is in the stock and explains what arrived. It costs more than eating on your own, and it is the one arrangement in which the language stops being your job.
❓ What is the 1330 helpline in Korea?
The 1330 Korea Travel Helpline is a service run by the Korea Tourism Organization that provides travel information and interpretation by phone and text chat. English, Chinese and Japanese are available 24 hours a day, with other languages during daytime hours. From inside Korea you dial 1330; from abroad, +82-2-1330.
The trade-off: a helpline and a guide both put a Korean speaker between you and the menu. One is a public service that you have to call; the other is paid and does the asking for you.
App features, language support and the status of Google Maps in Korea reflect information checked in October 2026 and change often; Google had announced full navigation for Korea without a launch date at the time of writing. Helpline hours and languages are as published by the Korea Tourism Organization. A translation app is not a reliable way to communicate a serious allergy: confirm ingredients with staff, and if in doubt, do not eat the dish.
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