Taking the bus to Gwangju

The express buses run between downtown Yeonggwang and Gwangju. Normally the trip takes 50 minutes. There are two stops at smaller locations along the way, so don't get off until you reach the bus terminal. The fair is 4,600 Won. In Yeonggwang you can purchase a ticket at the counter and in Gwangju you can use a ticket vending machine (so long as you know the Hangul symbols for Yeonggwang).


The Hangul for Yeonngwang is 영광.

The Hangul for Gwangju is 광주.

The tickets are not sold for a particular bus time, you just buy a ticket and hope for a seat. Most of the time there are seats available. The driver will sometimes let you stand in the aisle but since the wait for the next bus is usually only 30 minutes it's generally worth waiting.

Within the Gwangju bus terminal there are some places to eat. There is also an IMAX movie theatre that has 2-3 English movies at all times. Within a 5-minute walk of the bus terminal there is a Starbucks, E-Mart, and an Outback Steakhouse.

Most western teachers head to Gwangju to go to downtown. The downtown area is called Geumnamno. You have a few options to get downtown from the bus terminal. You can use Gwangju's only subway line and take it 5 stops to The downtown area is called Geumnamno 4. The subway only costs 1,000 Won but the entrance is a 10+ minute walk from the express bus terminal. There is probably a Gwangju city bus you can take but I've never looked into it. You can also walk out to the cab line in front of the bus terminal. If you do this, when you get in the cab just ask for the Geumnamno YMCA (prounounce Jee-Nam-No). It always helps to have YMCA written down so that the cabbie can read it. Your last option is to walk. I just did this for the first time the other day. It's about 45 minutes from the bus terminal to the downtown area (if you walk along the riverbed).

On November 1, 2010 Yeonggwang installed touch-screen automated ticket machines. Gwangju is in the upper lefthand corner. The machine gives change.


Here's the Yeonggwang to Gwangju schedule:



Here's the Gwangju to Yeonggwang schedule:



Here's a map of the important areas in Gwangju. This shows the bus terminal, the baseball stadium, the HomePlus and the downtown Geumnamno area (look for the YMCA near the lower right corner of the highlighted area. These maps are available at the information desk in the bus terminal which is close to the arrival gates.



This is one of the automatic ticket machines in the in the Gwangju bus terminal. Yeonggwang is the fifth button from the left on the yellow row.



This is a little blurry, but here's what the bus ticket from the automatic machines looks like. They punch it when you board and collect it when you disembark in Yeonggwang - so don't throw it away.



The red buses like this one are the express buses.


The Yeonggwang city buses are yellow and white.