How to Use Naver Map in English (2026): Language Setting, Search Tips and the Mistake Most Tourists Make
Ask anyone who has travelled around Korea which map app to use and you will hear the same answer: Naver Map. Google Maps works for finding places, but for years it has been patchy in Korea for walking and driving directions, and local buses, small restaurants and shop opening hours are simply better covered on Naver. The catch is that Naver Map is a Korean product first. Open it for the first time and you may be looking at a screen full of Hangul, and typing an English place name sometimes takes you somewhere you did not mean to go.
To write this guide we did not just read other guides. On October 26, 2026 we sat down with Naver Map in Korea and tried what a first-time visitor would try: searching famous places in English, searching a shop in English, and planning a trip from Seoul Station to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Most of it worked. One search went badly wrong, and the way it went wrong is the most useful thing in this article.
1. Use the app, not the website. The app has an English mode; the desktop and mobile websites are Korean only.
2. Switch the language once: MY (profile icon) → Settings (gear) → Language → English.
3. Famous places can be searched in English. For shops, restaurants and branches, paste the Korean name.
4. Before you tap "Directions", read the grey line under each result: it shows the city and district. If it does not say 서울 (Seoul), it is the wrong place.
Step 1: Get the app and switch it to English
Naver Map is free on the App Store and Google Play. Search for "Naver Map" and look for the green and blue pin icon published by NAVER Corp. You do not need a Naver account or a Korean phone number to search places or get directions.
The app supports four languages: Korean, English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. If your phone is already set to English, the app often opens in English by itself, because it follows your phone's language. If it opens in Korean, change it inside the app. According to Naver's own help page, the path is:
- Tap the MY button, the round profile icon at the right end of the search bar.
- Tap the gear icon (Settings, 설정) in the top right corner.
- Tap Language (언어) and choose English.
Naver moves icons around between versions, so if the layout looks slightly different, look for the gear icon and the word 언어 ("language"). That word is worth remembering.
One thing surprised us: the website does not have this switch at all. We checked map.naver.com on a laptop and m.map.naver.com in a phone-sized browser. The settings menu on the desktop site offers location, street view, vehicle and booking options, but no language option, and the mobile site keeps pushing you to "Go to App". So if you are planning your trip on a laptop at home, expect Korean menus. The search box still accepts English, as you will see below.
Test 1: Famous places in English work well
We typed six well-known places in English: Gyeongbokgung, Bukchon Hanok Village, Gwangjang Market, Seoul Station, N Seoul Tower and Olive Young Myeongdong. Five out of six came back right at the top of the list. Gyeongbokgung returned 경복궁, labelled 궁궐 (palace), in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Bukchon returned 북촌한옥마을, Gwangjang Market returned 광장시장, and N Seoul Tower returned N서울타워 with its opening hours.
The reason this works is that Naver stores English names for major landmarks, stations and tourist sights. For anything that appears in a tourist brochure, English search is fine.
Test 2: The Myeongdong trap
Then we searched Olive Young Myeongdong, the kind of thing every shopper in Seoul types. Naver gave us two Olive Young stores, both open, both with photos. Neither was in Seoul. Both were in Jecheon, a city in North Chungcheong Province about two hours away, and the list header said 충청북도 제천시 명동: "Myeong-dong, Jecheon, North Chungcheong".
What happened? Myeong-dong is not a unique name. It just means a bright or well-known neighbourhood, and several Korean cities have a district called 명동. Naver also weighs results by where you are and what part of the map you are looking at. Our computer was in Cheongju, closer to Jecheon than to Seoul, so Naver picked the nearest Myeong-dong. A tourist who opens the app in a Busan hotel, or whose map is still centred on the airport, can fall into exactly the same trap and walk to the wrong branch.
Adding "Seoul" did not help. Olive Young Seoul Myeongdong returned "no matching businesses" (조건에 맞는 업체가 없습니다). English words that are not part of a shop's registered name confuse the search rather than narrow it.
The fix was simple. We searched the Korean name, 올리브영 명동, and the first result was 올리브영 명동점, Jung-gu, Seoul, the store we actually wanted.
How to search for shops and restaurants without reading Korean
You do not need to type Korean. You need to copy it. Here is what works, in the order we would try it:
- Copy the Korean name from somewhere else. Restaurant Instagram posts, blog reviews, hotel emails and Google Maps listings usually show the Korean name (for example 광장시장, 명동교자). Copy and paste it into Naver's search box.
- Search by phone number. Paste a shop's phone number (digits only) into the search box. A phone number belongs to one business, so there is no Myeong-dong confusion.
- Paste the address. Korean road-name addresses can be pasted straight into the box. They look like 서울 중구 세종대로 110 (that one is Seoul City Hall).
- Move the map first. If you insist on English, scroll the map to the right area of Seoul before searching. Results near the map's centre get priority.
Then, before you tap anything, read the grey line under each result. It always shows the province or city and the district. These are the ones you will see most:
| You see | It means |
|---|---|
| 서울 | Seoul |
| 종로구 · 중구 · 용산구 · 마포구 · 강남구 | Jongno · Jung (Myeongdong) · Yongsan · Mapo (Hongdae) · Gangnam districts of Seoul |
| 부산 · 제주 | Busan · Jeju |
| 경기 | Gyeonggi Province, the area around Seoul (Suwon, Yongin, Goyang and so on) |
| 충북 · 충남 · 경북 · 전남 … | Other provinces. If you are sightseeing in Seoul, this is the wrong place. |
The small grey word to the right of the name is the category, and it is just as useful. When we typed Gyeongbokgung into the directions box, the suggestions included the palace (궁궐) and also a 경복궁 restaurant in Pyeongtaek and another in Andong, both labelled 한식 (Korean food). Same name, very different afternoon.
Planning a trip: Seoul Station to Gyeongbokgung
Directions are where Naver Map earns its reputation. We asked for public transport from Seoul Station to Gyeongbokgung at 2:27 pm on a Monday. In the app the steps are the same as on the website:
- Tap Directions (길찾기).
- Enter your start point, pick the right suggestion, then enter your destination and pick again. Check the grey address lines here too.
- Choose the mode at the top: public transport, car, walking or bicycle.
- Tap the route you like to see every step, including where to get off.
The best route was 24 minutes and ₩1,500: walk 6 minutes to the Seoul Station Bus Transfer Center, take bus 7016 or 1711 for 9 minutes, get off at Gwanghwamun, and walk 9 minutes. The result also showed, in real time, how many minutes and stops away the next 1711 and 7016 buses were, and a second option of 26 minutes using a small green neighbourhood bus. Above the list are tabs for all routes, bus only, subway only and bus plus subway, which is handy if you have a suitcase and prefer escalators to bus steps.
The ₩1,500 is the card fare for a Seoul city bus. Pay with a transit card and the next bus or subway within the transfer window counts as one trip; see our T-money card guide for how that works.
If your app is still in Korean, these are the words that matter on a route screen:
| Korean | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 길찾기 | Directions |
| 출발 / 도착 | Start / Destination |
| 대중교통 · 자동차 · 도보 · 자전거 | Public transport · Car · Walking · Bicycle |
| 최적 | Best (recommended) route |
| 버스 · 지하철 | Bus · Subway |
| 승차 / 하차 | Get on / Get off |
| ○분 · ○번째 전 | ○ minutes · ○ stops away (live arrival) |
| 출구 | Station exit (the number matters in big stations) |
| 영업 중 / 영업 종료 | Open now / Closed |
Reviews, bookings and the new passport verification
A place page on Naver shows visitor reviews, photos and a menu. Naver added English, Chinese and Japanese translation of visitor reviews in October 2024, so in the English app you can read what Korean diners say about a restaurant. Translations are machine-made and some menus stay in Korean, but it is far better than guessing.
Booking used to be the hard part, because Naver Booking required a Korean phone number. Since June 4, 2026, Naver has offered passport verification for foreign visitors: you confirm your identity with a passport issued outside Korea, using only your smartphone, and can then use Naver's booking, ordering and payment features for travel. Not every restaurant or venue takes Naver bookings, so treat it as a bonus rather than a promise. Look for a booking button (예약) on the place page.
Naver Map, Kakao Map or Google Maps?
Most visitors end up keeping two apps. Naver Map for directions, buses and finding small places. Google Maps for saving a list of places before the trip, because you probably already use it, and because its place names are in English. Kakao Map is the other big Korean map; it is good, and Koreans are split between the two, but its English coverage is thinner, so it is a second choice for visitors. Whatever you use, the lesson from our test applies to all of them: when a name could exist in more than one city, check the city before you start walking.
Summary
Install the Naver Map app and switch it to English under MY → Settings → Language. Search famous sights in English, but paste the Korean name, phone number or address for shops and restaurants. Before tapping "Directions", read the grey line under the result and make sure it says Seoul (서울), or whichever city you are actually in. Do that, and Naver Map will get you around Korea better than any other app.
Tested October 26, 2026 on the Naver Map website from Korea; screenshots are from map.naver.com. The app's language setting path is from Naver's help centre. Route times and fares are for that afternoon and will vary. Naver changes its menus often; look for the gear icon and the word 언어 if the layout differs.
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