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홍대입구역 — 출구 9개의 층별 구조(공항철도 공식 안내도) · 9번 출구 에스컬레이터 부재와 8-1번 신설(2028) · 연남동 경의선숲길2026-09-12

Hongdae Station: Nine Exits Stacked Over Four Levels, and the Busiest One Has No Escalator

Narae — the Korean friend you'd text before flying to Seoul
Narae·Korean, travels often — the friend everyone texts before flying to Seoul

Hongdae is written about as a mood. Artsy, chaotic, young, buskers everywhere.

None of that helps you at seven in the evening when you are standing on a platform with nine exits and no idea which one puts you where you meant to go. And the exits are not laid out in a ring around one hall — they are spread over four underground levels shared by three different railway lines.

That is why they feel like they lead to different neighbourhoods. They do.

Exit 9 at night, both directions at once, no escalator. Illustration.

The station is stacked, and the exits belong to levels

Three lines meet here, and they are not side by side. They are on top of each other.

The Line 2 side has Exits 1 and 9 at one end and Exits 2 and 8 at the other. One level down, the Gyeongui–Jungang platform level carries Exits 5, 6 and 7. Below that, the Gyeongui–Jungang concourse carries Exits 3 and 4, and the transfer passage over to Line 2 runs off the far end of it. The Airport Railroad platform is deeper still, on the third basement level.

LevelWhat is thereExits
Line 2 sideLine 2 platforms and hall1, 9 at one end; 2, 8 at the other
B1Gyeongui–Jungang platform5, 6, 7
B2Gyeongui–Jungang concourse, transfer passage to Line 23, 4
B3Airport Railroad platform—

So when an exit number feels far away, it usually is. It is on another floor, in another operator's half of the building.

Which one do people mean when they say "Hongdae"?

Nine exits across four levels. Source: Airport Railroad station guide.

Exit 9 is the one everyone means

When someone says "meet me at Hongdae", they mean Exit 9.

It comes out toward Hongik University and the walking street, and it is the gateway to the main strip — the clubs, the busking, the shops the videos are shot in. It is also part of what the city describes as the third busiest station on the Seoul Metro network by boarding and alighting figures.

And it has no escalator.

The city has acknowledged this. A new exit, numbered 8-1, is being built on the opposite side from Exit 9, facing north-east, with escalators running both up and down. The target is 2028. Until then, Exit 9 on a weekend evening is stairs and a crowd moving in both directions at once.

If you are carrying anything heavier than a bag, come up somewhere else and walk.

Exit 9 now, Exit 8-1 in 2028. Source: Seoul Metropolitan Government media hub.

Exits 1 to 3 are a different neighbourhood entirely

Come out on the other side and you are in Yeonnam-dong, which is not Hongdae in any sense that matters.

Those exits lead toward the Gyeongui Line Forest Park, the linear park locals call Yeontral Park. It is a 6.3km strip running from Mapo-gu to Yongsan-gu, completed in full in 2016, built along the route of a railway that was moved underground.

What grew along it is the opposite of the main strip: low-rise cafés, small restaurants, people sitting on grass. Same station, five minutes apart, completely different evening. Visitors who report being disappointed by Hongdae have usually only seen the Exit 9 half of it.

The Gyeongui Line Forest Park at Yeonnam-dong, built on the old track bed. Illustration.

If you are arriving from the airport

You will come up through the Airport Railroad half of the station, which is the deepest part of it.

That is convenient in one way and awkward in another. Convenient because the airport line puts you on the quieter side, which is the pleasant one to arrive into with luggage. Awkward because the main strip is a walk across the station complex from there, and you are starting three floors down.

The airport run itself is a separate decision with four real options, and the express train is not automatically the right one — Incheon Airport to Seoul, and which way is actually worth it works through all four.

Once you are out, noraebang works differently from the karaoke you know, and Hongdae is where most visitors have their first one.

Pick the exit by where you are going.

FAQ

Which exit is Hongdae main street?

Exit 9. It leads to Hongik University and the walking street.

How many exits does Hongdae Station have?

Nine, spread across the station's levels. Exits 1, 2, 8 and 9 are on the Line 2 side; 5, 6 and 7 sit at the Gyeongui–Jungang platform level; 3 and 4 at its concourse level.

Which exit is Yeonnam-dong?

Exits 1 to 3, toward the Gyeongui Line Forest Park.

Is there an escalator at Exit 9?

No. A new Exit 8-1 with escalators in both directions is planned for 2028.

Four things to settle.

One sentence is enough

Hongdae Station has nine exits spread over four levels, and picking the wrong one costs you twenty minutes and the wrong neighbourhood.

Exit 9 for the strip, Exits 1 to 3 for Yeonnam-dong. That is the whole decision.

References