Incheon travel info

Incheon is a port that opened to foreign trade in 1883. Chinese, Japanese and Western merchants each built their own streets on the hill behind the docks, and traces of that are still there in Chinatown by Incheon Station and on the slopes of Jayu Park. Walk through the red paifang gate and the jjajangmyeon signs line up on both sides; climb to the end of the lane, turn around, and the harbour cranes and the sea fill the view. The story that jjajangmyeon began as a dock worker's quick meal is the first thing you hear in this neighbourhood.

Over in Dong-incheon, queues form at the cauldrons of Sinpo International Market for jjolmyeon and chicken gangjeong, and every evening smoke rises from the clam-grill restaurants on Wolmido. On the other side of the city, Songdo is a new town of glass towers around the Central Park canal and lake, while Sorae Port, Ganghwa Island and the beaches of Yeongjong stretch the city along the coast. The Incheon Landing Operation Memorial Hall is free to enter.

Incheon International Airport sits inside the city, so for most visitors this is the first Korean city they touch. The catch is size. The old centre (Incheon Station, Dong-incheon, Sinpo), Wolmido, Songdo and Sorae are hard to do in one day, and half of planning is deciding how to string together Subway Line 1 and the airport railroad.

From Seoul (SUB)

From Busan and other big cities (BUS)

From Incheon Airport (ICN)