If you come to Korea from Europe, your plane will surely land at Incheon International Airport. Incheon is a city touching Seoul. However, far from being only a suburb city from which people commute to Seoul, it is actually the 3rd biggest city in Korea after Seoul and Busan. It is also home to the 2nd biggest harbor in Korea.

What about things to see as a tourist? Don’t worry, we are getting there. Let me share my itinerary for the 24h I spent in Incheon. I hope it will convince you to dedicate a bit of your time to this city during your next trip to Korea.

WHAT TO DO IN INCHEON?

• Songdo Central Park
• Chinatown
• Songwol-dong Fairytale Village

A WALK IN SONGDO CENTRAL PARK

Central Park is located on an artificial island called Songdo, created entirely with the purpose of building there an International Business District (IBD). The aim of this IBD is to bring foreign investments to Korea. One can only be impressed when you get to Songdo. It has impressive skyscrapers, convention centers, start-up hubs, luxurious hotels and a precious park.

During my trip to Korea, many places have reminded me of Manhattan. This is also true of Central Park which is actually partly inspired of the one in NYC.

Central Park centers around a man-made lake filled with seawater. From it, you can have wonderful views on the skyscrapers of the neighborhood. During your visit of the park, you will also see beautiful deers (picture above). At the edge of the park, you will find Songdo Hanok Village with its traditional Korean architecture. Most of these buildings constitute the most luxurious and expensive hotel of Songdo: the Gyeongwonjae Ambassador Incheon Hotel. On the right of the hotel, you will also find some buildings housing restaurants.

We were lucky that our hotel had direct views on Central Park so you can also see in the photo above how Songdo district looks at night.

Where to eat around Songdo Central Park?

We ate in a delicious Korean restaurant that I can only recommend to you, located in the Songdo Conversa Center. The name of the restaurant is 경성한우불고기 본점 – https://maps.app.goo.gl/qytyNVRerWCqUUFN7. We ate there a great Korean beef marinated bulgogi for 15.000 ₩ that you cooked yourself in a hot plate on the table. The main dish also came with numerous and very good side dishes.

DISCOVERING INCHEON CHINATOWN

As we had only 24H in Incheon and that we wanted to make the most of it, we took a Uber to go to Incheon Chinatown, located in a district close to Incheon harbor.

In Chinatown, you will mostly see nicely decorated streets with red lanterns and lots of Chinese restaurants and cafés. However, in the past, it used to be more shops with imported goods from China. Indeed, Incheon Chinatown’s history is very much linked to the city’s harbor. As you will read online in many places, Chinatown was an extraterritoriality of China established mainly for trade purposes.

What to see in Incheon Chinatown?

• Uiseondang Temple – Typical Chinese temple. If, like me, you have visited many temples during your stay in Korea, you will be able to compare the differences between Korean and Chinese temples.
• Jajangmyeon Museum (photos above) – Jajangmyeon is a noodle dish that used to be very popular in Chinatown Incheon. In this museum, you will learn all about the history of Chinatown, how to make Jajangmyeon and how the Korean diet has evolved over the years (from a rice-based diet to the introduction of noodles and later, instant noodles). Tickets are 1.000 ₩ per person.
• Chohanji Mural Street – Beautifully decorated stairs leading to a gate and to Freedom Park.
• Freedom Park – Located on a hill, this park is a great place to see the view on Incheon Port.
• Cheongil Jogyeji Stairway – Touching Chinatown, Japan also used to have a concession in Incheon. This stairway with its pretty stone lanterns separated the Chinese concession and the Japanese concession.

EXPLORING SONGWOL-DONG FAIRY TALE VILLAGE

Right next to Chinatown, you will find Songwol-Dong Fairytale Village. This place is basically heaven for any avid Instagrammer out there. All the houses have been decorated with murals and art pieces inspired by famous childhood stories and fairy tales.

If you have read my previous post on Busan, you will have understood now that many initiatives have been done in Korea to reinject some life and attract businesses into areas that were slowly getting uninhabited or where living conditions were not optimal. Usually, this is done by inviting artists to paint murals and fill the neighborhood with art pieces to attract tourism to those areas. Songwol-Dong Fairy Tale Village also comes out of one of these initiatives as many people were moving out of the neighborhood, leaving it less dynamic.

At Songwol-dong Fairy tale Village, all you have to do is explore the streets and be amazed by all the work of arts. Enjoy your time there and take many colorful pictures!

WHERE TO STAY IN INCHEON?

For our last night of our trip in Korea, we decided to treat ourselves. We thus splurged on a 5* hotel with views on Songdo Central Park. The room was absolutely beautiful, the view from it even more and we had a bath tub that transformed into a jacuzzi in the room. Our hotel was The Central Park Hotel Songdo – https://maps.app.goo.gl/jcdT9MRCeygYqVBz8 The night in this hotel cost us around 60 euros which we thought was a bargain for a 5-star hotel by European standards.

However, if you are looking for cheaper options, there are so many in Incheon that I do not doubt you will find easily something nice.

CONCLUSION

This post concludes the series on my trip to Korea. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to visit this beautiful country. I feel like I learned so much and it is definitely a country I would love to go visit again. There are so many places we wanted to go see and did not have time, especially smaller cities and some natural parks. Looking forward to our next trip there for more wonderful moments! Stay tuned for my next post in which we will explore a Spanish city.