Most of you have probably heard of Incheon – not as a city but rather as the airport you’ll arrive in if you are visiting Seoul. The airport is named Incheon International Airport because it is actually located in Incheon, a neighbouring city of Seoul. I went to Incheon City last week with my parents and I’ll share what we did and where we went here.

How to Get to Incheon

To get to the city area, you will need to take Seoul’s metro line 1 (dark blue line) heading towards Incheon Station. This is NOT the same as Incheon Airport Station which is on the Airport Express line. All stations from Bugae to Incheon on Seoul metro line 1 is in Incheon City so depending on where you want to go, you will alight at different stations.

When boarding the train from any station in Seoul, please check that the train you are boarding terminates at Incheon Station and not Sinchang Station. As you can see from the map above, the line actually splits at Guro Station and depending on which train you board, it can go towards Incheon station or towards Sinchang.

Incheon city also has their own metro line. From Seoul line 1 (Dark blue line), you can change to Incheon subway line 1 (Blue line) at Bupyeong Station or change to Incheon Subway line 2 (Orange line) at Juan Station to go to more destinations in Incheon. You can also change at Incheon Station to Suin Line (Yellow line) depending on where you are heading to in Incheon.

What to do in Incheon?

There are many places that you can visit in Incheon and you can easily spend a full day there. Here are some of the places I went to:

Chinatown

Chinatown is an iconic place to visit in Incheon and it is located right across at Incheon Station of Seoul Metro Line 1. I visited the place on a weekday afternoon so it was not crowded. I’m not too sure how it is like on a weekend though.

There are several sightseeing points you can visit in Chinatown including a wall of murals on top of the hill. When you enter Chinatown from the gates in the above photo, you will see a map of the area with the photos of the point of interests so you can better plan your walk.

Ofcourse a trip to Chinatown in Korea will not be complete without a Jjajangmyeon and Tangsuyuk or Jjampong meal. There are many restaurants offering Jjajangmyeon at around the same price but we ended up eating at a smaller restaurant and it was good too!

Fairy Tale Village (동화마을)

Fairy Tale Village is a cute place right next to Chinatown. If you are coming from Incheon Station, cross the road and go through Chinatown’s road and turn left at the T-junction. Walk straight ahead, walk out of the side gate of Chinatown and continue until you see Fairyland gates on the right. It’s pretty hard to miss, just look at the picture below.

In this village, you will find many places to take photos with cartoon characters like Peter Pan, Noah and his Arc and random princesses. There are also many nicely decorated houses and a Trick-eye Museum. The place looks pretty fake in my opinion but if you like to take photos with cute backgrounds, you may want to check this place out!

Incheon Grand Park

The third and last place I visited on my short trip to Incheon was Incheon Grand Park. It was recommended by my fellow WOW Korea Supporters and I was glad I went there.

I got to the park by taking Seoul Line 1 to Songnae Station and then exiting at exit 1. When you exit at exit 1, make a u-turn to the right and cross the road until you see a bus stop. You can take bus 909, 16-11, 11 and 8. Bus 909 is the shortest – only 2 stops away from the park entrance.

Alternatively, you can also change at Juan Station (Seoul Line 1) to Incheon line 2 and take the subway to Incheon Grand Park Station. This will bring you to a different entrance from the picture above.

The park is a nice place to see Korea’s autumn foliage and take a relaxing stroll with friends or family. You can also rent a normal bike or a car-bike (for 2 people) there. We rented the car-bike and it cost 10000 won for one hour.

If you want to see this year’s autumn foliage, there is still some time left before all the colorful leaves drop off so go soon, if possible this weekend!

Other Attractions in Incheon

There are many more attractions in Incheon like the Songdo Central Park near the Han River (If you watch Korea’s reality show “The Return of Superman”, this park is where the Song Triplets usually go to), Sorae Ecology Park and Wolmido just to name a few. Incheon could easily be a 2 to 3 days stay over trip too depending on what you want to see and do 😉