Incheon
Korea's black-bean noodles were invented in Incheon's Chinatown around 1905, and the country now has a national day for them. The first Western hotel and the first cup of coffee in Korea arrived here too.
Incheon in a nutshell
Incheon: what to expect
Read against 51,000+ planned stops in South Korea on Stippl, this is how Incheon sits.
Incheon opened as a treaty port in 1883 and everything old in it dates from that. Korea's only official Chinatown was settled by Shandong merchants afterwards, and jjajangmyeon was invented there around 1905 in a restaurant that now runs a museum about the dish. Jayu Park was the country's first Western-style park, four treaty-port banks stand within two hundred metres of each other, and Wolmido has seafood, a promenade and a fairground at the harbour mouth.
Two thirds of the trips that carry Incheon write it first or last, and it is written last more often. No mainland Korean city other than the capital comes close, and the two ends are different stops: written first, a quarter of Incheon stops carry no night at all, while written last, almost all of them are exactly one. It is also the one Korean destination that substitutes for Seoul rather than adding to it.
One night, and take it before an early flight rather than as a stay. Half of all stays here are exactly one and one stop in seven carries none, which is the honest shape of the place. The airport is on Yeongjong Island rather than in the city and runs free transit tours if you are only passing. The old port is thirty to forty minutes away, which makes a long layover into something worth doing.
Who Incheon is for
An early flight out
That is measurably what this city is for: 43.7% of the trips that carry it write it last, and 57.9% of those stays are exactly one night
Anyone on a long layover
the airport runs ten free transit tours, and the old port is 30–40 minutes away
Food, with one interest
because this is where Chinese food became Korean
History travellers
for the treaty port and the 1950 landing
Families
for Wolmido's fairground and Songdo's park
When to go to Incheon
Add your Incheon dates and we'll flag the weather
Stippl shows the season, crowds and prices for every stop on your route.
Describe your trip, get a Incheon itinerary in seconds
Everything in this guide is already in Stippl. Tell the planner how long you have and what you like: it builds the route, the days and the travel times, and you edit whatever you want.
What not to miss in Incheon
Photo by FREE VIDEO HAPPY via Pexels
Photo by Theodore Nguyen via Pexels
Photo by Ronald Langeveld via UnsplashIncheon Chinatown
Korea's only official one, settled after 1883, and still the best Chinese food in the country
The Jjajangmyeon Museum
a museum about one noodle dish, in the restaurant that invented it
Jayu Park
Korea's first Western-style park, 1888, with a MacArthur statue at the top and the harbour below
The Open Port street
four treaty-port banks within two hundred metres, two of them now museums
Wolmido
seafood, a promenade, a fairground and the Sea Train, at the harbour mouth
Songwol-dong Fairy Tale Village
a declining backstreet quarter repainted as eleven themed lanes, and a live argument about what that did to the residents
The neighbourhoods of Incheon
Chinatown
foodies, first-timers
The sloping streets above the harbour: noodle houses, the museum, the gates
Korea's only official Chinatown, where jjajangmyeon was invented.
Songdo
families
Reclaimed land, glass towers, a seawater canal and very few people
A seawater canal running through a city built on reclaimed sea.
Yeongjong Island
budget
The airport island: hotels, beaches, and nothing else
The airport is on this island, 30 to 40 minutes from the old port.
Open Port area
history-buffs
One street of treaty-port banks and warehouses, now museums and galleries
Four treaty-port banks in two hundred metres, two of them museums.
Wolmido
families, budget
The old island at the harbour mouth: seafood, promenade, fairground
Seafood, a promenade and a fairground at the harbour mouth.
Yeonan wharf
foodies
The fish market and the ferries to the west-sea islands
The fish market, and the ferries out to the west-sea islands.
See every Incheon neighbourhood on one map
Save the areas you like and Stippl plots your days so you're not crossing the city twice.
Where to stay in Incheon
Incheon's beds are split between the airport island and Songdo, and almost nothing sleeps in the old city. Nest Hotel on Yeongjong is fifteen minutes from the terminals and is a Design Hotels member; Songdo has the conference stock and the serviced apartments. If you want to walk to Chinatown and the Open Port streets you are choosing from plain business hotels
Chinatown
The sloping streets above the harbour: noodle houses, the museum, the gates
Songdo
Reclaimed land, glass towers, a seawater canal and very few people
Yeongjong Island
The airport island: hotels, beaches, and nothing else
Open Port area
One street of treaty-port banks and warehouses, now museums and galleries
Wolmido
The old island at the harbour mouth: seafood, promenade, fairground
Yeonan wharf
The fish market and the ferries to the west-sea islands
What to eat in Incheon
Wheat noodles in a black bean sauce, invented here around 1905
The spicy seafood noodle soup that shares every Chinatown menu
Fried chicken in a sticky sweet-spicy glaze
A hollow, sweet, crisp flatbread, "bluff bread"
Steamed or in soup, in spring and autumn
Discover food spots in Stippl
Find restaurants and markets on the map, save them to your itinerary, works offline too.
Incheon customs and what not to do
The Fairy Tale Village is real
People live behind the murals and academic papers have been written about the friction
The MacArthur statue splits
Rough Guides says plainly that he is not universally admired in Korea; treat the monument as a subject, not a backdrop
Chinatown runs on lunch
and thin out early in the evening
Shoes off
in the hanok hotel and in floor-seating restaurants
Do
- Eat jjajangmyeon in Chinatown before you look at the museum about it.
- Take Line 1 to the end and walk out of Exit 1.
- Stay on the airport island if the flight is early, that is what this city is for.
Don't
- Don't try to combine Songdo and Chinatown in a short stop; they are 40 minutes apart.
- Don't plan Chinatown dinner around a tight connection, the airport is 30–40 minutes away.
- Don't expect the fish market to be central; it is at the Yeonan wharf.
Daily budget in Incheon
Budget
A business hotel near the station, market food, the subway
Mid-range
A harbour-view room and a proper Chinatown lunch
High-end
The hanok hotel in Songdo, and a car to the airport
Track what you actually spend
Set a daily budget per country and log expenses in any currency while you travel.
Fun facts about Incheon
Jjajangmyeon was invented in this Chinatown around 1905, and Korea now has a national day for it on 14 April
Korea's first Western-style park (Jayu, 1888), first Western-style hotel (the Daibutsu, 1888) and first public museum (1946) are all here
Songdo's Central Park canal is filled with seawater, not fresh
Korea's first cup of coffee was poured in this district: at the Daibutsu, the country's first Western hotel, in the 1880s. The Open Port's cafe cluster is not a recent conversion trend; it is the oldest coffee ground in the country
It is the only Korean destination that makes Seoul less likely. Its odds ratio with the capital is 0.348, the only value below 1 in the country, roughly one Incheon trip in six carries no Seoul at all
And it is written last more than first: 43.7% against 22.9%, where Seoul is 84.6% first. Incheon is the way out, not the way
Local tips for Incheon
Line 1 does the whole job.
Seoul Station to Incheon Station is one train, about 67 minutes, and Chinatown is at the exit
The airport is off-island
The airport is not in the city. It is on Yeongjong Island and 30–40 minutes from the old port by road; do not plan an evening in Chinatown around a tight connection
Free layover tours
The airport runs ten free transit tours for passengers with a qualifying layover, covering history, modern Seoul and shopping
The Wolmi Sea Train
The Wolmi Sea Train circles the island above the road, Friday to Sunday and holidays, April to October
Incheon is very safe
as Korea generally is
Chinatown is steep
and the Fairy Tale Village is steps
Incheon questions, answered
As an airport, mostly. Incheon carries 2.04% of everything planned in South Korea on Stippl, and nearly all of that is the night before or after a flight. Put Seoul into Stippl for the actual sightseeing and keep Incheon for the arrival and the departure.
One night. 49.90% of Incheon stops planned on Stippl are a single night, and that is what the place is for: Chinatown, the Open Port district and an early flight out. It sits at the end of subway line 1 from Seoul, so a day trip works better than a stay.
On a long layover, yes, and 14.82% of Incheon stops planned on Stippl carry no night at all. The airport runs free transit tours of a few hours, and Chinatown is thirty to forty minutes away by train. With under five hours between flights, stay airside.
On Yeongjong Island, where the airport actually is, rather than in Incheon city. The hotels there are a short shuttle from the terminals and there are transit hotels inside them. The old port district is forty minutes away over the bridge, which is not what you want at four in the morning.
Easily. Subway line 1 runs all the way to Incheon station at the edge of Chinatown, about an hour with no change, on an ordinary transport card. Come for jjajangmyeon, the Open Port buildings and the steps up to Jayu Park, and be back in Seoul for dinner.
Only if a city built from nothing on reclaimed sea appeals as an idea. It is glass towers, very wide boulevards and a large central park, and it is genuinely strange to walk around. It sits forty minutes from everything else in Incheon, so treat it as a separate outing.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Incheon
in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the app