After posting the itinerary I made for my friends, I
received an email from Neal asking for a layover itinerary for him and his girlfriend.
Travel tips:
- Buy your SIM card: Prepaid 4G/LTE Sim Card: Unlimited Data+Voice call+SMS (5/7/10/15/30 days)
- Get a great view of Seoul: Discount Seoul City Tour Bus Ticket
- Great Korean (traditional and modern) culture and cooking classes
- Book a food and shopping tour.
They will be arriving at 4:45PM to Incheon Airport (ICN) and
then leave at 7:10AM the next morning and have opted to stay at a hotel near
the airport.
So, this will be a much different itinerary than the
previous one.
Also, a great resource for people who are doing a layover in
Seoul is this website from the Korea Tourism Organization.
There are actually free transit tours available for you!! I envy you if you are
able to take advantage of this great program! If you do go on the “transit
tour” let me know how it is, please.
By the way, don’t click on the banner on the left side of
the page, these tours cost money and, honestly, aren’t worth your time. Korea
is very manageable to do on your own, even if you know no Korean.
Unlike Steph, Neal and his girlfriend do not have any food
requests since they don’t know any Korean food, so I have to do Korean food
justice and show the best parts of Seoul! So much pressure!
But he requested to go to some major Seoul landmarks –
Cheonggye Stream and Namdaemun Market and requested to have galbi (Korean
marinated beef or pork ribs).
For them, I decided to make an itinerary around Central
Seoul (City Hall, Gwanghwamun, Insadong, Gyeongbok-gung).
4:45PM arrival at Incheon Airport.
5:25PM through customs
I would recommend either exchanging a little money or else
getting money at the international ATM. Some places I am recommending may not
take credit card or foreign currency.
Take the airport railroad to Seoul.
If you go right after you get through customs, you will
arrive at about 6:30PM at Hongik University Station. I recommend you transfer
here to Line 2 (green line) and take it towards Sinchon station to City Hall (5
stops). I think you should do a little sightseeing first just because it’ll get
colder as the evening progresses.
Unfortunately, it’s too late to go into/see any of the
palaces, but you can still see some of the sights around City Hall Station. Honestly, depending on which day you go to
Seoul, Namdaemoon Market is a little hit and miss for quality of sights/food.
I recommend you go out exit 3. Here, you can see the
entrance to Deoksu Palace. I recommend that you walk straight from exit 3.
Across the street is the Seoul Metropolitan Library and the City Hall and City
Hall Plaza. If you want to look at the new city hall (opened in August 2012),
you can cross the street or else go out exit 4/5. There’s a nice umbrella
exhibit at exit 4 as you are leaving the station, if you want to look at that,
too.
After you get out of exit 3 or 4, you can look straight
ahead and see Gwanghwamun in the distance. I recommend you walk to Gwanghwamun.
On your walk, you will actually walk past the Cheonggye Stream Plaza. So, you
can choose to either walk around there a bit before continuing to Gwanghwamun
or else come back later since the galbi restaurant I recommend is actually
located near the stream.
As you walk towards Gwanghwamun along the main road, you
will see a plaza in the middle. I recommend that you cross to it and walk along
it. You will see some of the more famous sights in Seoul on this walk. There’s
also a tourist information center across the street. You will easily see it.
So, if you want a map or some tour information, you can stop in there,
otherwise I’m sure they’ll have some maps at the airport for you. You will also
see the Sejong Arts Center on your left. They may have some good exhibitions
The first option for
you is galbi – Wangbijip (μλΉμ§) http://www.wangbijib.com/home/index.php?ps_skin=none
- I have been here one time for lunch with a research contact a couple of years
ago.
After you walk to Gwanghwamun, or however far you want to
walk along the plaza, you should turn around and go back to the beginning of the
plaza. You will see a traditional Korean structure on the corner. Walk across
the street towards that and keep walking straight until you get to Jonggak
Station (Line 1). I recommend you go underground if it’s cold. Otherwise, you
can cross the street and go out exit 4. When you go out exit 4, you will see
Boshingak. Boshingak houses a large bell
that used to be used in the Chosun dynasty to signal the opening/closing of the
city gates.
Walk straight out of exit 4. You will see a Starbucks on
your right. Right after the Starbucks is a Daiso…think of a dollar store, but
then imagine a dollar store on steroids and you have Daiso. If you want to take
a look, either remember this location and come back later or else go in and
have a look around the store. I promise you that there will be 5 (or more)
things you never knew existed and realized you needed. It’s also a great place
to look for some Korean snacks/candies.
Keep walking straight. You will get to an Outback
Steakhouse. There, turn right. Keep walking until you see Starbucks. After the
Starbucks, keep walking to the corner and turn left. You are almost at the
restaurant. You should walk to the third building.
Here, I recommend ordering a “meal” (they have an English
menu, so don’t worry if you can’t read Korean). It’s a good value and you can
try a lot of different kinds of Korean food. You can also get one style meal
and your girlfriend can get a different style and you can try each others’
meals. If you’re still hungry after that, you can get one of the noodle dishes
as an after-dinner type food. Otherwise, the pancake is probably very good, but
I have never tried it.
After dinner, you can easily to go the Cheonggye Stream.
Just go back to the street with the second Starbucks you passed and then continue
walking. You can follow it back to City Hall Station.
Option 2: From
Gwanghwamun to Insadong.
Insadong is a major tourist street in Seoul. It houses a lot
of art galleries, cultural shops, Korean food restaurants, traditional tea
houses, etc.
Also, it’s the only place in the world where Starbucks
allows its name to be written in another language. If you collect Starbucks
goods, this is a good place to buy one for Korea because they have more options
at this store. There are also tons of stores along the street with some Korean
trinkets. Just remember that most of these will probably have been made in
China.
There are tons of options here, so I will give very brief
summaries of options for you and some very brief directions. Otherwise, around
here, there should be some tourism volunteers in red vests and they should be
able to help you with directions and speak multiple languages. Just maybe ask
them to show you a map on their smartphones or something.
There’s a three-story shopping center in the middle of the
street called Ssamziegil. There are some food options in here including some
bread shaped like poop (1 bread for 1,000KRW).
I recommend going to the O’Sulloc Tea House in Insadong.
It’s three stories tall and hard to miss. It’s a Korean cafΓ© known for its
green tea/matcha. It has green tea everything! Definitely not one to miss. I
recommend trying a green tea latte or green tea ice cream. They also have some
set menus available for 2 people and the set menu includes some cake – I prefer
the roll cake.
Ok, food options. I did a survey of Koreans and foreigners
and thought about it myself…
I recommend ordering the small
size and one rice.
To get here, from Ssamzie,
walk straight along the road. You will come across a four-way intersection (the
road you will cross is Insadong-5-gil and Insadong-4-gil). Keep walking
straight through that and you will come across a bank at the corner. At the
bank turn left and you will see it in about 3 buildings.
You can also try Korean sake (μμ£Ό soju), Korean rice wine (λ§κ±Έλ¦¬), Korean
plum wine (맀νμ), and other various types of Korean
alcohol.
Type of food: Hanjungshik (Korean traditional course
meal – main meal with A LOT of Korean side dishes banchan)
The option I recommend because of the atmosphere, price, and
options is Cheondeung Sori μ²λ₯μ리.
It is located near the
Insadong intersection. Next to the Deokwon Gallery. They have ddeokgalbi or a
combination ddeokgalbi and steamed galbi course option and some other options.
I recommend the ones I mentioned. Ddeokgalbi is kind of a Korean marinated meat
patty (it’s hard to describe and I’m sorry if it doesn’t sound good).
One option you will see right away after you walk from Gwanghwamun. You will see a GS25 convenience store. Right next to it, on the right, is a store called λΆκ³ κΈ° underneath a sign with a girl on it. Go downstairs. Here, you can try various types of Korean course meals. The menu is in English. You can try a variety of different meats here. I peraonally like the tteokgalbi and all of my Korean friends recommend that you should try bulgogi.
From either the jjimdak
restaurant or the Cheondung Sori restaurant, I recommend you continue walking
straight. You sill get to the end of Insadong. There you will be able to go to
a park with a Korean pagoda. If you get a little turned around, the park is
across the street from a Burger King.
From the Burger King, you can
easily walk to Cheonggye Stream and Jonggak Station. To get to the stream,
continue walking straight. To get to Jonggak Station, turn right.
From here, you have more options depending on time.
(The last train is around 11:30PM most nights.)
Hongdae/Hapjeong Option: Area around Hongik University
This is another great option
for bars and cafes and shopping. See the itinerary I made for Steph for a lotmore detailed options for food.
To get here, you need to get
on line 2 somehow. The easiest way would be to walk back to the Boshingak Bell
and walk across the Cheonggye Stream and keep walking straight. You will get to
Euljiro-1-ga station. Take it in the direction of City Hall.
Myeongdong Option: Major shopping Area
You can walk around Myeongdong
and do a little shopping and eat some Korean street food. Easiest way to
explain it is to go back to Jonggak Station (Line 1) or the Boshingak Bell.
From there, cross the Cheonggye Stream and keep walking. You will get to a big
intersection and see the subway station for Euljiro-1-ga (Line 2). From there,
go out exit 5 and just explore. As you are walking out exit 5, you will soon
come across a store selling ddeokbokki (spicy rice cakes), twigim (fried foods)
and soondae (Korean sausage). These are Korean snack (?) foods. The place is
called “Jaws Food” and it’s hard to miss. It has red letters and white tiles. I
think they may have English menus, but I cannot remember at the moment.
I recommend that if, in your
travels, you see a place selling kimbap (Korean sushi) you buy some and take it
with you for a morning snack or breakfast. I highly recommend a tuna one (even
though I don’t like tuna or mayonnaise). Otherwise, pop into any convenience
store and buy a triangle kimbap (Korean onigiri) and a banana milk. They are
both a sort of rite of passage for people who have traveled to Korea.
There are bound to be TONS of
carts selling other foods and drinks. Just explore. Make sure you can find the
subway again, though. Myeongdong can be confusing, even for people who are very
familiar with Seoul.
Garosugil Option: Major cafΓ© street and
people/celebrity-watching area.
Alternatively, you can go back
to the beginning of Insadong and take the subway from Anguk Station (Line 3,
Orange Line) to Sinsa Station (9 stops, take in direction of Jongno-3-ga) and
go out exit 8 and walk straight. Walk past the Tous Les Jours to the next
street corner, then turn left and you’ll be in the right area. Just keep
walking around there, you can’t go wrong with cafes in there. A majorly good
place to do some people watching is at CoffeeSmith, don’t hesitate to go down a
side street.
Getting back to the airport:
Jonggak Station: Just
backtrack.
Anguk Station/Insadong: Take the subway to Jongno-3-ga and transfer to line
1. Go to Seoul Station and then transfer to the airport railroad.
Hongik University Option: Just go back to the station and take the airport
express.
Garosugil: Take
line 3 to Jongno-3-ga and transfer to line 1 to Seoul Station and transfer to
the airport railroad.
Tutorial: How to use free WiFi on Seoul subways
Korean Shopping Tips
Other Korea Travel Itineraries
Tutorial: How to use free WiFi on Seoul subways
Korean Shopping Tips
Other Korea Travel Itineraries
Travel tips:
- Get a great view of Seoul: Discount Seoul City Tour Bus Ticket
- Great Korean (traditional and modern) culture and cooking classes
- Book a food and shopping tour.
Follow me! Instagram | Facebook |
Affiliates: Trazy - Korean Travel Deals | Amazon | YesStyle - Asian Fashion and Beauty
Affiliates: Trazy - Korean Travel Deals | Amazon | YesStyle - Asian Fashion and Beauty
*FTC Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through the links provided and make a purchase.*
Comments
Post a Comment
I would love to read your feedback. I am always looking for ways to improve and learn more about the world. Feel free to always email me at eatstretchexplore@gmail.com