12 hours layover in Seoul, anything to see?

[taemo]

so on our flight back to Canada from the Philippines, we will be having a 12 hour layover in Incheon, S.Korea.
We land at 5AM then fly back at 4:30PM.
So I'm seeing we have a good 6-8 hours to waste in S.Korea.
anything to see/go in Seoul?
What's the most convenient and fastest way to to go to Seoul from the Int Airport?

[J-D]

Originally posted by taemo
so on our flight back to Canada from the Philippines, we will be having a 12 hour layover in Incheon, S.Korea.
We land at 5AM then fly back at 4:30PM.
So I'm seeing we have a good 6-8 hours to waste in S.Korea.
anything to see/go in Seoul?
What's the most convenient and fastest way to to go to Seoul from the Int Airport?

The train runs right from the airport, it seemed pretty quick when I took it.

Lots of stuff to check out, but I thought the Gyeongbokgung palace was pretty sweet and maybe the DMZ.

[genesis0403]

go to myeong dong. its kind of a tourist zone/shopping area there

[Mibz]

Starcraft tournament?

[eblend]

Last I went was in 2007, but I actually remember the train ride to be pretty long. Mind you, I did just fly from Calgary to Van, Van to HK, and HK to Seoul all within a 24hour period...so at that point I was tired as hell. As for what to do in Seoul itself, to tell you the truth, there isn't too much. There is the palace, the downtown with the cool Samsung tower, and close by is their river walkway thing, and one shopping street with street vendors and food is all that I remember. I went mainly for the DMZ, but you will never make it in that short of a time span to go to that. In addition, unlike Japan for example, they hardly have any signs in English at all, or ever use English letters to spell out anything, so for someone with such a short time it surely doesn't help.

If I were you I would just sit at the airport, browse the net, watch a movie, sleep or browse the shops in the airport, much safer than wondering into the city and possibly missing your flight as a result. Check your PM, sent you a link to a bunch of my pictures from Seoul to give you an idea of what's in store.

[taemo]

Originally posted by J-D


The train runs right from the airport, it seemed pretty quick when I took it.

Lots of stuff to check out, but I thought the Gyeongbokgung palace was pretty sweet and maybe the DMZ.

there's a train that goes from Incheon Int AP to Seoul now?
from what I read it's from Gimpo that there's a train

Originally posted by genesis0403
go to myeong dong. its kind of a tourist zone/shopping area there

This, Gyeongbok Palace and Cheonggyecheon River are what I want to go see.
Gangnam would be a bonus if I figure out how to get there easily

Originally posted by Mibz
Starcraft tournament?

I suck at SC

Originally posted by eblend
Last I went was in 2007, but I actually remember the train ride to be pretty long. Mind you, I did just fly from Calgary to Van, Van to HK, and HK to Seoul all within a 24hour period...so at that point I was tired as hell. As for what to do in Seoul itself, to tell you the truth, there isn't too much. There is the palace, the downtown with the cool Samsung tower, and close by is their river walkway thing, and one shopping street with street vendors and food is all that I remember. I went mainly for the DMZ, but you will never make it in that short of a time span to go to that. In addition, unlike Japan for example, they hardly have any signs in English at all, or ever use English letters to spell out anything, so for someone with such a short time it surely doesn't help.

If I were you I would just sit at the airport, browse the net, watch a movie, sleep or browse the shops in the airport, much safer than wondering into the city and possibly missing your flight as a result. Check your PM, sent you a link to a bunch of my pictures from Seoul to give you an idea of what's in store.

thanks for the link and info. DMZ would definitely be sweet but unfortunately it's only a 12 hour layover.
Most likely, the fiance will want to stay at the hotel/spa to rest but I want to go out.
Since our flight is at 4:45PM, I plan on heading back to the airport shortly after noon.
Disappointing to hear about not having too many english signs, I thought they would have added them for the Fifa world cup in 02.

[roopi]

Originally posted by taemo


there's a train that goes from Incheon Int AP to Seoul now?
from what I read it's from Gimpo that there's a train

http://www.airport.kr/iiacms/pageWor...de=C1203020000

[taemo]

Originally posted by roopi


http://www.airport.kr/iiacms/pageWor...de=C1203020000

nice,thanks for the link!
will most likely take the commuter line on our way to Seoul then express on our way back.

[genesis0403]

myeong dong is technically one of the oldest neighborhoods in Seoul. So although it is kind of a tourist zone, as a Korean I always go there atleast once a week. Also keep in mind. Korea is packed! it takes a long time to go around places considering how packed it really is

[Kloubek]

Seoul is only 100k from the North Korean border. I suggest you travel up there and bare your ass to the North Koreans.

Just a suggestion...

[Phihalo]

Originally posted by genesis0403
myeong dong is technically one of the oldest neighborhoods in Seoul. So although it is kind of a tourist zone, as a Korean I always go there atleast once a week. Also keep in mind. Korea is packed! it takes a long time to go around places considering how packed it really is

Also remember that most of the shops at myeong dong doesn't open until close to noon

[DarkDream]

I would just walk around Insadong, grab something to eat, and then go back to the airport.

The Incheon Airport is ranked one of the highest if not the highest in the world. spend some time shop in duty free.

EDIT: They also opened a new mall in "Yeongdeong Po"

[yellowsnow]

We used the bus from the airport to Insadong. was cheaper and fairly easy. But the train would probably be faster for you since you don't have much time.

For 8 hours, you could check out Insadong (very cool area to walk around, and just hang out and enjoy the culture). The Changdeokgung Palace, a UNESCO world heritage site, is worth a visit too if you're into that sort of thing. Depending on the time of year you're going, you could see a lot of cherry blossoms here, and it's really quite beautiful.

We also went to the DMZ, and that would take up half a day. I wouldn't really go again. All you see is a bunch of barbed wire, and mine warnings everywhere. We walked down a tunnel where the North Koreans tried to burrow into S. Korea, me being 6 ft tall, i had to hunch over the whole way down. At the end of the tunnel, you see..... a hole where the N. Koreans supposedly are stationed. I didn't see anything.
Then you go to the lookout point, and you can see the North Korean military base a few kms away... not much going on really. All in all, it was just eery.

[OU812]

Go to the Gangnem district and dance gangnem style?

[eblend]

Originally posted by yellowsnow

We also went to the DMZ, and that would take up half a day. I wouldn't really go again. All you see is a bunch of barbed wire, and mine warnings everywhere. We walked down a tunnel where the North Koreans tried to burrow into S. Korea, me being 6 ft tall, i had to hunch over the whole way down. At the end of the tunnel, you see..... a hole where the N. Koreans supposedly are stationed. I didn't see anything.
Then you go to the lookout point, and you can see the North Korean military base a few kms away... not much going on really. All in all, it was just eery.

I think it depends what people are into, but for me the DMZ was by far the highlight of Korea. I did the whole day tour which also takes you right to the communication houses right on the border ect. Thought it was uber cool, plus all the stories and reasons behind some things like always wearing dark shades, as to not give away the position of their eyes to the north Korean snipers ect. Really interesting. The end of the tunnel you speak of, I been there as well, and they never said anyone was stations there from the north side. Its just a double door hallway with a bunch of cameras to monitor that the North Koreans don't try to use the tunnel again. North Koreans denied they ever tried to tunnel into the south and kept blaming the south for trying to tunnel into the north.

I dunno, I was fascinated with that stuff.

Overall I found Seoul pretty boring in itself, haven't been to any other cities there so can't comment.

[wintonyk]

dmz is a full day trip definitely don't have time for that.

traffic in seoul can be pretty shitty so taking the bus to/from airport i wouldn't recommend.

myeong dong is pretty cool. For me I really liked Namsan. Honestly though, if you just have a few hours go find a jimjilbang and relax, maybe get a massage.

Gangnam isn't anything great. I was living in Gangnam for maybe 3 months at the end of last year. Basically everything is more expensive there and people are more stuck up haha. Although the World Tae Kwon Do headquarters is there right near the Ritz Carlton.

If you do make it to Gangnam, I am on a billboard there playing golf for Macaw golf.

[taemo]

Originally posted by eblend

interesting photo eblend, why was the guard facing that way? maybe leader or high-ranking general was in the building?

Originally posted by wintonyk
dmz is a full day trip definitely don't have time for that.

traffic in seoul can be pretty shitty so taking the bus to/from airport i wouldn't recommend.

myeong dong is pretty cool. For me I really liked Namsan. Honestly though, if you just have a few hours go find a jimjilbang and relax, maybe get a massage.

Gangnam isn't anything great. I was living in Gangnam for maybe 3 months at the end of last year. Basically everything is more expensive there and people are more stuck up haha. Although the World Tae Kwon Do headquarters is there right near the Ritz Carlton.

If you do make it to Gangnam, I am on a billboard there playing golf for Macaw golf.

yeah I'll probably drop the fiance at the airport spa/hotel to rest (especially since she cant sleep well on a plane) and I'll just go on my own to see Seoul
I'll put Namsan on my list since it's just beside the Seoul station, so I take there's no easy way to Gangnam from Seoul station (easiest I can find is by taking 2 trains) so more risk of getting lost.

are there signs in english on the stations or is it everything in korean signs?

[Kloubek]

Originally posted by taemo

interesting photo eblend, why was the guard facing that way? maybe leader or high-ranking general was in the building?

I was wondering the same thing. Then I started wondering if that was an actual guard or a mannequin....

[eblend]

Originally posted by Kloubek


I was wondering the same thing. Then I started wondering if that was an actual guard or a mannequin....

It's an actual guard. He is facing that way...well depends what you mean by the question, but he is facing the north where the border is obviously, but he is also half covered, from what they described to us on the tour, it is to create a smaller target, where if shot at by the north, they have a smaller target to aim at.

Here is a picture when I was in "north korea", inside of the communication house, as you can see the northern peace of the border.

[wintonyk]

Originally posted by taemo

yeah I'll probably drop the fiance at the airport spa/hotel to rest (especially since she cant sleep well on a plane) and I'll just go on my own to see Seoul
I'll put Namsan on my list since it's just beside the Seoul station, so I take there's no easy way to Gangnam from Seoul station (easiest I can find is by taking 2 trains) so more risk of getting lost.

are there signs in english on the stations or is it everything in korean signs?

all the signs are in english(stations, exits and transfers). when they hosted the world cup in 02 they converted the signs to english which is nice. Its such a big subway system one of the biggest if not the largest in the world. there are lots of station that get you to gangnam. just depends where you want to go there. but other stations within a short walk are Sinnonhyeon (closest to TKD headquarters and a 10 min walk from gangnam station) and Sinsa (near a popular shopping district Green Street also where all the plastic surgery is done and ferrari dealership).

Namsan was beautiful for me, with Seoul Tower at the top.

Most koreans can understand English but are too shy to speak it. So it can be frustrating but usually you will come across someone that is helpful.

Oh yeah don't waste time going to Itaewon. Its basically all westerners there and nothing you haven't seen everywhere else.