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Incheon for First-Time Visitors: Chinatown and the Songdo Waterfront
Level
A2
Type
Guide
Theme
Travel
작성자
Y
작성시각
You step off the subway at the last stop on Line 1, and the exit puts you face to face with a giant red and gold gate instead of another Seoul street. This is Incheon Station, and it opens straight onto Korea's only Chinatown.
Getting to Chinatown
Take Seoul Subway Line 1 all the way to its final stop, Incheon Station, about an hour from central Seoul. Exit 1, 2, or 3 all lead directly to the Chinatown gate, so you can't really take a wrong exit here.
Korean | Pronunciation | Meaning |
차이나타운 | cha-i-na-ta-un | Chinatown |
자유공원 | ja-yu-gong-won | Freedom Park |
짜장면 | jja-jang-myeon | black bean noodles |
Korea's only official 차이나타운 was formed in 1884, and it's also where 짜장면 was invented for the Chinese dock workers who came through the port, later adapted into the sweeter, darker version Koreans eat today, so this is the one place in the country where eating a bowl of it feels less like a snack and more like visiting the source. Past the restaurant streets, climb the stairs up to 자유공원 for a harbor view and the MacArthur statue. Go on a weekday morning if you can. The famous noodle shops near the main gate can mean a 30 to 45-minute wait on weekend afternoons.
Making the jump to Songdo
Songdo looks like a different country from the red lanterns of Chinatown: glass towers and canals cut through a district built almost entirely in the last two decades. Getting there directly from Chinatown takes some doing: Incheon Station sits on Seoul's subway network, while Songdo runs on the separate Incheon Line 1, so plan on a taxi or a longer transfer rather than one smooth subway ride.
Korean | Pronunciation | Meaning |
송도 | song-do | Songdo |
센트럴파크 | sen-teu-reol-pa-keu | Central Park |
Central Park station puts you right next to 송도 센트럴파크, the artificial lake and canal walk that most people picture when they think of Songdo. It's a good sunset stop, with a skyline that barely existed twenty years ago reflected in the canal water.
Squeeze both into one day and you'll walk out having stood in the 1880s before lunch and after 2000 by dinner.