Incheon is Korea's largest port city and the country's aviation gateway, mixing a 19th-century treaty-port history with some of the most futuristic urban development in Asia.
History
People have lived around Incheon since the Neolithic period, and the first written record of the area dates to 475 AD, when it was known as Michuhol. Its modern story begins in 1883, when the port opened to foreign trade as one of Korea's first treaty ports, growing from a small settlement into an international hub; under Japanese colonial rule it was renamed Jinsen. Incheon was also the site of the pivotal 1950 Incheon Landing during the Korean War, when UN and South Korean forces retook the city from a beachhead at Wolmido. In recent decades the city has built entirely new land for development, including the Songdo, Cheongna, and Yeongjong Island areas of the Incheon Free Economic Zone, established in 2003, and it hosted the 2014 Asian Games.
Highlights
- Incheon Chinatown, Korea's only official Chinatown, dating to the 1883 port opening, packed with Chinese restaurants and home to the Jjajangmyeon Museum.
- Wolmido, a small island connected to the mainland by road since 1989, now a boardwalk district of seafood restaurants and an amusement park; it was a key Incheon Landing battle site in 1950.
- Songdo Central Park, a 40-hectare park loosely modeled on New York's, anchoring the ultramodern Songdo International Business District built on reclaimed land.
- Incheon Grand Park, the city's largest park, opened in 1992 with a zoo, arboretum, and rose garden that draw around 4 million visitors a year.
- Ganghwa Island, a historic island of Buddhist temples and ancient dolmens (part of a UNESCO-listed prehistoric dolmen site) at the mouth of the Han River.
Food
Incheon's Chinatown is the acknowledged birthplace of jjajangmyeon, the black-bean noodle dish now eaten across the country; it was first served at Gonghwachun, a restaurant founded there in 1905 by a Chinese immigrant from Shandong, before Korean cooks adapted the sauce into the dish known today.
Annual events
- Pentaport Rock Festival (late July to early August) — one of Korea's largest rock and music festivals, held at Dream Park in southern Incheon.
Getting there
Incheon International Airport is Korea's main gateway, and the AREX express train reaches Seoul Station in about 43 minutes. Within the city, Incheon Subway Lines 1 and 2 connect to Seoul Line 1 at Bupyeong Station, and KTX high-speed rail has served Incheon since 2014.
How long
Incheon rewards a full day at minimum — Chinatown, Wolmido, and Songdo are spread across different parts of a large city — and travelers connecting through the airport or combining it with Ganghwa Island's temples may prefer an overnight stay.