As part of my trip to the States recently, I had a 7-hour layover in Seoul, South Korea, before my long-haul flight to San Francisco. So on Good Friday this year I had the chance to spend around five hours in the city!
Layover in Seoul, South Korea.
What can you do in such a short period of time? One option would be to visit Myeong-dong, which is about an hour away from Incheon International Airport with the Airport Express (Arex) train.
Tips:
Need a visa to visit Seoul? Don’t worry about it – you won’t need a visa if you are flying out from Seoul again in less than 16 hours! 🙂 Also, if you are flying with either KoreanAir, Asiana, or Singapore Airlines, you can get a discount on the Arex tickets – ₩6,900 instead of ₩8,000 for a trip from Incheon to Seoul Station. Click on this link for the Arex timetable.
Our very first stop in Myeong-dong was a street vendor selling egg bread, also known as Gyeran Bbang (계란빵). Warm bread in the cold weather? I won’t say no to that *grin*. The bread was savoury yet sweet at the same time. If you bite towards the center, you will have some of that perfectly cooked egg bursting in your mouth. It is definitely one of my favourite street snacks apart from Hotteok (Korean hot pancakes)!!
If you are looking for a proper meal, I would recommend Gogung Restaurant which is famous for their Bibimbap, or Myeongdong Gyoza if you feel like eating noodle and dumplings.
Another place worth visiting is O’sulloc, a famous tea house originating from Jeju Island. It is definitely a must-visit for all the matcha fans out there. Matcha roll cake, matcha ice cream, matcha latte – you name it, they have it. The best part is they do not disappoint! 😉
Well, that’s a short snippet of my travel story in Myeong-dong. I will be posting more about my trip in the States in the next few weeks so stay tuned 🙂