For most people airport layovers are a drag. I’m okay with them, I catch up on reading, people watch and occasionally take advantage of a city visit.
Seoul’s Incheon airport, one of the largest airports in the world, is the best airport for a layover. This modern, well organized airport has a spa, golf course, sleeping rooms, and an interactive cultural center.
Just 43 miles from Seoul’s city center the terminal offers transit tours. With a full selection of city, temple, or shopping tours, Freedom Tours will provide the best sightseeing option for your time schedule.
My tour guide Lindsey helped me select a full day tour, that would deliver me back to the airport in plenty of time for my connecting flight. In a comfortable mini-bus she shared statistics and cultural information on Korea and gave our small group enough time to take in the sites.
After a quick lesson in Korean our first stop was Deoksugung Palace to watch the changing of the guard. The Cheonggyecheon Stream was next, a popular public space and urban renewal project developed by President Lee Myung-bak, formerly the city’s mayor.
At the stream I was caught on film by a Korean photography class. Language barriers aside, one of the students showed me her shot and was kind enough to email me the photo below.
Shopping was next on Insadog-gil a popular street for locals and tourists. This unique area was once Korea’s largest art market. Today it combines a traditional and modern atmosphere with trendy art galleries, antique shops, traditional stationary stores and restaurants.
Shopping was followed by a traditional barbecue lunch prepared on a grill in the center of the table.
Our last stop was a kimchi factory to make our own kimchi, a spicy pickled cabbage that is the most common side dish in South Korea.
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Quick and a little tiring after a long flight but well worth it. For those of you who don’t like layovers I hope you enjoyed mine as a quick virtual visit!
Leslie
TAGS: Seoul
