It’s beginning to get pretty hot here in South Korea and consequently I’ve spent a lot of time Googling “Best beaches in South Korea” during my breaks at work! Although it looks like there are some amazing ones on the East coast, I had to settle for something a little closer to home so I turned to my trusty Lonely Planet: Seoul book to check out some options. I was excited to find an “Island Hopping” trip that has a route from Incheon to Yeongjongdo and the small islands surrounding it. After going over it with my friend JL, another English teacher, we agreed the directions seemed a little vague but that would be all the better for exploring!
We set out to Seoul Station, thinking we’d be able to take the airport line out to Incheon Station. Turns out, it goes to Incheon Airport but not the separate and further away Icheon Station. We turned around and got onto the correct line and settled in for a long ride, knowing Icheon is the last station on this line. Maybe 10 stations and 30 min into the trip, JL looks up and goes “I don’t recognize any of these station names.” Uh oh! We hadn’t noticed there was a split in the line and we’d stayed on the train and gone the wrong direction instead of transferring to go in the right direction. After getting off and grabbing some delicious Hibiscus Lemon Tea to console ourselves, we turned around and headed back to Guro Station to get going in the right direction. Finally, 20 stations and an hour later, we arrived at Incheon Station around lunchtime.
The LP itinerary recommended a tour bus that leaves from the bus stop right outside the station, so we headed into a tourist information center to ask when it would be there. Turns out, the bus goes four times a day instead of the six times listed in LP, and it has four different routes instead of one. Well the route that we wanted had left an hour earlier, so we decided to take the local bus instead. If we had known this, we would have just gone from Seoul Station to Incheon Airport and shaved off over two hours from our journey! Hindsight and all that, right?
The upside to our long detour was being able to explore Incheon’s Chinatown! As you exit Incheon station the huge, ornate stone entrance arch is right across the street. Entering through the arch, we were faced with a quaint uphill street lined with Chinese food and trinket shops, along with decorative red lampposts with banners and tassels. The hordes of Korean tourists walking around with umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun made it even more picturesque.
We came to a “T” at the top of the hill and saw a huge Chinese restaurant that consisted of three or four levels of porches to eat on overlooking the rest of Chinatown. We waited downstairs while the guy at the door got us a table via walkie-talkie and were then sent to the third floor. Luckily we were seated on the porch outside (why would you want to sit anywhere else???) and the view was fantastic. The prices are mid-range and the food was decent, but the atmosphere alone made the place worth it. We spent W20,000 for enough sweet and sour pork to feed three people, and W10,000 for rice with seafood.
After stuffing ourselves full of Chinese food, we continued along the street and came upon decorative steps leading up several levels to another beautiful arch. Murals decorate the walls alongside the stairs with pandas, palaces, and other Chinese themes. Beyond the arch there is a forest with what might be hiking trails or a park. There are so many beautiful photo-ops here, including one painted on the front of the steps so that you can only see the complete picture if you’re looking at the steps straight on from below. If you sit at just the right place, it looks like you’re sitting on a royal throne! The photo-ops continued with a giant mondu that you can sit inside of as, as well as a weird 50’s Vegas-themed Chinatown area and a crazy cutesy-themed colorful, whimsical street as well.
Although there is more to see in Chinatown, we decided to head out to our final destination: Yeongjondo Island. We caught the local bus that goes out there at the bus stop right in front of the station (after waiting fruitlessly for 20 minutes at a different bus stop…). Bus 306 takes a somewhat roundabout route, but we finally got to the island around 4pm. We knew that it takes a circular route around the island, but we didn’t know exactly where to get off so we guessed and hopped off when we saw the first sign for the beach we wanted to get to. Turns out we stopped a bit early and the bus let us off on a narrow road with marshland on one side and a few depressing empty seafood and “live music!” bars lining the shore on the other side. We walk and walk and walk… no bus stops. We keep walking, climb a hill and infuriatingly see the 306 bus pass us!
At least our long walk was pretty!
Finally we see a sign for Eunwamni Beach and cross the street to begin our descent down the hill. The twisty ally that we took down there had a Victorian-style cottage covered in ivy that I loved as well as a beautiful garden that reminded us of a mini-golf course. As we walked we were passed by jovial groups of Korean vacationers soaking wet and fresh from the beach.
As we headed down to the water we were met with a gorgeous, rocky shoreline and shell-filled sand. Tents haphazardly lined the beach (it’s free to camp on public beaches here) and hordes of children played in the gentle surf. We walked toward some giant rocks, and as we passed through a narrow opening we found an almost deserted beach area. As we climbed the rocks around this beach we quickly found out why the area was deserted; huge bugs scuttled disgustingly all over the rocks! Immediately donning our tennis shoes, we continued around the small peninsula and came upon another tent-covered beach area and them climbed a hill to what looks like an old army lookout and a grassy burial site. The other side of the peninsula had old fishing boats tied up side by side.
So many tents!
Looking toward the opening to the empty beach (through the rocks at the end).
The empty beach! Great if you don’t mind a few (hundred) creepy crawlies…
Loved all the beautiful shells!
Looking down on the beach from the hill.
By this time it was nearing 6pm so JL suggested one of the seafood places by the beach. Our dinner included fried fish/shrimp/tentacles/sweet potato, as well as grilled fish and shellfish soup. The sides consisted of melon, fish eggs, and potato salad. Incredibly, the whole dinner cost W25000 for the both of us! It was the perfect evening to eat outside, listen to the waves, and enjoy seafood that might have been caught near that very beach. I’m not sure what the restaurant was called, but it has two floors and is across the road from a “beware of octopus” sign. It was a little difficult to order, but thanks to JL’s Korean skills we managed to get our food. Apparently foreigners are a rarity there because they panicked when we came in and the waiter literally ran to find someone who could speak English.
Grilled fish. I’m not normally a fish-eater, but it was pretty good!
The best warning sign ever.
In fact, we were the only foreigners we saw during our whole trip that day. I don’t think we spotted any in Chinatown and there definitely weren’t any at the beach with us. We got lots of surprised smiles, giggles and “hellos!” Maybe that’s why it was so hilarious to hear “Call Me Maybe” at the tiny café by the beach!
We had seen the 306 bus several times on our walk around the peninsula, so we found the bus stop (sadly making our long walk to get there totally useless) and rode to Incheon Airport to transfer to the airport railroad that goes into Seoul Station. The train is really nice, takes 45 minutes, and costs W8000.
Getting There: The Condensed Version
Next time I would go to Seoul Station, take the airport railroad to Incheon Airport, and catch bus 306 from there. Then I’d get off at the actual beach– not a few stops beforehand! The stop will be easy to recognize because you can see the tent-covered shoreline, water, and seafood restaurants right away.
Bring a towel, snacks, and a book for delicious day in the sun!
Wandering about, wondering about. 