Photo: Adobe Stock / LicensedChecked · Researched, not yet visited · times from official timetables and our estimates · Takumi Yamada
Chinatown & the Jajangmyeon Museum
Korea’s first Chinatown, laid out when the port opened to foreign trade in the 1880s, with the red-brick restaurant where jajangmyeon was first served now a small museum to the dish. The museum is open 09:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30), costs ₩1,000 and is closed on Mondays; the street, the stairs and Jayu Park are open every day.
Taxi 20–30 minGoogle MapsJajangmyeon where it began
Wheat noodles under a black-bean sauce, the Chinese-Korean dish every Korean eats on moving day. Sinseung Banjeom, a few doors from the museum, is said to be run by a descendant of the family that served it first.
ChinatownGoogle MapsDakgangjeong at Sinpo Market
Chicken fried twice and tossed in a sticky sweet-spicy glaze, sold by the box. The original counter has been in Sinpo Market since 1985, and the queue is the proof.
Taxi 20–35 min or city shuttleGoogle MapsWolmido & the Sea Train
An elevated two-car train that circles the old island over the harbour, with the waterfront promenade at the end. ₩11,000 on weekdays, ₩14,000 at weekends, with one free re-boarding the same day. Closed on Mondays, and it stops in high wind. It runs 10:00–18:00 (to 19:00 Friday to Sunday and holidays, April–October); the last loop leaves Wolmi Bada station at about 17:05 on 18:00 days. Over-65s pay ₩8,000 on weekdays, ₩10,000 at weekends.
Taxi 25–35 minGoogle MapsSeoul: Gyeongbokgung & Bukchon
The main royal palace and the hanok lanes above it, one cluster and no more. Two hours each way means it needs a call of 10 hours or more; on 8 hours, do the old port instead. The palace closes on Tuesdays. Entry ₩3,000, free for foreigners 65 and over and 18 and under (bring your passport). Open 09:00–18:00 in October (last entry 17:00), 09:00–17:00 from November (last entry 16:00).
Taxi + rail, about 120 min each wayGoogle Maps
Seoul with a guaranteed return
The most-reviewed cruise excursion from this terminal: the palace, the old streets and the city in one day, with the return to the ship guaranteed. On a Seoul day that guarantee is the point.
Songdo Central Park
A seawater canal through a new city of glass towers, with water taxis and a boardwalk. It is the closest thing to the terminal and the one that fits a short call.
Taxi ~15 minGoogle MapsKorean Emigration History Museum
In 1903 the first Korean emigrants sailed from this harbour to the Hawaiian sugar plantations. The museum tells it through their letters and photographs. Free; open 09:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30); closed Mondays (open if the Monday is a holiday) and 1 January. Docent talks at 10:30, 13:30 and 15:00.
Taxi 25–35 minGoogle MapsBindaetteok at Gwangjang Market
Mung-bean pancakes fried in front of you in Seoul’s oldest covered market, eaten at the counter with makgeolli. The food alley opens daily; the rest of the market closes on Sundays. It is two hours each way, like the palace, so it needs a call of 10 hours or more and is best paired with it.
Seoul · about 120 min each wayGoogle MapsHyundai Premium Outlet Songdo
Korean and international brands under one roof near the terminal, on the city’s cruise-day shuttle route, and indoors when it rains. Stores 10:30–20:00, food court to 21:00.
Taxi ~20 min or city shuttleGoogle Maps
