transportprof

In February, I'm booked to arrive Gimpo at 10:15 pm on OZ from Japan. Trying to decide whether I should book the first night of my stay at the Lotte Hotel Gimpo, or head into Seoul for a late night check-in to a center city hotel (most likely the Plaza).
Anybody taken late night transit in from GMP? How late do the trains and metro run in Seoul?

paigeolivia

Most trains stop at midnight, which is a bummer. Even though GMP is closer to the city, when you toss in immigration time and a transfer to Line 2, you'd never make it to the hotel before the subways stop running. Unless you wanna pay for an overpriced taxi, you should book your first night at Lotte; it's a decent hotel, I'd recommend it more if it wasn't in the middle of nowhere aside from being in an airport :P

mikesaidyes

I just did a quick check and you can make it to City Hall station (weekday last train 12:15, weekend/Sunday 11:30). Line 9 is MUCH faster, but the last train is 11:50 weekdays and 11 on weekends.

While you land at 10:15 and Gimpo is fast, if you're in the back of the plane or check bags, I don't think you'll be able to get all the way down to the train station until around 11:15 to be safe.

A taxi into Seoul should only be 20,000W , but you have to get in the taxi line and don't take the first taxi that comes and talks to you. Get in line with every other Korean person. Gimpo isn't served as well by limo buses like ICN is.

Also, to be blunt, if you're arriving late, there's nothing around the Plaza to do that's really open late at night. You'd have to walk over to Jongak (a 10-20 minute walk or so) for nightlife and the action.

transportprof

Thanks for the helpful advice. It confirms my suspicions that a night at the Lotte Gimpo will be a lot more relaxing than trying to rush through baggage claim, immigration, etc., to make the last subway into town. Since the Lotte actually costs less than the Plaza, for a basic room, the decision is even easier.