Coming home from Manila with a 14 hr layover at INC, then on to ATL, mid-January on a Sunday. Flying biz Korean Air MNL-ICN arrives 04:00 then Delta One ICN-ATL at 18:30. I believe these are all Terminal 2. Considering either:
- staying airside at the Walkerhill transit hotel, not sure on price, somewhere from $90 to $120
- staying landside at the Walkerhill "capsule" hotel, about $55 for 12 hrs
- take AREX train into Seoul, and wander around (thanks mikesaidyes for your great blog)
- #2 combined with #3
While the downtown option sounds much more interesting than hanging around the airport, weather could have a big impact on pleasantness of strolling around on a January morning. I've also read that not much is open until 11 in Seoul. And of course, need to allow lots of time to get back and through security for departure.
Option
#1 is simple... and I'm stuck airside. From what I've read, ICN doesn't appear to be a "destination" airport like SIN, so thinking I'd be bored.
So I'm thinking
#4 ; get the T2 landside capsule hotel for 12 hours. Check in to hotel at 05:00, take a nap, leave carryon/laptop bags in the room, then take AREX downtown at 10:00, wander for a few hours, then 14:00 back to hotel to grab bags, freshen up and back through security. And if it turns out to be blasting snow or whatever that day, I can always bail sooner & back to capsule room.
Thoughts on that idea?