4 hr stopover in ICN - any recommendations?
 

I will have 4 hrs on a stopover in ICN, and having never been to Seoul, I wonder if this is enough time to see anything, or if there are any recommendations what to do (other than shopping and staying at the lounge ;-).

Unfortunately, 4 hours is a bit tight for trekking into the city. By the time you get downtown, it will be time to turn around.

On the upside, ICN is probably one of the best 5 airports in the world. Aside from great shopping and dining options, if I'm not mistaken, there is also a golf course incorporated into the airport complex. The Asiana lounge at the airport is also a terrific place to pass the time.

With only 4 hours I would not even venture out of the airport.
You would not get to Seoul itself - it is over an hour ( and up to 2 hours depending on traffic) each way. Incheon itself is not worth a visit.

But as the previous poster said, the airport has some great shopping and food, and
the OZ lounge is a fine place to pass some time.

Probably a stupid question but I have ask: can one purchase an OZ lounge pass?

ICN also has some of the best, and most reasonably priced internet kiosks of any airport in the world. The KAL lounge used to have free ones, but they were gone last time I transitted there. But there is an excellent internet shop sponsored by Intel and Dell that has excellent new PCs, and costs around $3 for an hour via broadband.

And the KAL lounge has big soft couches with a large screen TV, and a place to shower and get a theraputic massage for reasonable cost as well.

Overall, ICN is about the best airport in which I've ever had to spend a several hour layover.

What would you do with an ~ 11 hour layover?

Thanks for the responses and suggestions! ;-)

gleff..

I flew in early one morning on OZ .. and out on SQ early evening...

Having looked at options ( I want to to do a DMZ tour someday fr'instance) I realised I didn't have the time for anything like that...

So I just booked a day room..... got some sleep (which I didn't really get on the flight in) surfed the net.. went for a walk near the hotel etc...

Then back to ICN for an hour or so on the new OZ lounge....

Was quite a pleasant layover....

You might want to take one of the Transit Tours from INC:

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_5_1.jsp

It's a good idea to check in with the transit desk of your airline (KE or OZ only I believe) if you have a layover greater than 8 hours at ICN (totally optional). This was the only way I found out about Asiana's freebees (free day-use hotel or tour). I assume the non-Korean airlines don't have a transit desk (not sure about Singapore).

IMO, Asiana lounges at ICN are pretty awful compared to other *A lounges in Asia. They may be rated terrific compared to United lounges in North America, but they are quite terrible compared to the former SQ lounge at ICN, NH lounges at NRT, or SQ/TG lounges at HKG.




No, but why would you do that? There are private lounges that charges USD30-USD40 for admission, and they offer a lot better food than Asiana lounges although they don't seem to provice free showers. I have been to Asiana lounges at ICN, and have seen photos of the private lounges though I have not been there personally. Facilities seem comparable, but the private lounges serve a lot better food. Thumbs down to ...... Asiana lounges. :td::td::td::td::td:




KE lounges should still have free internet PCs. It's proabably that you didn't find them due to recent lounge renovations.

You never miss a chance to slag OZ, now do you :rolleyes:

In my book, and it's a pretty big one, the OZ ICN lounges are among the best *G lounges anywhere. They're huge, clean and well-maintained, with free showers, free booze, free PCs, a good selection of free food (limited outside mealtimes though), a great selection of newspapers and magazines... what more do you want in a lounge, strippers and cocaine? :confused:

But unfortunately this is all irrelevant to the OP, because you can't buy lounge passes for OZ.

Limited selections of food. They used to not have any hot dish at all, but only 10 cold dishes in the salad bar IIRC. Now they do have hot dish, but only three, which are usually pretty poor choices like chili shrimp, sausage, and random cooked vegetables which are easy to cook and cheap. Cold dishes didn't get any improvement. Showers? Yeah, pretty small shower rooms without toilet. Besides, they do not plastic wrap the towels they provide unlike any other *A lounges that I've visited in Asia. Huge, clean, well-maintained? Other *A lounges in Asia at their hubs are as equally huge, clean, well maintained as OZ lounges at ICN or usually even better.

Strippers and cocaine? Yeah, those are certainly your interests but not mine. You don't realize that everyone in this forum does not share the same standard with you, right?

I will soon have two 4-hour layovers in ICN. I will be flying KE Biz, and have a Priority Pass, which allows me to visit the OZ lounges.

My understanding is that I'm best off relaxing in the KE lounges, though I do plan on visiting the OZ lounges.

I am, however, intrigued by the mention of a massage in the KE lounges.
D1 - are you inferring that one can purchase a massage service INSIDE the KE lounge (biz lounge, the one up on the 4th level?)

Oh my, that does sound terri-bi-ba-ble. (Especially when compared to your average UA lounge.) So tell me, what *A lounge in Asia is better than this, and what did the now dearly departed SQ lounge in ICN offer that the OZ lounge does not? I'll start with one thing it lacked the last time I visited: free wifi, which was offered in the OZ lounge.

Also, in much of Asia including Korea, it's considered unhygienic to place showers and toilets in the same room. There are plenty of toilets right next to the showers, which (IIRC) are even equipped with fun water-squirting washlets. And I'm not sure why you'd want to plastic wrap your towels, no 5* hotel I've ever stayed in has done such a silly thing. :confused: