10 Things to Do Off the Beaten Track in Incheon

If you wish to receive healing for your body and soul fatigued from daily life, experience the temple stay at Jeondeungsa on Ganghwado Island. A temple stay is a Buddhist culture experience program in which you temporarily escape from the secular world and become one with nature to relieve all your stress and add renewed vigour to your life in the cosiness and relaxing atmosphere of a mountain temple. Jeondeungsa, which is the oldest Buddhist temple in Korea, also provides a temple stay. The Temple stay at Jeondeungsa is divided into an experience type in which you get to take part in all the work sessions and services including those at dawn, and a rest type in which you only participate in the bell tolling in the evening, so you can choose whichever you prefer.

Jeondeungsa is completely surrounded by mountains so you will be able to take a walk in the midst of gorgeous scenery. The beauty of a temple stay lies in the temple food. Enjoy temple meals prepared with Ganghwado specialties and traditional foods provided by Jeondeunggak Temple Stay.

Enjoy hiking on Manisan, the tallest mountain on Ganghwa-do. Not very high, standing at 472 metres, it is known as a hiking course that even beginners can easily try. Although it is relatively low in altitude, once you stand on top of the mountain, beautiful scenery with a panoramic view of the West Sea unfolds before you.

Manisan is where the torch relay of the first-ever National Sports Festival took place. There are many cultural heritage sites nearby and, also, the mountain terrain is neat and uncomplicated. You will be able to enjoy the remarkable natural landscape without having to reach the top. The entire mountain was designated as a national tourist attraction in 1977, and it features nice trails and many educational elements, which makes it a great place to visit with children. Make special memories on Manisan that always welcomes tourists and hikers with its open arms.

If you are looking for a place in Korea to enjoy windsurfing and paragliding, check out Eurwangni Beach. Eurwangni Beach is a relatively large, 700-metre-long beach and, thanks to its convenient access from the Metropolitan Area, is always filled with beachgoers who come to enjoy sea baths in summer. The beach is also famous for its thickly wooded pine forest, the scenery of rocks lined up one after another, and the sunset.

The depth of the water is quite shallow for children to be able to safely play in and, also, a variety of water sports are offered from windsurfing and paragliding to banana boating and jet skiing for you to enjoy a dynamic vacation. As the area has been developed as a national tourist resort, the beach also features excellent convenience facilities and accommodations to be widely loved as an overnight trip destination for students and adults alike.

The only marine ecological park in the Metropolitan Area, Sorae Wetland Ecological Park offers unique experiences. Once a place where salt production took place from the Japanese colonial era to the 1990s, it underwent a park establishment project in 2009 and, now, features an ecology exhibition, observation deck, mudflat experience area and trails. It has turned an old saltern that is no longer used into a saltern learning site to provide a special learning opportunity in which visitors can experience actual salt production. Sorae Wetland Ecological Park spans an area of about 3.5 million m², 660,000 m² of which was opened at the site of the old saltern in 1999. It has windmills, trails, rest areas and seawater foot bath so adults and children alike can fully enjoy the park.

As you come out of the park’s entrance, you will find a traditional fish market where you can buy seasonal seafood and try some of the cooked dishes on the spot. Visit Sorae Wetland Ecological Park this weekend for a unique experience and fresh seafood.

Yonggungsa is a relatively small traditional temple located at the northeastern foot of Baegunsan Mountain on Yeongjongdo. It was originally called Baegunsa when it was first constructed by Great Monk Wonhyo in the 10th year of King Munmu’s reign (670 CE) during the Silla Dynasty but, in 1854 (5th year of King Cheoljong’s reign), it was renovated by Heungseon Daewongun and renamed Yonggungsa. The temple features various buildings including Gwaneumjeon, Yonghwanggak, Chilseonggak and Yosachae as well as a recently built, 11-metre-tall Maitreya.

Another attraction of Yonggungsa is the two zelkova trees at the entrance of the temple. Over 1,300 years old, these zelkova trees protect the temple as grandfather and grandmother trees. Once you walk up to Gwaneumjeon behind Yonggungsa, you will find the Rock of Wishes that is known to answer people’s prayers. It is said that, when you bow three times, make a wish and rotate a round stone, your wish will come true if it feels like the stone sticks to the magnet. If you have a prayer that you really want answered, how about visiting Yonggungsa this weekend?

On Okjukdong Beach on Daecheongdo Island, which is about 4 hours away from Incheon by boat, there is a vast sand desert. The landscape is a coastal dune formed as the sand, originally seated in areas next to the sea, is pushed from the waters to the land over time. On the outside, it looks similar to a desert, which is why it is also called a sand desert. It is possible to find developed coastal dunes on several beaches in Korea but the sand desert on Daecheongdo Island boasts an enormous scale - 1 km wide, 500 metres long and 80 metres high.

Presenting exotic scenery that you can only see in a foreign country, the sand desert is an active coastal dune whose shape and form change from one season to the next, which is why it is considered extremely mystical and marvellous. There is also a replica camel in the desert, so take a picture with it and create a scene that seems to be straight from the Middle East.

Known as Korea’s Galápagos and the mecca of backpackers, Gureopdo Island is located some 90 km to the southwest of Incheon. The island is called Gureopdo for its resemblance to a person working while lying prone. It is a small and tranquil island that you can get to after transferring on a ship once from the Port of Incheon. The island still maintains nature’s original look so you can see animals such as black goats and deer here.

Those who visit Gureopdo typically camp on Gaemeori Hill to watch the famous sunset. Once you climb up Gaemeori Hill whose round ridges are fascinating, you will be able to see the wide open sea in all directions and the beautiful shape of Gureopdo. From the sea and sky turning red once the sun sets to the countless constellations and the galaxy in the night sky, the fantastic scenery you will meet on Gureopdo will be a memory you won’t ever forget in your life.

Experience the rail bike at Seaside Park, a rising attraction on Yeongjongdo Island, where you can ride with the scenery of the West Sea in the background. Each rail bike can carry 4 passengers, and it consists of a 5.6 km-long course along the monorail tracks by Seaside Beach.

The bike is powered manually by pedals, and the course takes around 40 to 50 minutes for a round trip. Your legs may be a bit tired but, during the entire ride from Wolmido Island to Incheon Bridge, you can enjoy the wide open coast that unfolds before you and the beautiful scenery of Incheon. Various attractions including landscape waterfalls that appear throughout the course provide another excitement to watch. Step on the pedals and make great memories with family, lovers and friends with beautiful nature in the backdrop.