-
Start
-
China Town
-
Sinseungbanjeom
-
Street Food
-
Donghwa Village
-
Songwoldong
-
Wolmido
-
Orakai
-
Sinbokgwan
-
Central Park
-
Akino Kitchen
-
Museums
-
Finish
This time, I’m going to take a walk in the most beautiful park in Korea that has an artificial waterway, Songdo Central Park. It’s snowed at Orakai Songdo Park Hotel. Morning walk in snowed park… cool. Central Park is 310,000 ㎡ wide park in the center of International Business District. You can not only have a static rest like reading books or taking walks but also meet water leisure, water taxi and pretty animals. Around the park, you’ll find nice restaurants, hotels of different classes, and residence as well as it’s easily accessible by subway, bus or car so you can take a look around on your trip. So shall we go down?
As I got out of hotel, it snowed all night. It’s not much but I’ll take a look around the park listening to the footsteps on snow,. There’s a 1.8km one-way trail. If you have a car, it would take an hour to walk back, which would be 3.6km.
In the center of Songdo Central Park, there’s an artificial waterway with water from ocean. At the end of the east(West Boat House), you can ride a water taxi. And at the end of the west(East Boat House), you can enjoy water leisure. There are Family E-boats that run with electric motors, kayaks and canoes, and you can rent a bicycle to take a look around the park.
+ Canoe, Kayak : 3 persons / 50 minutes / 25,000 won
+ Family E-boat : 4 persons / 30 minutes / 35,000 won
+ Bicycle(two-seater, four-seater, trailer) : 30 min.~60 min. / 5,000 won~10,000 won
+ Operating Hours : 10:00 – 19:00
Seawater park made with seawater seems to have used the advantages of port city. Cities look so cold and dreary but thanks to water taxi and water leisure across the park, it makes the city look exotic and warm. The courses for water leisure or water taxi are quite long and winding so it’s fun.
It’s snowing so it’s kinda gloomy but it shows how beautiful it is, huh? I don’t know how they manage water quality but it’s quite transparent and clean. I couldn’t even find one cigarette butt. 
Thanks to small things in the park, tourists cannot afford to get bored. There’s a small island in the middle of waterway and this is an island for lovers and locks. They were selling a pair of lovely locks for 10,000 won at East Boat House. If you didn’t bring anything, you can buy here and lock it here!
I came up a little more and hey, there’s deer farm. Wow, I can see quite many.
Male deer with antlers were fighting over female deer. They were not fiercely fighting rather having a strength contest. Which one do you think won? Yes, yes~ left one is bigger and won. Right one must’ve just grown up. In one corner tourists were allowed to feed them but it’s not open in winter, it’s just for display. Even so, it was fun to see these things in a park in downtown.
Oh, is this Tokkiseom? Wow I think there are a hundred of them. Shall I take a closer look?
There are holes on the ground, rabbit burrows, and dozens of rabbits were rubbing each other to keep the temperature next to their house on hill. Really, really cute. Do they look pitiful? No. They don’t get cold that much in winter so they won’t freeze even in this weather. 
Seems like I’m halfway. There stood a public telephone station next to the trail and it’s not a telephone booth but ‘a library in forest’. It’s automatic library. Anybody could borrow book there and read it sitting on a bench. However…in this cold snowy weather, nobody would do that, right? When it’s warm, there are quite many people reading books with kids here. I came here last year and remember people sitting on this bench and reading books.
There are high multipurpose buildings around the river. Pretty skylines, huh? There were not many of these buildings a few years back but since Incheon Asian Games, it’s different. Song Il-gook and his triplets from KBS entertainment program 
I’m almost there. The building to the front that look like tofu cut with knife is called G Tower, a building with UN Programs and Funds, which supports climate changes and reduction of green-house gases in developing countries, and Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority. It’s a public institution that is open to the public now and it’s killing two birds with one stone for tourists since there is an observatory and cafeteria on the 29th floor. You can see that place that looks like a sheath. That’s it. I’ll be there in a while. 
This exotic building is called Tri-Bowl. It is a combined word of sky, ocean and land with bowl, which indicates complex cultural space of Songdo, Cheongna and Yeongjong that have those things. 
If you look at it from another angle, it looks like a reversed shell which went against the basic understanding of architectural space. Unlike previous architectural styles that use changes of ceiling and flat floor, the floor was made of free curves and curved surface under flat ceiling. All of them are curved that you cannot see any straight line while the jewelry-like lights on the surface of small square tiles look like a spacecraft.
Watching silver grass far away looks like a ship with Incheon Bridge pier as a sail. Amazing building. I’ll get inside. 
Follow along this path between waterways in the middle then you’ll see a platform for spaceship. Anyone can get inside. There are free performances and exhibitions so you should drop by. It’s fun and mysterious.
It was much bigger than I thought inside. The stairs made it look bigger. Currently children’s paintings and art pieces were displayed but they change from time to time so you’d better check it out online in advance.
+ Tri-bowl Website : http://www.tribowl.kr
The stage looks like this. Big and amazing, huh? This stage is a round arena occupying 350 seats made of birch trees for audience to feel the atmosphere with performers. Most of the performances are free and you should check the website if you’re interested in the performances.
You can take the water taxi at the end of east of Songdo Central Park. It’s called taxi but not normal taxi we use, it’s more like a cruise ship. This leaves here, gets to the western end and comes back but you can’t take off in the middle. You shouldn’t assume it’s like water bus in Chao Phraya River in Thailand. 
The interior was very neat. There’s a store where you take water taxi for snacks or simple drinks. It takes 20 minutes to come back when it leaves so it’s not so long course but for those who can’t walk 3.6km, this would be a nice transportation. If possible though, I suggest you take a walk.
+ Departure Time(Water Taxi): Every hour (Weekdays), Every thirty minutes (Holidays)
+ Fees : Adult: 4,000 won, Child: 2,000 won, 1 Exclusive use: 150,000 won (per taxi)
You can see interesting art works here and there in the park, pianos and big trumpets. I’ve seen this somewhere in Europe and it rings when I speak through the inlet. What was more fun was that I could actually use them not just see them. 
I’ll get to sky garden on 29th floor of G Tower that I showed you before. There’s a place for tourists to rest in the lobby. It’s open to the public but you’d still need to show your ID card at the info desk and get the visitor’s card. Even foreigners should write down the information and get the card. However, you can go up without visitor’s card to the cafeteria on the 29th floor during lunchtime from 11:30 to 13:30.
The sky garden on the 29th floor looks like this. I told you it looks like tofu cut with a knife and you’ll see why I said it. Unique, isn’t it?
I could see Incheon Bridge and Yeongjongdo Island over here. There are two telescopes available for free. You know those telescopes that you have to pay on Namsan Tower or Unification Observatory, they’re the same ones. They are pretty good that you can see Incheon Bridge and Yeongjongdo where Incheon International Airport is located. If the weather was better, I could’ve seen further. But still, amazing! 
I could see Songdo Central Park to the left at a glance. Amazing view. I could see Orakai Songdo Park Hotel where I stayed last night and that tall building in the middle is the highest building in Korea, North-East Asia Trade Tower. It’s a pity that my camera cannot get the angle like I see with my eyes. Incheon looked so beautiful from here. 
From the telescopes, I could see Incheon bridge towards Yeongjongdo. If the weather was better, I could take a picture of the island and blue sea but it didn’t help me that day. But I was satisfied to see a beautiful and fresh view for free. 
Like I said, you’ll find a cafeteria in the sky garden on 29th floor. This cafeteria is not just for the employees but also for the tourists offering Korean Food Sets A and B, which were pretty good. And the price was 5,000 won per one set so for tourists who have to save up money, this place is like a heaven considering it offers a nice meal and nice scenery at the same time. I strongly suggest you to come here. 
The restaurant is quite nice to have a meal since the food and furnishings looked clean like a big cafeteria in a college. I can’t judge a book by its cover but officer workers will never buy meals even if they’re so cheap. But as I can see there are many workers, it would be okay. Where can you find a 5,000 won meal? ^^*
How was your walk in Incheon Songdo Central Park with me? There are many places to take a look around in Incheon but you have to book a hotel around here and take a walk in the morning. It’s right next to the ocean so the air is clean and I don’t know if there’s anywhere you can see these many things when you walk 3.6km. Plus, you can also enjoy the great view on the sky garden of G Tower AND have a meal at a reasonable price! This is a place you should definitely visit.
Address : 24-5 Songdo-dong Yeonsu-gu, Incheon (인천광역시 연수구 송도동 24-5)
