Last Updated on 16 January 2026 by Cycloscope
3 great islands to visit near Seoul & Incheon. Great beach day trips or weekend destinations from the capital of South Korea.
South Korea has 3,358 islands, of which more than 100 are in the Incheon area. We visited some: Yeongjong-do, Muui-do, and Somuui-do (do means island), which are easily accessible on day trips from Incheon or Seoul.
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Since we were bicycle touring, we took it really easy, as usual, and spent three days and two nights there, wild camping in Somuui and Yeaongjong islands. South Korea is very camping-friendly, so if you like camping and have a tent, there’s no need to spend money on expensive accommodations.
We would like to say these are the best islands in the Incheon/Seoul area, but how can we? If you explored other islands, please contribute your experience in the comments. We think those 3 islands are worth including in your Seoul itinerary. We’ll share our experience to help you understand why.
- Check our hints on how to travel to South Korea for less than 10$ a day
- If you plan to explore the country on a bike, don’t miss our article about Cycling in South Korea
Yeongjong-do
To reach the airport island, Yeongjong, there is a bridge, the 24km impressive Incheon Bridge, but it’s a highway, and this is not China, you can not go on the highway by bicycle (really, you couldn’t even in China, but this is another matter). So let’s take a boat.
From the port of Incheon, there’s a boat every hour. Once we get there, we are told that the ship does not sail from here but instead from “there” (pointing far away)… communication problems. So we lose the one at 3 pm and take the one at 4 pm; it’s a very short ride, about five kilometers.
To save you time, check our route map at the bottom of this article for all the directions.
The airport island is large and ghostly; there are streets with brand-new traffic lights but no cars, and a perfect bike path. Many tower blocks numbered in Chinese style without inhabitants… no traffic, no people. Strange atmosphere. We meet only some Korean “Sunday” cyclists.
The island is flat, there are neither climbs nor old villages. It seems that before the construction of the airport, there was nothing but a swamp. There is a low tide, and the sea has retreated hundreds of meters, making the atmosphere even more surreal. It’s an expanse of mud, home to many herons and other birds. The view of the Incheon Bridge is impressive.
We cross the island and stop to free camp in a seaside park. Here, the sea is enclosed by a dam. Nearby is a large hotel, and we also have Wi-Fi in the tent.
Muui-do
We cross the little island (which is a rock no more than 300 meters long) from where ferries depart for Muui-do, one kilometer further. The islet-rock port is connected to the airport island by a road in the shallow sea, a fascinating road, shrouded in fog.
Both right and left, where there should be the sea, due to low tide, there is a large expanse of mud inhabited by herons, webbed birds, and people who dig in the mud in search of something we did not understand. Rake and shovel, perhaps they look for mudfish.
The small ferry to Muuido costs 1,500 won (about 1.5 euros) round-trip. A budget-travel-friendly option. Arriving on the island of Muui, we note the first Korean gazebo: wooden, raised off the ground, and with a traditional-style roof. It looks like a lovely place to host our little portable house.
It’s hot, and the road is quite steep. The island is small and mountainous, so apparently, there were no other ways to build a road here.
Lush green, with so much forest and loud cicadas, the tiny village of cozy houses dotting the landscape now and then, cycling Muuido is anyway a very nice ride.
We take the road that leads to what appears to be the only beach on the island. A few hundred meters from the beach, we found that you have to pay admission: 2,000 won each. No beach, then. We are still on a very tight budget (we have 90€ for 15 days at the moment).
Somuui-do
Let’s go to another small island, connected to Muuido by a pedestrian bridge. It’s really very small. Again, to enter the islet we should pay 2,000 won per head, but luckily the conductor let us in for free. The power of fully loaded bicycles.
There is a small village that begins at the harbor and climbs up the only road on the islet, I think at about a 30% slope. We deserve a bath in the tiny but nice Shell Beach near the port, nestled between rugged yellowish rocks.
First real bath after the Caspian Sea. The tide is low, but now we see it rise visibly; soon there will be no more beach, at least until the next low tide. Definitely not the place for the tent.
We climb across the islet. While I was pushing the bicycle up, a little old lady took me by the arm and told me something, I don’t know what, but it was related to my muscles.
Another stops me and tells me that I have to cover from head to toe (like them), otherwise I could get a tan! The skin should be white… The absurdity of beauty standards, to think that we have people getting sun-lamps…
Korean pic-nic on Seoul’s best beach (maybe)
After climbing the small rock island, we were surprised to find a beautiful beach made of tiny shells. There are a lot of Koreans with a lot of food and drink.
They invite us to have lunch together. Kimchi (fermented vegetables), raw garlic, slices of grilled pork, omelet, noodles, and boiled potatoes. And beer, Soju (a distilled liquor around 18 degrees), and Makgeolli, a rice wine around 5 degrees. Not bad.
After a serious lunch and drink, the Koreans bathe while wearing clothes and lifesavers. We, however, as our mothers told us in our childhood, wait to digest. Pitched the tent down the beach, we went for a walk along the path that climbs on the island.
It’s a nice walk up the small hill, with a good view and some shade. On our return, within an hour, the tide had risen fast. We go to a restaurant/fishmonger to ask for a bit of boiling water to cook the noodles.
Almost flooded
The night runs fine until 4 am when the sound of the sea wakes us up. Yesterday we were told that our campsite was ok, but the sea is close and the noisy rising tide makes a bit of a scary impression.
There’s an early riser fisherman who says not to worry. Eventually, the tide stops two meters from the tent, and we cannot go back to sleep; never mind, we enjoy the sunrise.
Getting back to Seoul
Today, we have to get to the center of Seoul, where we will find hospitality, and we hope to explore the city in depth over the next few days. On one of the steep climbs of Muui-do, Daniele breaks the chain – it seems like we’ll be a bit late at our host, but the fix takes almost one hour.
Back at the island airport, we tried to take the highway to save us 20 kilometers. We had almost done it but, a few kilometers from the bridge that would take us to the mainland, we were intercepted by the police.
Let’s try the trick: “We are foreigners, and we do not understand anything.” It works, but we still get off the highway. We have to take the ferry again. It’s getting very late.
At the end of the day, we had covered 80 kilometers through traffic, an endless city. Incheon, Bucheon, and Seoul are, in fact, a single urban area, 23 million people packed into 2,250 square km. We meet often on bicycle lanes, but we are still in jams. Traffic lights seem endless.
We arrive at the home of Justin, our new host, when it’s dark, finding addresses in Korea is not easy at all, house numbers seem to be placed randomly, and ten neighboring streets all have the same name.
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