8 hour layover in Korea
 

I have a friend traveling from San Francisco to Thailand. She has an 8 hour layover in Korea on the way back. Is the city close enough to explore during the layover. Would appreciate any suggestions to pass time.

isn't it a bit of a disaster area just now?

Depends on which city you're referring to, if you are talking about seoul you might not want to risk it the new international airport is in Inchon, and after you get through customs, and even if you took a tax to Seoul, it would take over 1:15 minutes to get there, and to return and to through customs again and get to the airport early enough for a international flight, well you do the math... Meanwhile Inchon is nearby, I hear that it's a industrial port, and not very historical or scenic, maybe good for a meal and to check out city life?

We used a long layover in Seoul (Inchon) Airport to catch up on our sleep, renting an immaculate room in the hotel within the airport. Completely soundproof, spotless, so comfortable. Only $45, if memory serves.

Just returned from a trip to Seoul. My flight out was on the day that the typhoon struck the southern coast. Best advice on the weather condition is, don't listen to everything you hear on tv. Some of my family currently resides in Seoul and they say the typhoon hasn't done a thing to the city of Seoul. . . which is kind a like saying the weather in Seattle will be bad because of the hurricane in Florida. The other areas on the coast (6-7 hours from Seoul), now that's a differnt story.<BR><BR>The new airport in Incheon is amazing. It was my first visit to the new airport. I've yet to visit a airport anywhere that equals the beauty of this airport.<BR><BR>In regards to Anna's question, I agree with Jill that the airport is a distance away from Seoul. The western side of seoul (world cup stadium) will take approximatly 45 min to 1 hour of travel. The western side (olympic stadium) will take a good 1 1/2 hours of travel time. But, this'll still give you about 4 hours to tour. The people are very warm and friendly so don't worry about getting lost. Just ask the younger population for direction as many of them speak english. <BR><BR>Not sure if you've tried this before, but the airport does have a spa/public bath. Very relaxing and theraputic. Similar to Thai's famed massages. In korea, their spa facilities are well known throughout asia. This might be a good way to unwind and let time pass.