The Best Place Near Seoul in a Rainy Day : Triple Street and Hyundai Premium Outlet in Songdo International City

Songdo International City, Incheonsi

October 10th, 2022

  Rain and cold can never stop us. It rained during the holidays of Hangul-nal, Hangul proclamation Day, October 8th to 10th. So we just changed our plan of traveling to a park in Yeoncheon, the north, to tour to a big shopping complex in Songdo, Incheon, the west.

  Songdo International City is, as the word itself, a international district, which was designed by the government for a free economic zone. There are several free economic zones across the country other than Songdo. In these Korean free economic zones, international businesses and economic activities such as foreign investing and trade, can be easier with the government’s support. In Songdo, there are college or university campuses from all around the world including State University of New York and Yonsei University, one of Korean top universities as well as sky-scraping apartment blocks for residents.

  Interestingly Songdo in Incheon didn’t exist before. This island was made by land reclamation. In early 2000’s it started setting business, commercial, housing and education structures, and now it became a dynamic, international, young, populous and rich city.

  Songdo has several big impressive commercial blocks and Triple Street is one of them. It is a huge shopping and dining complex which consists of five blocks, called A, B, C, D and Tower. It has also the multiplex, Megabox and a big indoor playground for kids and global fashion brand stores. Especially it was so impressive to me that all the famous restaurant, cafe, pub brands in South Korea were there, as well as local brands. It would be so hard thing to choose one for your dining. It was hard to us too.

  Triple Street opens 10:30 a.m. everyday. We arrived at 10:10 a.m. after one-hour driving from Paju, because we are early birds. We looked for a place to have lunch. It was so cold that we wanted to have some soup things. We found a Korean food restaurant, called Horaengi Gotgan. It turned out that the restaurant is called as a must-eat place by influencers. It opens 11:00 a.m., so I wrote down my name on their waiting list. And we decided to look around the mall more before its opening.

  One of good things about Triple Street is that the mall is connected to the Hyundai Premium Outlet underground. It is a big strength especially when the weather is not good.

  Songdo Hyundai Premium Outlet is one of famous fashion outlets around the capital area for its size and amenities. It has also many good restaurants and cafes, that’s why it is to hard for you to decide where to go for meal, or dessert and coffee.

  We had guk-bab, Korean traditional food with rice and soup, at Horaengi Gotgan. After finishing our lunch, we shopped some clothes for Soo in the outlet. And then we stopped by a Starbucks reserved store between the outlet and the mall to have hot cafe mocha. This Starbucks reserved store doesn’t have an elevator for the disabled and the counter for general orders is upstairs, so I went up to order coffee and Alex and Soo had to wait on the ground floor. That’s a downside of the store.

  Our last destination was the newly opened bakery store in the area — Paik’s Bakery. On the way to the store I was attracted by many good pubs. As a beer person I envied the locals at the moment. The mall and outlet complex is surrounded by college and university campuses. I can tell it is a hot place for students.

  The streets were so crowded with people to enjoy the holiday when we left the mall back to home. It was 1:30 p.m.

  

- How to get Triple Street and Songdo Hyundai Premium Outlet

  If you will rent a car or drive your own car, it takes about one hour from Seoul to Songdo, Incheon. Besides driving a car, if you use public transportation, it is very next to Technopark subway station on Incheon 1 Line of Seoul Metro.

- Opening hours of Triple Street and Songdo Hyundai Premium Outlet

 

  Triple Street 10:30 - 22:00 (It is opening hours of main buildings and parking lots. Opening hours of each store is different.)

  Songdo Hyundai Premium Outlet 10:30 - 21:00

- Information about the Korean restaurant, Horaengi Gotgan is here. https://tnb4earlybirds.blogspot.com/2022/10/horaengi-gotgan-must-eat-k-soup-place.html

- Information about the bakery store, Paik’s Bakery is here. https://tnb4earlybirds.blogspot.com/2022/10/paiks-bakery-mr-paiks-new-business.html