Harbor Park Hotel

Rooms and decor

Drive up to Harbor Park Hotel and you see a 20-floor tower on the Incheon waterfront, modern but classic, open since 2009, a 4-star hotel in the Jung-gu district, Incheon's old town near Chinatown and the harbor. The lobby is high and airy in warm tones with a generous waiting area, and staff who speak English and Chinese greet you warmly. There are 178 rooms, simply done in a modern style with soft colors, soft sofas and soft beds. They start at 30 square meters, larger than rival 4-star chains in Korea, and reviewers agree the space is good value. The standout is the east harbor view from the Harbor View rooms, which face big ships and the ferries to Wolmido Island coming in and out of port. Open the curtains in the morning and the harbor is busy; at night the harbor lights reflect off the water — a view that hotels in other parts of Incheon cannot offer. City View rooms are good too, looking over old downtown Incheon. Bathrooms are large enough, spotless, with a tub and good-quality toiletries, sound system and TV. Reviewers call the cleanliness better than expected for a 4-star that is 15+ years old — even if carpet and furniture in some rooms show a little age.

Food and amenities

The heart of Harbor Park, and the reason reviewers praise it, is the international buffet at the Harbor View Buffet, which serves a wide range — traditional Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Western and Italian dishes, desserts, fresh bakery and drinks. The quality and variety beat the usual 4-star, and reviews call it strong value at roughly $26 to $33 per person. You also get the harbor view through the windows while you eat. The breakfast buffet, included with the room, is varied and a good start to the day. There is also a Chinese restaurant, Tien Hsiang Lo, serving traditional Cantonese food, and a Sky Lounge on floor 20 for an evening cocktail and a panorama of the harbor and old Incheon — a quiet, classic spot popular for photos. For facilities, the indoor pool is a decent size with a swim lane, the gym is well equipped with cardio and weight machines, and there is a traditional Korean sauna, good for couples and families who want to unwind. Staff are friendly, speak English, and will help arrange transfers and suggest things to do around Chinatown.

Location and getting there

Harbor Park Hotel sits in the Jung-gu district at the center of old Incheon — a location no other 4-star here can match. It is a 4-minute drive to Incheon Chinatown, the oldest in Korea (since 1884), where you can walk the jajangmyeon street and eat the original dish at Gonghwachun (open since 1908) or Pungmijung (the birthplace of Korean jajangmyeon), plus gong bread, dim sum and Chinese-Korean food. Right next to Chinatown is the Songwol-dong Fairy Tale Village, with houses painted in fairy-tale themes and a popular photo spot, and Wolmido Island, a 15-minute drive away, with a small seaside amusement park and ferries to other islands. Incheon Station (Subway Line 1) is a 10-minute walk, and from there the subway into central Seoul (Seoul Station) takes about 1 hour 15 minutes. It is about 35 minutes by car from Incheon Airport. In short, this location is best for travelers set on old Incheon, Chinatown and traditional Korean street food. It is not for a single-night airport transit, and not if your plan centers on Songdo IBD.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to help you decide. First, the distance from Incheon Airport at about 35 minutes by car makes this a poor fit for a single-night transit — for that, Paradise City or Grand Hyatt are much closer. Harbor Park is for travelers set on old Incheon. Second, the distance to Songdo IBD is about 25 minutes by car, so if you mean to see the future city (Central Park, the skyscrapers, Triple Street), this is the wrong base. Harbor Park is the world of old Incheon, the opposite of new Songdo. Third, the building opened in 2009 and has not had a major renovation, so some of the design shows its age, with carpet and furniture in a few rooms looking less than new. Anyone expecting cutting-edge modern may be disappointed, though cleanliness stays good and the rooms run larger than rival 4-star chains, so the value holds.

Our take

After reading through plenty of real reviews, Harbor Park Hotel is the 4-star closest to Incheon Chinatown in this list. It sells a full package — a location near the old town, spacious harbor-view rooms, the good international buffet at the Harbor View Buffet, the Sky Lounge panorama on floor 20, and the best value, starting around $80 a night. If your trip in your head is old-school Incheon — waking up to big ships in the harbor from your window, walking for original jajangmyeon in Chinatown, photographing the Songwol-dong Fairy Tale Village, visiting Wolmido Island, then settling into the Sky Lounge for an evening cocktail, this is a very good fit. It suits families and couples who want the feel of Korea's old town, and travelers who love street food and history. But if you mean to transit a single night near the airport, or to focus on Songdo IBD, this may not be your best answer. Overall we give it 8.3/10 for a 4-star hotel that does its job in a way that is genuinely its own.