Asia >> East Asia >> South Korea >> Gyeonggi >> Incheon >> Ganghwa Island

Ganghwa Island (강화도, 江華島 Ganghwado) [1], also Kanghwa Island, is a rural county (군, gun) of Incheon, South Korea. The county of Ganghwa includes several other islands, most notably Seongmodo, the site of Bomunsa Temple.

Culture and History

Ganghwa is separated from the Korean mainland by a narrow channel, spanned by two bridges passable by cars. North Korea is directly across the channel on the north coast of the island.

Travel to Ganghwa Island - Visa Requirements

Buses to Ganghwa Island

There are frequent direct buses (100 min) from Seoul's Sinchon Bus Terminal to the main town of Ganghwa-eup, as well as Bupyeong Station and Incheon Bus Terminal in Incheon. Local buses also connect to Gimpo (the city, not the airport).

Tours and Getting around Ganghwa Island

There is a tourist information located inside the bus terminal. No English is spoken but they have English language tourist maps.

Local buses appear to be infrequent.

Ganghwa Island tourist attractions and sightseeing

  • Bugeun-ri Dolmen(부근리석묘군). A prehistoric burial site listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site, the largest stone here is 2.6×7.1×5.5 meters in size and weighs somewhere between 150 and 225 tons. Hourly buses from Ganghwa-eup. There is another cluster of dolmen at Gocheon-ri (고천리).Free.  
  • Bomunsa(보문사). High up on Seongmodo Island, this temple is located in a scenic grotto with rock carvings and is famous as a place for women to pray for sons. Getting there is half the fun: take a bus from Ganghwa-eup to Oepo-ri (30 min, every 30 min), cross by ferry to Seongmodo (10 min, every 30 min), and then take a shuttle bus to the temple.1500 won.  
  • Gwangseongbo Fortress
  • Mani Mountain
  • Jeondeungsa Temple

Ganghwa Island souvenirs and shopping

Ganghwa Ginseng and Hwamunseok, which is a mat woven with flower patterns a representative traditional Korean product, with its intricate handwork and designs.

Ganghwa Island Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Ganghwa Island nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

Ganghwa Island cheap and luxurious hotels, youth hostels and lodging

There are several motels and yeogwan in Oepo-ri.

  • Ganghwa Namsan Youth Hostel, 439 - 16 Namsan-ri, Ganghwa-eup, ☎ +82-32-934-8800. Cavernous, charmless youth hostel, 10 min walk from the Oepo-ri ferry terminal. 

Get out

This page was last edited by Jani Patokallio. Based on work by Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license

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