Only 8 hours in seoul

I have a 15 hour lay over in seoul. What could I see and be back in the airport in 13 hours? What would be the best and closest tourist thing to see? Thanks

I'd recommend the Seoul City Bus Tour..

The Seoul City Bus Tour covers major sightseeing and shopping areas, including Gyeongbokgung and Changgyeonggung palaces, Namdaemun and Dongdaemun markets and Seoul Tower. There are currently three courses: the downtown course, the palace course and the night course.

For the price of one ticket, you can get on and off the bus at as many stops as you like. Just get back on the next bus as soon as you`re done looking around. Cost: only 10,000 won.

Each bus also comes equipped with an earphone speaker that provides a travel narrative in English.

How to Take the Tour From Incheon International Airport (two steps)

1. Buy both an Airport Bus and a Seoul City Tour Bus ticket at the Incheon International Airport Limousine Bus ticket booth.
2. Look for Airport Bus No. 605 at bus stops 6B or 13A outside the front entrance of the Incheon International Airport terminal.
3. Get off at Gwanghwamun Bus Stop. and transfer to a Seoul City Tour Bus (look for city tour bus street sign)..
4. After you circle the city and finish your tour, reverse course and get on a limousine bus back to the airport.

Note: When you are at Incheon International Airport, stop at a tourist information kiosk and talk to someone for additional details . You might also consider bringing a notepad and getting a Korean to write down key words for you because once you are in town you will have to negotiate a foreign lanuage.

For more information on the Seoul City Bus tour, see:

Note: for a really special experience visit the national tourist office web page and ararnge for a free "Goodwill Guide" tour guide to meet you at Gwanghwamun Bus Stop. The guide can accompany you and explain places of interest along the way. The guide is free, but you will need to pay for their ticket plus meals if you dine out during the day (a really low-cost, authentic view of Korea).

To reserve a tour guide, see:

We recently had a layover in Seoul so we booked into one of the many hotels near the airport that had free transfers. We had a good refreshing sleep, a great Korean barbecue meal in one of the restaurants in Incheon Airport town, then the next day we took our return transfer back to the airport and booked on one of the many stopover tours that operate out of the airport.

The tour operators stored our luggage for us and made sure we were back at the airport with plenty of time for our forward journey. Tours leave from and return to the airport and start from 1 hour in length, with lots of different itineraries.

Here is a link for more info:
http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_5_1.jsp

I would most definitely do the DMZ tour:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_5_7_2.jsp

it takes 5 hours 30 minutes, and picks you up and drops you off at Incheon airport.

Thanks for the info on the goodwill guides!

I may consider this for my upcoming day in Seoul. I arrive 02:40AM, plan on staying the the Spa on Air in the airport, then day tripping into Seoul until my evening departure into SE Asia.

My aim is to see a couple of key sights (not yet determined) and mainly to try out lots of street food. I am not sure how much help a guide would be on the food part as that is my main goal.

I too would love to do the DMZ tour but I will save that for another time. I want to see Seoul this time around then explore more on later trips.

Foo