I thought everyone was exaggerating about how great the airport in Seoul was until I actually went there

Shutterstock

Since I live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, I try to fly out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport whenever I can. It’s just a 15-minute cab ride, and I can get through security quickly.

But, boy, is it a dump, especially in the United Airlines terminal. There’s an Au Bon Pain, but it’s really just a chow line without the regular storefront you see in most airports. That’s about it.

So the bar was set low when I flew to Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, on a recent business trip. Still, I had a lot of people, including two of my Korean colleagues, tell me it was the best airport in the world (it was ranked the world’s second-best airport by Skytrax, a high honor).

I’ve only been to a handful of international airports — including London’s Heathrow, Schiphol in Amsterdam, and El Prat in Barcelona — and they’re great, but Incheon is by far the most impressive one I’ve ever been to.

The building itself is a modern work of art. Everything is in one giant curved terminal instead of separate terminals like most airports. You can see how beautiful it is from the outside:

Wikimedia Commons

But the inside is the real treat. Incheon is essentially a high-class shopping mall with airplane gates in between the stores and restaurants. It goes on seemingly forever.