Incheon to Gimpo airport is the all-stop train, not the AREX express

The train from Incheon to Gimpo is the slow one. The airport railway’s express, the fast train every arrival hears about, runs from Seoul Station to Incheon without stopping, and Gimpo is not on its route at all. The train that goes to Gimpo is the all-stop train, on an ordinary transit card.

Incheon Airport’s English help page describes the train and bus lines as a “nonstop ride” to Gimpo in 30 to 40 minutes. Read that as one ride with no change, which is true, and not as the express. From Terminal 1 the train makes six stops on the way.

So the answer is the all-stop train, and the interesting part is that you may not need Gimpo in the first place. If your domestic flight is to Busan or Daegu on Korean Air, there is a way to make the connection without leaving Incheon.

Incheon to Gimpo airport train: which one

The airport railway (AREX) runs two services on one line. The express goes from Seoul Station to Incheon Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 with no stops in between. The all-stop train calls at every station, and Gimpo Airport is one of them.

From Incheon Terminal 1 towards Seoul, the operator lists these stations before Gimpo: the cargo terminal, Unseo, Yeongjong, Cheongna International City, Geomam and Gyeyang. Six stations, then Gimpo. From Terminal 2 the train also stops at Terminal 1 first.

Unseo, the second of those, is also where the bus to Sindo island starts, now that a bridge has replaced the ferry.

Do not buy an express ticket. It will take you to Seoul Station and nowhere between.

The all-stop train takes an ordinary transit card such as T-money, and these are the operator’s adult fares to Gimpo Airport:

A single-journey card from the station machine costs 100 won more and holds a 500 won deposit, refunded at the station where you get off. If you are staying in Korea more than a day, a T-money card is the better buy.

The journey time the airport gives is 30 to 40 minutes. The railway’s own page does not print a time between these two stations, so treat that as the airport’s estimate and not a timetable.

How long the Incheon to Gimpo airport transfer really takes

The ride is the short part. On a separate domestic ticket you are entering Korea at Incheon, so before the train comes immigration, baggage claim and customs, and after it comes a new check-in at Gimpo’s domestic terminal.

Neither airport publishes a minimum connection time for this transfer, and the guides that rank for it each pick their own buffer. What this page can tell you is which parts are fixed. The train has a published fare and a route you can check in advance, and the queues at both ends are the parts nobody prints a figure for. Book the domestic leg late enough that a long immigration queue at Incheon does not decide whether you make it.

Gimpo has a domestic terminal and an international terminal, and your connection leaves from the domestic one. The Gimpo page has the station’s levels and where each line leaves from.

Flying on to Busan or Daegu? You may not need Gimpo

Korean Air described its transit-only domestic flights (환승 전용 내항기) in 2023 as running from Incheon to Busan’s Gimhae airport and to Daegu. Incheon Airport still has an English page for them under its transfer guide, and it mentions passengers arriving from Daegu. It does not name the airline or list the routes, so treat Busan and Daegu as the 2023 network and confirm the route when you book.

The rules come from the airline’s own explanation, published on 15 September 2023:

Arriving from abroad, you follow the transfer signs, go through transfer security and board at a gate. Incheon Airport’s page says passengers making this connection are not allowed to exit the arrival hall, and Korean Air puts the same rule as staying airside. If your international flight is on another airline, Korean Air says to check that it has a baggage agreement with Korean Air before you rely on a through-checked bag.

In August 2023 the airline listed four flights a day each way to Busan and one a day each way to Daegu. That is a 2023 reading, so treat it as the shape of the service and check the current schedule when you book.

This only helps if the booking was made that way. The airline says the Incheon leg cannot be ticketed on its own, so it is a choice you make when you book the international flight.

Is there a bus from Gimpo airport to Incheon airport?

The limousine on Gimpo’s English transport page is the 6707A. The page, run by Korea Airports Corporation, lists it at stop 14 of the domestic terminal with a cash fare of 7,500 won, and says it leaves 10 minutes earlier from the international terminal.

Its times do not agree with each other. The summary gives a first bus at 03:55 and a last at 21:30. The timetable printed underneath starts at 4:05 and ends at 21:00. The 10-minute rule could explain the first bus but not the last one. The footer reads 2020. An airport page that nobody updated reads exactly like a current one, and nothing here says which year the timetable belongs to.

That page covers only the Gimpo to Incheon direction. For the bus from Incheon to Gimpo I have not found a current timetable: the operator’s site did not load when this page was checked. Treat the bus as the option you take when you already have its times from the operator, and the train as the default.

The Climate Card works one way

Seoul’s short-term Climate Card passes cover the subway inside Seoul, and the city’s page adds Incheon’s two terminals as places you may get off. It does not add them as places you may get on.

On this transfer the pass helps only on the way back to Incheon. The 30-day version has stopped, and which card to use now is on its own page.

What is not checked here yet

The fares, the station list and the express route come from the airport railway’s own Korean pages, read on 28 September 2026. The “nonstop” wording and the 30 to 40 minutes come from Incheon Airport’s English FAQ, and the transit-only flight rules from Incheon Airport’s English page and Korean Air’s 2023 newsroom post. The 6707A figures come from Gimpo’s English transport page, read the same day.

Three things are unconfirmed, and here is what each changes:

• Train frequency and last trains from Incheon to Gimpo. The operator’s timetable is drawn by a script and is not in the page text. If you land late, check the departure board at the station before you book the domestic leg.
• The 6707A from Incheon. If the operator’s current times differ from Gimpo’s page, go by the operator.
• Whether Asiana runs transit-only flights of its own. Only Korean Air’s are described here.

If you are going into Seoul rather than on to another flight, that trip has its own page. If you have made this connection recently and something here is wrong, tell me.