Sindo island Korea: a bus over the bridge, not the ferry

For more than fifty years, the only way onto Sindo, Sido and Modo, three small islands off the north side of Incheon Airport, was a boat from Sammok wharf. On 14 July 2026 a road bridge opened. Three days later police stopped every car at the bridge, with a queue of 2 to 3 km behind the barrier. On 1 August the boat stopped calling altogether.

Most English pages about the islands were written for the boat.

Incheon Airport to Sindo island: four ways, October 2026

The public route has two legs. The first is the airport railway, which is covered in the airport to Seoul guide: take the all-stop train, not the Express, from Terminal 1 towards Seoul. Unseo is the second station, after the cargo terminal, which is the same line the Gimpo transfer page walks through.

Unseo station on the airport railway, where bus 2251 to Sindo starts. Photo: Irfan Syahmi, Unsplash License

The second leg is bus 2251. It began on 19 September 2026 and runs from the Yeongjong bus depot through Unseo station to the Sindo wharf. Media Incheon gives a 60 to 90 minute gap between buses. Joongboo Ilbo, working from the plan, has one bus doing 14 runs a day, the first leaving the depot at 05:00 and the last at 11:30 pm. Those are depot times. The last bus back from Sindo is not printed in either report, so read the board at the Sindo stop before you let the island bus go. The fare is not stated in any report I found.

Bus 2251 stops at Sindo. Joongboo Ilbo reported that riders for Sido and Modo change at the Sindo terminal to the island’s public bus, and that the city would look at extending the route after three months of figures.

The Sindo wharf terminal, signed 신도바다역, where bus 2251 ends and the island bus starts. Photo: 칼빈500, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The bridge, and the boat that stopped

The Sindo Peace Bridge (신도평화대교) is 3.26 km long and 13.5 m wide, two lanes, 50 km/h, no toll. It opened fully at 2 pm on 14 July 2026 and is the first leg of a longer road planned to run from Yeongjong to Ganghwa, 14.6 km in all, and in the longer plan on towards Kaesong and Haeju. Until that road is built, Gyodong island off Ganghwa is a train and two buses from the airport. Cars, motorbikes, bicycles and walkers can all use it, around the clock.

Three days after opening, on 17 July, Yeongjong police stopped every car entering the bridge from 11:10, with a queue of 2 to 3 km behind the barrier. Kyeongin Ilbo’s headline two days later was four kilometres in an hour. A second full closure towards Sindo was reported on the afternoon of 17 August; the report did not give a cause or a reopening time.

The numbers explain it. Kyeonggi Ilbo reported about 1,000 vehicles a day on the island road before the bridge and a forecast of 8,800 a day right after opening, onto island roads that are one lane each way, with too little parking.

The ferry lost the same traffic the road gained. Ridership on the Sammok route fell 72.1%, and from 1 August 2026 the operator dropped Sindo and sails straight to Jangbongdo. Ongjin county kept the 13 sailings a day to Jangbongdo and covers the loss.

Here is where the guides go stale. Incheon city’s English bike tour page still tells you to take a boat at Sammok and reach Sindo in about 10 minutes. In September, Incheon Today found Yeongjong-gu’s own tourism site still listing Sindo ferry times and fares. A page about an island that does not say when it was last checked is describing a boat that no longer stops there. Muuido, on the south side of the airport, went through the same change in 2019, and the Muuido page has the airport bus that replaced its ferry. Further south, Seonyudo off Gunsan got its road in 2017, and the boat there now leaves from the island where the road ends.

The Sindo wharf and Gonam village, from the photographer’s description. Photo: IRTC1015, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Sindo, Sido and Modo: what is on each island

The three are joined by short bridges, and the road from the Sindo wharf through Sido to the end of Modo is about 6 km and almost flat, according to a 2018 cycling piece in the city’s own magazine. That is the whole trip, which is why it was always sold as a bike day.

Incheon’s island districts. The airport island is in B, the area the map’s key gives as the proposed Yeongjong district; Sindo, Sido and Modo make up Bukdo Myeon, number 7, just off its north-west shore. Corrected 18 October 2026: this caption first said the airport island was A, which the key gives as Ganghwa. Map: Amble, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Sindo is where you arrive. Incheon’s English tourism page points to the easy forest path on Gubongsan, with azaleas and cherry blossom in spring. The same 2018 magazine route ends its second day on the Gubongsan pavilion.

Sido is the middle island and the township’s centre, with the Bukdo office, police box, clinic and post office. Just past the Sindo bridge there is a small salt field. At the end of the paved road north are the site where the drama Sad Love Story (슬픈연가) was filmed and Sugi beach. Kyeongin Ilbo counted 44 public parking spaces and about 50 camping pitches there, and reported a 250-space county car park due to be finished in October 2026. That car park is not confirmed as open.

Sugi beach is also the answer to the autocomplete question “sido island full house”. The set from the 2004 drama Full House stood by this beach. It is gone. The city magazine said in 2018 that the set had been demolished and only the beach was left. A lot of drama-location pages still list it as a stop.

Modo is the end of the road. Its draw is the Baemikkumi sculpture park on the beach, with works by the sculptor Lee Ilho set against the sea, which Incheon’s tourism page describes as popular with couples. A third-party listing derived from the tourism board gives about 100 works, an admission of 2,000 won and opening every day. I have not confirmed the fee with the park.

Rocks on the Modo shore. Photo: 칼빈500, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

A half day or a full day from the airport

The island bus is the piece that decides a half day. Its timetable, as published from 15 July, starts at 06:35 from the Sindo terminal and runs a loop past the Sido sports ground, Sugi beach and the Modo car park, with the last trip ending at 6:10 pm. Miss that and Sido or Modo to the Sindo wharf is a walk of a few kilometres. Bus 2251 runs later than the island bus.

When not to go

The opening weeks showed the pattern: a clear summer weekend or a public holiday fills a one-lane road with a single bridge in and out. Police closed it twice, on 17 July and 17 August, and residents on Sido have complained about big motorbikes. Banners on the islands say the roads are too narrow for large buses and trucks.

So treat a sunny Saturday as the day to go by bus or bike, or not at all. A weekday in autumn has none of these problems, as far as any report shows.

If you are on a layover, read the transit entry rules first. Unseo is outside the airport, and so is everything on this page.

What we could not check

• The 2251 fare and its last bus back from Sindo. Reports give depot times only. I did not find the city’s own route notice.
• Whether the island bus timetable has changed since the 15 July version, and its fare.
• Bike hire on the islands. Incheon’s English page says you can rent one on the island. That page also still describes the ferry, so I am not relying on it.
• Bikes on the airport train. A banner at Unseo station mentions folding and non-folding bicycles. I have not checked the operator’s current rule.
• The Baemikkumi fee comes from a third-party listing, not the park.
• Whether the 250-space car park by Sugi beach opened in October.
• Whether any standing limit on cars has been set since the August closure. I found none.

If you have been out there since the bridge opened, tell me what the bus stop board says. Those times are the ones I could not see from here.