Sorae Port

Sorae Port in Incheon's Namdong district is a working fishing harbour you can reach by subway. At low tide the harbour floor turns into mudflat and the boats lie tilted on the mud; when the tide comes in they float again and head out. On weekends it fills with people from the Seoul area buying salted shrimp, blue crab and raw fish, and behind the bustle lies a story of salt fields and a narrow-gauge railway.

A harbour built on salt and a narrow-gauge line

Until the end of the Joseon era, Sorae was a small fishing village under Incheon. Things changed during Japanese colonial rule. From 1934 salt pans spread across the wide mudflats, and in 1937 the narrow-gauge Suin Line was laid to haul the salt away, giving Sorae its own station. By the 1950s the salt fields here are said to have produced around 30% of Korea's salt.

After the Korean War, refugees from the North, many of them from Hwanghae Province, settled here and began catching shrimp in small boats. Saeujeot (salted shrimp), made with salt from the neighbouring pans, became the port's signature product in the 1970s. When Incheon's inner harbour opened in 1974 and small shrimp boats could no longer use it, they moved to Sorae. The salt pans closed for good in 1996 and the narrow-gauge trains stopped in 1995, but when the Suin Line reopened as a standard-gauge commuter line in 2012, Sorae became easy to reach again. In 2017 it was designated a national fishing port.

What to see

• Fish markets: a traditional fish market and a larger general fish market line the waterfront. The traditional market burned down in March 2017 and reopened in December 2020 in a modern building with one basement and two upper floors. Stalls sell shrimp, crab and fermented seafood, and restaurants will serve the raw fish you have just bought.
• The harbour and mudflats: the port sits at a river mouth where several streams meet the sea, so the view changes completely with the tide. At low water the boats sit in rows on the mud; as the tide rises they all start moving at once.
• Haeoreum Square and the Shrimp Tower: a long waterfront promenade. The 21 m Shrimp Tower observation deck, shaped like the port's signature catch, looks over the harbour and across to Wolgot in Siheung. A crab sculpture stands on the same square.
• Jangdo Battery site: a gun emplacement built in August 1878. The waterway through Sorae was a shortcut towards Seoul that avoided the strait off Ganghwa Island, so after the 1876 treaty with Japan a battery was placed here to stop foreign vessels using it.
• Sorae Railway Bridge and Sorae History Museum: a walkway runs beside the old Suin Line bridge, with views towards Wolgot. The Sorae History Museum, opened in 2012, covers the salt fields, the railway and daily life in the port.

Good to know

The name Sorae is explained in two ways, neither of them certain: one theory says it comes from "Sollae", a stream once lined with pine trees; another links it to the Tang general Su Dingfang, who supposedly landed here. The local fishing cooperative, founded in 1963, was made up largely of refugees, so its communal shamanic ritual still mixes in Hwanghae-style elements. Every autumn the Sorae Port Festival takes over Haeoreum Square; in 2026 it ran from 2 to 4 October and drew some 510,000 visitors.

What to buy

The catch traded at Sorae ranges from shrimp and blue crab to croaker, sea bass, skate, flatfish and small octopus, but the port's real signature is saeujeot. Fermented-seafood shops let you taste and compare grades named after the season the shrimp were caught, such as ojeot, yukjeot and chujeot. Crabs are best in spring, when the females are full of roe, and in autumn, when the males are meatiest. If you buy raw fish at the market, the restaurants upstairs and nearby will serve it for a table charge.

From salt pans to wetland: Sorae Wetland Ecology Park

A short walk from the harbour, the old salt fields have been turned into the Sorae Wetland Ecology Park. Salt was made here until 1996, and a project to return the pans and mudflats to wetland was completed in May 2009. The park covers about 1.51 km²: windmills, salt storage sheds and demonstration salt pans are scattered among the reeds, and the ecology exhibition hall displays the old salt-making tools. The hall is free and closed on Mondays.

Tripto tips

• Getting there: from Soraepogu Station on the Suin–Bundang Line it is just over 600 m to the harbour, about a 10-minute walk. Roads and car parks get jammed at weekends, so the train is much easier.
• Check the tide: come at high tide to watch boats coming and going, or at low tide to see them lying on the mud. A quick look at a tide table lets you see two very different harbours.
• Best time: spring and autumn, when crab and shrimp are in season, are the liveliest times at the market, and autumn also brings the festival.
• Time needed: allow 2–3 hours for the market, a meal and a walk along Haeoreum Square.
• Buying seafood: check the weight and price before you pay. The market was at the centre of an overcharging controversy around 2017, so pick stalls with clearly displayed prices and compare a few before you buy.
• Combine with: add the Sorae Wetland Ecology Park for a half-day outing. Its exhibition hall opens 10:00–18:00 (until 17:30 in winter).