Baedari, in Incheon, was somewhere I’d been wanting to visit for a while.
This time, instead of picking a specific destination, I decided to just wander a loop through the Baedari alleys — stopping by an old bookshop, catching an exhibition at a small art space, grabbing lunch, and finishing with a cup of coffee.
1. Jiphyeonjeon (Bookshop)
The first stop was Jiphyeonjeon, an old bookshop on Baedari’s secondhand book street.
Walking through the alley lined with old buildings and bookshops, time seems to slow down a little. There’s a particular atmosphere that comes from old books and old buildings — the kind of feeling that’s hard to find in newly built spaces.
Just walking slowly through this alley feels like a small trip back in time. I browsed inside the bookshop, took in the scenery of the alley, and made my way to the next stop.
2. Itta Space Small Art Museum
Next, I headed to Itda Space — except the door was closed. Confused, I looked it up again and realized Itda Space Small Art Museum was actually in a different building, so I moved on to find it.
Walking further down the alley, I eventually found Itta Space Small Art Museum.
Walking around Baedari, you come across places that preserve old spaces as-is and repurpose them as cultural venues — Itda Space Small Art Museum is one of them. The space has been cleanly restored into an exhibition venue, so you get to view both the artwork and the building itself, which is a nice combination. It fits especially well with the old alley scenery of Baedari, making it a good stop to pair with the secondhand bookshops nearby.
If you’re walking around Baedari, it’s worth checking in advance whether an exhibition is currently on.
I also ran into a kitten along the way, and left some food for it by the wall.
3. Yonghwa Banjeom (Lunch)
By the time I’d walked around for a while, I’d worked up an appetite, so I looked up a nearby restaurant on the map and found Yonghwa Banjeom.
If you’re looking for an old-school Chinese restaurant around Baedari, this is a place worth stopping at — it’s full of old-fashioned, long-standing charm. Even though I arrived just a bit after opening, there was already a wait. They take your order while you wait, and bring the food out as soon as a table opens up.
The inside was smaller than I expected, but the turnover was fast. While waiting, I overheard other customers saying the fried rice here is really good and that I had to try it — so fried rice it was.
It came with a fried egg on top and a side of clear egg soup, with fluffy, well-cooked rice. It tasted just like the fried rice I remembered having on a trip to China a long time ago — genuinely delicious. Nothing about the ingredients seemed especially special, so it’s a bit of a mystery why it tasted this good. (Looking at the photos again is making me hungry all over again.)
4. Jaesin Coffee
Full from lunch, I went to a nearby café for an iced Americano — Jaesin Coffee, a place whose exterior alone gave off a certain presence.
The space is split across two floors, with ordering done on the second floor. Like the other spots today, this one also seems to have been remodeled while preserving the old building structure.
The iced Americano was good too — and more than anything, the space was spacious and comfortable, making it the perfect spot to rest for a bit.
Baedari feels like a neighborhood where the fun is in slowly walking the alleys and discovering old buildings, bookshops, small exhibition spaces, restaurants, and cafés one by one.
Route: Jiphyeonjeon → Itta Space Small Art Museum → Yonghwa Banjeom → Jaesin Coffee
Following this order — browsing books, seeing an exhibition, having a meal, and finishing with coffee — made for a small but genuinely satisfying day.
This felt like my first real visit to Incheon. Being a port city, it still has a lot of old buildings left over from its trading history, similar to Mokpo or Gunsan, which made walking the streets here especially enjoyable. I didn’t have to go far from Seoul to feel like I’d traveled back in time — it was a genuinely refreshing change of pace.
Info
📍 Jiphyeonjeon
Address: 3-1, Geumgok-ro, Dong-gu, Incheon
Hours: 12pm–6pm
📍 Itta Space Small Art Museum
Address: 1-4, Geumgok-ro 11beon-gil, Dong-gu, Incheon
Hours: 11am–7pm, closed Mondays
Note: Check in advance whether an exhibition is currently on
📍 Yonghwa Banjeom
Address: 7, Chamoejeon-ro 174beon-gil, Dong-gu, Incheon
Hours: 11:30am–8pm (break 3pm–5pm, closed Mondays)
📍 Jaesin Coffee
Address: 108-1, Gaehang-ro, 2F, Dong-gu, Incheon
Hours: 11am–7pm, closed Mondays