Bucheon Day Trip: Comics Museum, BIFAN & Art Bunker B39

Bucheon’s name is a stitch job. In 1914 the Japanese colonial government merged the rural parts of Bupyeong and Incheon and took one syllable from each: Bu + cheon. The city that grew there is squeezed between Seoul and Incheon, and after Seoul it is the most densely populated city in the country. Most visitors only see it through the window of a Line 1 train.

What makes Bucheon worth getting off for is a deliberate choice it made in the 1990s and 2000s: to become Korea’s city of comics and genre film. The national Korea Manhwa Contents Agency and its museum are here, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) has run every summer since 1997, and in 2017 UNESCO named Bucheon a City of Literature. Add a trash incinerator turned into an art space, and you have a half day that looks nothing like the rest of Gyeonggi.

Why does Bucheon have three districts again?

Because it tried living without them and changed its mind. Bucheon became a city in 1973 and was later divided into districts (gu). In July 2016 it abolished all three to run the city through ten large neighbourhood offices. On January 1, 2024, after complaints from residents, it brought back the old system: three districts and 37 neighbourhoods (dong).

The city’s other nickname is 복사골 Boksagol, “peach valley”: the low hills of the old town grew peaches, and the peach blossom is still the city flower. The flat land in the middle stayed farmland until the government built the Jung-dong new town (1989–1996) and the Sang-dong district (1999–2003) on it, which is why central Bucheon looks like a grid of apartment blocks.

How do you get to Bucheon from Seoul?

By subway: Line 7 for the comics museum, Line 1 for the old town. Line 7 was extended through Bucheon in October 2012 and runs from southern Seoul straight across the city. Line 1 (the Gyeongin Line) follows the 1899 railway through Bucheon’s old centre. The Seohae Line links Gimpo Airport with Bucheon Stadium and Sosa.

🚇 Seoul to Bucheon by subway (Korea Manhwa Museum directions; station counts from line maps, Oct 2026)

From	Line	To	Ride	Best for
Gasan Digital Complex or Onsu (Line 1 transfers)	Line 7	Samsan Gymnasium	11 / 7 stops	Korea Manhwa Museum (Exit 5, 1 min)
Onsu	Line 7	Bucheon City Hall	5 stops	Jung-dong, department stores, BIFAN venues
Seoul Station	Line 1	Bucheon	14 stops; Yongsan–Incheon express trains also stop	Old town, Wonmi-dong
Gimpo Airport	Seohae Line	Bucheon Stadium	2 stops	Change to Line 7; Wonmisan

Art Bunker B39 is not on the subway. It is a short taxi ride from the Line 7 stations in central Bucheon, and it has a free car park for more than 50 cars.

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What should you see in Bucheon?

Korea Manhwa Museum — Run by the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency (KOMACON), the museum opened in 2001 and moved to its current building in Sang-dong in 2009. The permanent galleries are on the third and fourth floors: the third tells 110 years of Korean comics through original drawings, magazines and rare books, and the fourth is hands-on, with webtoon displays, a “world of panels” and photo zones. There is a 3D cartoon room with 15-minute screenings, a 386-seat animation cinema (a BIFAN venue in July), and on the second floor a free comics library with general, digital and children’s reading rooms where new titles arrive twice a month. If you have read our webtoon industry explainer, this is where the paper side of that story is kept.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Art Bunker B39 — Bucheon built the Samjeong-dong incinerator during the Jung-dong building boom; it began burning 200 tonnes of the city’s rubbish a day in May 1995. In 1997 a Ministry of Environment test found dioxin emissions more than 20 times the limit, residents organised to shut it, and it went quiet in 2010. Instead of demolishing it, the city turned it into a cultural space, designed by architect Kim Kwang-soo, which opened on June 1, 2018 and reopened in 2023 after renovation. The name comes from the garbage bunker, a pit walled by 39 m of concrete, now used for installations and performances. You can walk the open floors in about 30 minutes even when nothing is on; the current media-art show, Spectral Crossings, runs October 24 to November 29, 2026.

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Wonmisan — The 165 m hill east of the old town is Bucheon’s spring landmark: its slopes turn pink with azaleas in April, and the city holds an azalea festival there. Bucheon Stadium Station (Line 7 and Seohae Line) is at its foot. It is a gentle walk rather than a hike.

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🎫 Bucheon visitor information (KOMACON, Art Bunker B39, BIFAN; Oct 2026)

Place	Hours	Closed	Admission
Korea Manhwa Museum	10:00–18:00, last entry 17:00	Mondays, Jan 1, Seollal and Chuseok	5,000 won; free under 36 months
Korea Manhwa Library (2F)	10:00–18:00	Mondays	Free
Art Bunker B39	Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00	Mondays and public holidays	Free parking; check the website for exhibition tickets
BIFAN 2026	July 2–12, 2026 (30th edition)	—	Tickets per screening on bifan.kr

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When is BIFAN, and is it worth planning a trip around?

It runs for about ten days every July, and yes, if you like horror, fantasy or Asian genre cinema. The 30th BIFAN ran July 2–12, 2026, showing 321 films from 50 countries — 170 features, 85 shorts, 38 AI films and 28 XR works — with 92 world premieres. The opening ceremony was held at Bucheon Art Center, and screenings filled Bucheon City Hall, the Korea Manhwa Museum, CGV Sopung, Lotte Cinema Bucheon, Art Bunker B39 and the Bucheon Astronomy Science Center. Events also took over the City Hall lawn and Hyundai Department Store in Jung-dong.

Outside July, BIFAN keeps a smaller calendar; its “Digital November” programme runs November 2–10, 2026. For Korea’s other big festival, see our Busan International Film Festival guide.

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Where do locals eat in Bucheon?

In neighbourhood places that have been open for decades: pork-bone soup, sundae and gopchang hotpot, plus an old Pyongyang naengmyeon house. Bucheon has no tourist food street. The old town around Bucheon Station and Wonmi-dong and the Songnae area of Sosa-gu have the long-running places; Jung-dong, around City Hall and Sinjung-dong stations, has the Hyundai and Lotte department stores, whose food halls are the easy option between BIFAN screenings. The four below are listed by the Korea Tourism Organization (listings updated 2025–2026) and appear in the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization’s 2026 restaurant data. Hours are from the KTO listings.

Buil Gopchang Sundaeguk, Jung-dong main branch (Gyenam-ro 304) — Open since 1984 and certified as a 백년가게 Baeknyeon Gage, the SME ministry’s “century store” label for long-running small businesses. The dish is 곱창전골 gopchang jeongol, a spicy hotpot of pork intestines that the kitchen spends six hours a day cleaning; sundae soup and boiled head meat are on the menu too. 11:00–22:30 (last order 21:40); closed on Seollal and Chuseok days.

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Jeongin Myeonok (Simgok-dong, Buheung-ro 347) — A Pyongyang naengmyeon house whose KTO listing dates the business to 1972. Buckwheat is milled in-house every morning and the broth is made from Korean beef. The noodles taste mild on purpose; add mustard or vinegar if you like, and finish with a cup of the hot noodle water. Open daily, 10:30–21:00.

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Cheonggiwa Ppyeodagi Haejangguk, main branch (Wonmi-dong, Jomaru-ro 384) — Its KTO listing says everyone in Bucheon knows it. The order is 뼈다귀해장국 ppyeodagi haejangguk, pork neck bones simmered with dried cabbage leaves, with plenty of meat on the bones; for a group, the bone hotpot (ppyeo-jeongol), with broth refills. Open daily 07:00–23:00, so it also works as breakfast before the museum.

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Inha Chapssal Sundae (Songnae-dong, Simgok-ro 34beon-gil 43) — According to its KTO listing, a couple opened it in 1985 in front of a Bucheon police station with a merchant sailor’s retirement money, and the same sign has hung there for some 40 years. Order 순대국밥 sundae gukbap, soup with sticky-rice blood sausage and pork, served with rice; the kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) is the side dish people mention. Open daily 09:00–20:00 (last order 19:15).

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🍽️ Bucheon local eats at a glance (Korea Tourism Organization listings, updated 2025–2026)

Place	Area	Order	Best for
Buil Gopchang Sundaeguk	Jung-dong	Gopchang hotpot	Dinner near the BIFAN venues
Jeongin Myeonok	Simgok-dong	Pyongyang naengmyeon	A light lunch
Cheonggiwa Ppyeodagi Haejangguk	Wonmi-dong	Pork-bone soup or hotpot	Breakfast or a late meal
Inha Chapssal Sundae	Songnae-dong, Sosa-gu	Sundae gukbap	A cheap, quick lunch

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What does a day in Bucheon look like?

• 10:00 — Korea Manhwa Museum. Line 7 to Samsan Gymnasium, Exit 5. Two hours for the third and fourth floors, then browse the free library.
• 12:30 — Lunch. Line 7 to Bucheon City Hall, then a short taxi to Buil Gopchang Sundaeguk in Jung-dong for gopchang hotpot, or to Cheonggiwa in Wonmi-dong for pork-bone soup.
• 14:30 — Art Bunker B39. Taxi north to Samjeong-dong. Walk the bunker and the current exhibition (the building closes at 17:00).
• 16:30 — Jung-dong. Back to the City Hall area for coffee, the department stores, or, in July, an evening BIFAN screening.
• In April: swap the afternoon for Wonmisan's azaleas from Bucheon Stadium Station.