Pyeongtaek Day Trip: Songtan Budae-jjigae & Base Towns

Going by its name, Osan Air Base should be in Osan. It is not. The runway lies in Pyeongtaek, next to the old town of Songtan, and Camp Humphreys, the largest US overseas military base, is also in Pyeongtaek, 15 km to the south. Two American bases in one Korean city have shaped what it eats, how its streets look and who walks them. Budae-jjigae, the “army base stew” of Spam, sausage and kimchi, has its own regional style here.

Pyeongtaek is also a rice-plain city of over 600,000 people with a Yellow Sea port and a Samsung Electronics semiconductor campus that started production in 2017. None of that is a tourist sight. What you come for is the food and the strange, mixed streetscape of two base towns, and both fit into a day from Seoul on the high-speed line from Suseo.

How do you get to Pyeongtaek from Seoul?

Take a high-speed train from Suseo to Pyeongtaek Jije, then Line 1 north to Songtan for the food street. Pyeongtaek Jije is the city’s high-speed station and also a Line 1 station, so you can change on the spot. One change for 2026: SR, the company that ran the SRT trains from Suseo, was merged into Korail on September 1, 2026, according to the transport ministry, and KTX and SRT tickets, including trains from Suseo, are now sold together in Korail’s Korail+ app. So check times and book through Korail. The base town of Songtan is two Line 1 stops north of Jije (via Seojeong-ri), and the old center around Pyeongtaek Station is one stop south.

🚆 Seoul to Pyeongtaek (station order from the line maps; times approximate)

Route	Start in Seoul	Get off at	Approx. ride	Notes
High-speed train (SRT/KTX)	Suseo (Line 3, Suin-Bundang)	Pyeongtaek Jije	20–25 min	Fastest; reserved seats, book on Korail+
Line 1 subway	Seoul Station / Yongsan	Songtan	1 h 30 min +	Cheapest; T-money works; long ride
Line 1 subway	Seoul Station / Yongsan	Pyeongtaek	1 h 40 min +	For Tongbok Market and Myeongmul Gopchang
High-speed + Line 1	Suseo	Pyeongtaek Jije → Songtan	35–45 min total	Two Line 1 stops north of Jije

Anjeong-ri and Pyeongtaek Lake are off the rail lines. From Pyeongtaek Station, Anjeong-ri is a short taxi ride; Pyeongtaek Lake, near the Asan Bay seawall, is easiest by car or taxi.

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What is Pyeongtaek known for?

Two US bases, two camp towns, and the food that came out of them. The Songtan area began as a farming township whose name joins two old districts, Songjang and Iltan. During the Korean War the US Air Force built an airfield on the Jinwi River plain, and a 기지촌 gijichon, a camp town of bars, clubs and shops serving the base, grew up outside the gate. Songtan became a city in its own right in 1981 and was merged into Pyeongtaek on May 10, 1995. To the south, the K-6 airfield at Anjeong-ri became Camp Humphreys.

The expansion of Camp Humphreys needed the farmland of Daechu-ri and other villages in Paengseong-eup. It set off large protests in 2005, which ended when residents accepted a government settlement and left their homes in 2006; the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization now lists a Daechu-ri Peace Village in Paengseong-eup that holds a first-full-moon festival each year. The camp towns themselves have made their living from soldiers for some seventy years, and the English signs and Mexican, Brazilian and American menus are the visible part of that.

The other Pyeongtaek is newer. The port on the Yellow Sea was designated a trade port in 1986 and opened in 1997. Godeok International New Town and the Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek campus, which started production in 2017, drove the population past 600,000 in 2025. The bases and the chip plant cannot be toured, so plan your day around the streets outside them.

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What should you see in Pyeongtaek?

The Songtan shopping street and market for a half day; add Tongbok Market, Anjeong-ri or Pyeongtaek Lake depending on time. These are the places the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization lists for the city.

Songtan Tourist Special Zone and the Sinjang shopping street. The pedestrian street starts at the Osan Air Base gate and runs about 300 m toward the railway. Almost every sign is in English, and Gyeonggi Province says more than 90 percent of visitors are foreigners, mostly US service members. Come in daylight for the food; the bars and clubs belong to the evening. A Songtan Tourist Special Zone festival is held each year, and the province lists it in autumn.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Pyeongtaek International Central Market. The province uses this name for both the Sinjang shopping street and the alley market behind it, once called the “evening market.” Because it grew up for the base, it has more hobby shops, fashion accessories and multinational restaurants (Mexican, Brazilian, Thai, Japanese) than a normal Korean market, along with the budae-jjigae houses.

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Anjeong-ri Rodeo Street. The base town at Camp Humphreys’ main gate in Paengseong-eup: restaurants, clothing shops and souvenir stores for American soldiers and their families, plus the Paengseong Art Camp community art space. It is quieter and newer-feeling than Songtan, and a good place for a non-Korean lunch.

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Tongbok Market. Near Pyeongtaek Station, the city’s largest traditional market opened in the 1950s and once traded mainly rice and cattle. Today it is a general market with a 5일장 5-day market on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th of each month. Pyeongtaek Tteokjip (below) is inside.

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Pyeongtaek Lake Tourist Complex. In December 1973 a 2 km seawall closed Asan Bay between Pyeongtaek and Asan, creating a 24 km² freshwater lake. On the Pyeongtaek shore, a waterside deck runs 1.5 km (about 50 minutes) from the tourist information center past an observatory, a yacht dock and Korea Sori-teo to a sandbar park. The Pyeongtaek Lake Art Hall and the Ji Yeong-hui Gugak Hall, honouring a Pyeongtaek-born master of Korean traditional music, are on the same shore. Sunset over the lake is the reason to come this far.

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Pyeongtaek Port PR Center. A port exhibition hall at Poseung-eup, added to the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization’s list in February 2026, with displays for children and a third-floor observatory looking over the Seohae Bridge and the working docks. Call ahead for opening hours (031-682-5663).

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🗺️ Pyeongtaek sights at a glance (Gyeonggi Tourism Organization, accessed 2026-10)

Place	Area	Key fact	Best time
Songtan Tourist Special Zone	Sinjang-dong, Seojeong-dong	Designated May 30, 1997; 300 m pedestrian street	Lunch to early evening
Pyeongtaek International Central Market	Sinjang-dong	Formed at the base gate from 1958	Lunch
Anjeong-ri Rodeo Street	Paengseong-eup	Outside Camp Humphreys’ main gate	Lunch
Tongbok Market	Tongbok-dong, by Pyeongtaek Station	5-day market on dates ending in 5 and 0	Morning
Pyeongtaek Lake waterside deck	Hyeondeok-myeon	1.5 km, about 50 minutes	Late afternoon, sunset

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Where do locals eat in Pyeongtaek?

Songtan for budae-jjigae and burgers, the old center for gopchang and rice cakes. Two of the places below are on Gyeonggi Province’s official Gyeonggi Nopo list of shops that have kept the same trade for 20 years or more. Hours and prices come from the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization’s restaurant listings (refreshed October 2026) and Naver Place, checked in October 2026.

Kimne Jip (Sinjang-dong). One of the two Songtan-style restaurants Gyeonggi Province’s news portal chose to represent the style. The pot comes heavy with meat, ham and cheese, and the province’s writers advise eating the stew with rice first, then adding the ramyeon to the last of the broth so it cooks down almost dry. Budae-jjigae is 12,000 won per person; the pork chop and sausage plates are the side orders. Open 10:30–21:00 on weekdays (to 20:30 at weekends) with a 15:00–17:00 break; closed the first and third Monday of the month.

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Choine Jip, main branch (Seojeong-dong). A second Songtan-style budae-jjigae house, in Seojeong-dong away from the base gate. It opens daily 10:00–23:00 with no break, which makes it the safe choice late or on a Monday. Ham-and-sausage and cheese add-ons are on the menu; most tables add ramyeon.

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Miss Jin Hamburger, main branch (Sinjang-dong). A base-town burger shop by the shopping street that sells griddled burgers, hot dogs and Spam sandwiches. A plain burger is 4,500 won and a bulgogi cheeseburger 5,000 won. Open daily 11:00–02:00.

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Myeongmul Gopchang (Pyeongtaek-dong, old center). A 경기노포 Gyeonggi Nopo shop (2024). The owner’s parents started the beef-intestine restaurant in Anyang about 40 years ago and moved it to Pyeongtaek in 1994; their daughter took it over in 2007 and still uses her mother’s sauce recipe. Gyeonggi’s nopo book lists beef gopchang and sundae as its dishes. Naver Place lists it as closed on Mondays.

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Pyeongtaek Tteokjip (Tongbok Market). A rice-cake shop open since 1983, run by the founder’s third daughter, who started helping in primary school. It is also on the Gyeonggi Nopo list, which calls it Tongbok Market’s first nopo. More than 60 kinds of tteok are made the same day with Korean rice, including Pyeongtaek rice; the signatures since the first generation are bean chaltteok and yeongyang-tteok, a filling “nutrition” rice cake. Gyeonggi’s 2024 nopo book gives hours of 07:00–19:30.

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Smoke Town (Anjeong-ri). If you go out to Camp Humphreys, eat what the base town eats: American smoked barbecue. A one-meat platter is 24,900 won; pulled pork and brisket sandwiches are 14,500–15,500 won. Open daily 11:30–21:10.

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🍽️ More places in Pyeongtaek (Gyeonggi Tourism Organization listings, refreshed 2026-10)

Place	Area	What to order	Hours / closed	Map
Sutgogae Budae Jjigae	Sinjang-dong, market entrance	Budae-jjigae 11,000 won; add a “jjigae steak”	11:00–21:00, break 15:00–16:30; closed 1st & 3rd Tue	📍 Open in Naver Map
Yeongbinru	Sinjang-dong	Jjajangmyeon 5,000 won; jjamppong; sweet-and-sour pork	Daily 10:00–21:00	📍 Open in Naver Map
Gobuksu Pyongyang Naengmyeon	Hapjeong-dong	Pyongyang mul-naengmyeon 14,000 won; mung-bean pancake	11:00–21:00, closed Mon	📍 Open in Naver Map

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What is a good one-day route in Pyeongtaek?

• 09:30 — High-speed train from Suseo to Pyeongtaek Jije, then Line 1 one stop south to Pyeongtaek Station.
• 10:30 — Tongbok Market. Rice cakes at Pyeongtaek Tteokjip; better still if the date ends in 5 or 0, when the 5-day market is on.
• 12:00 — Line 1 north to Songtan (three stops) and walk or taxi to the Sinjang shopping street.
• 12:30 — Lunch. Budae-jjigae at Kimne Jip (check it is not the 1st or 3rd Monday), then a Miss Jin burger for later.
• 14:00 — Walk the market. Pyeongtaek International Central Market, the hobby shops and the street up to the Osan Air Base gate. Do not photograph the gate or guards.
• 16:00 — Choose: taxi to Pyeongtaek Lake for the deck walk at sunset, or back to Pyeongtaek Station for gopchang at Myeongmul Gopchang before the train home.