Destinations · Compare
Two cities, side by side, on the things that actually decide it.
Not weather and photographs. Airlift for your delegate origins, hotel capacity under one roof, transfer times at the real arrival hour, the season, and the local calendar constraint nobody mentions until you have signed.
Pick two cities
Any of the 46 playbooks, in either column.
Asia PacificICNSeoulCOEX sits under a hotel, a mall and two metro lines, and Korea runs real subsidy schemes for international meetings that meet delegate thresholds.
EuropeLISLisbonCongress capacity, good value by western European standards, and a city that flatters a programme.Seoul COEX sits under a hotel, a mall and two metro lines, and Korea runs real subsidy schemes for international meetings that meet delegate thresholds.
Lisbon Congress capacity, good value by western European standards, and a city that flatters a programme.
At a glance
Region
Asia Pacific
Europe
Airport
ICN
LIS
Time zone
GMT+9
GMT / WEST
Positioning
A convention market the government actively pays you to use
Europe’s fastest-rising congress city
Operating notes
Access and airlift
Incheon (ICN) is a major hub with excellent long-haul across Asia, North America and Europe. Gimpo (GMP) covers regional Asia. Airport rail reaches the centre in under an hour.
Humberto Delgado (LIS) has strong European coverage plus Americas and Africa links; the airport is unusually close to the city.
Hotels
Deep, modern and reliable, clustered usefully around Gangnam and COEX. Rates are reasonable relative to Tokyo or Singapore.
Good quality and value, but capacity is the constraint in peak weeks.
Ground
The metro is fast, cheap and signed in English. Traffic is heavy but rail makes it largely irrelevant for delegate movement.
Short transfers and an easy city to move around. Hills and narrow old-town streets restrict coach access in places.
Season
April to June and September to November. Summer is hot and humid with a monsoon period; midwinter is cold but operationally fine.
April to June and September to October are best. Major congress weeks remove hotel availability entirely.
Fit, venues and constraints
Best for
- Technology, semiconductor and electronics congresses
- Medical and scientific meetings
- Beauty, cosmetics and consumer launches
- Association congresses seeking bureau support
- Association and scientific congresses
- Technology conferences
- Incentive programmes and offsites
- European sales and partner meetings
Principal venues
- COEX Convention & Exhibition Center
- Dongdaemun Design Plaza
- SETEC
- Grand Walkerhill Seoul
- Signiel Seoul and Lotte World Tower
- KINTEX, Goyang for large exhibitions
- Centro de Congressos de Lisboa
- FIL — Feira Internacional de Lisboa
- Altice Arena
- Estoril Congress Center
- Palácio and quinta venues in Sintra and Cascais
Watch out for
- K-ETA and visa requirements vary by nationality — check early
- Prime COEX dates are held years in advance
- Interpretation and localisation costs are a real budget line
- Bureau subsidies have delegate thresholds and application deadlines
- Hotel capacity is the binding constraint — book blocks very early
- Old-town venues have real access and load-in limits
- Peak-week rates rise steeply
- Estoril and Cascais add transfer time that is easy to underestimate
Still torn between two cities? Give us the delegate origins.
Airlift and visa position for your actual nationalities usually settles it in a day. Send the audience breakdown and the date window and we will come back with a recommendation and the reasoning.
hello@voyacircle.com