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Flying from Seoul to Hong Kong?

Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.

About this route

SeoulHong Kong

A medium flight from South Korea to Hong Kong SAR China. You gain 1 hour on arrival.

Route type International
Distance 2,069 km / 1,286 mi
Distance class Medium-haul
Direction Southwestbound
Est. duration About 3h 10m
Time change Destination -1h

This route crosses the Tropic of Cancer, the northernmost latitude where the sun passes directly overhead.

Departing from

ICN

Incheon International Airport

Location Seoul, South Korea
Time zone GMT+9 · UTC+9
Current time

A megacity on the Han River

Seoul is a dense, mountainous megacity split by the Han River, with the historic core and palaces to the north and newer business districts like Gangnam to the south. It runs on a fast, cheap, and far-reaching subway system, so a car is rarely needed. The metro area is vast and packed, ringed by hills and high-rise housing. Its main airport sits on an island well west of the city, a fair distance out.

Surrounding hubs

338 km / 210 mi
563 km / 350 mi
822 km / 511 mi

Arriving at

HKG

Hong Kong International Airport

Location Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR China
Time zone GMT+8 · UTC+8
Current time

The city between harbor and peaks

Hong Kong is a dense, vertical city wedged between Victoria Harbour and a ring of steep, forested peaks, split between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon peninsula on the mainland side. The MTR subway and the historic Star Ferry across the harbor cover the built-up core thoroughly, and the Airport Express runs nonstop from the airport on reclaimed land at Chek Lap Kok to the city center in under 25 minutes. Hong Kong dollars, English and Cantonese signage, and a separate legal and transit system set it apart from mainland China, even though it returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. A car is rarely useful and rarely owned; nearly everyone moves by rail, ferry, or on foot.

Nearby airports

136 km / 85 mi

Surrounding hubs

806 km / 501 mi
846 km / 526 mi
1,146 km / 712 mi
How it works

Find out which side of the plane to sit on.

Pick your airports, set your departure time, and you're done.

We calculate the sun's position based on your flight path and departure time, then tell you which side of the plane gets direct sun and which stays shaded. No guessing, just math.

01

Enter your flight

Pick your departure and arrival airports and set your departure time at the departure airport. FlightSide estimates the duration and you can adjust it if you know the exact schedule.

02

We track the sun along your route

Your flight path is broken into hundreds of points. At each one we check where the sun is and which side of the plane it faces.

03

You get a recommendation

Which side of the plane to sit on, left or right, depending on whether you'd rather avoid the sun or enjoy it. The percentages and the map are there if you want to see why.

Want to go deeper? Accuracy, edge cases, polar routes — see the FAQ →

Latest journal

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Small updates, route observations, and clearer explanations for how the app keeps evolving.