This is my planned 2016 trip with my two friends, Nico and Stef. We’re flying in to Seoul Incheon and immediately went to Busan on the first day. Some might ask, why don’t do Seoul first? Because, we happened to travel at Chuseok period which is a big holiday in South Korea. With that in mind, we scheduled Seoul to be on the Chuseok period itself, since a big metropolitan city like Seoul should have more places open during the holiday.
From Incheon Airport there is a KTX (Korea Train Express) route that will take you straight to Busan, but since we opted to explore a bit of Seoul (station) first, we took an AREX Express train from Incheon to Seoul Station. It’s pretty similar to Narita Express in Tokyo that brings you from airport right into the middle of the city. After an early dinner, we boarded our train to Busan, KTX 219. KTX is fast, almost 300 km/h, and there were no zombies encountered.
Our hotel in Busan was located in the vicinity of Suyeong metro station, the intersection between green line and orange line. It was within walking distance but the stairs! Korean subway stations seemed lacking of escalators, or maybe people in general liked to exercise. Either way, carrying luggage upwards on the stairs was a good exercise too. Our hotel was Gwangalli Utopia Hotel, great location, very affordable, and there’s a lot of food (and night clubs!) nearby.
Here’s a summary of places we visited during our 2 day visit in Busan.
Taejongdae Park (Day 1)
It’s a cliffside park where you can walk around to the edge of the cliff. The park is circular and you have to walk to reach main attraction which is the lighthouse and the cliff itself. Entrance fee is free and I would recommend to go very early in the morning to avoid crowds. Prepare your legs to walk a little bit! There is a Danubi train to get around inside the park, however I think we came too early that the train hadn’t start operating yet. Direction: we took taxi from Busan station which costed around 9,000 W.
Gamcheon Cultural Village
We had lunch around Taejongdae area and we immediately continued to Gamcheon Cultural Village. Again, taxi was very efficient (10,500 W from Taejongdae to Gamcheon) and you will be dropped right at the entrance. The best way to explore the colorful village is to buy the map from the information center for 2,000 W, and then do the stamp hunt following the direction given inside the map. There are 9 stamps to be collected across the village, and the route is designed so that you will get pretty much a complete glimpse of the village without wasting too much time getting lost. Also you will get 2 postcards upon completion.
Busan Tower
Being the highest point in the city, Busan Tower will give you a magnificent 360 degree view of Busan. You can see LOTS of bridges, ports, shipyards, housing areas, industrial areas, all in one go. Ticket for going up the tower costs 5,000 W. Outside the tower is Yongdusan Park, where a lot of locals loved to hang around. There were some youth music event when we were there. Directions: taxi again (4,400 W from Gamcheon). It’s located just behind Nampo subway station, a short walk away from the fashion street.
Gwangalli Beach
We took a walk to Gwangalli beach (15-20 mins from our hotel in Suyeong). The beach area at nighttime, on weekend, was very lively and full of music. It is also blessed with the glorious view of the Diamond Bridge at the background, and the city lights on the side. Getting a coffee/dessert here is perfect. Directions: bus number 49 goes around to and from Gwangalli beach and the city, you can just drop by anywhere since it’s basically still within walking distance. We used Google maps to track the bus route back to Suyeong area.
Yonggungsa Temple (Day 2)
This is a cool one. Being a seaside city, most of Busan’s attractions are located by the sea. And when you have a temple by the sea, it is gorgeous. I would love to meditate with the sound of waves as the background music. This temple is best visited in the morning when there are less crowds, thus you will be able to take great photos of it. Directions: taxi from our hotel (10,700 W). Lots of street food outside, but they open not too early, around 9-10 in the morning. Finding taxi around this temple was unexpectedly easy as well despite the slightly isolated location.
Oryukdo Skywalk & Igidae Coastal Walk
This is the slightly uncommon destination that we chose. Oryukdo was a set of tiny islands, and there is a viewing platform/skywalk made of glass on the nearby wharf that will give you a nice view of those islands. The skywalk is free and you will be provided with shoe wraps to protect the glass (also to keep the glass clean, I think). It was not too crowded when we visit so if you really intend to get that perfect selfie, you can queue up over and over again.
Oryukdo Skywalk was also the start (or the end) of Igidae Galmaet-gil (coastal walk) part 2. The course that we were taking was from Oryukdo Skywalk to the entrance of Igidae Park (although you can do that in the other direction). I feel though our direction was less taxing since we got more downhills. The hike will take you up and down cliffs, forests, and stairs, but all in all it has magnificent seaside views along the way. It was 4.8 km walk for around 3 hours. No drink sellers found along the way though, only two ice cream sellers, so stock up your water supply!
Centum City & Spaland
From Igidae Park entrance, we took taxi to Centum City, which is the biggest department store in the world. This department store is indeed so HUGE that you need a map (!) to navigate around. My main target is actually Spaland, a 3-story Korean jjimjilbang (bath house) that is located inside Centum City. Imagine having a bath house inside a department store!
Spaland is a modern and extensive jjimjilbang, it has 18 hot water pools (similar to onsen) and lots of other themed sauna-like rooms. Only the pools were gender separated and the rest are mixed, because you will be provided with the lounge clothing to wear. On top of that, they have massage chairs, cafes, movie chairs, and all other means of relaxing! It is a great way to rest your legs after that strenuous coastal walk. Spaland entrance fee is 18,000 W for 4 hours. You can go at night for cheaper price. Directions: just go to Centum City subway station.
We had our last dinner in Busan in Haeundae area, although we didn’t actually go to the Haeundae beach itself. Busan was a vibrant city, simple and welcoming, public transport was not that difficult too.
Concluding Notes
Pro tip #1: Get a copy of Busan map from your hotel/train station/any tourist attraction. They have English, Chinese, and Korean version.
Pro tip #2: Taxi is your best friend if you travel in groups. They are quite easy to find especially near major tourist attractions. Use your map that you get from #1 to tell the driver where you want to go!