Busan is Korea’s second city and its first port, built along a strip of coast between mountains and sea, which means it is long rather than wide and planning matters. Three days is enough if you work along the coastline rather than hopping back and forth. Travellers who book Busan flights with Traveloka will find the direct flights short and the city considerably cheaper than Seoul.
Day one: Jagalchi and the old port
Start at Jagalchi fish market, the largest in the country, where the ground floor sells and the first floor cooks whatever you choose. Nampo-dong behind it is the old commercial district, with the BIFF Square film street and Bosu-dong’s second-hand bookshop alley. Finish at Yongdusan park for the tower and the view back over the harbour.
Gamcheon Culture Village
A hillside of houses built by refugees during the Korean War, painted and converted into a quiet art district in the 2000s. It is genuinely residential, so the posted requests to keep noise down are serious. Go in the morning before the coaches, and walk down through the lanes rather than taking the main route both ways.
Day two: Haeundae and the eastern beaches
Haeundae is the famous beach and the most built up. Gwangalli just west has the better view, with the suspension bridge lit at night, and a run of bars facing the water. Songjeong further east is smaller and where the surf schools are. The metro reaches all three, and the coastal path between them is walkable in sections.
The Haeundae Blueline Park
A disused coastal railway between Mipo and Songjeong has been converted into a walking trail with a small sky capsule and a beach train running along it. The four-kilometre path hugs the rocks the whole way and is the single most pleasant hour in the city. Capsules need booking ahead at weekends; the walk needs nothing.
Day three: Beomeosa and the temples
Beomeosa, on the slope of Geumjeongsan in the north of the city, is a working Zen monastery founded in the seventh century and reachable by metro and a short bus. Haedong Yonggungsa on the eastern coast is the other one worth the trip, built unusually on the rocks at the water’s edge rather than in the mountains.
Eating specifically Busan food
The city has its own dishes: dwaeji gukbap, a pork and rice soup served with a tray of condiments; milmyeon, wheat cold noodles invented here by northern refugees; and ssiat hotteok, the seed-stuffed pancake sold in Nampo-dong. All three are cheap, all three are better here than anywhere else in the country.
