You want to visit Busan, the second most important city of South Korea? Come on to see my tips to visit most of the city in 2 days.
ITINERARY - SOUTH KOREA: here is the full itinerary for a tour of South Korea.
Because Busan is a seaside city, it’s not as full of cultural visits as Seoul. However it’s still an interesting city, that also has a very convenient underground transportation network, even more convenient than Seoul’s MRT, because you don’t need to walk several kilometers between the entrance of the subway station and the platform.
With that being said, let’s go to see the details of the schedule:
Day 1: Beomeosa Temple
In Busan, there is a very famous temple which is the Beomeosa Temple. The temple itself is not very large and is nothing special. But the only specific thing about it, is that, it was built on top of a mountain. After visiting the temple, you can go to take a walk in a kind of forest full of rocks, where you can also discover plants and all kind of things. But beware of mosquitoes!
To get there, it’s pretty simple. Take the subway (line 1) and get off at « Beomeosa » station (exit 5). When out of the subway station, turn right. Then you should see a little uphill street. Walk into it for about 3 minutes (you should also normally see signs that show you the way) and you’ll arrive at a bus station. From there, you’ll have 2 options available:
- bus: number 90, it takes about 10 minutes to get to the temple entrance. But be careful with the bus, because as usual, everything is written in Korean and no one speaks English. So make sure you’ll be able to get off at the right station.
- walk: I don’t recommend this method because you’ll need to walk uphill, on the road (it’s a bit dangerous) and it’s quite far, about 30 minutes.
Once arrived, follow the path to reach the temple. Admission is free. After having visited the temple, you can take a path that leads behind it. From there, you can start a kind of hiking into a forest. It’s a path made of large stones, you’ll see signs showing you all the species of plants of the forest …
To get back down, just take the same bus or walk downhill.
In the evening, you can go strolling in a large shopping center (LOTTE) which is located downtown near « Seomyeon » subway station.
Day 2: citytour
For your second day, I highly recommend visiting the Gamcheon Culture Village. This large village with a childish decor is very entertaining. Overthere you can take lots of funny pictures, and admission is free.
To get there, it’s very simple. Ride the subway (line 1) and get off at « Toseong » station (exit 6). While getting out of the station immediately turn right. And again, 2 options are available:
- bus: in the main street you’ll find bus stops. You can take one of the three following buses : 1-1, 2 or 2-2, and get off at « Gamcheon Elementary School » station. Notice that those buses are very special : they are short, tall and very colorful.
- walk: head to the small roundabout located at the end of the street and then take the little uphill street (the special colored buses also take this street, so just follow them!). Then you can’t take the wrong way because there’s only one way to the top. Even if it’s uphill, it’s pretty easy and that way, you’ll be able to see all the different houses along the way.
Once at the top, you’ll see a map of the village, that shows all the points of interest and the specific path to follow.
Then to get back down, it’s the same thing, or you take the bus or you walk down hill.
Once down from the Gamcheon Culture Village, go to have lunch before heading to Yongdusan Park, where you can go on top of the Busan Tower. To get there, take the subway (line 1) and get off at « Nampo » station (exit 1). From the station, you’ll see the tower, so just follow it until you arrive there.
Moreover, don’t miss the Jagalchi market which is the largest seafood market in the country. You can go there from the park on foot, it’s not far away (you should be able to see the market while getting out of the park). But if you don’t want to walk, ride the subway (line 1) and get off at « Jagalchi » station (exit 10). In addition, the market is located in the waterfront, so you can enjoy the view from there.
Tip : in the inside of the market, you can take a lift (it’s free) to go on the top floor to have a panoramic view of the city.
Tips
Transportation
Busan’s subway has 3 lines, but you’ll see, that most of the time, you’ll only take the line 1, because most of the sightseeing places are located on that line.
Moreover, knowing that you won’t visit a lot of place in Busan and that you won’t stay very long, to me, there’s no need to take the card, just buy single tickets each time you need to use the subway. Single tickets cost 1300 won where it’s 1200 won with the card. And don’t worry you won’t need to queue at the machines when buying tickets!
Restaurants
As in Seoul, nobody speaks English there, so at restaurants just look at the pictures. And to place your order, show the waiters the dishes you have chosen by pointing the finger!
Hotels
In Busan, I stayed at the G7 hotel which was really great.
Description: rooms are very large with a shower in the bathroom. Everything is provided: shower gel, shampoo, toothbrush, … Also every day you’ll get biscuits in your room (like oreos) and drinks (Asian juices in small cans). And you can also get down on the ground floor to have a coffee directly from a machine. The staff is very friendly.
Price: this hotel is pretty cheap, about $30 to $40 per night for 2 people.
Location: the hotel is located close to the subway station « Beomnaegol ». In addition, at the next subway station, there’s a large shopping center, that you can also easily reach on foot from the hotel.
How to get there: to reach the hotel from the subway station, take the exit No. 6 and go straight down the main street (normally you should see a GS25 store on the road), then turn left at the second intersection. Finally, continue walking a little bit and you should bump into the hotel.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| big rooms | - |
| the price | - |
| very convenient location | - |
Thanks for reading :)
