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Travel guide
Busan
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: April to June, and September to October
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Welcome
Busan, in a few days
South Korea's main port, a city of three and a half million squeezed between the Korea Strait and 800-metre mountains. Painted refugee villages on the hillsides, seven beaches within the city and the country's biggest fish market.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 3 things
- D2 Day 2 2 things
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 1 thing
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
3 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Jagalchi Fish Market free · about 1 hKorea's largest seafood market, on the old trawler quay, run since the war by the Jagalchi ajummas, with tanks of live octopus and abalone.
- Afternoon · Gamcheon Culture Village free · about 2 hA hillside of stacked, brightly painted houses above the port, built in the 1950s by Korean War refugees and never cleared.
- Late afternoon · Songdo Marine Cable Car · about 1 hA 1.6-kilometre line over the sea from Songdo Beach to Songnim Park, opened in 2017, with some glass-floored cabins.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Lotte Hotel Busan ↗ · All places to stay by budget →€130 a night
D2
Day 2
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Taejongdae cliffs free · about 1 h 30A wooded headland at the tip of Yeongdo, with cliffs over a hundred metres high, a lighthouse, and shacks serving raw octopus below.
- Afternoon · Haeundae Beach free · half a dayKorea's best-known beach, a kilometre and a half of pale sand below a row of towers, packed with parasols in July and August.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Lotte Hotel Busan ↗€130 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Blueline Park beach train · about 1 h 30An old coastal railway reopened in 2020, with a 4.8-kilometre train from Mipo to Songjeong and little four-seat sky capsules on a parallel track.
- Afternoon · Haedong Yonggungsa Temple free · about 1 hA Buddhist temple on the seaside rocks twenty kilometres north-east of the centre, one of the few in Korea not set in the mountains.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Lotte Hotel Busan ↗€130 a night
D4
Day 4
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Beomeosa Temple and Geumjeongsan free · half a dayA great Jogye monastery founded in 678, with a trail behind it up Geumjeongsan (801 metres) along the walls of an eighteenth-century mountain fortress.
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
Some links are partner links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Bibimbap: rice in a bowl with vegetables, an egg and a spoonful of gochujang chilli paste, mixed at the table.
- Korean barbecue: meat grilled at your table and wrapped in lettuce leaves.
- Kimchi: fermented cabbage with chilli, served with every meal.
- Tteokbokki: chewy rice cakes in a sweet, fiery sauce, the classic street snack.
- Jeju black pork: the island's own breed, grilled thick over charcoal.
- Soju and Korean beer, often drunk together, with the street food of Myeongdong.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Google Maps barely works for directions here: install Naver Map or KakaoMap, and get a T-money card for transport.
- Mind the etiquette: pour and receive drinks with both hands, and let the eldest start eating first.
- Never stand your chopsticks upright in rice.
- Bukchon is a lived-in neighbourhood: its central lanes are closed to visitors in the evening, and quiet is expected.
- Book early for the cherry blossom in April and the autumn leaves in late October.
Getting by
Words that help
English ↔ Korean
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| Hello | 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo) |
| Thank you | 감사합니다 (gamsahamnida) |
| Please | 주세요 (juseyo) |
| Yes | 네 (ne) |
| No | 아니요 (aniyo) |
| Excuse me | 실례합니다 (sillyehamnida) |
| Goodbye | 안녕히 가세요 (annyeonghi gaseyo) |
| Do you speak English? | 영어 하세요? (yeongeo haseyo?) |
| I don't understand | 이해 못해요 (ihae mothaeyo) |
| How much is it? | 얼마예요? (eolmayeyo?) |
| Where are the toilets? | 화장실 어디예요? (hwajangsil eodiyeyo?) |
| The bill, please | 계산서 주세요 (gyesanseo juseyo) |
| Help! | 도와주세요! (dowajuseyo!) |
| Cheers! | 건배! (geonbae!) |
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencySouth Korean won (KRW, ₩)
BudgetAbout €100 a day, mid-range
Best seasonApril to June, and September to October
PlugC/F · 220V
Tap waterSafe to drink, though most people drink it filtered or bottled
TippingNot customary
Emergency112 / 119
EntryVisa-free for 90 days (six months for Canadians). Until 31 December 2026, UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports, and those of eleven EU countries including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, are exempt from the K-ETA; other EU citizens must apply for it online before departure. Travellers without a K-ETA fill in the free e-Arrival card online in the three days before landing.
HealthNo vaccination required. Keep tetanus, diphtheria and polio up to date; hepatitis A is worth considering if you eat well away from the tourist trail.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/busan
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.