Busan, a coastal city with a cool beach.
Busan is a charming little city that although has fewer people than Seoul, also has something a bit more than what Seoul can give. It’s got a city center, where you can do some shopping if you like, and where the shops aren’t too many in numbers or don’t all sell the same thing. There’s a great night scene in this city, where clubs are still sounding strong at 10pm on a Sunday night – at least from the outside.
Street food stalls go strong till late at night, and you also feel safe where you are. My favourite part of this city is Haeundae Beach, but maybe only because I’m a beach girl at heart. We went there three times in our four days here! If you love seafood, you’ll be spoilt for choice. Check out our travel video below.
Here are some things to do in Busan, if you’re looking for something other than Seoul to visit.
1. Shop at the Seomyeon Underground Shopping Center
It rained half the time we were in Busan, but thank God there are still things to do when the weather threatens to spoil everything. Shopaholics may enjoy this underground shopping center, but beware of shops that do not display prices.
2. Visit Seomyeon, the city center, in the day and night
Seomyeon is where everything happens. You’ve got shops, tons of restaurants and even street side food stalls. ‘Nuff said! In the day, it’s just like any other lively city but things liven up a lot at night. The neon lights, flashy signs and music escaping clubs’ entrances will remind one of Tokyo, even if you’ve never been there yourself.
If you’ve missed Yoogane before, you can try dining here too. There is an Artbox branch, where I ended up buying a card reader and selfie lens for my camera. I was so tempted to get one of those cute cloud night lights but stopped myself because I don’t really have space at home for it. Oh, and I might have also bought a new pair of sports shoes from one of the several Nike stores located in this area.
3. Visit Beomeosa Temple
Beomeosa Temple is one of the temples that can be found in Busan. It’s in the north of Busan, and you can easily get there if you can get by with the metro in a foreign land. It rained the whole time we had planned to be there, and even when we optimistically paused at a cafe at Beomeosa’s metro exit to wait for the rain to stop, it didn’t. Needless to say, we ended up not visiting this temple even though we were so close. Maybe next time.
4. Visit Haeundae Beach & Haeundae Market
This is a must-do when you are in Busan. I love this beach because it makes me feel so happy and carefree just being there. There is a Haeundae Market, where you can get fresh seafood all over, eat live squid and find out what the penis fish looks like (or you can see it in my video above). The waves make this beach a surfer’s paradise, and the life guards patrolling all along the coast will make you feel secure too. Plus, if you’re in the mood for some beer, pasta and burger, there’s always a place you can count on just steps down the main street.
5. Visit the SEA Life Aquarium
If it rains while you’re at the beach, you can always pop by the SEA Life Aquarium. It’s a fun thing to do, and quite nice for a date. A little ironic though, that you might just pop over to the marketplace afterwards and have some seafood right after.
6. Try the jajjangmyeon at Beomtae Sonjajjang
Oh my goodness the yummiest jajjangmyeon in Busan. I chanced upon Enjoit’s blog post about this eatery while searching for good places to eat at in Busan, and was so happy to have found the place with the easy-to-follow directions. The jajjangmyeon comes in three sizes and it seems most people order the large one. If there are two of you dining, I recommend getting a large bowl and a serving of dumplings on the side.
7. Visit a cat cafe
Rainy days are no fun if there’s nothing you can do. So we went to a cat cafe where an entry ticket costs 7,000 KRW and includes a drink. You can buy cat food for 2,000 KRW, which is what I recommend because then all the cats will come to you. Check it out in my video above!
8. Trek in Taejongdae Park
Busan is a city that’s great for a good life balance. It’s got a city where you can get all the city stuff done (shopping, eating, working etc), and it’s also got great parks where you can get your daily or weekly dose of exercise. Taejongdae Park is one of those parks. It slopes upwards and has several viewpoints that let you look into the sea. You can catch a nice sunset over the city from here as well, though the best view might be at the lighthouse.
9. Visit the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple
We’ve all visited temples when travelling in Asia but how about one that’s situated on a cliff overlooking the sea? Yep, you might want to give this a try. This temple is beautiful and if you only have time for one temple, I would recommend this over Beomeosa for its unique setting. You can take a bus here for about 20 minutes from Haeundae station so it’s not hard to find. There’s also a huge post box that still functions up till today, and I heard it would take a year for your post to reach its receiver!
All in all, there are more things to visit in Busan but we sadly didn’t have enough time with the less than desirable weather. I’d have loved to visit some of the other parks, Gwangalli Beach and Jagalchi Market. Maybe another visit is in order.
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{Edit: The blog post on our trip to Seoul, as well as the things I recommend you to do there, is now up. Check it out here.}
Saranghae,
Roxanne