Have you heard of Busan? Located a short distance from Seoul and easily accessible by train, Busan is a great weekend getaway from the chaos of the city.
As we flew to South Korea from Tokyo, we ended up taking a direct flight to Busan, rather than the train from Seoul. We took a late flight from Tokyo, as we were on a connection. We booked a hotel near the airport that included a hotel shuttle. On our first night, we rested and planned our time for our short stay in Busan. We ordered a pocket Wi-Fi to get around, since we knew we will be traveling by bus.
We bought the Visit Busan Pass, as we found it to be the best value for money, based on the experiences we had planned in Busan.
You can choose between a 24 or 48 pass. There is also an option to choose from the Big 3 and Big 5, where you select only a total of 3 or 5 attractions. We opted for the 24-hour pass, which cost us each approximately $55 CAD. We planned our day according to location and interest. This pass offers unlimited rides on the Busan Metro, as well as discounts or free admission to various attractions.
On our very first day, we started off with breakfast at Egg Drop, a place I found on Google Maps, but that also happened to be top rated and quite popular.
We took a mini bus from Toseong Station to Gamcheon Culture Village. We decided to not activate our 24-hour pass yet, since we were starting our day early.
No trip to Busan is complete without a visit to this picturesque village in my opinion. Picture this: colorful houses built into the hillside, quirky art installations, iconic photo ops and charming alleys. I especially wanted to visit, as I love The Little Prince. They have a themed cafe, as well as some street art and The Little Prince themed structures around the village.
You can get a taste of local cuisine, find many restaurants and cafés, participate in one of the workshops or cultural activities or explore the various art galleries and shops, where you can purchase unique souvenirs, handicrafts, and artworks created by local artists.
Our next stop for the day was the Songdo Cable Car, now better known as Busan Air Cruise.
It was great way to relax, especially after having spent half the morning walking around Gamcheon. We loved the panoramic views of Busan's coastline and landmarks, such as the Songdo Skywalk and Amnam Park.
The Busan Air Cruise is located near Songdo Beach. I found that this activity was very kid-friendly, since there are lot of photo ops at the Sky Park with a huge Observation Deck, a Dino Adventure park, a VR Sky Swing and a Cloud Bridge, among other activities. You can easily spend minimum 1 hour here.
We originally planned to visit the Busan Tower, however decided to skip it and opted in for a relaxing day instead, since we were still tired from the long journey. We made our way to Spa Land, located in the world's largest department store, Shinsegae.
Spa Land is one of the best, if not the best, spa I've been to! I loved it and would recommend it to anyone. The mistake we did was coming early during the day (basically taking away time from making the most out of the pass), since they are open until 11 pm. They have 13 different themed sauna and spa rooms, a DIY ramen bar (with vegetarian options!), an entertainment zone, massage chairs and so much more.
We spent the evening relaxing on the sandy shores of Haeundae Beach, one of Busan's most popular beaches. We decided to go for sunset on the observation at Busan X the Sky, before making our way to Jagalchi Fish Market for dinner, since it was near our hotel. I'd recommend coming for lunch instead, it is Korea's largest seafood market and may get busy. At dinner time, the market was bustling with locals and tourists alike.
On the way back to the hotel, we wandered through Nampodong Street and Gukje Market, one of Busan's largest traditional markets. Adjacent to it, you will find BIFF Square. We stopped by the Olive Young there for skincare essentials and called it a night.
We spent our last day in Busan at the Lotte World Adventure Busan. It is the largest theme park in Busan, and though it wasn't as big as I expected, if you love rides, you may want to allocate a few hours, or at least half a day here, perhaps maybe even an entire day. Give yourself enough time to enjoy the different attractions, from the thrilling rides to the interactive shows and fun games. We spent a fair amount of time here and I especially loved that I didn't have to wait a long time in line. The place was not crowded. We went to the outlet across the street to grab a meal and to shop, before proceeding back to the hotel.
I personally felt like I could have made better use of the pass with proper planning (such as, by calculating transportation time and organizing it based on priorities and/or hours of operation of the attractions), but we were still satisfied and happy with what we managed to do in our limited time. If I were to get the pass again in the future, I would probably opt in for the spa experience later in the day, as they open until later.
Personally, I found Busan to be a place filled with attractions that cater different interests. Though my time in Busan was short, I am positive that you can spend much longer and get a lot more done. There are nice "Insta-worthy" spots we missed (but that we didn't mind not going to), that seemed worthy, such as the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, Sky Capsule, Oedo Island, and the Oryukdo Island.
Regardless of what you choose to do when you come to Busan, there is something for you.
Have you been to Busan? Let me know your thoughts.
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