Everyone has heard of Seoul, South Korea’s capital. But probably not as many have heard of Busan, South Korea’s best kept secret. Busan is the second largest city in South Korea, but probably the least known to foreigners. Busan is a port city located on the South Eastern coast and is known for its mountains, beaches and temples. You can get to Busan reasonably easy and quickly using the KTX fast train, which is how we got there.
For months Seoul has been and, at the time this post was published, is still is off-limits due to COVID-19. Busan, thankfully is not off limits and as of right now, we are allowed to visit. So, for our first “vacation” in South Korea we decided to spend 3 days there. I documented everywhere we went so that I can share my personal favourites with you (spoiler alert: every place I went to was awesome and is included in this post).
Galmegi Brewing Co.
If you’re a beer enthusiast or even just curious how South Korean beer tastes, stop by Galmegi Brewing Co. It was founded in Busan in 2014 and has multiple locations in the area. There’s a wide variety of beers available to try for the amateur beer drinker down to the diehard beer lover. To help soak up the alcohol, they also offer an assortment of pub-style food. Since it’s a coastal city, I wanted to try the seafood. So, we ordered the grilled squid. It’s an enormous size so it’s easily shared between two people, plus it’s not covered in fried batter. If you’re not a seafood fan, they also have quite the selection of Detroit-style pizzas.
Gwangalli Beach and Haeundae Beach
It’s kind of hard to not visit a beach when you’re in a port city. During our 3 days in Busan, we visited two beaches: Gwangalli Beach and Haeundae Beach. Haeundae Beach is definitely the most popular beach. It’s all over the tourist websites as a must-see beach. But I’d also recommend visiting Gwangalli Beach. We walked the coast of Gwangalli Beach at night. It was super lively with fireworks going off, bars and cafes hopping with people right along the water’s coastline. We checked out Haeundae Beach during the day and enjoyed the views of the golden sand and turquoise water with the big city as a backdrop. This beach is exceptionally Instagram-worthy with the millennials.
Liangwang Brunch Spot
This restaurant doesn’t have a website, but you can find them on Google. Koreans don’t do brunch quite like the Westerners do so it can be disappointing for those who crave the basic brunch food of eggs, bacon and waffles and can’t find a suitable place. However, this place has it and with its own Korean-style flare! I read some reviews online about this restaurant and so wanted to check it out. I am happy I did. It’s a very small, charming restaurant on a busy street in downtown Busan. Plan ahead, as you’re more than likely going to have a bit of a wait. The French toast was to die for! French toast that had hot and creamy insides which paired perfectly with the savory bacon and eggs. It hit the spot and I finally got my brunch fix.
Haedong Yonggungsa Temple
A famous scenic temple with 180-degree views of the East Sea. This is known as the “Temple on the Coast” and has a long history dating back to the 1300s. It’s a tourist attraction so if you can go during the non-busy hours, that’s advisable. If your timing is right, it’s also the perfect spot to check out at sunrise or sunset. The temple has many statues, shrines and buildings throughout the area with multiple paths navigating you through the different spots. It is maybe more of a tourist experience than a spiritual one, but nonetheless, it’s worth adding to your list to visit.
Museum DAH
This is Busan’s digital art museum and is highly visually and auditory appealing with vivid interactive displays throughout. The museum itself isn’t that big of a building but you can spend a fair amount of time in here, slowly wandering the exhibits and taking it all in. Entrance fee is $18,000 Korean won and worth every penny. In each room, there’s floor to ceiling lights and sounds that tickle your senses and fascinate your mind. I never visited a museum quite like this one and don’t regret spending my time here while I was in Busan.
Café Cielo
Cafes are a big thing in South Korea. They’re everywhere and have all sorts of hot and cold caffeine and decaffeinated drinks. We were looking for a place for breakfast and stumbled upon Café Cielo. This café has immaculate views of the water and, although it has quite a fancy atmosphere when you first walk in, it was surprisingly casual. It’s the perfect spot to rest and enjoy a good meal or drink. They served brunch and dinner, but it wouldn’t be weird to just stop in for a beverage and soak up the views.
Goraesa Fishcake Shop
Just off Haeundae Beach is a touristy road with tons of shops, restaurants, cafes and bars. Along this street, you’ll come across Goraesa Fishcake Shop. Fishcakes are very popular in Korea, so I knew I had to try a true authentic one at some point. This shop was the perfect place to pop my fishcake cherry! The first floor provided a café-style restaurant, where you carry a tray and walk along the aisles to pick up the items you want to buy. The second floor is a sit-down area, so once we purchased our fishcakes, we headed up to have a seat and engorge ourselves on this delicious Korean cuisine. For our first time, we opted to try the spicy pepper ball fishcake, the octopus ball fishcake, and the crab fishcake (which was my personal favourite).
Samajeong Restaurant
For our last dinner in Busan, we went with a traditional Japanese shabu-shabu meal. There is the bona fide spot in Busan called Samajeong. For those who aren’t familiar with shabu-shabu, it’s thinly sliced meats and veggies that you cook in boiling pots of broth at your table. We ordered the all you can eat (go big or go home, amirite?), and it came with several different side dishes, unlimited meats and veggies, two types of broth and dessert. The quality of the foods and the service was exemplary and this restaurant was the perfect spot for our last supper in Busan.
If you’re in Busan for longer than 3 days, there is SO much more you can see and do. Since we only had a few days here and were taxiing everywhere, we decided to stick mainly to one area. That being said, this list isn’t by any means an exhaustive list of what there is to do in Busan. I will definitely come back another time and check out the rest of the spots on my list. Some of which include: Gamcheon Culture Village, Oryukdo skywalk, BIFF Square, Jagalchi Fish Market, Shinsegae Centum City Mall (world’s largest department store), Tin Can Market, etc.
Stay tuned for my next Busan blog post where I hope to cover more sights and attractions that this beautiful coastal city has to offer.
I have read a few good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you put…
Oh my gosh, Anna! That is beautiful and even touches on some of the things things I remember, experienced and…
Hello! I simply wish to give a huge thumbs up for the good info you have got here on this…
Thank you, Courtney, for the kind words! We hope you’ll come to visit one day soon. We’d love to be…
Great photos and loved the descriptions of your meals, I felt like I had tasted every bite.
Hello! I simply wish to give a huge thumbs up for the good info you have got here on this post. I will probably be coming again to your blog for extra soon.
Thank you, Courtney, for the kind words! We hope you’ll come to visit one day soon. We’d love to be your tour guide 🙂
Great photos and loved the descriptions of your meals, I felt like I had tasted every bite.