Busan - South Korea's Jewel on the Ocean - South Korea Purple Travel Guide

Busan can easily be reached from Seoul or Gyeongju by train. It showcases a fusion of ancient living and temples, and wonderful beaches with modern South Korean culture.
In this guide we tell you about the best things to see and do in Busan.

Here at Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guides, we typically promote self-guided walking tours.
But we realize that not everybody likes to walk by themselves in a foreign city. So, just in case that you rather go with ab guide: NO PROBLEM! Please see the free GuruWalk and paid Viator tours below.

Haeundae Beach

Haeundae Beach is rated the best beach in South Korea for a reason. It is a beautiful, wide and fairly long stretch of sand in a beautiful part of town with many restaurants, stores and entertainment and it can easily be reached by subway.
When I was there in May, everything was still relaxed and fairly quiet before the busy summer season. There were plenty of artistic sand sculptures on the beach and they started preparing for a festival that would get in full swing after I left.

Jagalchi Market

Full disclosure: I don't eat seafood as I don't like how it tastes; I don't like the smell and the texture. Looking at a fish on a plate that still has its eyes in makes me sick. If a dish contains a little bit of seafood, chances are I will taste that and refuse to eat it.
My wife on the other hand loves seafood. To make her happy, I sacrifice myself, and go to seafood restaurants with her, especially in coastal areas where there is fresh seafood. I have learned to cope with the smell and I just don't look at her food. This way, she is happy and I am happy because seafood restaurants typically have at least 1 or 2 non-seafood dishes that they excel in. Seriously, I have had some of the best non-seafood dishes in my life in seafood restaurants. Why is that so? Well, I guess that since they only have few non-seafood dishes they get very good at preparing those.
Jagalchi Market was a similar make-your-wife-happy and maybe jealous event. I decided to go there and to take plenty of photos and videos.
Sometimes the journey is the destination and I think this applies to Jagalchi Market too. Walking to the market through streets lined with food stands was at least as impressive at Jagalchi Market.
So, even if you are not into seafood, my proposal is to go there and enjoy the walk - it is impressive!

Haedong Yonggungsa Dragon Temple

Unlike most other temples in South Korea which are located in the mountains, this temple is situated directly on the coast. It was built in 1376 and has been nicely maintained. I like it because of its location near the water and its beauty and attention to detail.

Gwangalli Beach

This is Busan's second most popular beach with a sand stretch of almost 1 mile (1.4km). Some people like the view of Diamond Bridge which stretches across the bay. As it was May, this beach was still mostly empty. I even saw a newly married couple posing for wedding photos.

Songjeong Beach

This is another beautiful beach. The sand is supposed to consist of crushed seashells.

Dadaepo Beach

Dadaepo Beach is pretty much on the other end of the city and at the last stop of subway line 1. The rewards for going there are: Dadaepo Beach was almost empty, even though there are plenty of houses nearby. Also, the subway was nearly empty and I was guaranteed a seat, which is something I really enjoyed as I took the subway frequently and more often than not I was standing.
Dadaepo Beach and Haeundae Beach are my 2 favorite beaches in Busan.

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Author: Rudy at Backpack and Snorkel

Bio: Owner of Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guides. We create in-depth guides to help you plan unforgettable vacations around the world.

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