How I Spent 4 Days in Busan, South Korea!

When most people travel to South Korea, they go to Seoul, the capital city. However, another popular destination is Busan, a port city with the second largest population in the country. My friend Julia and I decided to take a four day, three night trip to Busan where we visited most of the well-known tourist spots. I will go into detail about our itinerary, in case you plan to visit in the future too.

Friday

We took the KTX from Seoul to Busan at 10:30 A.M. and arrived at 1:15 P.M. Our Air B&B was in Seomyeon, central to the areas we wanted to visit. We couldn’t check in until 5 P.M., so we headed to Jeonpo cafe street to sit down and grab some food. After checking into our Air B&B, we headed to the Hwangyeongsan Observation Deck, which we had previously seen all over TikTok. After getting lost trying to walk there, we decided to take a taxi. The view was amazing, you could see so many lit up buildings and bridges. I would highly recommend visiting here at night if you’re in Busan. After the observatory, we headed back down to Seomyeon and ate a popular Busan dish, DwaeJiGukBap, or pork and rice soup.

Saturday

We started the next morning by heading to Gwangalli Beach to get breakfast. We found a super cool Australia-inspired spot called Working Holiday, where you could eat breakfast with a view of the beach. Afterwards, we headed down to the beach where we walked along the shore and rested until it was time to head to Haeundae Blueline Park. This park starts at Mipo Station, and you can buy tickets to take a beach train along a route with multiple stops and observatories overlooking Haeundae Beach, to the last stop at Songjeong Beach. You can also take a cable car for a portion of the ride, but reservations sell out quickly. Therefore, Julia and I were only able to get tickets for the beach train. We bought tickets online to board the train at Mipo, but accidentally took the bus to Cheongsapo Station, a stop along the route. Luckily, we had enough time to take a taxi to Mipo before our boarding time started. Along the route, we stopped at Cheongsapo, Daritdol Observatory, and Songjeong Beach. On the train back to Mipo, we stopped at Dalmaji Tunnel, then walked the rest of the way back. 

After the beach train, we walked down to Haeundae Beach and took some photos. We had DwaeJiGukBap nearby for dinner, although this one was much better than the previous day’s. Then we checked out the Haeundae traditional market and got some hotteok (sweet pancake) for dessert.

Sunday

The following morning, we grabbed breakfast at a popular cafe on Jeonpo cafe street then took a 50 minute bus ride to Gamcheon Cultural Village. We got to walk through the streets filled with colorful houses, enjoy a nice view of the village from an observatory, and do a little souvenir shopping. Additionally, we took some pictures at the Little Prince statue (after a 30 minute wait), and the famous Jungkook and Jimin mural. Then we headed over to BIFF Square and Nampo, where we explored the busy streets and window shopped. We headed back to Seomyeon for dinner and had grilled mackerel. As it was still early, and our last night in Busan, we decided to head to a scenic cafe nearby to end the night.

Monday

After checking out of our Air B&B, we took a 30 minute bus ride to a famous cafe, ZM-ILLENNIAL. The cafe is popular among Army (BTS fans), because it is owned by Jimin’s dad. In fact, we even got to see him there, where he briefly worked behind the counter, then came over to greet some fans who approached him. The cafe was pretty big, and had lots of fan-donated art of Jimin. Additionally, there were many beautiful paintings of Jimin around, done by the Korean artist Lee K. The pastries and drinks here were also very good. We hung out here for a few hours until it was time to take the KTX back to Seoul.