Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, welcomed us with its unique mix of vibrant city life, coastal beauty, and cultural gems. We spent three great days in this bustling port city, staying in the heart of the Seomyeon area.
Gamcheon Cultural Village
Our trip began with a visit to the famous Gamcheon Cultural Village. This colorful hillside village that was originally a refugee settlement for people fleeing the Japanese invasion of Korea early 20th century. After the intervention of many artists it’s been transformed in a touristy & thriving community.
Jagalchi Fish Market
After Gamcheon Cultural Village we headed to the Jagalchi Fish Market. This place has more seafood than you could ever imagine—fish with eyes so big they looked like they’d seen some things, octopuses trying to make a run for it (spoiler: they didn’t), and crabs the size of big dogs.
Trick Eye Museum
Next we wanted to something really serious, a museum. We choose to visit the Trick Eye Museum because it was basically on our way. I think it was the funniest museum we’ve ever been to & when seeing the other visitors, we were not the only ones who were having fun.
Busan Tower
This iconic landmark is a 120 meter high tower on top of the hill in Yongdusan Park. We weren’t really in the mood to climb another hill (we’ve had enough climbs the days before), but then we saw that the brilliant designer of the park had installed escalators to get on top of the hill. Great guy!
Gay bars
Busan has a small but lively street with gay bars. So after dinner we headed to some of the bars. G Men, had a slightly older clientele & was rather serious. Kuma was fun. Both small bars, was more of a small social gathering of friends. With the help of some translating apps we easily blended in. The last night we went to The Rock, which was more Western style with western dance music & a younger clientele.
Beaches
The beaches in Busan are huge & gorgeous. During the summer (from June until half August), these beaches are packed with people. Now it was rather calm, but great for a relaxing afternoon. We went to Gwangalli Beach & the famous Haeyundae Beach.
Haedong Yonggungsa Temple
Yesterday on the beach we were chatting with a local & he said us we definitely had to go to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. We didn’t have any plans for today yet, so of we went. Although the main temple of this buddhist complex under restoration, the trip was worth it for sure.
More pictures of Busan, click on a pic & scroll
You feel energized & inspired by our stories? You can always energize us as well & buy us a coffee (or a beer 😊) . Our blog doesn’t run ads & we mention businesses or places just because we like them.
