Having been to Korea 3 times for the past 2 years, I’ve never stepped foot on Busan yet and this time I had the opportunity to bring y’all with me to this second largest city in Korea, a city of beautiful mountains, rivers and the sea.
Airasia X is the one and only direct flight from Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) to Busan. So far they only have 1 flight each day. KL to Busan would be 1.35am and Busan to KL would be 10.40am.
Here we go!!!! I kinda love midnight flight so I can sleep through the flight and waking up to my destinations!
My travel partners this time was @joannejojobi and @alex_yap. So it’s kinda exciting that I always got to travel with different people but quite intimidating at the same time as I would never know if we were gonna click with each other and what if I couldn’t tolerate with certain things or behaviour. However thank god so far I’ve never had to encounter such problem yet, everyone seemed to be pretty cool!
As I mentioned Busan is equipped with beautiful rivers and the sea, seafood is relatively one of the most famous food here. It was pouring so heavily the day we landed in Busan. We managed to get a taxi right outside the airport arrival entrance to our Airbnb at Jung-gu, which was really close to the main shopping area called Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) Square.
Quickly got change and out for food!!!
Thanks Ahjumma for for being my models hehehehe
This was our way from our airbnb to BIFF Square, a lot of inter-twinning backstreets full of tiny clothing stores selling local produced clothes or second-handed items. I could feel the urge to shop but had to resist it as it was only the first day hahaha
Wind was crazy that evening that 3 of our newly bought umbrellas were torn and broken by it! Super crazyyy we were all drenched on our way to the famous Jagalchi Market. It’s the seafood market with lots of fresh seafood shops, by fresh I meant alive, seafood that you eat alive!!!
Good lord look at these fresh moving octopus! hahaha finally got to try it, chewing it in my mouth with the super intense suction from the octopus, surprisingly it tasted so good, fresh and chewy! The fresh crabs was super delicious as well it’s a must to try that and of course the seafood hotpot.
Calling it a night with some bubble tea otw back and rest for the next few days!
Starting the second day by looking for a proper breakfast place at BIFF Square and stumbled upon this Pink Gate cafe so we couldn’t help in taking a few photos with it with my lemon shirts on.
Ok another one at this street then we found a local beef soup with rice, settled and off we go to our first destination which was Haeundae Beach 해운대해수욕장.
So here’s how we got to the beach from BIFF Square, we walked to Nampo Station Line 1, using T-Money, we had to get off at Seomyeon Station, changed to Line to and arrived at Haeundae Station which took us about an hour.
Haeundae Beach i the most famous beach in Busan that stretches about 1.5km long creating a beautiful coastline that’s perfect for a swim. Well it was too cold for a swim at this weather hahaha
It’s an open beach that no admission fees are required. If you’re driving, parking lots available are free of charge,
Would you like some lemonade? :P
After enjoying that cooling sea breeze along the white sand beach, we decided to head to Haeundae Market for lunch but we’ve made a pit-stop at this Better Monday coffee booth opposite of the beach.
It’s also a seafood market with lots of seafood goods and some local street food
Found the perfect stall that belongs to me because of my shirt hahaha. However we skipped seafood and had fish soup rice instead.
Next we headed to Jeonpo Cafe Street by subway as well. So when you’re searching for direction in KakaoMap, you can just key in Haeundae Beach and Jeonpo Station Busan Line 2 which took us about 40 mins
Here’s the photos as an example. From Haeundae Beach to Jeonpo Station, the map will guide you to walk to the subway station at Haeundae Beach for around 13 mins, then 27 mins for 15 stations away to arrive at Jeonpo Station. I know it’s a lil difficult as the map doesn’t always show English so it’s either I matched those Korean letters with the one on the board or by referring to the subway map which I attached above to look at the number of each stations so that I know when I should get off the train
Found this cafe called On a Season 온어시즌 through Instagram #busancafe lolll and indeed it looks a beautiful as in the photos or even better! Such elegant door front and minimal interior serving awesome desserts and coffee! It feels like every piece of furniture compliments each other and the interior so well that I totally wouldn’t mind working here lolll
Then we walked around the cafe street trying to look for another pretty cafe and here we found Daily Oasis serving this super cute and delicious vanilla smoothie with matcha ice cream. It was super creamy and flavourful, and well coffee in Korea is overall quite decent.
Next we headed to Gwangalli Beach for the sunset view of the second longest suspension bridge in Korea after Incheon birdge, called the Gwangandaegyo Bridge 부산 광안대교. There’ll be bridge lighting shows every night and here’s the operation hours
[Bridge Lighting]
November-April: Weekdays sunset-24:00 / Weekends sunset-02:00 next day
May-June & September-October: Weekdays sunset-01:00 next day / Weekends sunset-02:00 next day
July-August: Weekdays & Weekends sunset-02:00 next day
On the left you’ll see the city night lights all over the buildings that light up the sky and there are plenty of restaurants and bars along the beach where you can watch the light shows from. We had Budae Jjigae 부대찌개 paired with Soju bomb! Oh yes so after our dinner, we used KakaoMap that led us to the nearest bus station instead of subway as it takes longer and we wanted to shop around back at BIFF Square. The map will show you which bus number to hop on and you’ll have to be alert on every stop that the bus stops.
Good morning to our 3rd day in Busan and noticed that Busan Tower was so closed to our Airbnb!
So today’s first itinerary was to Geumgang Park for the cable car right to the top. Geumgang Park was slightly further from where we stayed. After getting off at the nearest Oncheonjang station, we had to call KakaoTaxi for another 10 mins car ride. Here’s one tip when it comes to taking taxi in Korea, due to language barrier as a lot of Koreans especially the cab drivers only speak Korean, it’s hard for us to describe where we’re going even though we tried pronouncing the name of the place cause of the accent that they don’t understand, so by using KakaoTaxi, it’s slight more expensive but you can just key in your destination and they will go to the direction accordingly so wouldn’t have to explain our heart out ahahahha.
This is the direction to the longest ropeway in Korea
Here we are in the cable car admiring Busan’s city view in 6 mins ride.
Geumgang Park Ropeway info:
9:00-18:00. Every 20 mins, 6 mins ride.
Adult: 8,000 won (round-trip) / 5,000 won (one-way).
Senior (age 65 & above): 6,000 won / 4,000 won (one-way).
Child: 5,000 won (round-trip) / 3,000 won (one-way).
Look at this expansion view of Busan filled with tall buildings extending from the mountain to the sea <3!
So our initial plan was to hike to Seokbulsa Temple as I’ve read in a blog that it takes about 3o mins hike, but once we arrived at the top of Geumgang Park and asked for the direction to the temple, the lady was shocked that we wanted to go as it’ll take 1 hour of rough hike and we were not in proper attire for that lollll so she suggested another temple down the hill on the other side for only 10 mins. That’s how we stumbled upon this scenic view then we continued walking down the hill for more than 10 mins still did not see anything hahahaha wtf then we gave up and hike back up panting like hell lolll. Well it was still worth it and we had one of the most delicious seafood pancake ever at the top of Geumgang Park!
Here’s the seafood pancake!
Look at this! <3<3<3
As we casually walking down after returning from the cable car, we stumbled upon this temple like at least there’s one temple for us to visit hahaha. It was super quiet and peaceful having this temple hiding in the woods.
Next we had to catch a 1 hour 45 mins but to one of the gorgeous cafe in Busan called Waveon Cafe by the seaaaaaa!!!!!
After 2 hours of longgg ass ride and here we were!!! Cafe by the sea with the waves pounding on the rocks and sea breeze flown through our hair.
Gotten ourselves ice lattes and a tiramisu, as well as a good spot to chill with such amazing view!
Arghhh I miss this cafe so much now. It’s definitely worth that 2 hours of bus ride. However, I would suggest if you get a taxi if your in a group of 3 or 4 people as the taxi fare will cost around RM130 per trip hehe.
So we decided to take a cab back to our airbnb as it was getting late and we wanted to shop at BIFF Square before everything closed.
This was at the food stalls along BIFF Square
Here comes the last full day in Busan :((((( We’ve purchased a 1 day trip from KKDay going to 4 places which were Ganjeolgot, Gijang Market, Yonggungsa Temple, Janglim Port Painted Village and lastly Gamcheon Cultural Village.
Ganjeolgot is the easternmost part of Korea where the first sunrise happens, so on every new year eve, crowds will be gathered here waiting for the first sunrise of 1st January and wishes were made.
The main reason we had this trip covered by KKDay was because of the convenience of not having to think about our transportation and it costs us only around RM130 per trip per pax. Our meet up point was at Seomyeon Station which was pretty convenient.
Operating Hours
Outdoor Space 09:00-18:00 (Winter: 09:00-17:00)
Promotion Hall & Indoor facilities 09:00-18:00
Parking Facilities
Available
Admission Fees
Free
There were the 100 years old lighthouse as well as the biggest post box in Korea at Ganjeolgot
Next we were taken to another 100 years old seafood market in Busan called Gijang Market. It’s where you get the freshest seafood such as king crabs, other crabs ahhahah and all sorts of seafood. Instead of having seafood, we were on a hunt for Busan’s famous Pork Rice Soup called Gukbap.
Loving the vibe of this small lil shop called Miryang, serving really good Gukbap recommended by our tour guide from KKDay. So in our own bowl of pork rice soup, we added in the chili paste (tasty & not too spicy), the signature prawn paste and the greens. So good omg!
Also I’ve bought this fish cakes at the market. Apparently it’s one of the famous local food you MUST try in Busan! It’s made in all sorts of shapes and it’s so so chewy and fresh and delicious.
Then we headed to the temple by the sea called Yonggungsa Temple. The temple wasn’t the most grand but it’s definitely located at the perfect location.
The over-all structure was still quite over-whelming especially the huge Guan Yin Statue at the top. You can also make your wishes by tossing coins into the fountain on the pond by the main bridge leading to the temple.
Another local street food that you all must try is the Hotteok which is a deep fried doughy pancake filled with chopped nuts, raisins and seeds, and coated with brown sugar syrup.
Hopped onto the bus and here we were at the Janglim Port Painted Village. It’s a colorfully painted village along the stream
Small coffee and food stalls are available upstairs for us to chill along the river
The last stop of our Busan Day Tour was this beautiful and colourful Gamcheon Cultural Village. If you’ve already been here, you get to choose to stop at another few train stations for your convenience.
Look at this view! Located pretty close to Jagalchi Market, Gamcheon Cultural Village is formed by colorful houses built in staircase-fashion on the foothills.
Matched this place with my new neon green t-shirt that I got from BIFF Square the night before hehehe
It was an amazing 5 days enjoying every bit of Busan especially with the company from Joanne & Alex, and of course for taking photos for me!!! Really thankful for the opportunity to fly with Airasia X again. Hope you enjoy this blog and got some tips to schedule for your next trip there. Shoot me if you have any questions at the comment below!
See y’all again after my next trip! Hopefully not too long after yeh ahahaha