Fun Things to do in Busan

Heading to Busan from Gyeongju 

We depart from Gyeongju by KTX train after our Golgul-sa temple stay. It's an easy 30 minutes train ride (I promise that that there's no zombies 😉). We stayed near Gwangalli Beach because we loved the view of the Gwangan Bridge when booking our AirBnB accommodation. Gwangalli beach is a 30-minute bus ride journey from Busan station. After arriving at our accommodation, we're not disappointed, the view is absolutely spectacular!

Things to do in Busan

Gwangalli Beach

The beach itself is a lovely place to hangout regardless of the time of day. But it's more of a night town, not a lot of shops and restaurants are open early in the morning until about 10am. At night, the beach area is very lively. There are people putting fireworks and busking.

Drone show

Arriving at our accommodation on a Saturday afternoon, we can see a section of the beach sealed off – not knowing that the staff member was doing the preparation work in order to set up the drones up for the show.

Gwangalli M Drone Light Show is the first and largest permanent drone light show in the country held every Saturday at Gwangalli Beach. Admission is free. The show starts from 7 and 9 pm from October to February - or - 8 and 10 pm from March to September. Each week, the show features a different theme. You can visit the official site for more information.

Having booked our accommodation overlooking the beach, we had the best view from our room to watch the entire show. Each show lasted about 10 minutes with the drones forming beautiful patterns accompanied by upbeat music and lights.

Fireworks Yacht Tour

We booked a fireworks yacht tour in the evening via AirBnB Experience which was tagged as a "Once-in-a-lifetime" event. The ticket price is very reasonable – about 13 € per person for the ride.

Located at Suyeongman Bay Yachting Center, we arrived by bus 30 minutes earlier before the departure time. We were given the direction of the port via AirBnB messages.

Before the ride, all passengers were given life jackets for safety and blankets to keep warm from the sea breeze. The entire boat ride lasted about an hour, departing from the dock to anchor near the Gwangan Bridge then back to the port. You get a good look of the night coastal city view along with the lit up double suspension bridge. Once anchored, the fireworks display starts.

I don't remember how long was the fireworks display – perhaps 10mins? But it was definitely one of the highlights in Busan for me! I highly recommend if you love fireworks.

Dongbaek Coastal Trail

If you enjoy coastal scenery, you can take a trail at Dongbaekseom Island. It's lovely on a good weather plus, the admission is also free. Since the trail is near the coast, expect it to get windy from the sea breeze. Bringing along a windbreaker jacket is always handy. (I personally like the ones from North Face)

There are 2 easy walking trails, a scenic coastal trail (450m) on raised wooden deck along the coastline and a circular trail (930m) around the island's nature forest. The entire walking course takes about 30 - 50 mins. Here are the few things to checkout along the trail.

Nurimaru APEC House

Admission is free. This building was built for the 2005 APEC summit. Visitors get to see the conference room where the summit was held.

Mermaid Statue

The​ 2.5m high mermaid statue is about the sad legend of Princess Hwangok (Topaz) who came across the sea to marry King Eunhye. Princess Hwangok suffered from homesickness and used to comfort her sorrows by looking into the topaz where her fatherland was reflected at each full moon. The statue is  located near The Westin Josun Busan.

Suspension Bridge

The suspension bridge is near the mermaid statue. You get a scenic view from there.

Lighthouse Observatory

Part of the trail leads to the lighthouse observatory. From the observatory deck, you can have panoramic view of the ocean, the whole skyline of Haeundae from Haeundae Beach.

Busan x SKY

For Starbucks fans, did you know that the highest Starbucks in the world is in Busan, South Korea! Admission cost about 18 €. The tallest Starbucks is located at the 99th floor of the Busan X SKY observatory at Haeundae LCT The Sharp Landmark Tower. There's a glass suspension bridge called Shocking Bridge, which might not be someone who's afraid of heights.

Mipo Blue Line

We manage to buy the ticket from the official site a few days earlier (limited slots). Ticket costs about 35,000 KRW which is approx 24 € for 2 person. On the day, our original timing was delay due to ongoing maintenance work and long queue. But we manage to take the ride. We didn't book the return trip, but I would suggest you to do it because it was a bit hard to get a transport traveling back.

Haedong Yonggungsa Temple

Haedong Yonggung Temple is a Buddhist temple in Gijang-gun, Busan, South Korea. Admission is free. The temple complex is a large one and one of few in Korea to be set on the seaside. The motto of Haedong Yonggung temple is "At least one of your wishes will be answered here through your heartful prayers."

The place is beautifully decorated with many lanterns. We bought some strawberry milk and fresh rice cakes there.

Gamcheon Culture Village

Gamcheon Culture Village has the nickname of the Machu Picchu of Korea. This was our last and unplanned stop before heading to airport flying out to Jeju. We had already checked out from our accommodation. But it was really handy to store our luggage at the Busan Station.

Admission is free. It's a colorful picturesque village with a tragic history. Refugees settled in Gamcheon Village during the Korean War and cultivated the mountainous region to make a living. In 2009, students, artists, and residents decorated the village as a part of the Village Art Project, and the town grew into a leading tourist attraction of Busan since then.

We had only a short stay to check out the village and queuing to take the iconic picture of The Little Prince. Luckily the weather wasn't the best and there was less tourist that day.

Heading to Jeju Island

Right after our stay in Busan, our next stop is Jeju Island. We took a taxi from Busan station to the airport for a domestic flight.