Short Trip to Busan - Highlights

I have been to Busan thrice and would love to visit the city again. Similar to Jeju, it has lovely beaches and fresh seafood. If you need help with your planning or require an itinerary, just leave a comment below with your email. I will try my best to help you find out what you need to know.

How to get to Busan from Seoul?
The easiest and fastest way to get to Busan is by air. It costs around 70,000 won one way and it takes around 1 hour (one way). A cheaper and fuss free alternative is KTX. One way trip costs 59,800 won and it takes about 2 hours 40 minute. Board from Seoul Station and alight at Busan. The KTX trips are quite frequent and the ride is comfortable.

Similar to the shinkansen

You can buy lots of snack at Seoul station beforehand to last you the entire journey.

Once you have reached there, you can either rent a car or take the subway. However, before that, you need to book a hotel.

Hotel Accommodation
I have introduced this hotel in my Seoul blog post, it is none other than Toyoko Inn Haeundae Busan. There are 5 branches in Busan (they sure are expanding fast). This hotel is cheap and good, provides free breakfast too.

If you don't have a car, recommend staying near Busan Station (Toyoko Inn Busan Station No. 1). The KTX from Seoul will bring you to the doorstep of your hotel. If you intend to spend more time at the beach, you can try the Haeundae branch (2 branches there, 1 of them opened on 23 Jan 2016). They are 10 minutes walk from Haeundae subway station though.

What to eat in Busan?
Our first breakfast will always be to 원조전복죽 (pronounced as won jo jon bok juk), a 24 hour restaurant that sells abalone porridge. It is located in the Pale De Cz building opposite Toyoko Inn Busan Haeundae No. 1. We have gone back to this place thrice, so you know how delicious it is.

This costs 12,000 won and is really worth it.

Abalone bibimbap which costs same as the porridge.

It is about a 15 minute walk from Haeundae Beach subway station. Take exit 5 or 3 and walk towards the beach.

Next recommendation, head over to Gukje Market (국제시장) near BIFF. The nearest station is 자갈치역 (Jagalchi station). Take exit 7 and walk down the main road. This is by far, the best spicy rice cake that I have tasted. You can see that the rice cake is different from those you see at road side stalls. It is longer. This is made of rice instead of mixing flour into it. Busan is famous for their rice cake and fish cake.
This is purchased from 소문난분식 (pronounced as So Mun Nan Bun Sik).

떡볶이 (pronounced as tteokbokki) costs 3,000 won for 1 pax portion

This is somewhat popular in this Busan. It is supposed to be spicy, you can add the chilli sauce to your liking and mix.

Bibim glass noodle (비빔당면 pronounced as bibim dangmyeon) costs 4,000 won

3 sticks of fish cake (어목꼬지 pronounced as omok kkoji) costs 2,000 won

I don't have a picture of the kimbap but I did order it. It costs 3,000 won for 2 rolls.

If you can't find this store, fret not. There is another in the same market that was featured on Korean Culinary Show called 이가네 (pronounced as E Ga Ne). Look for the store with the most people and you probably got it. The shop sells hotdog as well.

How can you not eat seafood when you are near the beach? The one we went to is near Gwanganri beach where you get to see night view of Gwangandae bridge. It is located on the 6th floor of the building called 통영횟집 (pronounced as tong yeong hui jib). You can either go for their set menu (highly recommended if you can't speak Korea, just say A/B/C course) or choose your seafood at the first floor (segregated by restaurant) then take the lift with your live seafood in a bucket up to the restaurant. Be sure to ask about the price before you choose.

Located in a building right next to the beach.

Doesn't look impressive but is fresh and reasonably priced.

However, I have other recommendations for seafood (live octopus etc). You can head to 민락횟타운  (pronounced as minrak hui town) and choose their C course (30,000 won for one person). I have not been there before but I have seen many good reviews on naver (reviewed by Koreans). To order, just say "C course juseyo". It consists of abalone, octopus (raw and cooked), sushi, side dishes, steamed egg, one plate of sashimi etc.

What to do in Busan?

Head to Tae Jong Dae (태종대) park. If you don't have a car, getting there can be tricky. You will have to take the subway (line 1) to Nampodong (남포동), exit from exit 6 and you will find a bus stop. You can either board bus number 8, 30 or 88. It takes about 30 minutes. If boarding from Busan station, take bus 101.

You can purchase tickets for train ride (다누비 pronounced as Danubi) that will bring you to a few scenic spots. You can just get on and off at any stops. It costs 2,000 won per person but definitely worth it.

Yeongdo Lighthouse (영도등대)

Observatory (전망대)

Another sightseeing spot you can't miss is the Gwangandaegyo which means Gwangan bridge. Catch the night view of the bridge dazzling with lights. Sometimes, you will see peddlers selling fireworks near the beach.

Next, have a walk down Haeundae Dongbaekseom. From Haeundae beach (facing the beach), walk to the right and you will see Chosun Westin Hotel. From there, take the trail that leads to Dongbaekseom.

Tired from a day of walking? Head to Shinsege Centum City Spaland to relax. The Spaland is filled with facilities (movie room, rest area, restaurant, sauna) and is nicely done up. It is open from 6am till 12am (last entrance at 10:30pm). Entrance fee is 15,000 won on weekdays and 18,000 won on weekends/public holidays. Each person is limited to stay in there for 4 hours.

There is an outdoor area for you to soak your feet. If you need some privacy, you can head to the cubicles at the back of the picture below.

Of course, there are lots of places for you to sweat it out.

On the to visit list is Haedong Yonggungsa. I think I lost all my pictures taken there. It is actually a temple located on the cliffs. It is quite a scenic spot thus, don't give it a miss even though you are not Buddhist.

What to buy in Busan?
If you are interested in getting some hanbok, can walk around the market to look for good deal. This was purchased at the market at around SGD50 or so. The real hanbok usually costs much more than this.

Affordable Accommodation (Toyoko Inn) in Seoul, Japan and Busan

It's easy to find good accommodation if price is not so much of a concern to you (just go to Agoda or any of the hotel booking web and they will recommend one to you). But when money comes into play, it's hard to find a balance between cost and quality.

There is this one hotel that I have recommended to so many of my friends. It's called Toyoko Inn (more chains in Japan) and it really offers convenience at an affordable rate (always less than S$100 per night for two). I will always book this hotel if I am in Japan for a holiday.

I will tell you what's so good about this hotel:
1. The hotel is always located within walking distance to the subway station.
2. It offers complimentary breakfast, bottled water and wifi.
3. It has got it's own membership programme (can be applied on the spot) that allows you to redeem one free night (single room, top up if you are getting double) after every 10 nights booked (points can be accumulated at any branch). Furthermore, membership comes with perks like 5% discount on weekday + Saturday and 20% discount on Sunday and public holidays.
4. Free cancellation policy (cancellation can be done online) up till 4pm on the day of check-in.
5. Book now (online with instant confirmation) and pay only when you check-in at the hotel.
6. You can get map of the surrounding area from the lobby.

What is not so good about this hotel is that like most Japanese hotels (applies to the ones in Seoul and Busan), the room is quite small and you hardly have any walking space after you open up your luggage on the floor.

Seoul
If you are looking for a convenient location to stay for your next trip to Seoul, I recommend checking the Dongdaemun branch out. It's located within walking distance to Migilore and the whole lot of midnight shopping malls in Dongdaemun (meaning you can shop to late night without having to worry about transport).

There is an airport shuttle that will bring you right to the doorstep of the hotel (usually we only get this for the premium hotels). Getting back to the airport is simple too, just board at where you alight (it's the first and the last stop so no worries about missing the stop or not being able to get up the bus). Afterall, we are looking for simplicity when we are travelling abroad right?

If you exit the hotel and turn to your right, it will bring you to exit 4 of Dongdaemun History & Culture Park where you can ride line 4 (Myeongdong) and 5 (GwangHwaMun, Yeouido). If you turn left, you will find exit 3 where you can ride line 2 (Ewha, Hongik, Jamsil).

There are computer stations located at the lobby and you can also print for free. The lobby provides information on the shuttle timing (to the airport) and you can wait at the lobby for the airport shuttle to come.

By the way, the service and offering of each branch is quite standard no matter where you are in.

Japan
You can find Toyoko inn chains (sometimes not one but two at the same station) all around Japan. If I travel to Tokyo, I will stay in Ikebukuro Kita-Guchi No. 2. The reason is because Ikebukuro is a major station where NEX (Narita express) stops thus I can avoid the hassle of lugging my luggage and changing to another subway line (it will be a challenge locating subway lines if it's your first visit). However, Ikebukuro can get quite complicated at night (lots of alley and is known as one of the more complicated areas).

Thus, on my recent trip, I stayed in the Shinagawa-eki Takanawa-guchi (eki means Station). NEX will stop at Shinagawa too. In addition, it's easier to get to Tokyo Disneyland/Disneysea (50 minutes away) from this stop.

If you are travelling to Osaka, you can try out the Namba branch. It is located within walking distance to Dotonbori (where the Glico Man is standing) and Shinsaibashi (lots of shopping street in this area). Most importantly, there is direct subway line linking Namba Station to the airport. Getting to Kyoto from Namba Station (approximately 1 hour with 1 transfer) is easy as well.

If you are travelling to Kyoto, you can try out Shijio Karasuma branch (within walking distance to many of the shopping arcade including Teramachi Dori). You can even talk a walk down to Gion to catch Geisha/Maiko (if you are lucky). We even walked all the way from Kiyomizu-dera, via Yasaka Shrine, back to the hotel (if you have the stamina and the weather is nice).

Busan
There are two branches in Busan, one near Busan station and one near Haeundae beach. I have stayed in both and I think the one near Busan Station is more convenient if you are into shopping and visiting the attractions (nearer to subway). However, if you are a beach person then you should stay in Haeundae.