Top 5 Sights in Busan

Jagalchi Market

Jagalchi Market is the largest fish market in Korea and sits right at the harbour. This one you simply have to experience. Just stroll through and look at what is swimming in the tanks. Most of it I had never seen before. The actual market with the stalls is on the ground floor. The restaurants are on the first floor above it. They cook whatever you bought downstairs for you. It does not get any fresher than that. You can just as well go straight upstairs and order à la carte.

Prices and opening hours

Eating at Jagalchi Market is more expensive than elsewhere in Busan. You pay for the location and the freshness. If you want to get full on a budget, you are better off at Bupyeong Kkangtong Market. For a lunch with a harbour view it is still worth the extra. The market is open daily from 5 am to 10 pm, the restaurants on the first floor from 9 am. Getting there: subway line 1 to Jagalchi, exit 10, then about a five minute walk.

Songdo cable car and Amnam Park

The Songdo cable car, officially Busan Air Cruise, takes about 20 minutes to cross Songdo Bay at around 80 metres above the water. You start at the end of Songdo Beach and arrive at the top in Songdo Sky Park, right in the middle of Amnam Park. You can buy tickets on the spot at the machine, no need to book ahead. Have a look at the operating page of the Busan Air Cruise beforehand, it shows the hours for the day and whether the cable car is currently running. In bad weather it stops. The page is in Korean only, but your browser translation is perfectly enough.

Standard cabin or glass floor?

There are two types of cabin. The standard Air Cruise costs 15,000 Won for a round trip. The Crystal Cruise with the glass floor is 20,000 Won. Save yourself the glass floor! The surcharge gets you little, because the view out of the window is the better one anyway, and there is a seriously long queue in front of the Crystal Cruise.

The hiking trails up in Amnam Park

Amnam Park at the top station is free and has several signposted forest trails, all of them well surfaced and doable without any gear. The Happy Healing Forest Trail for example is only 1 km long, or the Baragi Healing Forest Trail runs 3 km along the camellia path including an observation deck. Three minutes from the top station you will also find the 130 metre Songdo Yonggung suspension bridge over to the uninhabited island of Dongseom.

Walk out onto the peninsula instead of taking the cable car

You do not have to take the cable car in both directions. From Amnam Park you walk back to the beach along the Songdo Coastal Bolle-gil, 1.2 kilometres on a steel walkway right above the water. If the coastal walkway is closed, you can also take the road with the stairs downhill.

BIFF Square and Busan Tower

BIFF Square in Nampo is named after the Busan International Film Festival. In the pavement you can see the handprints of Korean actors and directors. The motto here is: try everything once. The portions are small enough that you can eat your way straight across the square. What you should definitely try:

• Ssiat hotteok: a deep fried yeast pancake filled with sugar, cinnamon and sunflower seeds
• Eomuk: fish cake skewers
• Tteokbokki: rice cakes in a VERY spicy sauce
• Gimbap rolls

The stalls take cash only. You will find ATMs in the convenience stores right on the square and at Nampo station. Most stalls open around 11 am and close between 9 and 10 pm.

Tip: If it rains or BIFF Square is packed again, walk down the street to Bupyeong Kkangtong Market. It is only a few minutes away on foot and the food there is seriously good. During the day every stall keeps its own hours, in the evening pretty much everything is open from 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm.

Busan Tower, the most central of the Busan sights

From BIFF Square or Bupyeong Kkangtong Market you walk up Gwangbok-ro and take the covered escalator up the hill into Yongdusan Park. The park is free and open around the clock. In the middle of it stands Busan Tower, also called Diamond Tower. From the observation deck at around 120 metres you can see the harbour, the south port, the island of Yeongdo and, on a clear day, the Namhang Bridge. Admission is about 12,000 Won. It is open from 10 am to 10 pm. You will find a free alternative in the insider tips.

Sky Capsule and Haeundae Beach

At the other end of the city lies Haeundae, Busan’s best known beach. And right next to it, on a disused railway line, runs the Sky Capsule, for me the finest half hour among all the Busan sights.

You roll along at walking pace in a brightly coloured capsule above the water from Cheongsapo to Mipo, past rocks and little bays. The capsule is yours alone for the ride. At the end you get off in Mipo, and from there it is a few minutes on foot to Haeundae Beach. How I plan the whole day around it and where the difference to the cheaper Beach Train lies is here: Sky Capsule Ride, Busan’s most beautiful train ride

Busan X the Sky, the observation tower on the beach

Right at Haeundae Beach stands the tallest tower in the city, the 400 metre Haeundae LCT Landmark Tower with the Busan X the Sky observation deck. I was not up there myself, so I cannot tell you from my own experience whether the 27,000 Won are well spent. From the top though you see the entire bay of Haeundae, the Gwangan Bridge, the island of Dongbaekseom and, on a clear day, even as far as the Japanese island of Tsushima.

Gamcheon Culture Village

Colourful cube houses stacking up the hillside, called the Machu Picchu of Busan by some. Gamcheon Culture Village sits at the top of every list of Busan sights, and that is exactly its problem. Crowds of visitors! In the central alleys you shuffle forward in a pack, there is a queue in front of every designated photo spot, and the Little Prince on the wall has one of his own. Why I recommend the village despite the hype, which route I walked and what the city is currently planning against the overtourism is here: Gamcheon Culture Village, hidden gem or scam?