Understand
With nearly four million people, Busan is South Korea's second largest city and the country's largest seaport. This gives the city an international flair, with sailors from around the world trooping through and, these days, not a few tourists (mostly from China, Japan and Russia) too.
Orientation
Nampodong to the south is Busan's shopping and entertainment downtown, while central Seomyeon at the intersection of subway lines 1 and 2 is where the office buildings are. Seomyeon also has an active night life with lots of street food. Between them are Busan's train station and its international ferry terminals. The beaches of Gwangalli, Haeundae and Songjeong lie to the east, the ruins of mountain fortress Geumjeong guard the north, and Gimhae Airport occupies the last compass point in the west.
Get in
By plane
Busan's Gimhae Airport () fields flights around the country and some international flights as well, mostly to Japan and China but also to Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City. The airport is quite old and very small for a city of Busan's size. A new international terminal is being constructed next to the domestic terminal. You are not allowed to take pictures of the airport (both from the plane and outside) because it also serves as an airforce base.
Airport limousine buses connect to various points in the city for a flat W5000. The trip takes 30-40 minutes (in good traffic) and there are departures on all lines every 20-30 minutes. City buses leave for downtown quite regularly. They are even cheaper, aroun W1000. Be sure to visit the information desk at the international arrival terminal if your Korean is not very good. It is one of the few places that has English-speaking assistance.
A taxi to the city center will set you back about W15000 including tolls.
By train
Space-age Busan Station looks like a UFO that has accidentally landed in the somewhat grubby stretch between the bright lights of Nampodong and Seomyeon. Still, it's easy enough to get in or away with subway line 1, and there are lots of cheap motels and eating places in the vicinity.
KTX trains connect Seoul to Busan via Daegu and Daejeon in 160 minutes (45000 won). Other trains, such as Saemaeul and Mugunghwa, connect Busan with other major cities as well. They're cheaper but slower than KTX.
By car
#Gyeongbu Highway: connecting Busan with Seoul via Daejeon and Daegu.
#Gumi Highway: alternative highway to Daegu.
#Namhae Highway: connecting to Gwangju via Jinju and Suncheon.
By bus
Almost all cities and counties in South Korea have an express bus to Busan.
There are two major bus stations:
By boat
Befitting Busan's status as a major port, there are regular international ferry services to Japan, especially Kyushu island. Kanpu Ferry's daily overnight runs to Shimonoseki are the cheapest, but JR Kyushu's Beetle hydrofoils to Fukuoka run five times a day and take just under 3 hours.
Get around
By subway
The three lines of the Busan Subway connect the bus terminals and nearly all sights of interest together. Rides are W1,100 or 1,300 depending on distance (hang onto your ticket until you exit), and both signage and announcements are in English so finding your way is easy.
By taxi
There are plenty of taxis prowling the streets of Busan. Regular taxi flag drop is W1800 for the first two kilometers, then the meter starts ticking at W100 for each 169m. Deluxe taxis (black and red) charge W4200 for the first 3 km and then W200 for each 199m.
On foot
Busan as a whole is far too large to walk around, but some areas like Gwangalli Beach and Yongdusan Park are best covered on foot.
See
Do
Beaches and hot springs
Busan is above all famous for its seven beaches and three hot springs.
Tourist Attractions
Shopping
Hiking
The mountains around Busan have some good hiking trails. Probably the most popular route is from the South Gate (Nammun) of Geumjeong Fortress, reachable by cable car from Oncheongjang, through the North Gate (Bukmun) and down to Beomeosa Temple, a distance of 8.8 km (3-4 hours).
Work
Positions teaching English are available in Busan. See the main South Korea article for details.
Buy
Eat
An affordable and popular Busan treat is dong-nae pajeon (동래파전), a seafood and green onion pancake.
Budget
Splurge
Busan is famous for raw fish (횟집 hoetjip), which the Koreans eat in the same style as bulgogi, namely topped with kimchi and gochujang and wrapped in a lettuce leaf. One of the best places to sample this is the Millak Town Raw Fish Center, a large brown building at the northern end of Gwangalli Beach. The first floor is the actual fish market and the floors above are packed with nothing but restaurants serving it up. This can get expensive, so order a set or specify your budget to avoid surprises.
Drink
Busan has thousands if not tens of thousands of drinking places scattered throughout the city. Popular spots include Nampodong and the area around Pusan National University. Drinking spots popular with the foreign community include:
Kyungsung University area:
In Haeundae:
In Gwangalli:
Seomyeon also has a lot to offer:
Sleep
Budget
Mid-range
Splurge
There are plenty of luxury hotels along Haeundae Beach.
A few luxury hotels are more centrally located.
Stay safe
Busan, like Seoul, is very safe to roam around freely at night.
Get out
Busan Metropolitan City, also known as Pusan (this is also a correct phonetic variant) is the largest port city in the Republic of Korea. With a population of about 3.65 million, Busan is also South Korea's second largest metropolis, after Seoul. The densely populated city is situated in the narrow Nakdonggang valley, with mountains separating some of the various districts.
Busan was the host city of the 2002 Asian Games and APEC 2005. It was also one of the host cities for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and is the center for international conventions in Korea. Administratively, it is designated as a Metropolitan City. On November 14, 2005, the city officially announced its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics Games.
Places of interest
Geumjeongsan to the west is a popular weekend hiking spot for Busan residents. To the north, the neighborhoods around Pusan National University (also known as PNU, which is one of the most highly recognized national institutes of high education in Korea) have student theaters, cafes, bars and restaurants, as well as open-air cultural street performances on weekend nights. Tongdosa is one of the major three Buddhist temples in Korea. Another temple, Beomeosa, is also very important in Korean Buddhism.
Dongnae area is a traditional as well as wealthy residential area. Dongnae Oncheon is a natural spa area with many baths, tourist hotels, restaurants, clubs and shopping areas. Many restaurants in the area are famous for their family recipes. Chungnyeolsa is a Confucian shrine for soldiers who died during the eighteenth century battle against the Japanese at Dongnae castle.
Busan is the so-called summer capital of Korea since it attracts tourists from all over the country to its six beaches. High class hotels and a carnival boardwalk line the Haeundae Beach district, which is generally regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches in Korea. Gwangalli Beach is famous for its cafes, bars, and restaurants along the beach. The area around Pukyong National University and Kyungsung University has many cafes, bars and restaurants attracting college students and youth.
Seomyeon is recognized as the new downtown with many cafes, bars, restaurants, shops and shopping centers.
The Gwangbok-dong and Nampo-dong areas form the old downtown with many cafes, bars, shops and restaurants. Some of the restaurants in the area are famous with family recipes passed down the generations. Jagalchi Market (near the very active port) is an area of narrow street stalls and is well known for its fish market. Taejongdae, is a natural park with magnificent cliffs facing the open sea on the island of Yeongdo.
The area titled as the "Foreigners' Shopping Street", but commonly referred to as "Texas Street" near the main docks, has many Russian businesses that cater to the local Russian population, as well as the crews of foreign ships. The area was originally known as the Foreigners' Street because many businesses were set up there during the 1940s and 1950s to cater to American soldiers in the area. The Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone Authority, one of two such administrations (the other in the harbor of Incheon), was created to continue the tradition of Busan's status as an international trading center. It now attracts ships from all over the globe and aspires to become a regional financial center. Currently, Busan is ranked internationally as the third largest seaport in terms of cargo volume and efficiency by the AAPA.
Busan was one of the few areas in Korea that remained under the control of South Korea throughout the Korean War and for some time it was the capital of South Korea. UN troops established a defensive perimeter around the city known as the Pusan Perimeter in the summer and autumn of 1950. Since then, like Seoul, the city has been an independent metropolis and has built a strong urban character.
Since 1982, the city has been home to the Lotte Giants, who play in the Korean baseball league. In Korea, Busan is known as the capital of baseball and has a reputation for very enthusiastic baseball fans.
The city is also home to K-League soccer side Busan I'park, the Daewoo Unicorns, which was the strongest team during the 1990s in K-league.
Busan is also famous for the Pusan International Film Festival, or PIFF, which is the largest and best-known international film festival in Asia and annually attracts huge numbers of tourists from all over East Asia and the world. Busan also hosts an annual polar bear swimming competition in Haeundae Beach during the winter.
Busan continues to be an important educational, cultural and economic center for the nation. Its beautiful beaches, festivals and glittering nightlife make it a popular destination for many tourists.
Administrative divisions
:Main article: Districts of Busan
In 1957 Busan adopted a division system with the creation of 6 gu: Busanjin-gu, Dong-gu, Dongnae-gu, Jung-gu, Seo-gu, and Yeongdo-gu.
Today, Busan is divided into 15 gu (districts) and 1 gun (county).
History
Geochilsan-guk existed in the second and third centuries as a chiefdom of Jinhan. It was absorbed by Silla and renamed Geochilsan-gun. The word Geochilsan means rough mountain, probably referring to Hwangnyeongsan, located at the center of the city.
The grave goods excavated from mounded burials at Bokcheon-dong indicate that a complex chiefdom ruled by powerful individuals was present in the Busan area just as the Three Kingdoms of Korea were forming, c. A.D. 300-400. The mounded burials of Bokcheon-dong were built along the top of a ridge that overlooks a wide area that makes up parts of modern-day Dongnae-gu and Yeonje-gu. Archaeologists excavated more than 250 iron weapons and ingots from Burial No. 38, a wooden chamber tomb at Bokcheon-dong.
In 757, Geochilsan-gun was again renamed Dongnae, which it is still called.
From the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Korean government designated Busan as a trading port with the Japanese and allowed their settlement. Other Japanese settlements in Ulsan and Jinhae diminished later, but the Busan settlement, called Waegwan at the time, continued until Japan invaded Korea in 1592. After the war, diplomatic relations with the new shogunate in Japan were established in 1607, and Busan Waegwan was permitted to be reconstructed. The Japanese settlement, though relocated into Choryang later, continued to exist until Korea was exposed to modern diplomacy in 1876. In 1876, Busan became the first international port in Korea.
During the Japanese occupation, Busan developed into a hub trading port with Japan. Busan was the only city in Korea to adopt the steam tramway before electrification was introduced in 1924. And Busan is the only city in Korea that was never taken by the North Korean Communists during the Korean War. As a result the city was a refugee camp site for Koreans during the war.
Since 1978, Busan has opened three container ports including Jaseungdae, Shinsundae and Gamman. Busan is renowned as one of the world's largest ports and can handle up to 6.44 million TEU shipping containers per year.
Transportation
The Coastal Ferry Terminal (연안여객터미널) serves ferry services to many locations on Geoje Island as well as to Jeju City in Jeju-do.
Ferries leaving from the International Ferry Terminal (국제여객터미널) on Busan Harbor Pier 1 connect Busan to the Japanese ports of Izuhara and Hitakatsu on Tsushima Island, as well as the cities of Shimonoseki, Fukuoka, and Osaka on Japan's mainland.
Busan is served by Gimhae International Airport in the west.
Busan lies on a number of rail lines, of which the most important is the Gyeongbu Line which connects it to other major cities such as Seoul, Daejeon, and Daegu. All classes of trains run along the Gyeongbu Line, including the KTX trains which provide service to Seoul in approximately 150 minutes. The Gyeongbu Line terminates at Busan Station. Other lines include the Donghae Nambu Line.
The Busan Subway network contains three lines: Line number 1, Line number 2, and Line number 3. It's operated by the Busan Transportation Corporation.
Higher education in Busan
Universities with graduate schools
Other institutes of higher education
Business Organisations
Sister cities
Busan shares the title of sister city with several coastal cities or provinces across the world.
The Port of Busan also has 6 sister ports.
See also
External links
