Understand

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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.

Eat

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An affordable and popular Busan treat is dong-nae pajeon (동래파전), a seafood and green onion pancake.

Budget

Gimbap Cheonha (김밥천하), a block to the north of Busan station (orange-yellow-white sign). Serves up gimbap from W1000 and all sorts of noodles for W2500-4000. No English menu or sign, but if you can say it they'll make it, and it's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

welly&, Busan station 3F. This food court serves all the usual Korean favorites, with plastic food and English menus making ordering a snap. Meals from W5000.

Seoul Kakkduggi, Nampo-dong. Specializes in beef soups and kakkduggi side dish. Meals around W6000.

Seamen's Club; located on the port side of Busan Station, walk through the parking lot above the train tracks then head down the stairs and take a left. This is a western style restaurant that caters to homesick sailors, with your typical family restaurant/ diner kind of menu, along with some special treats like pumpkin pie. It's cheap and very delicious. You can also drink at the bar with a bottle of Guiness only costing around $3.00. They also have a store that sells some basic essentials like deodorant and shampoo, along with Reeses cups, a very rare find in Korea.

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.

Four Season Raw Fish (Sakyeocheol Hoetjip), Millak Raw Fish Center 2F. The owner, Mr. Jun, speaks English, but ordering here is easy: it's either set A, B or C at 30/40/50,000 won per head. Even Set A is huge, while C will feed a family of North Koreans for a year. Be warned: this is as real as it gets and dishes will include still-moving octopus tentacles and other stuff most Westerners would not readily categorize as "food".

Ventanas Grill...