Seoul gets all the attention, but South Korea's second city sits just 2.5 hours away by high-speed KTX train (around £33) and offers a completely different pace. Busan, nicknamed the "Miami of Korea", pairs beaches and dramatic peaks with a food scene and spa culture that make it the go-to mini break for Seoulites — and easy to bolt onto any Korea itinerary.
Start with a food safari around Jagalchi Fish Market, one of the country's largest, where female vendors — the famous Jagalchi Ajumma — have been selling the day's catch since the Korean War. Expect tteokbokki, glass noodles and blood pudding at market stalls, plus charred whole mackerel at nearby speciality restaurants. Decades-old Korean Pizza just outside serves crispy savoury pancakes (shrimp, potato, pork or red bean) best washed down with milky, faintly sparkling makgeolli rice wine. Brave eaters can try san-nakji: chopped live octopus, served while the tentacles are still moving.
The Haeundae area is the other big draw. Its three-mile beach sits behind Gunam-ro, a neon-lit pedestrian street lined with arcades, K-beauty shops and boutiques. This is the place to try dwaeji gukbap, a comforting pork-and-rice soup, or spicy puffer fish stew at Michelin-listed Kumsu Bokguk. Nearby Haeundae Traditional Market covers the sweet end: fish-shaped Bungeoppang pancakes stuffed with Nutella or bean paste, plus meaty mandu dumplings.
For sightseeing, ride the Busan Air Cruz cable car over Songdo Beach and the cliffs of Yeongdo on your first morning, then head to the 14th-century Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, one of Korea's rare seafront Buddhist temples. Gamcheon Culture Village — the "Machu Picchu of Busan" — stacks colourful 1950s-era refugee houses up the slopes of Cheonmasan, now dotted with murals, craft shops and a much-photographed Little Prince statue (note the 8:30pm curfew; the village is still partly residential). At Haeundae Blueline Park, the brightly coloured Sky Capsules added in 2020 run 30 minutes along the coast from Mipo to Cheongsapo — book ahead for sunset.
Finish at Spa Land in Centum City, one of Korea's largest jjimjilbang bathhouses: 13 types of sauna, nap rooms and a ramen bar, entry around £13, with a bracingly thorough traditional body scrub for £19. The writer stayed at the Ramada Encore by Wyndham Busan Haeundae, a short walk from the beach, with rates from £45 including breakfast. Getting there is straightforward: Virgin Atlantic flies direct from London Heathrow to Seoul Incheon from £889 return, then it's the KTX southeast to the coast.
Anyone doing Seoul should seriously consider adding two or three nights here — the train makes it painless, and the food, coastline and bathhouse culture are a genuinely different side of Korea.
Via The Independent Travel
