35 attractions in Busan, including Gamcheon Culture Village, Gwangalli Beach and National Maritime Museum of Korea.
Old towns & squares
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Gamcheon Culture Village is a hillside neighbourhood in Saha District, Busan, whose houses climb the slopes of Cheonmasan in terraces like a staircase. Pastel houses, maze-like alleys and murals and art pieces at every turn have made it on…
Coast & islands
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Gwangalli Beach in Suyeong-gu, Busan, is a 1.4 km city beach. Gwangan Bridge spans the bay in front of its half-moon of sand, so people come during the day to walk along the water and after dark to see the bridge lights and the city skylin…
Museums
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A large wooden ship with two sails stands in the middle of a gallery. It is a half-size reconstruction of the vessel used by the Tongsinsa, the Joseon-era diplomatic missions to Japan. The National Maritime Museum of Korea on Yeongdo Islan…
National parks
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Geumjeongsan is a granite mountain rising between central Busan and Yangsan, and in March 2026 it became Korea's 24th national park. From the highest peak, Godangbong (801.5 m), you look down on the Nakdong River and the city, and along th…
Other
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Head north from central Busan to the foot of Geumjeongsan and you reach a neighbourhood where signs for hot springs hang all along the streets. Dongnae Hot Spring has been known since the Silla period and is one of the oldest hot springs i…
Fortresses
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In April 1592, Dongnae Fortress was among the very first places hit by the Japanese army after it landed at Busan. What survives today along the Maansan ridge, Dongnaeeupseong, is the much larger walled town rebuilt in 1731. Walking the wa…
Historic sites & memorials
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At first glance the 40-Step Stairway in Jungang-dong, Jung-gu, is just a flight of stone steps between buildings, but for people in Busan it is a symbol of the Korean War years. During the war, refugees built shacks around here and toiled…
Other
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Narrow lanes hung with clothes and bags branch off endlessly under the awnings, and at every corner a food stall has set out low stools. Gukje Market kept Busan's people fed and clothed through liberation and the Korean War, and today it i…
Coast & islands
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Spread across the very end of the Nakdong River estuary, Dadaepo Beach is Busan's classic place to watch the sun set over the sea. Fine sand carried down by the river forms a beach 900 m long and 100 m wide, and the water is so shallow tha…
Historic sites & memorials
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On a grassy rise by the sea on the east side of Yeongdo Island, layer upon layer of shells discarded by Neolithic people over thousands of years lie under the turf. It looks like an ordinary lawn, yet this is one of the oldest and largest…
Coast & islands
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At the southernmost tip of the Nakdong River estuary, where it meets the open sea, a small pine-covered peninsula forms Morundae. It was an island until the 16th century, when sand carried down by the river linked it to Dadaepo. The name m…
Churches & monasteries
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Beomeosa sits on the eastern slopes of Geumjeongsan in Cheongnyong-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan. It is the head temple of the 14th District of the Jogye Order and, with Haeinsa in Hapcheon and Tongdosa in Yangsan, is counted among the three g…
Old towns & squares
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Narrow lanes wind between faded stacks of books piled to the ceiling at Bosu-dong Book Street, the oldest second-hand book alley in Korea. It began as a street stall where a refugee couple sold used books laid out on cardboard boxes during…
Coast & islands
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About 3 km west of Jagalchi Market, a sandy beach curves around a bay lined with hotels and apartment towers. Songdo Beach opened in 1913 as Korea's first beach resort and celebrated its centenary in 2013. These days more people come for t…
Coast & islands
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Follow the trail through the dense pine forest and, where the trees end, grey cliffs drop away tens of metres beneath your feet with waves breaking white at the bottom. Taejongdae, a low hilly headland under 200 m high at the south-eastern…
Coast & islands
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If you had to pick one image of Busan's coastline, it would be these rocky islets. Oryukdo is a line of small islands about 600 m off the tip of Seungdumal point in Yongho-dong, Nam District. The view is one of the city's emblems, and from…
Gardens & parks
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Ride the escalators up from one side of the Gwangbok-ro shopping street and you suddenly come out on a tree-shaded plaza on top of a hill. Yongdusan Park covers a small hill in the middle of Busan's old town. Its name, "dragon's head mount…
Other
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Jagalchi Market stretches along the waterfront of Busan's South Port, between Nampo-dong and Chungmu-dong in Jung-gu. Selling live and fresh fish, shellfish and dried seafood, it is counted among Korea's largest seafood markets and has bec…
Historic sites & memorials
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In April 1592, Japanese forces landed at Busan and the Imjin War began. Busanjin Fortress and Dongnae Fortress were the first to be attacked, and many commanders, officials and ordinary people died defending them. Chungnyeolsa, in Allak-do…
Museums
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On a hillside in Daeyeon-dong, right next to the UN Memorial Cemetery, Busan Museum tells the story of the city from the Old Stone Age to the democracy movement under one roof. Busan has chapters no other Korean city shares, from the Joseo…
Gardens & parks
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A short walk from the busy Seomyeon district, a wide green space opens up between the high-rise blocks. For decades, Busan Citizens Park was land that ordinary people could not enter. It passed from racecourse to Japanese army training gro…
Fortresses
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Among the apartment blocks and markets of Beomil-dong in Busan's Dong District, one small hill has been left as woodland. Busanjinseong was a Joseon naval fortress, closely tied to the first battle of the Japanese invasion of 1592. The wal…
Historic sites & memorials
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The Busan place name "Suyeong" is a shortened form of Sugun Jeoldosayeong, a naval command headquarters. Suyeong Historical Park in Suyeong-dong occupies the site of the Gyeongsang Left Naval Command (Gyeongsang Jwasuyeong), which led the…
Mountains & peaks
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Seunghaksan (496 m), on the border of Saha-gu and Sasang-gu in Busan, is the mountain whose upper slopes turn silver with pampas-like silver grass every autumn. Below you spread the Nakdong River estuary, Eulsukdo Island and the sea off Da…