Dongnae Hot Spring

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 in Korea; locals simply call the area Oncheonjang. You can soak in one of the big bathhouses or just dip your feet in the free open-air foot bath on the street.

History: a hot spring shown by a crane

The oldest record of the spring appears in the Samguk Yusa, which says a Silla minister named Chungwon bathed here. A Joseon geography, the Sinjeung Dongguk Yeoji Seungnam, describes water hot enough to boil an egg and says the sick were cured by bathing in it, and that Silla kings came here many times.

A legend tells of the spring's discovery. An old woman with a lame leg saw a crane, also limping, spend three days in a rice paddy and then fly away healed. Where the crane had stood, she found hot water bubbling up, and after soaking her leg in it she could walk again. In modern times the spring was developed in earnest by Japanese settlers after the port of Busan opened in 1883, and with trams and buses running here it grew into a spa town.

What to see

• Open-air foot bath: a free foot bath in the middle of Oncheonjang. Hot spring water pours from a carved dragon's head, and you can sit with your feet in it for a while.
• Onjeong Gaegeonbi and Yonggak: a stele erected in 1766 to honour Dongnae magistrate Gang Pil-ri for rebuilding the baths. The granite stone is 144 cm tall, and an old stone bathtub survives in front of it. The inscription says two stone baths were built in 1691, and that Gang Pil-ri put up a nine-bay bathhouse with separate sections for men and women. Next to it, the Yonggak shrine honours the Dragon King, with a rite every year on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.
• Large bathhouses: Oncheonjang is full of spa hotels and bathhouses. The biggest, Heosimcheong, opened in 1991 and can hold 3,000 bathers at once.

Good to know

The water is an alkaline saline spring of around 55 °C. Groundwater from the Geumjeongsan area is thought to sink along fault fractures to a depth of 3 to 4 km, where it is heated before rising again. The site of the 1766 stele was also where the city of Busan pumped hot spring water until the 1960s.

Tripto tips

• Foot bath: open 10:00–17:00, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, 1 January and over Seollal and Chuseok. It is free; bring your own towel.
• Onjeong Gaegeonbi: viewable April–September 09:00–18:00 and October–March 09:00–17:00, closed on Mondays and public holiday periods.
• Bathing: Heosimcheong is open 05:30–22:00 (last entry 21:30). Adult admission is KRW 15,000 on weekdays and KRW 18,000 at weekends and on holidays; prices may change, so check before you go.
• Getting there: walk from Oncheonjang Station on Busan Metro Line 1. Combine it with Geumgang Park, where the Geumjeongsan cable car starts, and the Oncheoncheon stream path, famous for spring cherry blossoms, for a half-day outing.