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Head to the sea with stories of the old downtown of Busan

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Recommended Itinerary

First day: Choryang Ibagu-gil – Forty Stairs and Cultural Center – BIFF Square / Gukje Market / Kkangtong Market – Bosu Book Street – Busan Museum of Movies / Trick Eye Museum Busan – Yongdusan Park
Second day: Yeongdodaegyo Bridge – Huinnyeoul Culture Village – Taejongdae Park – Korea National Maritime Museum – Oryukdo Islets – Gwangalli Beach / Gwangandaegyo Bridge
Third day: Haeundae – Sampho Coastal Trail – Cheongsapo Port – Songjeong Beach / Jukdo Park – Haedong Yonggungsa Temple – Ananti Cove – Jukseong Catholic Church

First day

Choryang Ibagu-gil
Forty Stairs and Cultural Center
BIFF Square / Gukje Market / Kkangtong Market
Bosu Book Street
Busan Museum of Movies / Trick Eye Museum Busan
Yongdusan Park

Choryang Ibagu-gil is a mountainside road that tells the stories of the town, centering on the 168 Stairs in the old city center of Dong-gu. Here, you can also see the early and modern history of Busan with the engraved struggles of the refugees.

Visit and learn the precious stories of Busan at the Forty Stairs that embodies the sorrows of refugees and the Forty Stairs Cultural Center that recollects these painful memories, along with other places such as the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) Square, which is the birthplace of the festival itself; the Gukje Market and Bupyeong Kkangtong Market, where you can buy anything; and the Bosu Book Street, a 50-year-old cultural alley.

At the Busan Museum of Movies, you can experience various cinema content through a film exploration story. On the second floor, the Trick Eye Museum Busan is a great place to try fun activities.

Wrap up the day by enjoying the night in Busan at the top of the Busan Tower in Yongdusan Park.

Second day

Yeongdodaegyo Bridge
Huinnyeoul Culture Village
Taejongdae Park
Korea National Maritime Museum
Oryukdo Islets
Gwangalli Beach / Gwangandaegyo Bridge

After eating a hearty meal, head over to Yeongdodaegyo Bridge, the only lifting bridge in Korea. Do not miss out on the Yeongdodaegyo Bridge lifting ceremony that happens at 2:00 p.m. every day.

Huinnyeoul Culture Village is a fantastic place perfectly perched on a steep cliff to display the contrasting narrow village and vast ocean. The magnificent view that appears different in each alleyway welcomes the visitors, and the gorgeous ocean peeking through the alley will marvel them.

Taejongdae Park, recently gaining popularity through the summer Hydrangea Festival, is an old landmark of Busan with a sculpture-like cliff and emerald-colored ocean.

Make sure to stop by the Korea national Maritime Museum with your children to see precious artifacts and documents related to the ocean and participate in various maritime experiences, including education programs.

At Oryukdo Islets, where you can see six peaks during ebb tide and five during a rising tide, you may enjoy the exciting side of nature, including the open view of the ocean and the see-through skywalk.

The second day wraps up at Gwangalli, where you can dance to busking performances against the background of the prominent Gwangandaegyo Bridge.

Third day

Haeundae
Sampo Coastal Trail
Cheongsapo Port
Songjeong Beach / Jukdo Park
Haedong Yonggungsa Temple
Ananti Cove
Jukseong Catholic Church

If you have time, also try to walk on the route that passes Haeundae Beach and head to Songjeong Beach along the Sampo Coastal Trail, which connects Mipo, Cheongsapo, and Gudeokpo Port. Do not miss out on an opportunity to walk along the coastal railway on the most beautiful walking trail in Busan.

Watch experienced surfers ride with the rushing waves, walk up to Seongiljeong Pavilion of Songjeong Beach, and rest to relieve your exhaustion and fatigue from walking all day.

Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, a beautiful temple located at the coastal cliff, is mostly visited by Korean tourists and foreigners all year round, thanks to the vast blue East sea.

Jukseong Catholic Church is like a building that came out of a fairytale, with its pointy red roof and white brick foundation. Enjoy a breathtakingly beautiful sunrise and admire how the light turns the place into a romantic church.

Recommended Tour

1Choryang Ibagu-gil, yesterday’s memories blossoming into stories

Houses are packed on the midslope of the mountains surrounding Busanhang Port. Refugees who left their hometowns to come to Busan climbed up the mountains to build the villages. As long as there was work, people would go up and down 168 Stairs multiple times a day to the dock, station, and Gukje Market. Let’s go see Choryang Ibagu-gil, a storytelling path narrated by people who did not even speak the Gyeongsang-do Province dialect.

Choryang Ibagu-gil

Former Baekje Hospital - Namseon Warehouse Site – Choryang Church - 168 Stairs - Kim Min-bu Observatory - Ebagu Archive Center - Chang Kee-ryo Memorial Hall - Yoo Chi-hwan Postbox Observatory

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2Recall the history with Forty Stairs

What happened to the traveler who cried on the flight of the Forty Stairs away from their sweet home? The Forty Stairs was a shelter for the refugees who yearned to go back to their hometown. Climb the 40 steps to experience what life’s sorrow must have been like for the refugees. Located nearby Jungang Station of Busan Metro Line 1, the Forty Stairs became the center of the lives of the refugees gathered from all over the country to the old Busan Station building. The Forty Stairs served as the passage that connected Busanhang Port’s dock to the shantytown on the hillside, a square where separated families met, and a market for selling relief items. There used to be a saying called “Let’s meet by the Forty Stairs in Busan,” and some waited by the stairs believing these words. The Forty Stairs is a place that contains the sorrows of a refugee’s burdensome life around Busan Station.

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3Gukje Market bustling with energy

There is an expression in Busan that says, “It’s like a Dottaegi Market,” which means “a loud and bustling atmosphere,” Dottaegi, the old name of Gukje Market, is crowded and full of energy, items, and people.

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4Bosu Book Street: Put a bookmark in your mind

A way back in time Put a bookmark in your mind in the Bosu Book Street

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5Huinnyeoul Culture Village at the end of the steep cliff

Above the steep wall of the Jeoryeong Coastal Trail is a unique view of the village, where you can see small houses clustered along the narrow alley formed by the coast at the end of the cliff. This is where the sorrowful lives of refugees began and where the current cultural village community of Huinnyeoul Culture Village has been established.

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6Taejongdae Park’s 100 years of history with Yeongdo Lighthouse

This place allows you to walk along the green forest path and view the blue ocean simultaneously. The multicolored rocky coast boasts its beauty formed by years of crashing waves. We’re talking about Taejongdae Park at the southern end of Yeongdo, Busan. Taejongdae was named after King Taejong Muyeol of Silla, who used to stop by the region and practice archery as he was mesmerized by the beauty of the landscape. Taejongdae Park, where unique rocks are formed and visitors are greeted by the dense forest surrounded by the deep blue ocean, is a leading travel destination in Korea.

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7Korea National Maritime Museum, the Flower of Maritime Culture

Busan equals ocean, and ocean equals Busan. But how much do we actually know about the oceans of Korea? The Korea National Maritime Museum, where stories of all oceans around the world begin, connects the past, present, and future of the ocean.

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8Eternal journey with books

Recently, the term “hocance” has been gaining popularity, making the stay at hotels and resorts the ultimate purpose of a trip. The Eternal Journey book café in Hilton Busan was built for this purpose—to provide rest to visitors through books.

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9The unique view of the Gijang Ocean at Jukseong Catholic Church

The ocean of Gijang that retains the emerald color of the East Sea is a location visited by many people. On sunny or cloudy days, it is a great location for driving along the coast, where romantic cafés offer a great view. Visitors always stop by the Jukseong Catholic Church in Gijang.

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