Korean Job Discussion Forums

[newintown]

anyone recommend any musts for a short trip to busan.
how busy are the beaches right now?
up for anything, so suggestions welcome
thanks

[chickyabroad]

Don't really have any tips - though you could go shark diving at the aquarium (but it will take almost one whole day).

But I was at Haeundae this weekend and it wasn't super crowded. Maybe because it was supposed to rain all weekend or maybe because it's still too early in the season, but the beach was only about half full on Saturday afternoon. And we had no problem getting a hotel.

[oneofthesarahs]

I went to Busan several months ago, and I thought it was spectacularly boring. It was too early to go to the beaches or anything like that, but the city itself seemed quite dull. The only good thing was some microbrewery I went to, which was behind the Lotte (? I don't remember) department store. The one with all the high-end stuff. But overall, it seemed like a really drab city, and I felt like I got stared at more there than in my little rural seaside town! Was it just a bad experience and I should give it another go?

[Bibbitybop]

Haeundae beach is good. There are tons of 30-50,000 motels off the beach. Santa Fe Motel is great for the 35,000 price (if you can find it mixed in with all of the others!)
Above Haeundae on the hill is a good walking area and some "moongazing" places.
During the day, head to the far end of Haeundae to the port and take a 1-2 hour cruise for cheap.
Busan tower is good, so are the restaurants near the fish market.

[denistron]

I would recommend:

The Gwang-ali beach area has a a lot of fun stuff to do at night with great scenery. Great view of the bridge and often has fire works. There are also several small amusement parks around there.

The Heaundea Aquarium is worth cheeking out. There are also jazz groups that play at the Paradise Hotel nearby.

The Teajungdea observatory area is a pretty nice place for a date.

Finally, the Nampo dong Gukjea market as well as the the Jalgachi fish market are fun cultural places to check out, albeit a bit dirty.

This is a city of 4 million people. There are a bunch of things to do here. Depends what you are into. You could go surfing, take a boat ride around some islands, go shopping in Seomyeon.

PM me if you want some better directions.

[denistron]

Don't go to Busan with the intention of going to the beach for a swim. Unless you go to one of the less popular beaches, you will quickly realize how insanely over crowded it gets. The water gets really dirty too.
Still, Heaundea has beer tents and girls in bikinis. So, it's not all bad

[khyber]

Song Do Beach is at the Nampodong end of town (though you'd have to take a bus to get their with ANY kind of convinience).

It's also probably the least busy (and least well known) beach in busan.

There are a lot of FANTASTIC Hwe restraurants in that neighbourhood though I've only heard that (can't stand the stuf).