Before you travel to Busan, make sure you have checked this blog, as here you will find out where is Busan, what to do in Busan, what are the Instagrammable places in Busan, what are the best places to visit in Busan, and picturesque places in Busan. To answer the question where is Busan: Busan is South Korea's second-most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.5 million inhabitants. Located on the southeasternmost tip of the Korean Peninsula, Busan has a cooler version of a humid subtropical climate. As you understand, you will not have any problem finding places to go in Busan after this blog. To answer the question about what to do in Busan, I can say that there are plenty of places to visit. So, I combined for you the list of Instagrammable places in Busan.
1. Jagalchi Fish Market
The leading fish market in South Korea lies on the waterfront at a seven-story building in Nampo-dong. Of course, there's an obvious culinary appeal to a place like this, but it's also worthwhile to roam the trading floor on the first level just to see an operation of this size in action and take the pulse of daily life in Busan. As early as 07:00, you can pay for whatever takes your fancy meal (try haggling), be it the octopus, king crab, lobster, shrimp, eel, squid, scallops, or a huge array of fish. Visiting this place is one of the best things to do in Busan.
2. Taejongdae
Yeong Island is one of the most Instagrammable places in Busan, and it is joined by a bridge to Busan's mainland in the downtown neighborhood of Nampo-dong and pushes out south-east into the Korea Strait. The further you travel, the sparser the development on this mountainous island, and at its very tip is a natural wonder. Buffeted by the sea, Taejongdae is all dense evergreen forest and rocky coastal scenery with caves and lofty cliffs. There's a lighthouse, temples, a small amusement park, a wild pebble beach, a cruise terminal, and an observatory on the cliff-top where you can make out Japan's Tsushima some 40 kilometers to the south on clear days.
3. Haeundae Beach
Haeundae Beach is one of the most instagrammable beaches in South Korea. This beach can provide you with one of the most liked Instagram photo of Busan city on Instagram. The peak of Busan's beaches is on the coast of the Haeundae District in eastern Busan. The great allure of this sandy shoreline has sparked incredible development in the last couple of decades, and the beach is now skirted by a crescent of supertall skyscrapers like Haeundae LCT The Sharp, Haeundae Doosan, and the Zenith, both above 300 meters.
4. Yongdusan Park
There are several places to go in Busan, and Yongdusan Park is one of them. Downtown Busan's main park covers the 50-meter Yongdusan Mountain, which takes its name from the Korean for dragon's head (yongdu) to describe the shape of the peak. The mountain is littered with monuments, like a 12-meter statue for Admiral Yi Sun-sin, who gained key victories during the Japanese invasions (1592-1598), a flower clock, the Palgakjeong octagonal pavilion, and the citizens' bell pavilion. At the very top is the 120-meter Busan Tower; during the Korean War (1950-53), the entire mountainside was a shanty town for refugees, but it was burnt down twice. After the conflict, Yongdusan Mountain was replanted.
5. Gamcheon Culture Village
Cascading down the slopes of a coastal mountain Gamcheon Culture Village is a picturesque neighborhood of brightly painted houses on scurrying alleys and stairways. This part of Game Chon-dong began life as a shanty town settled by refugees in the wake of the Korean War, and coming into the 21st century, was down-at-heel and underdeveloped. Initiatives like an area-wide repainting scheme, public art commissions, and the "Empty House Residency Preservation Project" have reinvigorated the area, now full of character and one of the artiest in Busan. You can come to look around, take one of your most liked Instagram photos of the townscape and murals, browse art studios and get a little background on the neighborhood's rebirth at Gamcheon Cultural Village Information Center.
6. Haedong Yonggungsa
An easy excursion from Haeundae Beach and eastern Busan, Haedong Yonggungsa is a Buddhist temple in a marvelous setting, resting atop granite outcrops and looking east out to sea. The location is unusual, as most temples in Korea are located high in the mountains. The temple dates back to 1376 during the last years of the Goryeo Dynasty and after being pulled down during the Japanese invasions (1592-1598), it was reconstructed in the 1930s. Some of the monuments to discover are the 108 steps, the Globeop Buddhist Sanctum (tucked in a cave), the Haesu Gwaneum Daebul statue (Seawater Great Goddess Buddha), a three-story pagoda embellished with four lions, and the magical Daeungjeon (Main Hall).
7. Busan Tower
An emblem for Busan, the 120-meter tower in Yongdusan Park, has been there since 1973 and unlike many towers of its kind was raised purely as a visitor attraction, without any broadcasting equipment. At the foot of Busan Tower, there are souvenir shops, an aquarium, and a science exhibition hall, while the observatory at the top is set on two floors. Catching an elevator to the top is one of those things all first-time visitors have to do in Busan, especially if the sky is clear. At night there's a knockout panorama of the harbor, the Busan Bridge, Jagalchi Market, and out as far as Japan's Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait if conditions are right. Busan Tower is one of the best places to visit in Busan where tourists like to be.
8. Beomeosa
Perched on the secluded eastern slopes of the 800-meter mountain, Geumjeongsan, Beomeosa is a head temple for Korean Buddhism's Jogye Order. It is one of the three most important temples in South Korea's Yeongnam region. A lot of what you see dates today from the beginning of the 17th century as the temple was badly damaged during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598). The complex is wreathed in wild wisteria and lavender, which is breathtaking when it blooms in late spring. You'll have a series of Korean National Treasures to take in, like the highly ornate main temple hall (Daeungjeon), held as one of the great works of Joseon Dynasty architecture in Korea.
9. Gwangalli Beach
Curling around for 1.4 kilometers, and more than 100 meters across places in Busan, Gwangalli Beach has soft, fine sand and high water quality after improvements in recent years. You'll never go hungry at Gwangalli Beach as there are more than 300 restaurants, cafes, and sushi bars within a few steps. What will hit you right away is the view of the mammoth Gwangandaegyo suspension bridge spanning the bay a few hundred meters out to sea. The shore here is the best place to catch the bridge's LED light show after dark. More than a million people gathered at the beach and the promenade behind for the Busan International Fireworks Festival, one of the largest fireworks events in Asia and held across two evenings in late-October.
10. Seokbulsa
If you still wonder where to visit in Busan next, you should go and see Seokbulsa, which is one of the wonderful places in Busan. Like Beomeosa this temple is a little removed from the city, high past the west side of Geumgang Park in Buk-gu. The simplest way to get there is to catch the park's cable car, and then make the hike from the upper station through instagrammable evergreen woodland via the South Gate of Geumjeongsanseong Fortress to this peaceful mountain haven. The journey is half the fun, especially on the cable car, which has photo-worthy views of Busan to get most liked instagram photo on Instagram between the trees.
11. Nampo-dong
It can take a while to get yourself oriented in Busan's chaotic central shopping area, but before long, you'll notice that the various alleys are reserved for specific products. Kang-tong Gol-mok (Tin Can Alley) has bargain market items, while Vintage Clothes Alley is a crazy jumble of second-hand clothing, with some real finds among the chaos if you're persistent. Book Alley is self-explanatory, while Gukje Market is for international goods and arrived in the 1950s when American items smuggled through Busan Port would end up here. Fashion Street, formerly a gritty place to buy camera parts, is now lined with brand name clothing retailers and is the scene for Nampo-dong's Christmas lights festival.
12. BIFF Square
This dining, shopping, and entertainment district, also in Nampo-dong, is named after the Busan International Film Festival. It was launched in 1996 and is one of the most Instagrammable places of Busan. Held across ten days every October, the festival took off right away and screened hundreds of movies from scores of countries, welcoming prestigious international guests from Ennio Morricone to Wim Wenders. The festival has had a transformative effect on BIFF Square, giving rise to a modern movie district loaded with first-run theatres. This is also just a place to munch on proper Busan street food, and you can take a lot of photos to post on Instagram here. If you have checked this blog carefully, you are already aware of where is Busan, places to go in Busan, places to visit in Busan, what are the most Instagrammable locations in Busan, what to do in Busan, so it means you are ready to travel to Busan.
