On April 1st, 2016, upon being offered a ticket to a weekend in Busan only a few days prior to the trip, I stood in front of the KTX boarding station with my grandma. This was no April Fools joke- we were actually going to Busan! For two nights and three days, my grandma, cousin and I explored Korea's second largest city. Three days, though, was not enough time to do everything we wanted. We barely skimmed the surface of the large pond that is "the windy city".
I must tell you first, that Busan is nothing like Seoul. Not in a bad way- it was actually great! But let me paint a picture to you like this...
Busan was filled with tons of trees, plants, and plenty of nature to explore. In fact, Busan is well known for its mountains, nature, and beaches. They say your trip isn't complete without hiking a mountain (which we didn't), or walking along the shore of a beach (which we did). If you know a little about Seoul, you'd know that it's quiet the opposite, for the most part.
On the KTX, it took us about 2.5-3 hours to get to Busan from Seoul Station. We hailed a taxi- which wasn't difficult seeing that they were lined up right outside the station, and checked into the Haeundae Centum Hotel. As of right now, their smallest room begins at 233,000 won (about $230 USD), and all the way up to roughly 481,000 won (about $480 USD) per night for their Premiere Suite room. The hotel was very nice & conveniently located walking distance to Centum City Shinsegae (aka the largest department store in the world, according to Guinness World Records!). It was quite the hotel; filled with coffee shops, restaurants, a convenience store, a gym, and a spa, you really didn't have to set a foot outside the lobby to find what you needed. Our room- the premiere suite room- looked pretty much like a full-furnished apartment loft, complete with a kitchen stocked with plates and utensils, a washer and dryer, a dining room, living room, flat screen TV, two bedrooms, and two full bathrooms. Though it was a lovely hotel with a great interior, we noticed was that the view outside wasn't really great. Not a deal breaker, but unless you like having a full view of BEXCO and its parking lot (the Busan Expo Center), the view isn't amazing.
Finally, we hit the beach. We went to Haeundae Beach, one of the most famous beaches in Busan. All of my friends know that I'm a total beach bum, despite having only living in the Pacific Northwest during my eleven years in America. I absolutely adore the beach- the smells, the people, the water, the atmosphere, everything. My family vacation to California was and is one of my favorite trips of my life- so it was no surprise that I was excited for the Busan beach. I was not disappointed. I stood under one of the many wooden permanent parasols stuck in the sand, seacombed and collected beautiful seashells, drank in the clean, salty air, and ran around near the waterline. It was a perfect blend of urban and ocean- the beach was filled with the "beach" air, chill people, and a relaxed atmosphere. Yet in the background you could see skyscrapers and hotels (which, by the way, is gorgeous at night).
That night, we went back to the beach with my cousin. I hadn't thought it would be possible, but it was even more beautiful at night! The lights from the skyscrapers bounced off the waves of the water, giving the entire beach an almost mystical effect. There were mini "stages" set up along the line where the sand met the sidewalk, where people brought their bands and sang, played instruments, did magic tricks, and played with fireworks (though it's prohibited). After walking around amongst the couples, families, and amateur photographers trying to get a good shot of the beach and skyline, we headed up to a line of street food and souvenir stalls before heading back to the hotel, where we purchased some super cute shell arrangements made to look like animals.
The next morning, we enjoyed the buffet-style breakfast at the hotel, then set off by taxi and foot to Nampo-Dong shopping street. Nampo-Dong was a huge, long street with smaller alleyways also filled with little shops and stalls, that led to more shopping streets. There were plenty of the usual shops you see at shopping streets- makeup shops like Etude house, Missha, and The Face Shop, as well as larger stores like Adidas, New Balance, ABC Mart, and Uniqlo. It was also exploding with cute cafes and restaurants. After shopping, we ate lunch at a Japanese Ramen restaurant we encountered at the food street. It was delicious, although extremely spicy!
Soon after lunch, we headed to Beotkkot-Gil, aka a very long street of cherry blossom trees. It was such a sight! Lined on both sides of the street were large, luscious cherry blossom trees with pink flowers in full-bloom, little petals falling like snowflakes on the people flocking the sidewalks to get a glimpse of the road. Girls were putting flowers in each others' hair, couples were taking selfies in the middle of the street when the stream of cars ceased, and groups of tourists chatted excitedly as they took photos for each other. I'd never seen such a sight, and though having no cars in the middle of the street would have made it even better, I enjoyed the beautiful view and even managed to run to the middle of the road to film for my video when all the cars passed.
After drinking in as much of the pink blossoms as we could, we headed over to one of the Sulbing stores, where we ordered an injeolmi bingsu, one of their most popular shaved ice desserts. I'd heard of Sulbing so many times, and although Seoul was loaded with them, I'd never tried bingsu at one before. Boy, was I missing out! Despite sitting on top of shaved ice, the injeolmi (rice cakes) were still soft and chewy, and the shaved ice almost felt like snow. Do you remember when you were five and you ate snow off the ground? Well, maybe not. But that's what it was like!
Finally, after unloading our purchases back at the hotel, we walked to the Centum City Shinsegae. "Wow" is an understatement for how wide my eyes got upon entering the mall. It was unreal. I'm not kidding when I say that I could not see where this mall ended! As we went up the escalator, I eyed the eleven floors of stores, food, and amenities. After only thirty minutes and covering only a teeny tiny square of one of the eleven floors, we were exhausted. And so, we did what was logical. We headed to the Spa!
Yes, you read that right. There is a spa in the mall. As well as an ice skating rink (darn! I didn't bring my skates), multiplex cinema, and a golf range. The spa seemed very luxurious, despite the very affordable admission fee. It was the most fancy looking sauna I'd ever been to in Korea! We checked in, put our shoes in the shoe lockers, went to the women's room, changed into the clothes provided (which are quite unstylish albeit very comfy), and headed outside for the outdoor foot spa first. There was a huge shallow warm foot pool in the middle of the area, and the perimeter was lined with roomy stalls with hotter water and little marble stools for groups of people who wanted a little privacy. There was two floors of hot rooms, cold rooms, and hot and cold springs (each located in its gender-separated bathing areas), a variety of different themed "rooms" to relax in, meditation rooms, massage chairs, message therapy, and cafes. Spa Land was great for de-stressing and winding down after all the walking we'd done that day. We came out smiling and relaxed before heading back to our hotel for our last night in Busan.
Overall, I am so happy about the time I got to spend with my grandma and cousin in Busan. We saw some gorgeous views, hung out at the coolest beach, walked down the most beautiful flower road I'd ever seen, shopped at the seemingly never ending Nampo-Dong, and unwinded at the luxury spa in Spa Land. It was so nice to get away from the more industrial and fast paced life of Seoul for a weekend and become engulfed into the chill, welcoming nature-esque vibes of Busan. I'm so thankful for the trip and can't wait to go again.
I hope this travel recap gave you some ideas for what you can do when you visit Busan!
Until next trip,
Soo Hyun
