A Mother-Daughter Trip to South Korea
Jun 1st, 2025 | 07:55 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
A Mother-Daughter Trip to South Korea
Many of my (F, 44) travels have been driven by the history, culture, or landscape of a place, but this trip to South Korea is the first that’s been driven primarily by pop culture. Like many others, in 2020 I became converted to K-dramas when I watched Crash Landing on You. I also became a fan of the band BTS and, desperate to share my excitement with someone, started talking about BTS with my mom, who also soon became a fan.
A couple of years ago my mom (74) asked when we were going to Korea, and I laughed it off because my mom has never prioritized international travel. But she said she was serious, so I did some preliminary research, drew up a budget, and we started saving.
We ended up taking a 16-day trip to Korea from May 9-24, 2025. The rough itinerary was:
Seoul - 4 nights
Busan - 5 nights
Jeju Island (Namwon) - 3 nights
Seoul - 2 nights
After several months of tracking, in January 2025 we purchased flights on WestJet from Las Vegas to Seoul (with a layover in Calgary) for $1330, the most expensive plane tickets I’ve ever bought! We actually ended up spending more on flights, as I had to buy a roundtrip flight between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, and my mom - concerned about sciatica pain - paid to upgrade her seats on all four legs of the trip to exit row or Premium Economy.
Travel Days (Friday May 9th - Saturday May 10th)
We started with an 8am flight from Las Vegas to Calgary. I chose a flight plan with a 4-ish hour layover, just to ensure that any delays with the first flight didn’t impact the second one. There were no delays, so we had about an hour to kill in the airport before we could use my Priority Pass to access a lounge. I was really impressed by the Calgary airport and all of its creative seating areas. Once we were eligible to enter the Aspire lounge, we found that it was full, so I added my name to a waiting list. After about 30 minutes we were admitted, and then we had a couple of hours to eat and relax.
As a birthday gift to me, my mom generously paid to upgrade my seat on the YYC-ICN leg to Premium Economy so we were able to sit together (with no one in the middle seat, hooray!) on the long flight to Seoul. That extra space was worth every penny. My mom was able to sleep a lot more than I was. I had a hard time falling asleep at the beginning of the flight and a hard time staying awake at the end!
I had filled out the e-arrival card before we started traveling, so we got through immigration fairly quickly. I had also already bought a voucher on Klook for the K-Limousine bus. We easily found the place to exchange the voucher for tickets and luckily only had to wait about 15 minutes for the next bus. By this time it was 7:30pm or so, and it was a challenge to stay awake on the hour-long ride from Incheon to Seoul. The bus was super convenient and comfortable, although the walk from the Myeongdong stop to our hotel felt much longer than what I had mapped out. On the walk to the hotel we stopped at a 7-11, where I withdrew cash from an ATM and bought two climate cards to use on the subway.
Our hotel for this first stay in Seoul was Hotel Venue G, which I booked through Booking.com. We paid $100/night for a superior twin room. The hotel is pretty basic, nothing special, but the room was spacious compared to other options I found in the same neighborhood for a similar price. The hotel sits right across from the Cheonggyecheon stream; the immediate neighborhood consists of many small auto/mechanical part shops, and it’s in a pretty central location between Myeongdong and the palaces in the historic heart of Jong-no.
Once we were checked in and settled in our room we were exhausted, so we went directly to bed.
A couple of years ago my mom (74) asked when we were going to Korea, and I laughed it off because my mom has never prioritized international travel. But she said she was serious, so I did some preliminary research, drew up a budget, and we started saving.
We ended up taking a 16-day trip to Korea from May 9-24, 2025. The rough itinerary was:
Seoul - 4 nights
Busan - 5 nights
Jeju Island (Namwon) - 3 nights
Seoul - 2 nights
After several months of tracking, in January 2025 we purchased flights on WestJet from Las Vegas to Seoul (with a layover in Calgary) for $1330, the most expensive plane tickets I’ve ever bought! We actually ended up spending more on flights, as I had to buy a roundtrip flight between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, and my mom - concerned about sciatica pain - paid to upgrade her seats on all four legs of the trip to exit row or Premium Economy.
Travel Days (Friday May 9th - Saturday May 10th)
We started with an 8am flight from Las Vegas to Calgary. I chose a flight plan with a 4-ish hour layover, just to ensure that any delays with the first flight didn’t impact the second one. There were no delays, so we had about an hour to kill in the airport before we could use my Priority Pass to access a lounge. I was really impressed by the Calgary airport and all of its creative seating areas. Once we were eligible to enter the Aspire lounge, we found that it was full, so I added my name to a waiting list. After about 30 minutes we were admitted, and then we had a couple of hours to eat and relax.
As a birthday gift to me, my mom generously paid to upgrade my seat on the YYC-ICN leg to Premium Economy so we were able to sit together (with no one in the middle seat, hooray!) on the long flight to Seoul. That extra space was worth every penny. My mom was able to sleep a lot more than I was. I had a hard time falling asleep at the beginning of the flight and a hard time staying awake at the end!
I had filled out the e-arrival card before we started traveling, so we got through immigration fairly quickly. I had also already bought a voucher on Klook for the K-Limousine bus. We easily found the place to exchange the voucher for tickets and luckily only had to wait about 15 minutes for the next bus. By this time it was 7:30pm or so, and it was a challenge to stay awake on the hour-long ride from Incheon to Seoul. The bus was super convenient and comfortable, although the walk from the Myeongdong stop to our hotel felt much longer than what I had mapped out. On the walk to the hotel we stopped at a 7-11, where I withdrew cash from an ATM and bought two climate cards to use on the subway.
Our hotel for this first stay in Seoul was Hotel Venue G, which I booked through Booking.com. We paid $100/night for a superior twin room. The hotel is pretty basic, nothing special, but the room was spacious compared to other options I found in the same neighborhood for a similar price. The hotel sits right across from the Cheonggyecheon stream; the immediate neighborhood consists of many small auto/mechanical part shops, and it’s in a pretty central location between Myeongdong and the palaces in the historic heart of Jong-no.
Once we were checked in and settled in our room we were exhausted, so we went directly to bed.
Jun 3rd, 2025 | 03:31 AM
#4
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 248
Likes: 0
looking forward to reading more about your adventures! you had me at Crash Landing on You.........it's embarrassing how many K-dramas I have watched. I especially love all of the ones set in Jeju Island, so really cannot wait to hear your thoughts and impressions.
Jun 3rd, 2025 | 04:55 AM
#5
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
shelemm and tripplanner001 Glad to have you along!
adlmllr I knew that Korea wasn't going to feel exactly like a K-drama, but in lots of little ways it actually did! People sitting at tables outside of convenience stores, cute little tents set up for picnics in the park, the exercise equipment in parks. I also also love the dramas set on Jeju Island! We watched a couple of episodes of When Life Gives You Tangerines while in there, which was really fun.
adlmllr I knew that Korea wasn't going to feel exactly like a K-drama, but in lots of little ways it actually did! People sitting at tables outside of convenience stores, cute little tents set up for picnics in the park, the exercise equipment in parks. I also also love the dramas set on Jeju Island! We watched a couple of episodes of When Life Gives You Tangerines while in there, which was really fun.
Jun 3rd, 2025 | 05:11 AM
#6
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
Day 1 Gyeongbokgung Palace and Gwangjang Market (Sunday May 11)
Fortunately we both slept well. We left the hotel about 8:15am and walked to a small bakery called Susannah’s Apron, where we split salt bread, a mini quiche, and honey sweet potato bread, all of which were good, particularly the quiche. The cafe is tucked down a small side street between what appeared to be printing and binding shops, so it’s not really somewhere you’d come across unless you were looking for it. There is a small area for seating on the main floor, a larger seating area and exhibition space on the second floor, and another large area with bean bag seating on the third floor.
After breakfast we headed to a church service. They must receive visitors regularly because they had an English interpreter and headphones all ready to go.
After church, we were transferring in the subway on our way to Insadong when Mom realized she had lost her climate card (subway pass). On the first day?!
There are two major public transit passes for tourists: the climate card and the T-money card. Each physical card supposedly costs ₩3000, but all of the cards I came across in convenience stores had special images or characters on them and cost ₩4000-5000. With the T-money card, you add money to the card balance (via cash at convenience stores or subway stations) and pay per trip. One advantage is that you can use a T-money card all across Korea, and I think you might also be able to use it to pay for taxis and items at convenience stores. Climate cards are 1, 2, 3, 5, or 7 day passes where you get unlimited* transportation on subways and buses in Seoul -*there are some outer areas of Seoul that aren’t covered, but that won’t be an issue for most tourists. (There is also another option called the Wow Pass, but I didn’t look into that at all.)
Before the trip I had mapped out the estimated cost of public transit each day and determined that it would be cost effective to use a climate card for the first two days and a T-money card for the rest of the trip. Looking back, I should have just kept it simple and used T-money cards from the get-go, even if the total cost was a few dollars higher. When we discovered that my mom had lost her climate card, we just purchased a T-money card and loaded some money onto it.
One of my must-dos was to visit a traditional tea house, so we went to Tteuran. This is a lovely, tranquil space in the middle of busy Insadong. Mom had lemon ginger tea, which she loved, and I had quince tea, which I really liked. Both teas were pretty sweet. We also got the traditional Korean sweets set, which was good.
Next we made our way to Gyeongbokgung Palace for the changing of the guard. We arrived about ½ hour early for the ceremony that starts at 2pm. It takes place in a very large courtyard at the front of the palace grounds and takes about 20 minutes. I think it’s worth seeing! After that we left Gyeongbokgung, with plans to come back for the night admission.
We stopped for some snacks at 7-11, where Mom was disappointed to discover that Korean Cheetos have different flavoring than American Cheetos. We also stopped for a short break in our hotel room.
Next it was on to Gwangjang Market, which, in hindsight, was a mistake to visit on the first day. If you’ve read any of my previous trip reports you’ll know that I am kind of picky about meat (I don’t like seafood or anything raw or too gamey in flavor). Well, Mom’s level of squeamishness when it comes to meat makes mine look miniscule! Taking her to a traditional market where there are all sorts of unfamiliar cuts of meat, “interesting” smells, and maybe not the best refrigeration and hygiene practices was not the best way to introduce her to Korean food. She was a good sport, though. She wanted something without meat, so we got kalguksu with mandu to split. While she ate some of it, I think the market experience had gotten to her psychologically, so she didn’t really enjoy it. I also got a bungeoppang with red bean and walnut filling (the sweet, fish-shaped pastry), and a torched marshmallow ice cream stick. The market wasn’t quite as big or the highlight I had imagined, although my experience might have been better had I not been concerned about Mom’s reaction.
After the market, Mom insisted that we go to Burger King so that she could eat a proper meal. My mom and I generally travel very well together, but food would be the main point of contention on this trip. I did not want to come all the way to Korea to eat at McDonalds and Burger King, and she didn’t want to be forced to eat things she didn’t like. We were able to reach a decent compromise where I’d be (fairly) patient with taking extra time to go to Burger King and she wouldn’t resist going to Korean restaurants that required her to order something. I didn’t get to eat quite as much Korean food as I would’ve liked, and she ate some things she probably would have rather skipped, but in the end it worked out okay. And I have to admit, there is something oddly comforting about the familiar atmosphere of a Burger King playing great K-pop music.
After our late lunch/early dinner we went back to Gyeongbokgung Palace, lining up about 15-20 minutes before the ticket office for the evening admission opened. Gyeongbokgung is only open at night for a few specific weeks a year, and so although we did lose something in not being able to visit some of the interior spaces that are open during the day and not having time to do the audio tour, I wanted to take advantage of the unique experience of seeing the palace lit up at night.
It was still light when we entered the palace, and I loved seeing the colorful and intricate decoration on the buildings. We arrived at the Gyeonghoeru Pavilion about twilight, and, while sitting on a bench in front of the lit up pavilion, we watched a YouTube video of BTS performing their song Mikrocosmos there, which was broadcast on the Jimmy Fallon show in 2020. When I first saw that performance I had no concept of the importance of the location, so it was fun to watch it again in situ.
It was also fun to see all of the girls and women dressed up in hanbok. A number of them were standing over lights on the ground to take photos with their hanbok skirts lit up like lanterns.
The palace is only open for the night admission for about 1 ½ hours, so our experience there wasn’t super in-depth, but I knew we’d be spending the better part of a day at Changdeokgung palace in a couple of days. If I ever have the opportunity to go back, I would love to follow the audio tour and learn more, but I’m really glad we got the opportunity to visit Gyeongbokgung while it was lit up at night.
As we were leaving the area, we saw the Seoul Outdoor Library set up in Gwanghwamun Square. There were bean bags set up all over the square, with bookshelves and boxes of books scattered throughout. It was a festive atmosphere, with most of the bean bags occupied, albeit primarily with people looking at their phones rather than reading the books.
We passed the statue of King Sejong on our way into the subway station and ended a great first full day in Seoul.
Let the adventures begin!
Tteuran traditional tea house
Lemon ginger tea, traditional sweets, quince tea
Gwanghwamun Gate, the main entry to Gyeongbokgung Palace
Changing of the guard ceremony at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Changing of the guard ceremony at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Geunjeongjeon Hall at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Geunjeongjeon Hall at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Colorful building decoration at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Colorful building decoration at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Gyeongbokgung Palace
Gyeongbokgung Palace at sunset
Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, where BTS performed Mikrocosmos
Geunjeongjeon Hall lit up at night
Geunjeongmun Gate lit up at night
Gwanghwamun Gate at night
Seoul Outdoor Library
Fortunately we both slept well. We left the hotel about 8:15am and walked to a small bakery called Susannah’s Apron, where we split salt bread, a mini quiche, and honey sweet potato bread, all of which were good, particularly the quiche. The cafe is tucked down a small side street between what appeared to be printing and binding shops, so it’s not really somewhere you’d come across unless you were looking for it. There is a small area for seating on the main floor, a larger seating area and exhibition space on the second floor, and another large area with bean bag seating on the third floor.
After breakfast we headed to a church service. They must receive visitors regularly because they had an English interpreter and headphones all ready to go.
After church, we were transferring in the subway on our way to Insadong when Mom realized she had lost her climate card (subway pass). On the first day?!
There are two major public transit passes for tourists: the climate card and the T-money card. Each physical card supposedly costs ₩3000, but all of the cards I came across in convenience stores had special images or characters on them and cost ₩4000-5000. With the T-money card, you add money to the card balance (via cash at convenience stores or subway stations) and pay per trip. One advantage is that you can use a T-money card all across Korea, and I think you might also be able to use it to pay for taxis and items at convenience stores. Climate cards are 1, 2, 3, 5, or 7 day passes where you get unlimited* transportation on subways and buses in Seoul -*there are some outer areas of Seoul that aren’t covered, but that won’t be an issue for most tourists. (There is also another option called the Wow Pass, but I didn’t look into that at all.)
Before the trip I had mapped out the estimated cost of public transit each day and determined that it would be cost effective to use a climate card for the first two days and a T-money card for the rest of the trip. Looking back, I should have just kept it simple and used T-money cards from the get-go, even if the total cost was a few dollars higher. When we discovered that my mom had lost her climate card, we just purchased a T-money card and loaded some money onto it.
One of my must-dos was to visit a traditional tea house, so we went to Tteuran. This is a lovely, tranquil space in the middle of busy Insadong. Mom had lemon ginger tea, which she loved, and I had quince tea, which I really liked. Both teas were pretty sweet. We also got the traditional Korean sweets set, which was good.
Next we made our way to Gyeongbokgung Palace for the changing of the guard. We arrived about ½ hour early for the ceremony that starts at 2pm. It takes place in a very large courtyard at the front of the palace grounds and takes about 20 minutes. I think it’s worth seeing! After that we left Gyeongbokgung, with plans to come back for the night admission.
We stopped for some snacks at 7-11, where Mom was disappointed to discover that Korean Cheetos have different flavoring than American Cheetos. We also stopped for a short break in our hotel room.
Next it was on to Gwangjang Market, which, in hindsight, was a mistake to visit on the first day. If you’ve read any of my previous trip reports you’ll know that I am kind of picky about meat (I don’t like seafood or anything raw or too gamey in flavor). Well, Mom’s level of squeamishness when it comes to meat makes mine look miniscule! Taking her to a traditional market where there are all sorts of unfamiliar cuts of meat, “interesting” smells, and maybe not the best refrigeration and hygiene practices was not the best way to introduce her to Korean food. She was a good sport, though. She wanted something without meat, so we got kalguksu with mandu to split. While she ate some of it, I think the market experience had gotten to her psychologically, so she didn’t really enjoy it. I also got a bungeoppang with red bean and walnut filling (the sweet, fish-shaped pastry), and a torched marshmallow ice cream stick. The market wasn’t quite as big or the highlight I had imagined, although my experience might have been better had I not been concerned about Mom’s reaction.
After the market, Mom insisted that we go to Burger King so that she could eat a proper meal. My mom and I generally travel very well together, but food would be the main point of contention on this trip. I did not want to come all the way to Korea to eat at McDonalds and Burger King, and she didn’t want to be forced to eat things she didn’t like. We were able to reach a decent compromise where I’d be (fairly) patient with taking extra time to go to Burger King and she wouldn’t resist going to Korean restaurants that required her to order something. I didn’t get to eat quite as much Korean food as I would’ve liked, and she ate some things she probably would have rather skipped, but in the end it worked out okay. And I have to admit, there is something oddly comforting about the familiar atmosphere of a Burger King playing great K-pop music.
After our late lunch/early dinner we went back to Gyeongbokgung Palace, lining up about 15-20 minutes before the ticket office for the evening admission opened. Gyeongbokgung is only open at night for a few specific weeks a year, and so although we did lose something in not being able to visit some of the interior spaces that are open during the day and not having time to do the audio tour, I wanted to take advantage of the unique experience of seeing the palace lit up at night.
It was still light when we entered the palace, and I loved seeing the colorful and intricate decoration on the buildings. We arrived at the Gyeonghoeru Pavilion about twilight, and, while sitting on a bench in front of the lit up pavilion, we watched a YouTube video of BTS performing their song Mikrocosmos there, which was broadcast on the Jimmy Fallon show in 2020. When I first saw that performance I had no concept of the importance of the location, so it was fun to watch it again in situ.
It was also fun to see all of the girls and women dressed up in hanbok. A number of them were standing over lights on the ground to take photos with their hanbok skirts lit up like lanterns.
The palace is only open for the night admission for about 1 ½ hours, so our experience there wasn’t super in-depth, but I knew we’d be spending the better part of a day at Changdeokgung palace in a couple of days. If I ever have the opportunity to go back, I would love to follow the audio tour and learn more, but I’m really glad we got the opportunity to visit Gyeongbokgung while it was lit up at night.
As we were leaving the area, we saw the Seoul Outdoor Library set up in Gwanghwamun Square. There were bean bags set up all over the square, with bookshelves and boxes of books scattered throughout. It was a festive atmosphere, with most of the bean bags occupied, albeit primarily with people looking at their phones rather than reading the books.
We passed the statue of King Sejong on our way into the subway station and ended a great first full day in Seoul.
Let the adventures begin!
Tteuran traditional tea house
Lemon ginger tea, traditional sweets, quince tea
Gwanghwamun Gate, the main entry to Gyeongbokgung Palace
Changing of the guard ceremony at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Changing of the guard ceremony at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Geunjeongjeon Hall at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Geunjeongjeon Hall at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Colorful building decoration at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Colorful building decoration at Gyeongbokgung Palace
Gyeongbokgung Palace
Gyeongbokgung Palace at sunset
Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, where BTS performed Mikrocosmos
Geunjeongjeon Hall lit up at night
Geunjeongmun Gate lit up at night
Gwanghwamun Gate at night
Seoul Outdoor Library
Jun 4th, 2025 | 07:47 PM
#7
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
Day 2 Bukchon Village, BTS Tour & Lotte Tower (Monday May 12)
For breakfast this morning we went to Artist Bakery, the extremely popular bakery not far from Gyeongbokgung palace. We arrived about 8:30am to find a line, which was not at all unexpected. We joined the line, but then a cafe employee told us that we’d need to join the queue on Catch Table and that the wait would likely be about an hour. (I guess the line was for take-away.) I initially joined the online queue with 17 parties ahead of us, but then I changed to a request for a terrace seat, and there were only 5 parties waiting. We only ended up waiting about 15 minutes before a table was ready.
We got lemon, chocolate, and milk cream salt breads, plus a mango smoothie for me and a hot apple cinnamon tea for Mom. Everything was delicious and worth the wait (even if the wait had been an hour). In my opinion this is one bakery that is worth the type and the inflated prices.
While the weather yesterday had been mostly overcast, the weather today was great - sunny though a bit hazy.
After we were done with our pastries, we walked to Bukchon Hanok Village. This is a village of traditional hanok-style homes. There are some shops, galleries, and cafes sprinkled throughout, but it’s also still a residential neighborhood. A lot of the advice I read online encouraged getting there early in the morning to avoid the crowds, but when we arrived, there was an official strictly enforcing no entry until 10am. There are a few gift shops in that area that are open before 10, and they do great business as tourists browse while waiting.
Once it reached 10am, the official led the group of us who had been gathering up the street and into the village. Mom and I broke away onto a side street fairly quickly so as not to get caught up in the big tour groups behind us. We spent maybe an hour and a half exploring what I’m sure is just a small part of the village, and we enjoyed ourselves.
Next was Ssamziegil, a handicraft mall in Insadong. My favorite shop was one featuring the artist @sooyeonjae. She does really beautiful artwork of cats and dogs, and I bought some stickers, cards, and memo pads.
Lunch was Subway for Mom and 7-11 mango gummies for me, since I was still full from breakfast. I’m counting Subway as an authentic Korean experience, given how often it shows up as product placement in K-dramas!
At 2pm we met up with Rachel, our guide for a BTS Army tour that I booked through Klook (Army is the name of BTS’ fans, not to be confused with the members of BTS who are currently finishing their service in the Korean army). This isn’t anything officially sponsored by BTS; it’s just a tour that takes you around Seoul to different places connected to the group. We visited their current and former office/studio spaces, their former dorm that has been turned into a cafe, and some restaurants and parks they frequented before their fame grew to the level it’s at now.
I was a bit disappointed that our tour group was basically just us. (There were also a couple of Japanese women in the van with us, but we think they may have been friends or family members of the driver, because they didn’t seem to be getting a regular tour like we were.) In many cases it would be great to end up with a practically private tour, but in this case I was hoping the enthusiasm of a group of fans would make the tour more fun. That being said, Rachel was a really fantastic tour guide, and we had a fun time seeing BTS sites and more of Seoul as we drove all over the city.
The tour ended at Yoojung Sikdang, a restaurant where members of BTS frequently ate when they were trainees. The restaurant is now filled with BTS merchandise, and the owners are really nice about posing for pictures with guests. We weren’t particularly looking to take photos with them, but another group asked me to take their photo, and then Mom and I were pulled into photos with the female owner, who was very sweet. I had the spicy pork bibimbap and Mom had a cold noodle dish, which she didn’t really want, but the policy is that each member of a party needs to order a dish. I loved my meal and thought it was really good value for money, with each generously-portioned dish costing about $8.
We probably should have been done for the day after that, but I dragged Mom over to the Lotte Tower, the sixth-tallest tower in the world. When I was in Tokyo last year, seeing the city lit up from Shibuya Sky at night was one of the highlights of the trip, so I purchased tickets on Klook for us to have a similar experience at Seoul Sky, the observation deck at the Lotte Tower.
It was still at least an hour until sunset, so we wandered around Seokchon Lake, which was really lovely. I had heard that it can be difficult to be single in Seoul because most people are paired up, and I saw evidence of that here. There were so many couples walking the path around the lake.
Seoul Sky is composed of several floors, with various indoor and outdoor observation decks. Our experience there was…fine. I think trying to recreate my experience in Tokyo set my expectations too high. Plus, we were tired and there were some rowdy groups of teenagers that were kind of annoying. That being said, it was fun to see the city lit up at night and there were some gorgeous giant paper flower installations in the indoor areas.
Obviously I don’t know for sure what my experience would have been had we gone to Seoul Sky during the day or when we’d had more energy, but we visited N Seoul Tower the next day, and I preferred that experience. If I were giving advice to someone visiting Seoul, I’d recommend going to Lotte Tower for a low-key afternoon or evening stroll around Seokchon Lake but prioritizing N Seoul Tower for a fun atmosphere with views of the city.
Lemon, chocolate, and milk cream salt bread from Artist Bakery
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village with N Seoul Tower in the background
BTS Army tour at HYBE headquarters
BTS's former dorm is now a cafe; this wall is covered in notes to the band
BTS' former studio/company building is now owned by an actor who has allowed the building to be covered to messages to BTS (I'm not sure what the building is actually used for now)
Our wonderful guide Rachel
With one of the owners of Yoojung Sikdang, a restaurant that members of BTS used to eat at frequently
Lotte Tower and Seokchon Lake
View of Seoul from Seoul Sky in Lotte Tower
View of the Han River from Seoul Sky in Lotte Tower
For breakfast this morning we went to Artist Bakery, the extremely popular bakery not far from Gyeongbokgung palace. We arrived about 8:30am to find a line, which was not at all unexpected. We joined the line, but then a cafe employee told us that we’d need to join the queue on Catch Table and that the wait would likely be about an hour. (I guess the line was for take-away.) I initially joined the online queue with 17 parties ahead of us, but then I changed to a request for a terrace seat, and there were only 5 parties waiting. We only ended up waiting about 15 minutes before a table was ready.
We got lemon, chocolate, and milk cream salt breads, plus a mango smoothie for me and a hot apple cinnamon tea for Mom. Everything was delicious and worth the wait (even if the wait had been an hour). In my opinion this is one bakery that is worth the type and the inflated prices.
While the weather yesterday had been mostly overcast, the weather today was great - sunny though a bit hazy.
After we were done with our pastries, we walked to Bukchon Hanok Village. This is a village of traditional hanok-style homes. There are some shops, galleries, and cafes sprinkled throughout, but it’s also still a residential neighborhood. A lot of the advice I read online encouraged getting there early in the morning to avoid the crowds, but when we arrived, there was an official strictly enforcing no entry until 10am. There are a few gift shops in that area that are open before 10, and they do great business as tourists browse while waiting.
Once it reached 10am, the official led the group of us who had been gathering up the street and into the village. Mom and I broke away onto a side street fairly quickly so as not to get caught up in the big tour groups behind us. We spent maybe an hour and a half exploring what I’m sure is just a small part of the village, and we enjoyed ourselves.
Next was Ssamziegil, a handicraft mall in Insadong. My favorite shop was one featuring the artist @sooyeonjae. She does really beautiful artwork of cats and dogs, and I bought some stickers, cards, and memo pads.
Lunch was Subway for Mom and 7-11 mango gummies for me, since I was still full from breakfast. I’m counting Subway as an authentic Korean experience, given how often it shows up as product placement in K-dramas!
At 2pm we met up with Rachel, our guide for a BTS Army tour that I booked through Klook (Army is the name of BTS’ fans, not to be confused with the members of BTS who are currently finishing their service in the Korean army). This isn’t anything officially sponsored by BTS; it’s just a tour that takes you around Seoul to different places connected to the group. We visited their current and former office/studio spaces, their former dorm that has been turned into a cafe, and some restaurants and parks they frequented before their fame grew to the level it’s at now.
I was a bit disappointed that our tour group was basically just us. (There were also a couple of Japanese women in the van with us, but we think they may have been friends or family members of the driver, because they didn’t seem to be getting a regular tour like we were.) In many cases it would be great to end up with a practically private tour, but in this case I was hoping the enthusiasm of a group of fans would make the tour more fun. That being said, Rachel was a really fantastic tour guide, and we had a fun time seeing BTS sites and more of Seoul as we drove all over the city.
The tour ended at Yoojung Sikdang, a restaurant where members of BTS frequently ate when they were trainees. The restaurant is now filled with BTS merchandise, and the owners are really nice about posing for pictures with guests. We weren’t particularly looking to take photos with them, but another group asked me to take their photo, and then Mom and I were pulled into photos with the female owner, who was very sweet. I had the spicy pork bibimbap and Mom had a cold noodle dish, which she didn’t really want, but the policy is that each member of a party needs to order a dish. I loved my meal and thought it was really good value for money, with each generously-portioned dish costing about $8.
We probably should have been done for the day after that, but I dragged Mom over to the Lotte Tower, the sixth-tallest tower in the world. When I was in Tokyo last year, seeing the city lit up from Shibuya Sky at night was one of the highlights of the trip, so I purchased tickets on Klook for us to have a similar experience at Seoul Sky, the observation deck at the Lotte Tower.
It was still at least an hour until sunset, so we wandered around Seokchon Lake, which was really lovely. I had heard that it can be difficult to be single in Seoul because most people are paired up, and I saw evidence of that here. There were so many couples walking the path around the lake.
Seoul Sky is composed of several floors, with various indoor and outdoor observation decks. Our experience there was…fine. I think trying to recreate my experience in Tokyo set my expectations too high. Plus, we were tired and there were some rowdy groups of teenagers that were kind of annoying. That being said, it was fun to see the city lit up at night and there were some gorgeous giant paper flower installations in the indoor areas.
Obviously I don’t know for sure what my experience would have been had we gone to Seoul Sky during the day or when we’d had more energy, but we visited N Seoul Tower the next day, and I preferred that experience. If I were giving advice to someone visiting Seoul, I’d recommend going to Lotte Tower for a low-key afternoon or evening stroll around Seokchon Lake but prioritizing N Seoul Tower for a fun atmosphere with views of the city.
Lemon, chocolate, and milk cream salt bread from Artist Bakery
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village with N Seoul Tower in the background
BTS Army tour at HYBE headquarters
BTS's former dorm is now a cafe; this wall is covered in notes to the band
BTS' former studio/company building is now owned by an actor who has allowed the building to be covered to messages to BTS (I'm not sure what the building is actually used for now)
Our wonderful guide Rachel
With one of the owners of Yoojung Sikdang, a restaurant that members of BTS used to eat at frequently
Lotte Tower and Seokchon Lake
View of Seoul from Seoul Sky in Lotte Tower
View of the Han River from Seoul Sky in Lotte Tower
Trending Topics
Jun 4th, 2025 | 08:16 PM
#8
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 2,245
Likes: 0
Great night time photos and adorable photos with the people you are meeting. I think going to the national folk museum (palace adjacent) is a much better idea for your mom. Also, you should see NANTA, the show.
Though I'm not sure this is a live trip report.
Personally I've had enough of these tower views. I've done that in Tokyo and Shanghai. For me, it's kind of horrifying. Like a nightmare view of what we are doing to the planet.
Though I'm not sure this is a live trip report.
Personally I've had enough of these tower views. I've done that in Tokyo and Shanghai. For me, it's kind of horrifying. Like a nightmare view of what we are doing to the planet.
Jun 7th, 2025 | 10:09 AM
#10
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
Day 3 Changdeokgung Palace & N Seoul Tower (Tuesday May 13)
We started off the day eating breakfast sandwiches on little plastic chairs outside of an Isaac Toast kiosk. I quite liked my sandwich, but Mom didn’t like that her ham and egg sandwich had an element of sweetness to it (I know that adding sweetness to savory things is fairly common in Korea).
We made sure to be at the ticket office at Changdeokgung Palace at 8:45am so that we could purchase tickets to the Secret Garden. I had tried to get tickets online before coming to Korea, but that process requires the creation of an account that, in turn, requires validation using a Korean phone number, so I gave up on that and just planned to arrive early to buy same-day tickets. I’m glad we were there bright and early and also that we didn’t want the 10am entry, which was sold out by the time I got up to the ticket window. Luckily we were able to get the 11am entry tickets that we were hoping to get.
We then walked a couple blocks away from the palace to Hanboknam Changdeokgung. I had purchased a Klook voucher for hanbok rental. The process was quite chaotic! When I rented a kimono in Japan, the process was speedy but I had shop staff there walking me through each step. Here it was a free-for-all, and you had to compete with other customers to wave down a staff member to help you! We both rented themed hanbok (which is the mid-level of more ornate hanbok) - Mom chose a light pink one and I chose pastel purple - and extra ornaments for our hair. We finished up just as a group from a large tour bus took over the shop. One of the best memories of this trip for me is how excited and how much fun Mom had wearing hanbok. In planning the trip, I had just hoped she would be up for it, but she had an absolute ball!
We made our way back to Changdeokgung Palace, where we were able to enter for free because we were dressed in hanbok. We both used our phones to queue up the free audio guide and started making our way through the large complex. The tour made for relatively slow-going, but it was well done and informative. A little before 11am, we paused the audio guide and made our way over to the Secret Garden entrance. Once we were able to enter, we broke off on our own rather than participating in the tour.
The secret garden was tranquil and lovely, but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with it. Having visited Japan and its spectacular gardens just a few months earlier, I think my expectations were pretty high. The garden has a number of buildings and some ponds, but it feels sort of abandoned. Who knows, maybe I would have felt differently had we stuck with the tour. I would never discourage anyone from taking the time to visit, but if you try to visit and find that tickets are sold out, you can console yourself with the thought that it’s not a life-changing site!
After the garden, we continued the audio guide tour, but Mom started losing a bit of steam. We got some pear juice from the on-site cafe, and Mom sat on a step in one of the palace buildings to rest her feet while I did an abbreviated perusal of some areas we hadn’t seen yet. I was surprised to find that members of the former royal family lived in some of the palace buildings until the 1980s! We had been there over 4 hours, and I could have easily stayed for a couple more, but we decided to forego seeing the government buildings portion of the palace and call it a day.
Visiting Changdeokgung Palace was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I definitely recommend visiting, highly recommend wearing hanbok while doing so, and strongly suggest budgeting ample time for the visit!
Lunch was another stop at Burger King for Mom and then the Cheongsudang Bakery in Insadong, where we shared a strawberry fromage cake and I got a tangerine ade. This is a beautiful cafe with several different seating areas (if it looks full, keep going). The cakes are meant for sharing, although the one we got was light enough that I probably could have eaten the entire thing myself. This was another one of those Instagram-popular cafes, but once again for good reason, IMO.
Given how exhausted we were at the end of the day yesterday, we decided to go back to the hotel for a short break so that we’d have stamina for the evening. I had originally thought we would walk one of the easier paths up Namsan hill to the N Seoul Tower, but in the interest of conserving energy, we took one of the shuttles from Dongguk University station, which turned out to be a good call.
I really liked the area around the base of the N Seoul Tower. In the late afternoon it was busy enough to feel lively but not as much of a party atmosphere as I imagine it gets at night. We marveled at all of the hundreds and hundreds of love locks. We couldn’t find any with a date prior to 2024. I hadn’t planned to buy one, but Mom wanted to, and split between us it was only a few dollars each. We decided to walk down into Myeongdong, and we certainly didn’t take the easiest route because there were lots and lots of stairs.
I wasn’t going to have any luck convincing mom to eat street food in Myeongdong (no matter how unauthentic most people claim it is), so we went to the Bb.q Chicken restaurant. We got a basket of the golden original chicken, which was huge. It was super crispy and Mom loved it. Ideally I would have chosen one of the spicier varieties or had some sort of dipping sauce, but I still thought it was really good.
Our last stop of the night was the Myeongdong Olive Young store, which was every bit as crazy as I expected it to be. Olive Young is like a Korean Sephora, with lots of makeup and skincare products. The busy atmosphere wasn’t really conducive to browsing, so we each got a few sheet masks and called it good.
Changdeokgung Palace
In our rented hanbok while visiting Changdeokgung Palace
A throne room in one of the halls of Changdeokgung Palace
Changdeokgung Palace
Changdeokgung Palace
Changdeokgung Palace
A garden behind one of the buildings at Changdeokgung Palace
Secret Garden
Secret Garden
Secret Garden
Secret Garden
Strawberry fromage cake and tangerine ade from Cheongsudang Bakery
N Seoul Tower
View from the base of N Seoul Tower
View from the base of N Seoul Tower
View from the base of N Seoul Tower
Love locks at N Seoul Tower
Love locks at N Seoul Tower
We started off the day eating breakfast sandwiches on little plastic chairs outside of an Isaac Toast kiosk. I quite liked my sandwich, but Mom didn’t like that her ham and egg sandwich had an element of sweetness to it (I know that adding sweetness to savory things is fairly common in Korea).
We made sure to be at the ticket office at Changdeokgung Palace at 8:45am so that we could purchase tickets to the Secret Garden. I had tried to get tickets online before coming to Korea, but that process requires the creation of an account that, in turn, requires validation using a Korean phone number, so I gave up on that and just planned to arrive early to buy same-day tickets. I’m glad we were there bright and early and also that we didn’t want the 10am entry, which was sold out by the time I got up to the ticket window. Luckily we were able to get the 11am entry tickets that we were hoping to get.
We then walked a couple blocks away from the palace to Hanboknam Changdeokgung. I had purchased a Klook voucher for hanbok rental. The process was quite chaotic! When I rented a kimono in Japan, the process was speedy but I had shop staff there walking me through each step. Here it was a free-for-all, and you had to compete with other customers to wave down a staff member to help you! We both rented themed hanbok (which is the mid-level of more ornate hanbok) - Mom chose a light pink one and I chose pastel purple - and extra ornaments for our hair. We finished up just as a group from a large tour bus took over the shop. One of the best memories of this trip for me is how excited and how much fun Mom had wearing hanbok. In planning the trip, I had just hoped she would be up for it, but she had an absolute ball!
We made our way back to Changdeokgung Palace, where we were able to enter for free because we were dressed in hanbok. We both used our phones to queue up the free audio guide and started making our way through the large complex. The tour made for relatively slow-going, but it was well done and informative. A little before 11am, we paused the audio guide and made our way over to the Secret Garden entrance. Once we were able to enter, we broke off on our own rather than participating in the tour.
The secret garden was tranquil and lovely, but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with it. Having visited Japan and its spectacular gardens just a few months earlier, I think my expectations were pretty high. The garden has a number of buildings and some ponds, but it feels sort of abandoned. Who knows, maybe I would have felt differently had we stuck with the tour. I would never discourage anyone from taking the time to visit, but if you try to visit and find that tickets are sold out, you can console yourself with the thought that it’s not a life-changing site!
After the garden, we continued the audio guide tour, but Mom started losing a bit of steam. We got some pear juice from the on-site cafe, and Mom sat on a step in one of the palace buildings to rest her feet while I did an abbreviated perusal of some areas we hadn’t seen yet. I was surprised to find that members of the former royal family lived in some of the palace buildings until the 1980s! We had been there over 4 hours, and I could have easily stayed for a couple more, but we decided to forego seeing the government buildings portion of the palace and call it a day.
Visiting Changdeokgung Palace was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I definitely recommend visiting, highly recommend wearing hanbok while doing so, and strongly suggest budgeting ample time for the visit!
Lunch was another stop at Burger King for Mom and then the Cheongsudang Bakery in Insadong, where we shared a strawberry fromage cake and I got a tangerine ade. This is a beautiful cafe with several different seating areas (if it looks full, keep going). The cakes are meant for sharing, although the one we got was light enough that I probably could have eaten the entire thing myself. This was another one of those Instagram-popular cafes, but once again for good reason, IMO.
Given how exhausted we were at the end of the day yesterday, we decided to go back to the hotel for a short break so that we’d have stamina for the evening. I had originally thought we would walk one of the easier paths up Namsan hill to the N Seoul Tower, but in the interest of conserving energy, we took one of the shuttles from Dongguk University station, which turned out to be a good call.
I really liked the area around the base of the N Seoul Tower. In the late afternoon it was busy enough to feel lively but not as much of a party atmosphere as I imagine it gets at night. We marveled at all of the hundreds and hundreds of love locks. We couldn’t find any with a date prior to 2024. I hadn’t planned to buy one, but Mom wanted to, and split between us it was only a few dollars each. We decided to walk down into Myeongdong, and we certainly didn’t take the easiest route because there were lots and lots of stairs.
I wasn’t going to have any luck convincing mom to eat street food in Myeongdong (no matter how unauthentic most people claim it is), so we went to the Bb.q Chicken restaurant. We got a basket of the golden original chicken, which was huge. It was super crispy and Mom loved it. Ideally I would have chosen one of the spicier varieties or had some sort of dipping sauce, but I still thought it was really good.
Our last stop of the night was the Myeongdong Olive Young store, which was every bit as crazy as I expected it to be. Olive Young is like a Korean Sephora, with lots of makeup and skincare products. The busy atmosphere wasn’t really conducive to browsing, so we each got a few sheet masks and called it good.
Changdeokgung Palace
In our rented hanbok while visiting Changdeokgung Palace
A throne room in one of the halls of Changdeokgung Palace
Changdeokgung Palace
Changdeokgung Palace
Changdeokgung Palace
A garden behind one of the buildings at Changdeokgung Palace
Secret Garden
Secret Garden
Secret Garden
Secret Garden
Strawberry fromage cake and tangerine ade from Cheongsudang Bakery
N Seoul Tower
View from the base of N Seoul Tower
View from the base of N Seoul Tower
View from the base of N Seoul Tower
Love locks at N Seoul Tower
Love locks at N Seoul Tower
Last edited by memejs; Jun 7th, 2025 at 10:15 AM.
Jun 8th, 2025 | 03:20 PM
#12
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 248
Likes: 0
you both look so lovely in your hanbok! and I also love the purple tee shirts (in that a butterfly graphic in front?). I think I'm probably the same age as your Mom, and my daughters must have similar thoughts when we go out to eat, or choose food together - I can no longer tolerate garlic and onions, though I do like spicy food, and they always temper their choices when we share.
finally, is the outer palace wall the one which frequently shows up in K-dramas? usually a romantic (or the leads don't know it yet, but we know they are destined to be a couple) stroll at night, walking by the palace wall...........
finally, is the outer palace wall the one which frequently shows up in K-dramas? usually a romantic (or the leads don't know it yet, but we know they are destined to be a couple) stroll at night, walking by the palace wall...........
Jun 10th, 2025 | 06:56 PM
#13
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
tripplanner001 Thank you!
adlmllr The design on the matching purple shirts is the BTS logo (the shape is the logo, the flowers are an artist's design). We wore them on days when we did BTS-related activities.
Yes, a lot of K-dramas have scenes shot outside the palace walls. There is an area called Seosulla-gil that is especially popular for a walk along the wall. The old Seoul city wall still encircles a portion of the city, and I've definitely seen K-dramas with scenes of characters walking along that wall.
adlmllr The design on the matching purple shirts is the BTS logo (the shape is the logo, the flowers are an artist's design). We wore them on days when we did BTS-related activities.
Yes, a lot of K-dramas have scenes shot outside the palace walls. There is an area called Seosulla-gil that is especially popular for a walk along the wall. The old Seoul city wall still encircles a portion of the city, and I've definitely seen K-dramas with scenes of characters walking along that wall.
Jun 10th, 2025 | 07:03 PM
#14
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
Day 4 Travel to Busan & Oryukdo (Wednesday May 14)
Today we’d leave Seoul and head to Busan. I left without any clear feelings about Seoul. I wanted to like it, but I didn’t really feel like I had a grasp on it yet. We had spent our days mostly in Jong-no, where most of the city’s historical sites are located. The area our hotel was located in definitely felt like old Seoul, with lots of little mom and pop-type shops, as opposed to the more modern and elegant parts of Gangnam and Myeongdong. The city is huge, and I was glad we’d be coming back for a couple more days at the end of the trip so that we could explore some additional neighborhoods.
To get to Busan, we first had to get ourselves to Seoul Station. It was only as our suitcases were clattering against the sidewalk on the way to the closest subway station that I realized that most people would have just taken a taxi. I like using public transit, and I was a budget traveler for so long that taking taxis just never occurs to me!
Once at Seoul Station we grabbed some (expensive) pastries at Paris Baguette and waited just a few minutes until our train’s platform was announced. I had booked KTX tickets on the Korail website a month ahead of time. There was plenty of room for our suitcases in the luggage space at the front of the car, and we settled in for a comfortable 2+ hour ride to Busan. One thing that stood out as I observed the landscape is that there would periodically be large clusters of high rise apartment buildings in the middle of nowhere. As someone who has lived most of her life in the American west, rural areas and high-rise apartments seem contradictory!
Our lodging for the next 5 nights was Aventree Hotel Busan. I got a great deal on a deluxe twin room - $78/night - using the Booking.com app (and I realized that sometimes rates are better on the mobile app than they are on the website). The room was a good size, and I really liked the location just minutes away from BIFF Square.
Once we were settled, we left the hotel and hopped on the bus to ZM-illenial cafe. This is a cafe owned by the parents of Jimin, one of the BTS members. It’s a large cafe with lots of seating and is decorated, in part, with Jimin and BTS-related gifts that fans have contributed. Mom and I split a slice of chocolate hazelnut cake and a walnut bread, and I got a raspberry ade. The location felt a bit random, as in not on a street or in a neighborhood that a casual tourist would happen upon, but I'm sure there are more than enough BTS fans seeking out this cafe to keep it in business.
Next we took the bus down to the Oryukdo area. Busan is a large, spread out city, and it often takes 30 minutes or so to get from place to place, but I loved the break from all of the walking we’d been doing in Seoul and getting to see the city from the bus windows.
We did the Oryukdo Skywalk, a clear walkway that juts out into the ocean. There was the smallest bit of sunlight and blue sky trying to peek through, but it was mostly overcast. I can only imagine how much prettier the water would have looked in the sunlight, but we were just happy to be there. We then walked up the hillside path up to Oryukdo Sunrise Park, which was very green and had some flowers blooming. I had tentatively planned to walk the Oryukdo-Igidae Coastal Walk, but I wasn’t really sure how much time it would take or how much Mom would be up for. My mom is active, in good health, and is a good walker, but this ended up being a bit more of a hike than we had anticipated. (There are actually several different trails in this area; I think we were on the Haeparang trail). The trail was also more forested than expected, with only occasional sea views. I can’t help but wonder now if we would have had better sea views had we started the trail from the other end, but, regardless, we had a good time. I think we walked about halfway to Igidae and then wound our way on other trails up to a main road, where we found a bus stop.
There was no Burger King or McDonald’s close enough at hand for dinner, so Mom accepted Lotteria, which is a Korean fast food burger chain. I had tteokbokki (fat, chewy rice cakes in a spicy sauce) and hotteok (a pancake filled with honey, brown sugar, nuts, and seeds) from the street food carts in BIFF Square. I was a bit surprised to find that the Trader Joe’s tteokbokki I’ve been buying and eating for the past couple of years is actually pretty similar to what I got here. After dinner we picked up a few more sheet masks from an Olive Young right there on the corner and then made the short walk back to our hotel.
ZM-illenial Cafe, owned by the parents of BTS member Jimin
Oryukdo Skywalk
Path up to Oryukdo Sunrise Park
When women reach a certain age, there is some gene activated which declares that she must take photos of herself with flowers!
Oryukdo Skywalk from Oryukdo Sunrise Park
Oryukdo Sunrise Park
View from the coastal trail
View from the coastal trail
Hotteok in Biff Square
Today we’d leave Seoul and head to Busan. I left without any clear feelings about Seoul. I wanted to like it, but I didn’t really feel like I had a grasp on it yet. We had spent our days mostly in Jong-no, where most of the city’s historical sites are located. The area our hotel was located in definitely felt like old Seoul, with lots of little mom and pop-type shops, as opposed to the more modern and elegant parts of Gangnam and Myeongdong. The city is huge, and I was glad we’d be coming back for a couple more days at the end of the trip so that we could explore some additional neighborhoods.
To get to Busan, we first had to get ourselves to Seoul Station. It was only as our suitcases were clattering against the sidewalk on the way to the closest subway station that I realized that most people would have just taken a taxi. I like using public transit, and I was a budget traveler for so long that taking taxis just never occurs to me!
Once at Seoul Station we grabbed some (expensive) pastries at Paris Baguette and waited just a few minutes until our train’s platform was announced. I had booked KTX tickets on the Korail website a month ahead of time. There was plenty of room for our suitcases in the luggage space at the front of the car, and we settled in for a comfortable 2+ hour ride to Busan. One thing that stood out as I observed the landscape is that there would periodically be large clusters of high rise apartment buildings in the middle of nowhere. As someone who has lived most of her life in the American west, rural areas and high-rise apartments seem contradictory!
Our lodging for the next 5 nights was Aventree Hotel Busan. I got a great deal on a deluxe twin room - $78/night - using the Booking.com app (and I realized that sometimes rates are better on the mobile app than they are on the website). The room was a good size, and I really liked the location just minutes away from BIFF Square.
Once we were settled, we left the hotel and hopped on the bus to ZM-illenial cafe. This is a cafe owned by the parents of Jimin, one of the BTS members. It’s a large cafe with lots of seating and is decorated, in part, with Jimin and BTS-related gifts that fans have contributed. Mom and I split a slice of chocolate hazelnut cake and a walnut bread, and I got a raspberry ade. The location felt a bit random, as in not on a street or in a neighborhood that a casual tourist would happen upon, but I'm sure there are more than enough BTS fans seeking out this cafe to keep it in business.
Next we took the bus down to the Oryukdo area. Busan is a large, spread out city, and it often takes 30 minutes or so to get from place to place, but I loved the break from all of the walking we’d been doing in Seoul and getting to see the city from the bus windows.
We did the Oryukdo Skywalk, a clear walkway that juts out into the ocean. There was the smallest bit of sunlight and blue sky trying to peek through, but it was mostly overcast. I can only imagine how much prettier the water would have looked in the sunlight, but we were just happy to be there. We then walked up the hillside path up to Oryukdo Sunrise Park, which was very green and had some flowers blooming. I had tentatively planned to walk the Oryukdo-Igidae Coastal Walk, but I wasn’t really sure how much time it would take or how much Mom would be up for. My mom is active, in good health, and is a good walker, but this ended up being a bit more of a hike than we had anticipated. (There are actually several different trails in this area; I think we were on the Haeparang trail). The trail was also more forested than expected, with only occasional sea views. I can’t help but wonder now if we would have had better sea views had we started the trail from the other end, but, regardless, we had a good time. I think we walked about halfway to Igidae and then wound our way on other trails up to a main road, where we found a bus stop.
There was no Burger King or McDonald’s close enough at hand for dinner, so Mom accepted Lotteria, which is a Korean fast food burger chain. I had tteokbokki (fat, chewy rice cakes in a spicy sauce) and hotteok (a pancake filled with honey, brown sugar, nuts, and seeds) from the street food carts in BIFF Square. I was a bit surprised to find that the Trader Joe’s tteokbokki I’ve been buying and eating for the past couple of years is actually pretty similar to what I got here. After dinner we picked up a few more sheet masks from an Olive Young right there on the corner and then made the short walk back to our hotel.
ZM-illenial Cafe, owned by the parents of BTS member Jimin
Oryukdo Skywalk
Path up to Oryukdo Sunrise Park
When women reach a certain age, there is some gene activated which declares that she must take photos of herself with flowers!
Oryukdo Skywalk from Oryukdo Sunrise Park
Oryukdo Sunrise Park
View from the coastal trail
View from the coastal trail
Hotteok in Biff Square
Last edited by memejs; Jun 10th, 2025 at 07:13 PM.
Jun 11th, 2025 | 03:13 AM
#15
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 6,173
Likes: 0
memejs, This is the first chance I've had to read your trip report, and it is fascinating. I really know nothing about Korea so this is very interesting. I love your descriptions and your gorgeous photos. Especially love the beautiful ethnic dresses you and your mom are wearing!
Jun 11th, 2025 | 03:49 PM
#16
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,018
Likes: 0
What a wonderfully complete trip report and the photos add so much…you and your Mom are both lovely and youthfully slender and no doubt made Americans look good!
>>>”We made sure to be at the ticket office at Changdeokgung Palace at 8:45am so that we could purchase tickets to the Secret Garden. I had tried to get tickets online before coming to Korea, but that process requires the creation of an account that, in turn, requires validation using a Korean phone number,”
We were lucky in this regard as we have a Korean family member who took care of this detail.
Now I’m waiting for the Jeju Island chapter of your report, just like The Extraordinary Attorney Woo! Did you fly to Jeju or take the ferry? We opted for the ferry but it brought to mind the horrendous Sewol sinking of April 2014.
And “ugh!” to love locks, the bane of modern travel.
>>>”We made sure to be at the ticket office at Changdeokgung Palace at 8:45am so that we could purchase tickets to the Secret Garden. I had tried to get tickets online before coming to Korea, but that process requires the creation of an account that, in turn, requires validation using a Korean phone number,”
We were lucky in this regard as we have a Korean family member who took care of this detail.
Now I’m waiting for the Jeju Island chapter of your report, just like The Extraordinary Attorney Woo! Did you fly to Jeju or take the ferry? We opted for the ferry but it brought to mind the horrendous Sewol sinking of April 2014.
And “ugh!” to love locks, the bane of modern travel.
Jun 16th, 2025 | 06:35 PM
#17
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
Jun 16th, 2025 | 06:46 PM
#18
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
Day 5 Gamcheon Culture Village & SpaLand (Thursday May 15)
We awoke to a gloomy, overcast day. We left the hotel about 8:30am and took one of Busan’s small minibuses up a winding road to Gamcheon Culture Village, a sprawling neighborhood of colorful houses on a hillside. Decades ago, many refugees from the north settled here after fleeing the war. Over time, the neighborhood became run-down, so the government invested money into turning it into a cultural village and tourist attraction. Now it’s filled with cafes, galleries, shops, photo zones…and people.
There were already lots of people there when we arrived. I bought some postcards at a shop near the entrance (the prettiest postcards I found in Busan), and then we stopped for breakfast at Cafe Wooin. We each got a smoothie and shared a blueberry muffin. The woman working at the cafe was really nice and encouraged us to go upstairs to the outdoor area, where we’d find the best view. It was a great view and we started eating at table on the second level, but it became too chilly and started to sprinkle, so we moved inside to finish the last few bites of our breakfast.
We spent another hour or so wandering in and out of shops along the main road. We took photos at the Jimin and Jungkook mural (two BTS members from Busan), but skipped the line for photos with The Little Prince statue. At one point it started to rain pretty steadily, so we popped into a little bakery and bought some small pastries to eat while waiting it out. We started to walk down some of the little streets and alleyways, but it was wet and slippery, so we soon headed back up to the main road. We would’ve liked to have explored this area more, but the weather just wasn’t conducive.
Next was a long bus ride to Centum City, on the other side of Busan. There are express buses that run these long routes, and the buses feel more like charter coaches than public city buses. The bus ride took at over an hour, but it was nice to just relax and watch the city go by.
Since the forecast showed rain for the rest of the day, the plan was to spend the afternoon at SpaLand in the Shinsegae Centum City mall, and this was truly a highlight of the trip!
After paying admission (~$18), you’re given a wristband with a key. You go to the associated locker to deposit your shoes and change into slippers. Then you’re given a set of clothing that’s kind of like pajamas and you go into the gender-segregated locker rooms to find another locker where you can change and store your belongings.
We started by going to the outdoor foot baths, which were nice. By observing other people, we learned to roll our towels into a headcovering that looked like you have a cinnamon roll over each ear. Another moment that felt like living in a K-drama! I was anxious to get to the various heated rooms, but it was also lunchtime and we were hungry, so first we went upstairs to eat. There is a restaurant that serves dishes like bibimbap, but we decided to go to the self-serve ramen bar. There were so many varieties of ramen! I regret now getting the spicy Shin ramen that I was already familiar with (even though it was good) and not branching out to something different like jajangmyeon.
Once we were full, we headed back downstairs to go to the different dry sauna rooms. There are maybe a dozen different rooms, each set to a specific temperature and with a specific theme like cedar, salt, Turkish, Roman, etc. Most people sit or lie down within the rooms, but some chat quietly (and in some instances, not so quietly!). Most people come with a partner or friend, so it’s very much a social activity. There are all sorts of different mats and sitting areas outside the heated rooms when you want to cool down. Upstairs there was even a room with lounge chairs and personal TVs and another full of hammocks.
At one point we took a break from the dry saunas to go upstairs and use the massage chairs. There is a beauty treatment area where you can pay to get a massage, scrub, etc., but we didn’t feel the need to pay for those services, as there was already so much to do. I usually enjoy a massage chair, but the one I used here was strong to the point of painful, and I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the settings. Initially I was sure that I would do two 15-minute sessions, but the first one put an end to my desire to continue. We got soft serve ice cream from the snack bar downstairs before continuing to make our way through the various dry saunas.
I wanted to do the heated baths/pools and wet saunas (gender segregated and no clothing or swimsuits allowed), but Mom wasn’t up for that, so I left her to spend more time in the dry saunas while I went to the wet area. There are lots of shower stalls where you first wash to make sure you’re clean before entering the pools. Then you can relax in a number of heated pools that have jets to massage your muscles. There were also a couple of steam rooms. Looking at an online map, it appears that there is also a women’s open-air bath, but that’s not something I found or was aware of while I was there. The locker room was stocked with hair dryers, brushes, combs, face wash, and moisturizer - just about everything you need to get ready before you leave.
I know that SpaLand is a touristy version of a traditional jjimjlbang, but I loved it! Everything was super clean, and although it was busy, it didn’t feel crowded. Our initial entrance fee was good for 4 hours, and then you can pay a bit more for each additional hour (or you get a couple of extra hours free if you spend 10,000 won within the spa). We spent ~5 hours there, and that wasn’t enough time to take advantage of all the different spaces. I could have stayed for days! With the ramen, ice cream, massage chair, and extra time, we each ended up paying about $31 total, per person - you charge any extras within the spa using your wristband and then pay whatever you might owe as you check out. I know there are some Korean spas in the US (I went to one in Virginia years ago), and oh how I wish they were more common. I would love to make this a regular experience!
For dinner we took a long bus ride back across town to the Songdo area to an Italian restaurant called Shandrani. This little restaurant on the second floor of a building is run, I think, by just one chef. There is a big pizza oven in the middle of the kitchen and…a cat! I put this restaurant on our itinerary mostly for the cat. Her name is Olive and she mostly hangs out in a corner of the restaurant where she has a cat tree and various cat beds, but she’s friendly and will come over and visit if invited. I don’t know if she lives there full-time or just comes to work with the chef during the day. This probably wouldn’t be allowed in a US restaurant, but I loved it! Also, the food was really delicious (the high reviews were another reason this restaurant got added to our itinerary). The green salad was super fresh and crisp, and the margherita pizza was very, very good. Mom said it’s the best Italian she’s ever had. I would highly recommend Shandrani.
And that was our relaxing rainy day in Busan!
Gamcheon Culture Village
Gamcheon Culture Village
Mural in Gamcheon Culture Village
Gamcheon Culture Village
Bakery and Le Petit Prince mural in Gamcheon Culture Village
Gamcheon Culture Village
Jungkook and Jimin mural in Gamcheon Culture Village
Yangmeori "lamb's head" towel head covering at SpaLand
Salt room at SpaLand
Cute little Olive at Shandrani Italian restaurant in Songdo
We awoke to a gloomy, overcast day. We left the hotel about 8:30am and took one of Busan’s small minibuses up a winding road to Gamcheon Culture Village, a sprawling neighborhood of colorful houses on a hillside. Decades ago, many refugees from the north settled here after fleeing the war. Over time, the neighborhood became run-down, so the government invested money into turning it into a cultural village and tourist attraction. Now it’s filled with cafes, galleries, shops, photo zones…and people.
There were already lots of people there when we arrived. I bought some postcards at a shop near the entrance (the prettiest postcards I found in Busan), and then we stopped for breakfast at Cafe Wooin. We each got a smoothie and shared a blueberry muffin. The woman working at the cafe was really nice and encouraged us to go upstairs to the outdoor area, where we’d find the best view. It was a great view and we started eating at table on the second level, but it became too chilly and started to sprinkle, so we moved inside to finish the last few bites of our breakfast.
We spent another hour or so wandering in and out of shops along the main road. We took photos at the Jimin and Jungkook mural (two BTS members from Busan), but skipped the line for photos with The Little Prince statue. At one point it started to rain pretty steadily, so we popped into a little bakery and bought some small pastries to eat while waiting it out. We started to walk down some of the little streets and alleyways, but it was wet and slippery, so we soon headed back up to the main road. We would’ve liked to have explored this area more, but the weather just wasn’t conducive.
Next was a long bus ride to Centum City, on the other side of Busan. There are express buses that run these long routes, and the buses feel more like charter coaches than public city buses. The bus ride took at over an hour, but it was nice to just relax and watch the city go by.
Since the forecast showed rain for the rest of the day, the plan was to spend the afternoon at SpaLand in the Shinsegae Centum City mall, and this was truly a highlight of the trip!
After paying admission (~$18), you’re given a wristband with a key. You go to the associated locker to deposit your shoes and change into slippers. Then you’re given a set of clothing that’s kind of like pajamas and you go into the gender-segregated locker rooms to find another locker where you can change and store your belongings.
We started by going to the outdoor foot baths, which were nice. By observing other people, we learned to roll our towels into a headcovering that looked like you have a cinnamon roll over each ear. Another moment that felt like living in a K-drama! I was anxious to get to the various heated rooms, but it was also lunchtime and we were hungry, so first we went upstairs to eat. There is a restaurant that serves dishes like bibimbap, but we decided to go to the self-serve ramen bar. There were so many varieties of ramen! I regret now getting the spicy Shin ramen that I was already familiar with (even though it was good) and not branching out to something different like jajangmyeon.
Once we were full, we headed back downstairs to go to the different dry sauna rooms. There are maybe a dozen different rooms, each set to a specific temperature and with a specific theme like cedar, salt, Turkish, Roman, etc. Most people sit or lie down within the rooms, but some chat quietly (and in some instances, not so quietly!). Most people come with a partner or friend, so it’s very much a social activity. There are all sorts of different mats and sitting areas outside the heated rooms when you want to cool down. Upstairs there was even a room with lounge chairs and personal TVs and another full of hammocks.
At one point we took a break from the dry saunas to go upstairs and use the massage chairs. There is a beauty treatment area where you can pay to get a massage, scrub, etc., but we didn’t feel the need to pay for those services, as there was already so much to do. I usually enjoy a massage chair, but the one I used here was strong to the point of painful, and I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the settings. Initially I was sure that I would do two 15-minute sessions, but the first one put an end to my desire to continue. We got soft serve ice cream from the snack bar downstairs before continuing to make our way through the various dry saunas.
I wanted to do the heated baths/pools and wet saunas (gender segregated and no clothing or swimsuits allowed), but Mom wasn’t up for that, so I left her to spend more time in the dry saunas while I went to the wet area. There are lots of shower stalls where you first wash to make sure you’re clean before entering the pools. Then you can relax in a number of heated pools that have jets to massage your muscles. There were also a couple of steam rooms. Looking at an online map, it appears that there is also a women’s open-air bath, but that’s not something I found or was aware of while I was there. The locker room was stocked with hair dryers, brushes, combs, face wash, and moisturizer - just about everything you need to get ready before you leave.
I know that SpaLand is a touristy version of a traditional jjimjlbang, but I loved it! Everything was super clean, and although it was busy, it didn’t feel crowded. Our initial entrance fee was good for 4 hours, and then you can pay a bit more for each additional hour (or you get a couple of extra hours free if you spend 10,000 won within the spa). We spent ~5 hours there, and that wasn’t enough time to take advantage of all the different spaces. I could have stayed for days! With the ramen, ice cream, massage chair, and extra time, we each ended up paying about $31 total, per person - you charge any extras within the spa using your wristband and then pay whatever you might owe as you check out. I know there are some Korean spas in the US (I went to one in Virginia years ago), and oh how I wish they were more common. I would love to make this a regular experience!
For dinner we took a long bus ride back across town to the Songdo area to an Italian restaurant called Shandrani. This little restaurant on the second floor of a building is run, I think, by just one chef. There is a big pizza oven in the middle of the kitchen and…a cat! I put this restaurant on our itinerary mostly for the cat. Her name is Olive and she mostly hangs out in a corner of the restaurant where she has a cat tree and various cat beds, but she’s friendly and will come over and visit if invited. I don’t know if she lives there full-time or just comes to work with the chef during the day. This probably wouldn’t be allowed in a US restaurant, but I loved it! Also, the food was really delicious (the high reviews were another reason this restaurant got added to our itinerary). The green salad was super fresh and crisp, and the margherita pizza was very, very good. Mom said it’s the best Italian she’s ever had. I would highly recommend Shandrani.
And that was our relaxing rainy day in Busan!
Gamcheon Culture Village
Gamcheon Culture Village
Mural in Gamcheon Culture Village
Gamcheon Culture Village
Bakery and Le Petit Prince mural in Gamcheon Culture Village
Gamcheon Culture Village
Jungkook and Jimin mural in Gamcheon Culture Village
Yangmeori "lamb's head" towel head covering at SpaLand
Salt room at SpaLand
Cute little Olive at Shandrani Italian restaurant in Songdo
Last edited by memejs; Jun 16th, 2025 at 06:53 PM.
Jun 17th, 2025 | 06:39 PM
#19
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
Day 6 The Day That Didn’t Go According to Plan (Friday May 16)
The plan for today was a full-day tour to Gyeongju, which we had purchased ahead of time on Klook. We met up with our tour guide and group at Busan Station, but just as our bus was about to arrive, Mom started feeling sick, and we had to make a split-second decision to forego the tour. It broke my heart a bit not to go, but there’s always something that doesn’t go according to plan with each trip, and this was relatively mild in the scheme of things.
We went back to the hotel and got Mom settled, and then I headed out to return to Gamcheon Culture Village. Since the rain had cut our visit short yesterday, I was happy to have an opportunity to go back and explore a bit more. While there, I came across a sweet cat sleeping inside of a box next to a shop. She was dirty, and I was sad that she was basically homeless, but someone had obviously taken care to put a blanket inside of her box. I also noticed some food and water dishes around this area, so at least these community cats have their basic needs met. I love cats and carry cat treats with me when I travel, so I was able to offer her some treats, which she gladly accepted.
After a couple of hours at Gamcheon Culture Village, I came back to the hotel and spent a couple more hours reading and catching up on my journal. It’s not the sort of thing I usually take the time to do while I’m traveling, but it was actually kind of nice!
By late afternoon Mom was feeling better, so we decided to head up to Seomyeon. I didn’t have any particular stops planned, but I’d read that it was a good neighborhood for shops and cafes. On the way to the bus stop, we stopped at a little shop called Go Mango. This is a chain that has a number of locations in Busan and Seoul (and perhaps other cities), and it makes the most fabulous mango drinks! I got a drink that was mostly mango puree with a layer of coconut cream on the top. It was delicious, and I determined that we needed to come back every day to taste our way through as much of the menu as possible.
It was raining by the time we got to Seomyeon. We walked around a bit in one of the underground shopping centers. Mom was really interested in the little clothing shops that seemed to attract other women of her age. We also spent time in Daiso, although I forget what we were looking for (it was neither our first nor our last Daiso stop). We had ended up in a crowded area and were feeling frustrated trying to juggle our umbrellas, so rather than seek out a restaurant, we just headed back to the BIFF Square area, where we ate dinner at Lotteria (writing this now, I realize what a wasted opportunity this was). After dinner I was craving cheesecake, and we found some at a cafe chain called A Twosome Place. The cheesecake was just okay, but I liked the ambiance of the large cafe. It’s the type of place I probably would have spent a couple of hours at had I been traveling alone.
After that, we returned to the hotel to use some of the sheet masks we’d been accumulating and turn in early in preparation for a full day tomorrow.
Gamcheon Culture Village
Gamcheon Culture Village
Wall mural in Gamcheon Culture Village
Colorful stairs in Gamcheon Culture Village
Sweet community cat in Gamcheon Culture Village
Book staircase in Gamcheon Culture Village
This cheesedog I bought in Gamcheon Culture Village was the best one of the trip!
The cheesedog stand had some interesting menu items!
The plan for today was a full-day tour to Gyeongju, which we had purchased ahead of time on Klook. We met up with our tour guide and group at Busan Station, but just as our bus was about to arrive, Mom started feeling sick, and we had to make a split-second decision to forego the tour. It broke my heart a bit not to go, but there’s always something that doesn’t go according to plan with each trip, and this was relatively mild in the scheme of things.
We went back to the hotel and got Mom settled, and then I headed out to return to Gamcheon Culture Village. Since the rain had cut our visit short yesterday, I was happy to have an opportunity to go back and explore a bit more. While there, I came across a sweet cat sleeping inside of a box next to a shop. She was dirty, and I was sad that she was basically homeless, but someone had obviously taken care to put a blanket inside of her box. I also noticed some food and water dishes around this area, so at least these community cats have their basic needs met. I love cats and carry cat treats with me when I travel, so I was able to offer her some treats, which she gladly accepted.
After a couple of hours at Gamcheon Culture Village, I came back to the hotel and spent a couple more hours reading and catching up on my journal. It’s not the sort of thing I usually take the time to do while I’m traveling, but it was actually kind of nice!
By late afternoon Mom was feeling better, so we decided to head up to Seomyeon. I didn’t have any particular stops planned, but I’d read that it was a good neighborhood for shops and cafes. On the way to the bus stop, we stopped at a little shop called Go Mango. This is a chain that has a number of locations in Busan and Seoul (and perhaps other cities), and it makes the most fabulous mango drinks! I got a drink that was mostly mango puree with a layer of coconut cream on the top. It was delicious, and I determined that we needed to come back every day to taste our way through as much of the menu as possible.
It was raining by the time we got to Seomyeon. We walked around a bit in one of the underground shopping centers. Mom was really interested in the little clothing shops that seemed to attract other women of her age. We also spent time in Daiso, although I forget what we were looking for (it was neither our first nor our last Daiso stop). We had ended up in a crowded area and were feeling frustrated trying to juggle our umbrellas, so rather than seek out a restaurant, we just headed back to the BIFF Square area, where we ate dinner at Lotteria (writing this now, I realize what a wasted opportunity this was). After dinner I was craving cheesecake, and we found some at a cafe chain called A Twosome Place. The cheesecake was just okay, but I liked the ambiance of the large cafe. It’s the type of place I probably would have spent a couple of hours at had I been traveling alone.
After that, we returned to the hotel to use some of the sheet masks we’d been accumulating and turn in early in preparation for a full day tomorrow.
Gamcheon Culture Village
Gamcheon Culture Village
Wall mural in Gamcheon Culture Village
Colorful stairs in Gamcheon Culture Village
Sweet community cat in Gamcheon Culture Village
Book staircase in Gamcheon Culture Village
This cheesedog I bought in Gamcheon Culture Village was the best one of the trip!
The cheesedog stand had some interesting menu items!
Last edited by memejs; Jun 17th, 2025 at 06:43 PM.
Jun 18th, 2025 | 08:00 PM
#20
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
Day 7 Haedong Yonggungsa, Haeundae & Gwangalli (Saturday May 17)
We started the day with a long bus ride up to the north part of Busan. Our destination was Haedong Yonggungsa, a Buddhist temple built into a cliff over the sea. The temple was about a 10-15 minute walk from the bus stop, but there is a parking lot right next to it, for those who are taking a taxi or using a car.
Haedong Yonggungsa is beautiful…and busy! We first went to the left, away from the main temple area and toward the Sunrise Platform. From the rocks in this area you can get a great view of the temple and the sea below. The forecast had predicted an overcast day, but we lucked out with sun shining through some hazy clouds.
The main part of the complex consists of several colorful structures set very close together. There was a canopy of paper lanterns above, which I believe was left over from Buddha’s birthday celebrations earlier in the month, and monks chanting in the main hall. I found it both amusing and dismaying to see that the monks were wearing microphones so that their chanting could be broadcast through the speakers installed throughout the site. We climbed up to see the statue of Gwanseeum-bosal and down to an underground grotto where people were throwing coins and praying to a Buddha statue in a little cave.
I read a blog that described this site as more theme park than serene place of worship, and I agree. I certainly thought the temple was beautiful and enjoyed my time there, but it was too crowded and noisy to want to really linger. It’s definitely worth visiting, but go with appropriate expectations.
For brunch we took the bus to the Haeundae area and went to a little restaurant called And Coffee (although the sign on the front of the building says Coffee & Brunch). We split a chicken panini and each got a passionfruit ade, and both were delicious.
Next up was the Haeundae Sky Capsule, which I had booked ahead of time. After scanning our reservation QR code at Mipo station, we waited in line for about 15 minutes until it was our turn to board one of the little capsules. This was really fun, and I’m glad the ride is a long 30 minutes so that there is time to take pictures and just sit back and enjoy the scenery.
After disembarking at Cheongsapo station, we walked around one of the lighthouses in that area and then walked back along the Haeundae Beach Green Railway walking path, including a forway out onto the Daritdol Observatory skywalk.
At Haeundae Beach we collected shells along the shore and then sat for a few minutes enjoying the sun. As expected, those of us trying to catch some rays were mostly tourists. It was interesting to see a number of Korean women wearing gloves and face masks to cover their skin. Korea does not mess around with sun protection!
Further down the beach the Haeundae Beach Sand Festival was taking place. The theme was “K-Culture Through Sand,” and it was amazing to see the detailed structures that had been built. I was also surprised to see that the participants were artists from across the world.
During the first few days of the trip, Mom had been claiming that I was trying to kill here with the amount of walking we were doing, but by now she was tracking daily miles and complaining if one day’s total was less than the total of the previous day! It was probably a bad idea to ask her if she wanted to walk or take a bus to Taqueria Pendejo because it was a very long walk, and we didn’t have as much time as we needed. By the time we realized we were short on time, it would have taken even longer to get to the right bus stop and wait for a bus, so we were stuck finishing the long walk. The tacos at this little taco shop in the Gwangalli area, however, were excellent. We’re originally from Southern California and no strangers to good Mexican food, and these definitely measured up to some of the best we’ve had. We especially liked the birria taco (the chicken taco was good too), and again regretted that we were short on time and weren’t able to order more.
The buses in this area were infrequent, so after our quick dinner, we were on our feet yet again to walk to the Suyeongman Bay Yachting Center. I had booked a yacht tour with a company called Yachtwa on Klook. The yachting center was busy, with many companies offering similar tours, but luckily we were able to find our group. We were given life jackets and ushered onto the boat with 20-30 other people. It was a bit chilly, so we grabbed a couple of the blankets offered before finding a spot sitting near the front of the boat. This was supposed to be a sunset cruise, but by this time the sky was totally overcast, so there wasn’t really a sunset to see. It was still really enjoyable though; they played great music and after passing under the Gwangan bridge, one of the crew set off some fireworks. This is something all of the boats do, and it creates a fun atmosphere.
The day wasn’t over yet! After the yacht cruise we quickly caught a bus to Gwangalli Beach to watch the drone show and see the bridge lit up at night. The drone show was shorter than I had expected, but it was still fun to see. The drones made images of sneakers, a football player, and a basketball player in the air. The lights on the bridge were also making some fun patterns. I couldn’t exactly tell if the lights on the bridge were set to music, but there was music playing. It was a fun atmosphere, and I would have liked to have stayed longer, but Mom was done for the day.
We caught a (crowded) bus back to BIFF Square, where we stopped to get cheesedogs. They were okay, but not as good as the one I’d bought at Gamcheon Culture Village the day before. Despite our fatigue, we weren’t too tired to walk a few blocks to GoMango, where we each bought a mango strawberry bingsu. The bingsu had strawberries at the bottom, ice and mango ice cream in the center, and fresh mango chunks on top. It was delicious, and as I write this I’m sitting here lamenting that this chain doesn’t exist where I live!
Haedong Yonggungsa
Canopy of paper lanterns at Haedong Yonggungsa
Monk and reclining Buddha at Haedong Yonggungsa
Haeundae Sky Capsule
Haeundae Sky Capsule looking back toward Haeundae Beach
Haeundae Sky Capsule approaching the Daritdol Observatory skywalk
Haeundae Sky Capsule near Cheongsapo station
Fishing boats near Cheongsapo station
Haeundae Beach
Haeundae Beach
The folds of cloth created with sand - amazing!
Haeundae Beach Sand Festival
Passing under the Gwangan Bridge on the yacht cruise
A group of luxury hotels and condos
Sunset near Suyeongman Bay Yachting Center
Gwangalli Beach drone show
Gwangan Bridge lit up at night; I love the reflection of the colored lights in the water
We started the day with a long bus ride up to the north part of Busan. Our destination was Haedong Yonggungsa, a Buddhist temple built into a cliff over the sea. The temple was about a 10-15 minute walk from the bus stop, but there is a parking lot right next to it, for those who are taking a taxi or using a car.
Haedong Yonggungsa is beautiful…and busy! We first went to the left, away from the main temple area and toward the Sunrise Platform. From the rocks in this area you can get a great view of the temple and the sea below. The forecast had predicted an overcast day, but we lucked out with sun shining through some hazy clouds.
The main part of the complex consists of several colorful structures set very close together. There was a canopy of paper lanterns above, which I believe was left over from Buddha’s birthday celebrations earlier in the month, and monks chanting in the main hall. I found it both amusing and dismaying to see that the monks were wearing microphones so that their chanting could be broadcast through the speakers installed throughout the site. We climbed up to see the statue of Gwanseeum-bosal and down to an underground grotto where people were throwing coins and praying to a Buddha statue in a little cave.
I read a blog that described this site as more theme park than serene place of worship, and I agree. I certainly thought the temple was beautiful and enjoyed my time there, but it was too crowded and noisy to want to really linger. It’s definitely worth visiting, but go with appropriate expectations.
For brunch we took the bus to the Haeundae area and went to a little restaurant called And Coffee (although the sign on the front of the building says Coffee & Brunch). We split a chicken panini and each got a passionfruit ade, and both were delicious.
Next up was the Haeundae Sky Capsule, which I had booked ahead of time. After scanning our reservation QR code at Mipo station, we waited in line for about 15 minutes until it was our turn to board one of the little capsules. This was really fun, and I’m glad the ride is a long 30 minutes so that there is time to take pictures and just sit back and enjoy the scenery.
After disembarking at Cheongsapo station, we walked around one of the lighthouses in that area and then walked back along the Haeundae Beach Green Railway walking path, including a forway out onto the Daritdol Observatory skywalk.
At Haeundae Beach we collected shells along the shore and then sat for a few minutes enjoying the sun. As expected, those of us trying to catch some rays were mostly tourists. It was interesting to see a number of Korean women wearing gloves and face masks to cover their skin. Korea does not mess around with sun protection!
Further down the beach the Haeundae Beach Sand Festival was taking place. The theme was “K-Culture Through Sand,” and it was amazing to see the detailed structures that had been built. I was also surprised to see that the participants were artists from across the world.
During the first few days of the trip, Mom had been claiming that I was trying to kill here with the amount of walking we were doing, but by now she was tracking daily miles and complaining if one day’s total was less than the total of the previous day! It was probably a bad idea to ask her if she wanted to walk or take a bus to Taqueria Pendejo because it was a very long walk, and we didn’t have as much time as we needed. By the time we realized we were short on time, it would have taken even longer to get to the right bus stop and wait for a bus, so we were stuck finishing the long walk. The tacos at this little taco shop in the Gwangalli area, however, were excellent. We’re originally from Southern California and no strangers to good Mexican food, and these definitely measured up to some of the best we’ve had. We especially liked the birria taco (the chicken taco was good too), and again regretted that we were short on time and weren’t able to order more.
The buses in this area were infrequent, so after our quick dinner, we were on our feet yet again to walk to the Suyeongman Bay Yachting Center. I had booked a yacht tour with a company called Yachtwa on Klook. The yachting center was busy, with many companies offering similar tours, but luckily we were able to find our group. We were given life jackets and ushered onto the boat with 20-30 other people. It was a bit chilly, so we grabbed a couple of the blankets offered before finding a spot sitting near the front of the boat. This was supposed to be a sunset cruise, but by this time the sky was totally overcast, so there wasn’t really a sunset to see. It was still really enjoyable though; they played great music and after passing under the Gwangan bridge, one of the crew set off some fireworks. This is something all of the boats do, and it creates a fun atmosphere.
The day wasn’t over yet! After the yacht cruise we quickly caught a bus to Gwangalli Beach to watch the drone show and see the bridge lit up at night. The drone show was shorter than I had expected, but it was still fun to see. The drones made images of sneakers, a football player, and a basketball player in the air. The lights on the bridge were also making some fun patterns. I couldn’t exactly tell if the lights on the bridge were set to music, but there was music playing. It was a fun atmosphere, and I would have liked to have stayed longer, but Mom was done for the day.
We caught a (crowded) bus back to BIFF Square, where we stopped to get cheesedogs. They were okay, but not as good as the one I’d bought at Gamcheon Culture Village the day before. Despite our fatigue, we weren’t too tired to walk a few blocks to GoMango, where we each bought a mango strawberry bingsu. The bingsu had strawberries at the bottom, ice and mango ice cream in the center, and fresh mango chunks on top. It was delicious, and as I write this I’m sitting here lamenting that this chain doesn’t exist where I live!
Haedong Yonggungsa
Canopy of paper lanterns at Haedong Yonggungsa
Monk and reclining Buddha at Haedong Yonggungsa
Haeundae Sky Capsule
Haeundae Sky Capsule looking back toward Haeundae Beach
Haeundae Sky Capsule approaching the Daritdol Observatory skywalk
Haeundae Sky Capsule near Cheongsapo station
Fishing boats near Cheongsapo station
Haeundae Beach
Haeundae Beach
The folds of cloth created with sand - amazing!
Haeundae Beach Sand Festival
Passing under the Gwangan Bridge on the yacht cruise
A group of luxury hotels and condos
Sunset near Suyeongman Bay Yachting Center
Gwangalli Beach drone show
Gwangan Bridge lit up at night; I love the reflection of the colored lights in the water
