Busan - Hop On Hop Off Bus - Shuttle or Walk? Itinerary?

[alwayslost]

We've decided to go the Busan City Tour / Hop On Hop Off Bus.

 

We're coming in via Sun Princess on the 11th of June (TU).

 

Question:

From the port do we walk to Busan Station to catch this hop on hop off bus or do we take the cruise ship shuttle, which I am assuming is provided to bring us to town? I've seen these 2 options so I wanted to know, which one is the correct one.

 

Also any thoughts whether to actually take the tour, also offered or just do the hop on and hop off. I was thinking of doing the History and Culture tour.

 

Also, if I decide to do just the hop on/off by myself, I was thinking of doing the Haeundae tour. But I would like to see the fish market as well. Is that walkable from the Busan station?

 

We are traveling with our 12 year old son, who has traveled a lot with us in Europe. But this is his first time in Asia. He does like military history.

 

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

[movc]

The cruise pier is quite far from the city so you need to take the free shuttle into town. The bus stops at Busan Tower and then in Nampodong near the fish market, PIFF square and the markets. It is quite easy to walk from Busan Tower down to Nampodong. To catch the HoHo bus at Busan Station, head underground to the metro at Nampodong and take it 2 stops. The deep metro stations double as bomb shelters.

 

Busan is very sprawling and most of the tourist sites are in Nampodong. Unless there is something you want to see specifically on the HOHO route and not reachable by metro, most visitors tend to stay in the Nampodong area.

 

There should be an info booth with maps, currency exchange and ATM setup on the pier.

[MightyQuinn]

We were recently in Busan and used the HOHO as our principal transportation. We traveled on both the Haeundae and the Taejongdae routes to see as many attractions as possible. Fare is 10,000 won for unlimited travel on both routes, but is reduced to 8000 won if you show your cruise card. If you don't know this in advance, the driver will happily take full fare!

 

The Taejongdae route has a stop near the cruise terminal - simply walk out the port gates and turn left towards the Maritime Museum. Walk slightly uphill behind the building until you reach the main road and the HOHO stop is straight ahead. After leaving the cruise terminal, the Taejongdae bus crosses the Namhang Bridge and the 2nd stop after that is BIFF Square/Jagalchi Market. If you catch an early HOHO, you can be at the fish market in time to catch the action. It is amazing! BIFF is nearby and you can spend a lot or a little time wandering about there. Yongdusan Park is also about a 15 min walk away and worth a visit for the impressive views.

 

You can cover a lot of ground on both HOHO Loop Tours and see much of Busan. We did consider the History and Culture Themed Tour, but decided against it once we looked closely at the scheduled stops and realized there was only 40 min at Beomeosa Temple, which we thought would be too rushed.

 

My advice on using the HOHO is to plan your time very carefully. Buses are not very frequent - the Haeundae route is every 30 minutes while the Taejongdae route is every 40 minutes. Look at the routes, decide what you want to see, estimate how long to spend at the attractions and then see when the next bus will be. We found it difficult to do as much as we wanted to due to bus schedules.

 

As an aside, many past cruisers report that Busan provided a shuttle to Yongdusan Park and Nampodong. There was no shuttle when we were there recently. I think this is unusual (even the maps provided by Busan Toursist Info at the pier showed the shuttle drops-off points) but best to be prepared. Taxis were few and far between at the pier and drivers weren't interested in short distance fares.

[mustgo]

MightyQuinn- did you make it to the Beomeosa temple using the hoho bus?

[Ontario Cruiser]

Were there any ATM machines at the port? Thanks Ontario Cruiser

[MightyQuinn]

mustgo - no, the regular HOHO Loop Tours don't go to Beomeosa. The only way to get there using Busan City Tours is to take their History and Culture Themed Tour. It's a 4-hr route that covers Bokcheon Museum (30 min), Geumgang Park (60 min) and Beomeosa Temple (40 min). Beomeosa is otherwise reachable by subway and bus.

 

Ontario Cruiser - yes, there was a mobile Bank of Korea set up at the pier for money exchange. We didn't use it since we already had Korean won.

[maryann ns]

We found banks on the main street where the shuttle dropped us off and I think we saw others later on too.

[mustgo]

Thanks Mightyquinn for the info. I think we will just take the Princess tour to Beomosa to keep it simple. Their price is not bad.

[travellers from Oz]

Thanks MightyQuinn for the info. We also are going to Busan on Princess Sapphire in Nov. We had same questions. Also, approximately how much Korean money would you need to get out of ATM for a day. Using HO HO bus, eating, seeing attractions etc. Don't want to get left with a lot of money left over.

[paver59]

As soon as you get off the ship. There is a large trailer that exchanges money on the port.

[travellers from Oz]

Hi 'always lost'. How did your experience go with the Hop on Hop Off bus in Busan. Also would $50 USD be enough for day for food, after paying for bus (for two people). We are coming in on Princess cruise for day. Was the bus a City Tour Bus or did it have another name. Thanks.

[Noorderdam]

We are on Daimond Princess next month.

And would like to go to beach.

Is this nearby, walkable? Or taking (hop-on/hop-off) Bus ?

Thanks,

Noorderdam.

[miamos]

Thank you for the information, I find them very useful.

I am on Millennium celebrity, Can we take the Haeundae tour to go from the Mipo ferry port to the station and from there take the tour Haedong Yonggungsa temple Tour?

thank you to email me at mireillemadam at gmail dot com.

Thank you

[dog]

Does anyone have any recent experiences using these buses?

Which one is easiest to catch near the pier?

What is name of pier? On Millenium.

Thanks

dog

[Joseph2017China]

Does anyone have any recent experiences using these buses?

Which one is easiest to catch near the pier?

What is name of pier? On Millenium.

Thanks

dog

 

Another question - does the cruise shuttle handle wheel chair scooters? Would just like to get downtown and back but need scooter for wife to explore easy.

[dog]

Another question - does the cruise shuttle handle wheel chair scooters? Would just like to get downtown and back but need scooter for wife to explore easy.

 

I haven't seen any newer info on this port:

 

Busan has a free shuttle and the drop off is at the CBD.

 

Busan also has a HO-HO bus which leaves from just outside the entrance to the cruise terminal.

 

Japan Volunteer Guides http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/tr...teerGuides.php.

 

dog:)

[jisduit]

I was so hoping someone new would post on this thread - hope someone will be able to answer my question - My daughter really wants to see the Oryukdo Sky Walk but I can not figure out how we could get there - I dont mind paying a taxi - but google maps says there in not route and I really dont want to ride the buses.

[HiMagicFan]

I don't know where that is but be sure you have the information written down because it was shared with us that some taxi drivers do not know any english. Even in Japan we had this issue some time and actually got dropped off at a wrong location in town because I think we tried to say it wrong. It would be good if you have google translate to assist in communication.

 

I am sorry I am not familiar with the skywalk - we were dropped off by a cruise shuttle to the BIFF area/jagalchi market and just walked around that area.

 

Good luck.