Busan?

[SimplyMarvie]

Best ideas for a port activity in Busan that is not the cultural village? I was hoping for a market tour and cooking class, but I'm not finding much. We're generally into museums, food, exploration, and (because I'm traveling with teens) KPop and Skincare. 

[TheRinaldis]

Hi, I have never been to Busan, but we are going on a cruise that stops there in a couple of months, so I have been recently researching it. I read that there is a giant mural of some K-pop stars in that cultural village that might appeal to your teens. I saw a cooking class on a tour through Viator I believe as well. We plan on using taxis to get everywhere. They accept credit cards, but some do not speak English, so you have to have your directions written in Korean. Taxis with the bird on them, usually are multi-lingual. You also want to make sure you have WON, the local currency for the markets and food stalls, as most do not accept credit cards. You can get the local currency right from the ATM in the cruise terminal or in advance. Hopefully, some of this helps you, I hope you enjoy your trip! 🙂

 

Busan Gamcheon Culture Village

It might need extra effort to visit Busan Gamcheon Culture Village but trust me, it’s worth it. You can see beautiful art there, including a giant mural of Jimin and Jungkook of BTS. Known as the hometown of Jimin and Jungkook, there is a lot to visit and experience in Busan.

 

Gwangbokdong Food Street - This is close to the cruise port and the Jagalchi fish market. 

Arrive with an appetite, because you are here to eat. Situated in the labyrinthine Gwangbokdong area, Gwangbokdong Food Street is an absolute feast for the eyes and mouth. Dumplings are always a good idea, or go on an adventure and order at random (warning: may contain fish).

 

Nampodong Market

 

One-of-a-kind souvenirs and gorgeous vintage offerings are all here, often for much, much lower prices than you’ll come close to in the West. Nampodong is best accessed by hopping off the train at Nampo Station.

[Cammy8]

I believe our ship docks at  Yeongdo Island.  I thought we'd stay on the island and go to Jeoryeong Coastal Walk on Yeongdo Island, but its on the island’s opposite coast, and since the island is car restricted, I tried to figure out how to get there.  Googlemaps only shows public transportation - 50 minutes, 50% of which is walking.  In fact if we decide to tour off the island, it looks like it takes about 35 minutes, again I'm confused about this car restricted thing.  Has anyone else been to this port and would you mind sharing your experience

[adventurenerd]

Hi there, I would like to bring this topic up again as we had a wonderful experience with Willow from "Busan Private Tour: tailored experiences for your group only".  We booked the tour through trip advisor.  Here is the review I wrote:

 

We were there during our cruise port stop.  Our tour guide/driver Willow provided us a wonderful tour.  She waited patiently for at least couple of hours while we went through immigration and customs. As a result of the 2 hour delay our tour had to be shortened but she accommodated all of our requested site visits with some minor adjustments.  The traffic to and from the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple and Beach area was very bad and we are so glad Willow was able to time our tour according to her experience to make sure we got to visit sites including Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, Gamcheon Culture Village, and a Korean cosmetic shop.  She also gave us drive by tour of Diamond Bridge, Beach side village and, Many markets including Jagalchi Market.  Since we were short on time, we opted not to have meal at restaurants but get some Korean street snacks.  Those unusual snacks were very good (tasty not really healthy though...), but hey, we were on our Holiday!  Most importantly, Willow took great care of us during our tour and brought us back to the ship safe and on time.  Yes, we could just hire taxi between sites and do it cheaper but, traveling with elders and pressed on time, we were so glad that we booked a tour and we could not ask any better tour guide than Willow.  She was great!! Thank you Willow!!!

 

I hope this review will help someone.

[hubofhockey]

4 hours ago, adventurenerd said:

Hi there, I would like to bring this topic up again as we had a wonderful experience with Willow from "Busan Private Tour: tailored experiences for your group only".  We booked the tour through trip advisor.  Here is the review I wrote:

 

We were there during our cruise port stop.  Our tour guide/driver Willow provided us a wonderful tour.  She waited patiently for at least couple of hours while we went through immigration and customs. As a result of the 2 hour delay our tour had to be shortened but she accommodated all of our requested site visits with some minor adjustments.  The traffic to and from the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple and Beach area was very bad and we are so glad Willow was able to time our tour according to her experience to make sure we got to visit sites including Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, Gamcheon Culture Village, and a Korean cosmetic shop.  She also gave us drive by tour of Diamond Bridge, Beach side village and, Many markets including Jagalchi Market.  Since we were short on time, we opted not to have meal at restaurants but get some Korean street snacks.  Those unusual snacks were very good (tasty not really healthy though...), but hey, we were on our Holiday!  Most importantly, Willow took great care of us during our tour and brought us back to the ship safe and on time.  Yes, we could just hire taxi between sites and do it cheaper but, traveling with elders and pressed on time, we were so glad that we booked a tour and we could not ask any better tour guide than Willow.  She was great!! Thank you Willow!!!

 

I hope this review will help someone.

It’s helpful.  We have a TBL tour set up with a very similar itinerary.  I hope we don’t have the same problem with immigration there (Celebrity Millennium)

[Cammy8]

The long wait was my concern too as I read your review.  Do you remember if the 2 hour delay was unusual, caused by something specific, or did you get the impression this seemed normal for Korea.  From what I gather S. Korea has a Visa Free period between 04/01/23 and 12/31/24. In the past a K-ETA was needed where people had to line up upon arrival to complete an arrival card costing $7.77 .

A K-ETA visa for American citizens is supposedly quick and easy to get online.  Several on this cruise have applied for a visa which I think is $9.  They're banking it might be worth it, hoping they will get off the ship faster if they have it, and may not have to line up for the arrival card.  Can you tell us how the procedure went that day?