Busan
South Korea
Korea’s port city: beaches in the middle of it, the largest fish market in the country, and a hillside village painted every colour
Photo by Thomas Roger Lux on Unsplash
Photos by Sean Lee, Lee eunsu, Finn and Jaeyeong Kim on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of South Korea
April to June, and September to November — summer is humid with a typhoon season
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 320mm in Jul
Where it is
35.18°N, 129.08°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Pick a fish downstairs at Jagalchi and eat it upstairs
- Walk Gamcheon village’s lanes, and buy something from a resident
- Sit on Gwangalli beach after dark when the bridge lights up
- Eat dwaeji gukbap at two in the morning, as intended
- Take the KTX to Seoul or the ferry to Japan
Busan travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget South Korea
Mid-rangeCards work almost everywhere and T-money, the transport card, also pays in convenience stores. Keep some cash for the market stalls at Jagalchi and the older restaurants.
ATMs & cards
Look for machines marked "Global" — those take foreign cards and many Korean ones do not. They are in every convenience store and at the metro stations. Withdrawals usually cap at ₩700,000.
Avoid these
- Korean bank machines without a Global sign, which refuse foreign cards
Use these instead
- any machine marked Global
- convenience store ATMs
Look for the word Global on the machine — that is the whole rule in Korea. Withdrawals usually cap at ₩700,000.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of South Korea
Very safeExtremely safe, including for women travelling alone and at night. The practical cautions are seasonal: typhoons hit this coast between July and September and occasionally close the airport, and the summer humidity is heavy. The beaches have lifeguards in season and swimming outside it is not supervised.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (8 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- swimming outside the flagged season — the beaches are patrolled in July and August and not otherwise
- the drinking streets in Seomyeon in the small hours — loud, not threatening
- typhoons between July and September — they hit this coast directly and shut the beaches and sometimes the trains
One of the safest large cities anywhere. People leave phones on café tables to hold a seat, and that is a fair summary..
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa South Korea visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 90 days10,000 KRW
K-ETA has been waived for many of these nationalities on a rolling basis — check the official link, because the exemption list changes yearly.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Apply at k-eta.go.kr at least 72 hours before departure. Only that domain is official.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: travel authorisation
K-ETARequired
At least 72 hours before departure.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- a passport photo
- flight number
- the full address of your first night
Waived for a number of nationalities on a list that has changed more than once — the official page is the authority on whether you need it at all.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of South Korea
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
Getting treated
Excellent, fast and surprisingly affordable even without insurance — a specialist consultation without cover often costs less than a co-payment elsewhere. Large hospitals have international clinics with English-speaking staff.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingBusan is a seafood city and dwaeji gukbap — pork and rice soup — is its own dish, eaten at any hour. Ssiat hotteok, a seed-stuffed pancake, is the street food at Nampo-dong. At Jagalchi you choose the fish downstairs and eat it upstairs, usually raw and then the bones in a soup.
Nightlife
A beach city that drinks late and cheaply, with soju tents on the sand and a student quarter that does not stop.
- Gwangalli beach — bars facing the lit bridge, which is the image of the city
- Seomyeon — the biggest concentration, and the most Korean of them
- Kyungsung University — cheap, young and packed
- Haeundae — resort bars and the pojangmacha tents behind them
Closing: Late — many places until 05:00, and the convenience stores never shut. The metro stops around midnight.
A beer in a bar: ₩4,000–6,000
Drinking is done with food in Korea, and a bar that serves no anju is the exception.
Getting around
Easy and cheap- UberWorks here
- Kakao TWorks here
- TADAWorks here
- BoltNot here
- GrabNot here
Kakao T what everybody uses; the app is in English · Uber operating as UT, on Kakao’s fleet
- Against a taxi
- The same metered taxis. Kakao T saves standing in the cold.
A foreign card can be refused by Kakao T. Registering a card in advance, or carrying cash, saves a bad moment.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Seoul — 13 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 20:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 20:00–04:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of South Korea
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.7× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 2× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for South Korea, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Korean
- Hello안녕하세요 — Annyeonghaseyoan-nyong-ha-SE-yo
- Please주세요 — JuseyoJOO-se-yo
- Thank you감사합니다 — Kamsahamnidakam-sa-HAM-ni-da
- Yes / No네 / 아니요 — Ne / Aniyoneh / A-ni-yo
4 more phrases
- Excuse me저기요 — JeogiyoJUH-gi-yo
- How much is it?얼마예요 — Eolmayeyo?ol-ma-YE-yo
- The bill, please계산해 주세요 — Gyesanhae juseyogye-san-HE joo-se-yo
- Cheers!건배 — Geonbae!gon-BE
Religion
No majority faith
Roughly half report no religion; the rest are largely Protestant, Buddhist and Catholic. Buddhist temple stays are open to visitors and are a genuine experience rather than a show.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Pour drinks for others, never for yourself, and hold the bottle with two hands for elders
- Turn your head away from elders when drinking
- Give and receive with two hands
- Take shoes off entering homes and many traditional restaurants
Don't
- Do not stick chopsticks upright in rice; it echoes ancestral rites
- Do not start eating before the eldest person at the table
- Do not write someone’s name in red ink — it is associated with the dead
- Do not tip; it is not part of the culture and can embarrass
Where to stay in Busan
No Holistay rentals in Busan yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Busan on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Gimhae PUS
45 minfrom the airport· 13 km as the crow flies
45 min by light rail and metro.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
