I spent New Years Eve of 2024/2025 in gorgeous Busan, South Korea. We weren’t sure where to stay and took a bit of a gamble on splitting our stay up into two areas. Personally I am super glad we did, and I want to share everything I learned in this guide to where to stay in Busan.
Where to stay in Busan
Busan is an absolutely gorgeous city with so much to see and do. Seoul is always a favourite, but I absolutely insist you include a few days in Busan on your South Korea itinerary if you can. The city has it all – trendy alleys and coffee shops, beaches, views, culture – there is a little bit of everything.
Before we dive in, a few qualifying points. Firstly, it was winter when we went to Busan. Because Busan has quite a few beaches, it can often be more of a summer destination. I haven’t experienced peak summer humidity in South Korea, although I think my recommendations stand either way. Just something to be mindful of.
Secondly, a little about our group. I went with my Mum, Aunty and Sister. We all like to eat and drink but are no longer party gals. We’re normally after a quieter area to stay with lots of restaurants and things to do, rather than a clubbing or party area.
Our Busan itinerary
We got the bullet train down from Seoul and caught Ubers to our first accomodation, Gwangan Awesome in Gwangalli Beach. Although unfortunately the drone show was cancelled due to a national mourning period, our plan was to watch the Drone Show from the apartment on New Years Eve.
Gwangan Awesome has two double beds so we managed to squeeze in as 4 people. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that unless you are much skinnier than we are, but the accomodation was still absolutely stunning. For a couple, I can highly recommend it (although there was some loud karaoke a few floors up). Does it get better than this view?
After 3 nights in Gwangalli Beach, we moved to the Lotte hotel in Busan CBD (Seomyeon). We opted for a room with a view and access to the pool, although there are some varied packages.
Personally, I found the split between the two to be the perfect way to see different areas in Busan and get a sense for both of them. I’ll go into the different options further below, but a split is what I would recommend and I’m so pleased we did it.
Different areas to stay in Busan
I will note that these are absolutely not all the areas to stay in Busan – just the areas I visited and can give an opinion on.
Gwangalli Beach
We stayed right on Gwangalli Beach over New Years and it was absolutely glorious. Although the drone show was sadly cancelled due to the national mourning period, it was still a fantastic (very low key) place to be on New Years. Our favourite part was the Korean tradition of waking up early on New Years Day to see the first sunrise. Thousands (I think, I’m terrible at estimating) of people went down to the beach to watch the sun come up. It was incredible to watch from our beach view room at Gwangan Awesome and super special to be a part of.
Gwangalli Beach felt like a very approachable and fun area. The shops line the beach with a view of the Gwangalli bridge. Although it’s absolutely built up, it felt smaller and more personal which I loved. Just the right size for me!
There are lots of restaurants in the Gwangalli beach area and lots of hidden gems a few lanes back from the beachside. You won’t run out of places to eat!
Haeundae Beach
Haeundae Beach is the biggest, more built up beach area of the two. You might know it because of the sky capsule, but it does also have a large beach and built up coastline. If you’re Australian, I’d describe it as having a bit of a Gold Coast vibe. Built up high rise buildings on a nice beach.
There are lots of restaurants and amenities in the Haeundae Beach area. The area around the shop ‘Your Naked Cheese’ was very cute, as well as the Haeundae traditional market (which is a street market selling mostly food).
Dalmaji Hill area
We didn’t conquer Dalmaji Hill. Although there were a lot of trendy, artsy and interesting people around, we didn’t really find where were going/had been. As such, I can’t advise as to the absolute best area of Dalmaji Hill. However, I can say that it was cute and worth a visit. I am not sure if you would choose Dalmaji Hill as a tourist – it might be a bit out of the way. However, it would be a lovely option for a long stay or a move to Busan. I recommend sussing it out if you have the time, but do a bit of a deep dive so you don’t miss out on the cute spots.
Seomyeon (Busan CBD)
I LOVED Seomyeon area. Because we had enjoyed our stay in Gwangalli beach so much, I wasn’t sure if I’d love Seomyeon quite as much. Well, I did. We stayed at the Lotte and it was a seamless, easy stay with a gorgeous view. Although it was a little bit of a walk from Jeonpo cafe street (a trendy area with cute little cafes, restaurants and bars) it was still a great spot. There are plenty of restaurants and little spots to explore. I feel like Naver (and all maps) sometimes make places look more empty and sparse than they are, so don’t be put off.
Nampo Area
Although we only meandered through the Nampo area after visiting the Jagalchi fish market, I just wanted to reiterate my above point. When I was looking at hotels, we decided against staying around this area because I was worried that it looked sparse. It is absolutely not sparse and there is so much to do. If you are only staying in Busan a short time and the Jagalchi market is a priority, this would be a good place to stay.
If you’re a seafood lover, you can buy fresh seafood from a vendor in the Jagalchi fish market and have it prepared to eat upstairs. You can use Google Translate to haggle with the vendors and specify how you would like it cooked. We were mostly vegetarians on the trip, so we didn’t do this. It was still fascinating to see, though, and apparently the third floor has a nice view.
Different locations for different needs
- If you like the beach and a more lively party vibe, stay in Haeundae Beach.
- If you like the beach but a slightly quieter, smaller location, stay in Gwangalli Beach. If you’re staying around the time of a drone show, it’s also great to see the drone show from your room. NB: It is probably not so quiet in summer, but still smaller and more achievable to explore on foot.
- If you like cities, little back alleys and cosmopolitan treats, stay in Seomyeon.
- If you want to get a sense of where the artsy locals and expats live, consider Dalmaji Hill.
- If you are on a budget and won’t be using many Ubers, stay in Seomyeon. It is the best connected to each location by public transport (although not seamlessly easy public transport, I read).
- If you have time, I recommend staying a few days in the city and a few by the beach. It felt like the best of both worlds and was worth the hassle. Each feels like a completely new city.
Things to do in Busan
- Of course, you have to go on the Haundae Blueline park Sky capsule. You will need to book tickets well in advance and ideally organise them for sunset if you can. This Reddit thread is very helpful. Personally, I think you could just do a one way trip, but sometimes a two way trip is more practical.
- The drone show in Gwangalli beach which is normally on a Saturday night but Google it before you factor it into plans. I read that it isn’t always on.
- Haedong Yonggungsa temple, a gorgeous seaside temple that is a taxi ride away from most things.
- Gamcheon Culture Village. This was very cool but be mindful that people live here. We only budgeted a few hours but I would have easily done more and had lunch there if I did it again. So gorgeous and unique!
- Jagalchi fish markets. This was such a unique thing to see and a highlight of the trip for me.
- Personally, I thought the Somang stairs were very cute but best kept to the locals. It felt a bit awkward when people were just there trying to live their lives. Not close to much, either, although the taxi ride to get there took us through some gorgeous areas.
- Huinnyeoul Culture Village was very cute but I preferred the Gamcheon Culture Village. It’s larger, there is more to see and it I think it’s a must-do in Busan. If you only have time for one, I recommend the Gamcheon Culture Village.
Tips for Busan
- As a group of 4, we found Uber a very cost effective way to get around. Busan is quite big and spread out, so it’s not a matter of walking places.
- To qualify, the Uber app books local taxis. They always arrived within a few minutes and it was a fantastic way to get around the language barrier of us not being able to speak Korean. I highly recommend downloading the app if you intend to catch taxis and can’t speak Korean.
- I have read that the public transport is good in Busan city, but trickier going from Busan city to Haeundae or Gwangalli. I could be wrong, but that is what I read.
- You absolutely need to download Naver as Google maps really sucks in Korea. It also helps to have familiarised yourself with it before you go, because a lot of the words are in Korean. It can be a bit tricky to get used to initially, so I recommend starting early.
- A bonus of Naver is that you can pin all your restaurants and things you want to see. I personally found it very easy to get lost in Korea and it helps having a visual of where my next meal was lol.
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