I blame Gong Yoo.
Ever since we watched his iconic jombie movie, the idea of taking the KTX from Seoul to Busan was planted in our minds, growing steadily as time passed.
Ironically, most of the show takes place inside the high-speed train carriages, and Busan itself is not actually featured.
And it’s not that we’re particularly fond of jombies. In fact, given a choice, we have no intention of ever coming close to one.
But such is the power of Gong Yoo.
He’s the reason why I sip Kanu coffee and drink Terra beer. And also why, for our fourth trip to South Korea, we’re finally going to Busan. No prizes for guessing how we plan to get there.
Oh, in case you’re wondering. Yes, I spell jombie with a “j”. Why? Because this way, they sound just a little bit less scary.
Train to Busan
The KTX service from Seoul Station to Busan Station starts just after 5am, with the ride taking around 2.5 to 3 hours. The last train departs Seoul around 10:30pm and gets into Busan past midnight.
There are more than 70 departures throughout the day, with some even as close as 5 minutes apart. Unless it’s a big national holiday like Chuseok in September, it’s unlikely for seats to be fully booked.
I was initially thinking of physically buying our tickets at the station on our day of travel. But decided that we were too old to live life dangerously, and will purchase them in advance instead.
Online bookings can be done from overseas via the official KTX website (letskorail.com) up to one month in advance. Economy Class with reserved seats is ₩59,800 one-way per adult and First Class is ₩83,700.
By Land, Sea & Air
Busan is all about its beautiful beaches, especially the tourist favourites of Gwangalli, Haeundae and Songdo.
We’ll get in to Busan on a Saturday afternoon, giving us ample time to check into our hotel, grab a bite at Seomyeon Market and head down to Gwangalli Beach to check out the 7pm drone show.
The following day will be spent at Haeundae Beach, including an excursion to the Blue Line Park. From Mipo, we’ll take the Sky Capsule or Beach Train to Cheongsapo, wander around and then make a roundtrip back.
After that, we’ll hop on the hour-long public yacht tour run by The Bay 101. It starts and ends at Haeundae Beach, and makes with a loop after Gwangan Bridge.
Departures start from 11:00am and happen every hour, on the hour, until 10:00pm. Adult fares on Sunday per person are ₩15,000 (before 4pm), ₩35,000 (5-7pm) and ₩25,000 (8pm-10pm).
With our land and sea exploration sorted, the final frontier would be a bird’s eye view of Songdo Beach, courtesy of the Busan Air Cruise cable car. It’s somewhat near Gamcheon Culture Village, so we’ll do both on the same day.
Adult round-trip fares are ₩17,000 per person for a normal “Air Cruise” cabin, and ₩22,000 for “Crystal Cruise”. Meaning a transparent floor, something that our hearts won’t be able to handle.
Busan Specialties
Apparently, you can’t say that you’ve visited Busan if you didn’t have Dwaeji Gukbap (돼지국밥), literally Pork Soup Rice. Totally not an issue for us, as we plan to have it at least twice, if not more.
Another Busan specialty that we’ll be bingeing on is Eomuk (어묵). Samjin Amook was the very first brand of we tried, and it got us hooked. Next was Goraesa, an unexpected find at Incheon Airport.
What’s common between the two?
Yup, you guessed it, they originated from Busan and have countless stores in the city. Throw a stone and you’ll probably hit one, so finding some eomuk to snack on will be a piece of (fish)cake.
Of course, it would be a waste if we focused only processed seafood and ignored the fresh produce. Which is why we plan on visiting both Jagalchi Fish Market and Gijang Crab Market, for our fix of crabs, fish and other sea creatures.
Jjimjilbang, Finally
We’ve never been to a jjimjilbang (찜질방) before, but we plan to remedy that with a trip to Centum Spa Land for a spot of extended mid-trip R&R.
It sounds like an oxymoron to explicit set aside time to rest and relax during a vacation. But we expect to be doing a lot of walking and climbing in Busan, so this will be much needed.
And since the jjimjilbang is located in the sprawling Shinsegae Centum City complex, we might as well pair it with some retail therapy.
Busan Itinerary
Here’s our high-level itinerary in Busan:
- Day 1 (Sat): Seomyeon & Gwangalli
- Day 2 (Sun): Haeundae Beach
- Day 3 (Mon): Nampo & Yeongdo
- Day 4 (Tue): Spa Land Centum City
- Day 5 (Wed): Gamcheon & Songdo
- Day 6 (Thu): Gijang & Haedong Yonggungsa
- Day 7 (Fri): Train to Seoul
I’ve pinned the specific places we plan to visit in the map below. The same list can also be found in the detailed itinerary I created on Wanderlog.
Seoul, Redux
The remainder of our vacation will be spent in Seoul. Revisiting places we’ve enjoyed in the past, and exploring areas we’ve yet to visit.
Old Favourites
During our most recent trip in May 2023, two experiences were especially noteworthy. The first was a hanjeongsik lunch at Hangaram, hands-down the best thing we’ve ever eaten in Korea.
Hanjeongsik (한정식) doesn’t refer to any particular dish, but rather how an entire meal is served. Consisting of all the essentials: rice, soup, banchan and mains. Everything, everywhere, all at once.
Every dish was fantastic, and we tried to our best to clean up our plates. We almost succeeded, but our stomachs failed us at the very end. We’re going to give it another go, but this time, we’ll be better prepared.
The second place that we definitely want to revisit is Majang Meat Market, in an attempt to overdose on Hanwoo (한우) K-BBQ.
Before, we went in clueless and wandered around aimlessly. But this time, we know exactly which butcher to buy from, and which restaurant to cook the meat at.
Previously, we only bought 422 grams of meat, something that, on hindsight, we deeply regretted. I plan to remedy that by supersizing it to at least 600 grams, accompanied by a bottle of, you guessed it, Terra.
“What about gout?” you ask. What gout? At Majang Meat Market, there’s no such thing as gout.
New Flavours
Recently, we had Korean BBQ eel at a restaurant in Singapore. It was so good that we started searching for a restaurant serving the same thing in Seoul.
The place we found was Pungcheon Eel in Hongdae. We’ll be going in with very high expectations and keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t be disappointed.
Despite having made three prior trips to Seoul and spending almost a month there, we’ve never actually had two of the most quintessential Korean dishes: tteokbokki and jjajangmyeon.
Well, it’s about time we did something about it.
On our list for this trip are Tteoksan and Hongkong 0410. The former is a tteokbokki place we walked past previously without stepping in, and the latter is Baek Jong Won’s famous Korean-Chinese chain.
Throughout the two weeks, we plan to drink as much makgeolli as possible. Not just any salaryman makgeolli like the ubiquitous Jangsu, but fancy pants versions like the honeycomb makgeolli at Sinsajeon.
Fresh Horizons
Being a hardcore city boy, I enjoy mall hopping. The Hyundai Seoul? Check. Starfield Coex? Double check.
The logical next target is the Lotte World Mall, next to the 555 metre tall, 123 storey Lotte World Tower super skyscraper. While I’m there, it would be nice to take a quiet stroll around nearby Seokchon Lake.
Another area that I’ve been meaning to explore, but haven’t gotten around to yet is the Seoul Forest Park and adjacent hipster enclave Seongsu-dong. I’m not trendy, but once in a while, it’s interesting to see how the fashionable folk spend their time.
Seoul Itinerary
Here’s the high-level plan for our time in Seoul:
- Day 1 (Thu): Dongdaemun
- Day 2 (Fri): Seoul Forest Park & Seongsu-dong
- Day 3 (Sat): Train to Busan
… - Day 4 (Fri): Train from Busan
- Day 5 (Sat): Bukchon Hanok Village
- Day 6 (Sun): Majang Meat Market & Lotte World Mall
- Day 7 (Mon): Hongdae & Mapo-gu
- Day 8 (Tue): Flight Home
Similarly, I’ve pinned all the places in the map below, with a corresponding list in Wanderlog.
Seoul Busan Autumn 2024
Putting both legs together, here’s what our overall itinerary looks like.
As always, this is simply a starting point.
We’ll be adding things in and taking things out until we depart. Even after we land in South Korea, it’s not something that’s cast in stone that we need to strictly follow.
In fact, some of our more memorable moments happened randomly, at places that we stumbled upon. Such as our inventive Korean/Italian fusion dinner at Banjoo Iksun, and The Wife’s shopping spree at Pleats Mama.
Anything is possible. Though I sincerely hope that we don’t run into any jombies on our Train to Busan.
