Haeundae Blueline Park<\/strong> in Busan whose admission was not actually included in our Busan Visitor Pass – our bad.<\/p>\n Yongsan Observatory<\/strong> in Suncheon which was undergoing renovation and we didn’t realize it.<\/p>\n Caf\u00e9 Onion Anguk<\/strong> in Seoul which was super crowded.<\/p>\n Wondae-ri Birch Forest<\/strong> and Yondaeri Maebawi Artificial Waterfall<\/strong> which was in the cancelled day trip.<\/p>\n Deoksugung Palace Changing of the Guard<\/strong> and Namdaemun Market<\/strong> in Seoul because the timings didn’t line up with the other things we wanted to do.<\/p>\n Olympic Park Ice Skating Rink<\/strong> in Seoul which we swapped out for the rink in Seoul Plaza.<\/p>\n Namsan Seoul Tower<\/strong> and Namsan Mountain Park<\/strong> in Seoul because of admission costs. Yep, we travel on the cheap!<\/p>\n So, that out of the way, these two posts will basically summarize the places we visited and our overall comments for each. Starting with Part 1 – Days 01 to 09:<\/p>\n Travel from Incheon International Airport to Seoul<\/strong> (40 mins) and Busan<\/strong> (3 hrs): many visitors arriving into Incheon International Airport would make their way to Seoul using the Airport Railway Express, or AREX. The express train takes about 40 minutes, and the train platform is a 5\u20136 minute walk from the airport arrivals exit once you pick up your luggage. On the train itself, luggage space in the designated area is a little limited in each car. But we saw some passengers use a small area opposite the designated space for their large luggage cases anyway.<\/p>\n You’d alight from the AREX train at Seoul Station, and take several escalators up to the main platform where the KTX platforms for inter-city travel are. Signage is everywhere, and we never for a moment felt lost in the huge station. Nonetheless, the total walking time for us is about 10 minutes, so if you’re doing immediate connections after landing to get to a city other than Seoul, do still try to allow a bit of buffer time to get to the KTX platform at Seoul Station.<\/p>\n For the KTX ride itself, the first class seats were only marginally more expensive than the economy ones. So unless you’re seriously traveling on a budget, you should go ahead and spend a little bit more to get better seats and also a few extra amenities. We travelled on the economy seats on Day 09 from Suncheon to Seoul, and the difference in seat quality was very noticeable.<\/p>\n Gwangalli Beach<\/strong> (1-2 hrs) [blog post here<\/a>] Gwangalli Beach was about a 25-minute taxi ride (fare was about 11,000 KRW) from where we were staying near Jungang Station. The beach has a number of restaurants and cafes, so you’d be spoiled for choice on where to get grub. Pro-Tip<\/strong>: if you’re coming here specifically to catch the drone light show, do pay attention to where the drones are largely flying around and situate yourself accordingly if you want to get the best views. There’s plenty of space though – it being a large beach – so don’t feel like you need to get in early to chope your spaces.<\/p>\n Gamcheon Culture Village<\/strong> (2-3 hrs) [blog post here<\/a>]: this is a must-do if you’re in Busan. Truth to tell though, if you’re not going to do the photo shoot at the Flipbook Studio, you could probably comfortably cover the most interesting bits of the village in 2 hours. The additional hour is for you to queue up for your photo shoot, have your session, then wait for the photobook to get printed. You’d also want to buffer even more time if you plan to visit more than a few of the many shops that line the busy areas. Pro-tip<\/strong>: if you’re adverse to any sort of queuing, then head earlier for the Flipbook Studio before they open at 10AM and start queuing up. However, the best lighting for picture-taking in the village itself is in the early afternoon, as the early morning sun will cast strong glare at the most common picture-taking spots in the village. Interestingly, the long queue we saw when the Flipbook Studio opened for the new day of business cleared up by around 11:30AM. And while there were still groups joining the queue now and then, it wasn’t the long snaking line of people that we saw at 10AM.<\/p>\n Gukje Market<\/strong> (~1 hour) [blog post here<\/a>]: if you’ve been to any one of the street markets in Japan that caters largely to the domestic crowd, then you know what to expect here. The street food stalls seem to be closer to the BIFF Square area, so head towards that general direction if you’re looking for grub.<\/p>\n Jagalchi Fish Market<\/strong> (~0.5 hrs) [blog post here<\/a>]: I seriously doubt if most tourists to this fresh seafood market are intending to actually buy any of the seafood items in this market and cook up a feast back in their hotels or apartments. So, my guess here is that most visitors are just coming to take a look at a busy seafood market, or perhaps to dine at one of the restaurants there which are serving up cooked seafood. Still, it’s a fairly easy area to get to if you’re in the Gukje Market area, so go for it.<\/p>\n BIFF Square and Gwangbokro<\/strong> (1-2 hrs) [blog post here<\/a>]: this is an area with many retail shops that would particularly appeal to Gen Y and Z types. Depending on your shopping inclinations, you’d want to budget the appropriate amount of time to visit the shops that are interesting for you, and also enjoy more street food in the area, or find a cafe if modern F&B is your thing.<\/p>\n Songdo Marine Cable Car<\/strong> (0.5 hrs) [blog post here<\/a>]: included in the Busan Visitor Pass, like all the other places covered in the posts on Day 03. The cable car experience is about 10 minutes or so: long enough for you to get a number of pictures of different views, and not long enough for you to get bored too. The Visitor Pass also covers the return journey by the same cable car system, so you get another opportunity to get additional pictures if you didn’t in the outbound leg. Also, don’t forget to check out the observation deck on the top floor of the Songbo Sky Park Station to get some fun photos.<\/p>\n Songdo Yonggung Suspension Bridge<\/strong> (0.5 hrs) [blog post here<\/a>]: the bridge is a short 5-minute walk from the Songbo Sky Park Station. But from pictures elsewhere that we’ve seen, the bridge can get quite busy with a lot of visitors. We went early on a weekday morning, and had the bridge largely to ourselves.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/blog-south-korea-2024-itinerary-01.png\")
<\/a>Day 1 (Incheon – Busan)<\/h1>\n
Day 2 (Busan)<\/h1>\n
<\/a><\/a>Day 3 (Busan)<\/h1>\n