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Busan

Busan on foot, no commentary: the colourful hillside of Gamcheon Culture Village, Seomyeon's neon nights and the harbour streets of Nampo-dong.

Busan is a city best understood on foot, so that’s how we filmed it, no commentary, just the real sounds of Korea’s great southern port city.

A no-commentary walk through Busan: Seomyeon, Gamcheon and Nampo-dong. Watch on YouTube

The walk begins in Gamcheon Culture Village, the famous hillside of colourful stacked houses threaded with art and narrow lanes. It’s become one of Korea’s most photographed places, but wandering it in person, past everyday life happening between the murals, is a different experience from the photos.

From there the film moves through the streets of Seomyeon at night, all shopping, restaurants and neon; down into the underground shopping arcades; through Lotte Mall with its indoor fountain; and out to a glimpse of Busan Port in the Nampo-dong area, where the city meets the sea.

If you’re weighing up whether Busan deserves days of its own on a Korea trip rather than a day trip from Seoul, it does. Pair it with nearby Jinju and the slow island calm of Namhae for a southern route most visitors miss.

Photos from Busan

The film is one walk, but Busan has pulled us back again and again since 2020: summer nights, spring festivals, a freezing New Year sunrise. Here is what stayed in the camera roll.

Busan city lights at night seen from a mountain viewpoint, with low cloud hanging over the hills
July 2020: the whole city glittering below the slopes of Hwangnyeongsan, with the clouds rolling in low.
Dileep smiling on a dirt path through a dense bamboo forest, tall green stalks on every side
A bamboo forest out in Gijang, on Busan's green northeastern edge. You do not need to fly to Kyoto for this.
Inga in a sun hat sitting on wooden boardwalk steps above turquoise sea, framed by red maple leaves
The Dongbaekseom coastal walk in May 2022, where the boardwalk steps double as a bench with a view.
Large sand sculpture of soldiers on Haeundae beach, decorated with the flags of many nations
On Haeundae beach that same May: a sand sculpture honouring Korean War veterans, ringed by the flags of the nations who fought.
View from inside Sky Capsule car 67 on the elevated Haeundae Blueline track running along the coast
Capsule 67 on the Haeundae Blueline, trundling above the coast at a speed best described as polite.
Inga at a small marble table crowded with banchan side dishes in a Busan eatery, the street visible outside
A back-street lunch where the banchan outnumbered us roughly ten to one. We accepted the challenge.
Crowd in baseball jerseys watching a game at Sajik Stadium in Busan, floodlights on under a grey sky
July 2022 at Sajik Stadium, home of the Lotte Giants. Korean baseball is half sport, half singalong.
Thousands of people gathered on Haeundae beach at dawn waiting for the first sunrise of the new year
New Year's morning 2024: half of Busan on Haeundae beach, waiting for the first sunrise of the year.
Inga and Dileep with arms spread wide on a wooden deck on Dongbaekseom, Haeundae's skyscrapers across the bay
Winter sun on Dongbaekseom the next day, with Haeundae's skyline photobombing as usual.
The pastel stacked houses of Gamcheon Culture Village covering a green hillside in Busan under a white sky
October 2024, back on the Gamcheon hillside from the film. The houses still look like someone spilled a paint chart.
Inga sitting beside the Little Prince statue on a yellow railing above Gamcheon Culture Village, the fox statue and the port in the distance
The Little Prince holds the best seat in Gamcheon, and yes, there is a queue to share it.

There’s more from this trip on our YouTube channel, we film the real sights and sounds, no fluff. You’ll also find us on TikTok and Instagram.