Our first Busan summers: city lights from Hwangnyeongsan, a bamboo forest in Gijang, the Dongbaekseom boardwalk, Haeundae sand art and baseball at Sajik.
Busan pulled us back three times in three years, and it was always summer. These are the early visits, from a first look down at the city in July 2020 through a spring on the coast and a night at the baseball in 2022. Korea’s great southern port doesn’t do a headline sight; it does mountains, beaches and a stadium, and it’s better for it.
July 2020: the whole city glittering below the slopes of Hwangnyeongsan, with the clouds rolling in low.A bamboo forest out in Gijang, on Busan's green northeastern edge. You don't need to fly to Kyoto for this.The Dongbaekseom coastal walk in May 2022, where the boardwalk steps double as a bench with a view.On Haeundae beach that same May: a sand sculpture honouring Korean War veterans, ringed by the flags of the nations who fought.Capsule 67 on the Haeundae Blueline, trundling above the coast at a speed best described as polite.A back-street lunch where the banchan outnumbered us roughly ten to one. We accepted the challenge.July 2022 at Sajik Stadium, home of the Lotte Giants. Korean baseball is half sport, half singalong.
By the end of these three summers we’d stopped treating Busan as a day trip from Seoul, which is the mistake most visitors make. We came back in 2024 and filmed the walk we still send people: Busan, 2024.
There’s more from these trips on our YouTube channel, we film the real sights and sounds, no fluff. You’ll also find us on TikTok and Instagram.
