Nampo-dong, BIFF Square, and Gukje Market
These three places are located right next to each other and can be visited together at the same time.
Nampo-dong is a major middle-end shopping district in Busan. You can find all kinds of stores and restaurants here. There are some international stores, but most of them are local businesses.
BIFF Square was originally created to host the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). Since then, the square hosts the opening ceremony of BIFF. When we were there, the opening ceremony was cancelled due to Typhoon Mitag. However, even without the opening ceremony, the entire area was bustling with activities.
A bit further north of BIFF Square is the Gukje Market. It was a marketplace established by war refugees during the Korean War. When the war refugees arrived in Busan, they soon put up stalls and started selling to make their livings. After the war, the marketplace remained and grew to what it is today.
Busan Tower and Yongdusan Park
Yongdusan Park is a mountain park known for its observation tower (Busan Tower) and shrines. To get to the park, you can take the escalators from Nampo-dong.
Busan Tower is located on top of the Yongdusan Park. There is a small charge to get to the top of the observation tower. To be honest, we didn't get up to the top because the sky was still cloudy due to typhoon.