Gamcheon Cultural Village
For me, perhaps the most impressive attraction in my South Korea trip is Gamcheon Cultural Village. This village was originally a refugee housing area. During the Korean Wars, many refugees came to Busan from the north and they settled in this village. After the war was over, the Busan government decided to reinvigorate the area and turned it into a tourist destination. The result is the Gamcheon Cultural Village. To me, nothing represents the Korean people's perseverance and creativity better than this.
Before you go into the village, make sure you visit the tourist information center to buy the village map. The map shows you the different attractions along the way and is a nice souvenir. The village is huge and is easy to get lost. Don't worry though, the people who still live in the village are very friendly and they don't mind showing you the way. In return, be respectful to the residents and don't make too much noise. A good way to enjoy the village is to collect the different stamps specified on the map. Each stamping station is unique and has a little story behind. A couple of the stamping stations actually allow you to mail a postcard to yourself in a year's time for a small fee. I think this is a wonderful idea.
Haeundae Beach
A must go attraction in Busan, the Haeundae Beach is expansive, clean, and inviting. Coming from city center, the bus ride to Haeundae Beach was relaxing with a lot of coastal sceneries to take in. Once you get off the bus, you will need to walk along Gunam-ro for about 15 minutes to get to the beach. Don't worry though, Gunam-ro is filled with shops and restaurants to keep you entertained and to fill your empty stomach. But don't get side tracked for too long, it is worth spending more time on the beautiful beach.
When we were there, the beach was packed with visitors but most of them did not go into the water. I suspected it's because the wave was quite strong. The beach is about 1.5km long and is a wonderful place to see the sunset.
Coin shower
The Haeundae Beach has only 4 coin showers and each of them takes 1,000 won for 80 sec. It shows that swimming isn’t a popular activity on the beach.