I first visited Gamcheon Culture Village in 2017. I came back recently, and the difference was enough to make it feel like an almost entirely different place. More visitors from overseas, a BTS mural that didn’t exist before, and a second viewpoint — the Byeolmaru Observatory — that offers a perspective I hadn’t seen. This … Read more
Most people who visit the Seomyeon area in Busan have heard of Jeonpo Cafe Street. Fewer know about the alley running parallel to it — Jeonpo Tool Street Busan, also called Jeollidangil — which tells a different and arguably more interesting story. In 2017, the New York Times named Jeonpo Cafe Street one of 52 … Read more
After checking out of my hotel with a few hours to spare, I wanted somewhere to sit down with a coffee and not feel rushed. Jeonpo Cafe Street in Seomyeon tends to be the answer to that kind of afternoon in Busan — the neighborhood has the right mix of low-key and interesting, and Upper … Read more
Korea takes its bread seriously. Seriously enough that there is an annual competition — Le Pain Bread Festival — where bakers from across the country compete for titles in categories like baguette and croissant. The 2024 croissant champion runs a bakery cafe called Choi, and Cafe Choi Yangsan sits not in Seoul or central Busan, … Read more
I had been walking through the underground arcade near Bujeon Station on a rainy afternoon, scrolling through maps, dismissing place after place, when Yeonhwa Dupbab Busan kept coming up with ratings too good to ignore. A fusion Korean rice bowl restaurant on the second floor, a short walk from the subway. Why not? I went … Read more
Every so often I need a reset — a couple of nights somewhere in Busan where I can eat well, sleep well, and not think too hard about logistics. That’s the entire premise behind picking a budget hotel in this city: location first, atmosphere second, everything else negotiable. Central Seven Hotel by Kwon checked the … Read more
I wasn’t expecting much. A wellness center in a small rural county in North Chungcheong Province, admission under $7 — it sounded like it might be a modest local facility with a few rooms and some ambient music. What I found instead was a six-floor building with a forest garden, a foot spa, private heated … Read more
I’d eaten Galmaegi Sand cookies before — at Gwangalli, years ago, with family. Everyone liked them. So when I found out the main branch was a five-minute walk from Busan Station, stopping in felt like a straightforward decision. What I didn’t expect was how much the menu had grown. Galmaegi Sand is a Busan-born bakery … Read more
I’d been looking for a place to stay near Hwangnidan-gil. Not a hotel — a hanok. The kind of guesthouse where you sleep on a heated floor and wake up to the sound of nothing in particular. Wonhwaru Gyeongju came up in the search and checked every box: location close to Gyeongju’s main sites, free … Read more
My Jeju itinerary was tight. I was using a tour taxi to cover as much ground as possible in a short trip, and at one point I had a gap — that awkward stretch of time too short to drive somewhere new but too long to just sit and wait. Someone mentioned the Folk and … Read more