Hi, welcome back to our Korea travel itinerary. The weather was so nice! Today we gonna continue exploring the beautiful side of Busan. Hope this blog could help you to finetune your trip.
Busan Itinerary
D-3 : Sea Breeze 🐚
Haeundae Beach - Mipo Train Trail - Cheongsapo Port - Haedong Yonggungsa
Temple - Shinsegae Centum City
First Station: Haeundae Beach
Haeundae Beach was just 5 minutes walking distance from our hotel. To be honest, autumn was not a perfect season for beach swimming and water activity. Yet the charm of Hauendae Beach was undiminishable. The endless sea view was magnificent! Compared to the bustling summer beach, it tend to be more peaceful and chilling now. It was great to bask in the weak sun of October and the nice sea breeze.
Along the beachfront, there are plenty of restaurants, bars, cafes and stars hotel. Grabbed a coffee, strolled along the beach and chased the seagulls. The happiness was simple and priceless.
Second Station: Mipo Train Trail (GuDong Haenam Buseon Trail)
Walked by the beach, the entrance of Mipo Train Trail was situated at the end of Haeundae Beach. Mipo Train Trail was an abandoned old railroad which connects Haeundae Beach to Songjeong Beach further north. We were amazed by the endless train trail and beautiful sceneries along the route.
Most of the people tend to leave after taking photo at the railway road. For us, this was just our starting point only. The path might quite rough further down the track. But further we walked, we were more awe struck by the astonishing sights that runs deep in the place. As the abandoned railway was built along the cliff, vast sea view can be seen in one sight. Plugging in earphone listening to our favourite playlist, setting foot on the trails and eyes on the stunningly beautiful view of East Sea along the cliffs, were certainly one for the books. The walk was indisputably the best by far!
Along the way, we were not lonely. Troop of ahjumma and ahjusshi were hiking in the same way as us. Feeling warm-hearted when listened to their conversation even I had no idea what were they talking about. After 50 minutes railway walk, we can seen the red and white lighthouses from far and we knew that we already arrived Cheongsapo.
Third Station: Cheongsapo Port
Cheongsapo Port is a small pleasant fishing port beside of Haeundae. The beautiful red and white lighthouse that built onshore, are the mark symbolizing this fishing village.
Many fisherman boats were parked along the shore, fishermen busy to move their fishes from the boat and some adjusshi fished under the lighthouse. The village was quiet and lovely. Perfect for a nice stroll.
There has a few cafes and seafood restaurants along the seaside road, providing fresh raw seafood, grilled clams, shellfish and eels at affordable prices. We chose a cool cafe to have our lunch. It was a more than enjoyable to recharge energy bar with scenic sea view as background.
Forth Station: Haedong Yonggungsa Temple
After finished our lunch, we headed to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. The famous Buddhist temple was peacefully situated in Busan downtown area. We boarded bus Haeundaegu 2 at Cheongsapo bus stop in front of the village to SKVIEW Apartment bus stop. Walked 3min to Yeongnam Apartment bus stop, taking bus no.100 to Yonggungsa National Fisheries Science Museum Bus Stop. The entrance of Haedong Yonggungsa Temple can be seen after 10 minutes walk. The bus rides were total around 30 minutes.
Upon entering the temple complex, we were first greeted by rows of twelve huge zodiac statues.
Slowly we went through the 108 steep stairs to the main temple area. The stairs also represents the 108 sufferings in Buddhist beliefs.
The bridge before main temple, was crowded with people most of the time. People were tossing the coins into the wishing fountain beside of the bridge, hoping for their best.
Daengjeon Main Sanctuary is the main temple of Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. It was solemn and beautiful. Colorful wishing lanterns were hanging all over the ceiling. Three golden Buddha statues were enshrined at the heart of the hall.
Contrary to most temples built in mountains, Haedong Yonggungsa Temple is perched on the cliff and overlook the vast open ocean, making it so unique and beautiful in sight, inspiring our inner and outer peace.
Other than Daengjeon Main Sanctuary, there are many Buddhas around the temple. Many buddhist would make offering of candles, incense, food and money and bow in respect to the Buddha.
We spent around 1 hours to appreciate the beauty of Haedong Yonggungsa Temple and for spiritual experience. Since we still had plenty of time before dinner, we decided to pay a short visit to Shinsegae Department Mall, which known as the world’s largest department store in Guinness World Records.
Fifth Station: Shinsegae Department Store Centum City
We took bus no.1001 at Yonggungsa National Fisheries Science Museum Bus Stop. Get off at Centrum City bus stop after 25 stops.
The mall was huge, modern and sparkling clean. There had lots of exclusive shops, ice skating rink, movie teater, spa(Jjimjilbang) and many many more. But both of us are not the shopping-holic kind of people, so we just bye after having our teatime.
The subway station is connected to the complex, at the underground floor. So from there, we took subway back to Haeundae.
Dinner : Korean BBQ with Soju
In Haeundae, we spotted a korean barbeque restaurant for dinner, where many locals dining inside. Korea trip will never complete if without Gogi-gu-I (Korean barbeque) and So-ju (Korean distilled beverage).
We picked a set of spicy chicken and marinated pork belly for BBQ, Tofu Stew and cold So-ju. The BBQ sets also came with basket of lettuce and plentiful of side dishes eg. Kimchi and fish cakes. And, the side dishes were refillable. Most of the people were grilling the meat by themselves. But for not the cooking person as us, it was not as easy as seen. Luckily, the kind waiter helped us to grill. (～￣▽￣)～
To be honest, grilled pork belly was tasted better than chicken. It was more juicy and tender in texture. Wrapping the meat and side dishes with lettuce and all-in one bite, were totally satisfying! HAHAHA~
Small tips: You need to order at least two portion of meat for Korean barbeque and this applies to most of the restaurant.
Both of us were so full and a bit drunk. The alcohol content of So-ju was a bit high for us (min16.8%). We fall onto the bed once back to our hotel.
These were all our activities on our third day in Korea.
Hope you enjoy this Busan itinerary D3.
See you next day,
An-nyeong~(￣﹃￣)zZ
Busan Itinerary D-3 Travel Tips
Mipo Train Trail is a hidden gem in Busan. It is beautiful yet out of the beaten path. We could only barely planned our trip with the limited information on internet. So I drew our route on the map below. Follow the sugar-man 🍭， you find Cheongsapo Lighthouse at the end.
Bon Voyage!
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