Hidden Gems in Busan, Korea
Gamcheon and Haeundae get all the attention, but a few quieter Busan spots reward the extra metro ride.
Huinnyeoul Culture Village
Another cliffside settlement on Yeongdo Island, Huinnyeoul followed the same path as Gamcheon: a small fishing hamlet that became a dense, poor refugee shantytown after the Korean War, later turned into a photogenic spot through a resident-led mural campaign starting in 2010. Its name means “white rapids,” for the whitewater where mountain streams meet the sea here. It draws far fewer visitors than Gamcheon despite a similar look.
Songdo Beach
Opened in 1913, Songdo was Korea’s first public beach, and its name means “island of pines.” A cable car once ran directly over the water to a nearby island back in 1964; today’s version is the modern Songdo Marine Cable Car, paired with the Songdo Cloud Trails Skywalk that opened around 2018 (verify current fares and hours).
The Oryukdo Skywalk
Oryukdo (“five-six islands”) is a small archipelago off Nam District, named because the islet nearest shore splits in two at high tide, making the group look like five islands at low tide and six at high tide. The glass Oryukdo Skywalk, opened in 2013, sits on the cliff opposite for a clear view across.
The UN Memorial Cemetery
The world’s only United Nations cemetery holds roughly 2,300 Korean War graves across 22 nationality sections, dedicated in 1951 and formally established by UN resolution in 1955. It’s a quiet, moving place rather than a checklist stop, worth visiting with the same respect you’d bring to any war cemetery. The nearby Busan Museum, founded in 1978, holds around 13,000 relics including a Unified Silla-era gilt-bronze Buddha statue.
Dongnae, away from the coast
Away from the beaches entirely, the Dongnae district around the old hot springs has its own quieter character, tea houses and traditional streets rather than boardwalks, and its own specialty, Dongnae pajeon, a seafood-and-scallion pancake.
All five of these are metro or bus accessible, but none sit directly on Line 2’s main tourist stretch through Haeundae and Nampo-dong, which is exactly why they stay quieter. Budget extra transfer time and treat each as its own half-day rather than trying to stack more than one alongside a full day of the headline sights.
Read more: the main Busan guide covers the headline sights these spots sit alongside, and our hiking areas guide has more on Busan’s mountain side.