Editor’s note: like so many American travelers, my only experience with South Korea was in Seoul. After reading this look at Busan from our resident traveling rabbi Sam, I know for sure I’ve missed out. For more of Sam’s amazing adventures, be sure to click here to visit his index page!

In my journeys around the world, there are two cities that have stood apart from all others for me for their combination of natural and architectural beauty; those two cities are Cape Town, South Africa, with its beaches, rock formations, and imposing Table Mountain providing a backdrop for a city with beautifully painted colorful homes and parks, and Vancouver, Canada, with its modern buildings surrounded by water and dense forest and mountains. The latter looks like a contemporary, thriving metropolis in the midst of unspoiled nature. However, this past month I visited a city that I would add as a third to this distinguished list, and that distinction goes to Busan, South Korea.

Busan is the second largest city in South Korea at about 3.5 million inhabitants, and is the busiest port in South Korea and sixth busiest in the world. The city is nestled between the Sea of Japan and green hills covered in a combination of evergreen trees and those that develop bright orange and red foliage during November. Busan has some of the best sandy beaches I have been to as well, with the three most prominent beaches right in the city of Haeundae, Gwangalli, and Songdo. Haeundae in particular offers stunning views of the sea, while Gwangalli overlooks the spectacular Gwangandaegyo Suspension Bridge, which has a drone show over it every Saturday night. Throughout the whole city are sleek, modern buildings that are aesthetically pleasing, a functional metro system, and an impressive level of cleanliness.

Busan’s top tourist attractions also combine architecture with nature. Just outside the city is one of the most important religious temples in the nation, Beomeosa, meaning “Temple of the Nirvana Fish,” one of the main temples of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. The temple is as the base of a mountain and dates back to the 7th century. There, you can find pagodas from that time of the Silla era, a dynasty that lasted throughout the first millennium CE. While the temple was destroyed in a fire in 1592, the main hall was rebuilt shortly thereafter. In the various halls of the temples, you can find monks leading prayers and meditations in front of statues and artwork of Buddha and various deities. It is popular to hike on this mountain that was considered to be a holy place due to the finding of a spring there that was believed to be from heaven. At Beomeosa, visitors will be treated to gorgeous foliage in the fall and also a look at typical Silla-style traditional Korean architecture.

Another must-visit temple closer to the city is the Haedong Yonggung Temple, which boasts that it is the most beautiful temple in Korea. This temple is built on a cliff right over the sea and is dedicated to the Sea Goddess Buddha of Mercy. Upon arrival at the temple, there are numerous food and souvenir stalls on the pathway down to the main attraction, as well as a new pagoda that is meant to offer prayers for people traveling on roads to protect them from car accidents. Continue downhill, past a sculpture of a jovial and plump, smiling Buddha that is dedicated to those wishing to have a son (its stomach is clearly well worn from those making pilgrimage rubbing it), and you will find yourself looking at the temple on the seaside. At this temple, there is a beautiful arched footbridge that goes over jagged rocks with waves crashing below, and dozens of different Buddhas facing towards the sea, as well as prayer halls. This temple dates back to the end of the 14th century and is reminiscent of the Hindu temples of Bali in creating a worship space includes experiencing the sea.

One other must-visit spot on the outskirts of the heart of the city of Busan is the Gamcheon Cultural Village. This neighborhood was a slum that people did not pay attention to until 2009, when a bunch of students painted the houses bright colors. All of a sudden, Gamcheon Cultural Village became one of the most popular destinations for tourists in Korea and with its layered winding alleyways has been nicknamed “the Santorini of Korea.” Go explore the streets and do a couple hour loop. As I will talk about in my next article with Seoul’s cultural sites, it is common for locals and tourists alike to dress up “Hanbok style” here, a traditional Korean attire from the Joseon Era (1392-1897), and there are shops where you can rent the garments. The village is on a steep hillside that goes down to the sea. At the top of the hill and village, I highly advise that you slip into a café for a drink and enjoy an unobstructed view of the village and the sea.

Within the city itself, there are many great neighborhoods and restaurants to try, as well as shopping districts. One that is particularly unique though is Busan’s Book Street, which is an alleyway lined with used bookstores. When you walk into these shops, it will feel like an episode of Hoarders, as many of the shops have no shelves or organized fashion for their books; rather, there are just stacks of books from floor to nearly ceiling and you have to weave your way through pathways.

Yet, Busan’s best market is hands down its fish market, Jagalchi Market, on the sea inside a beautiful modern building. Inside and right outside the building are hundreds of vendors selling seafood from their stalls. Inside the building is a fascinating experience to the senses, as most of the seafood being sold is still alive. There are tanks full of hundreds of eels, others with octopuses, the largest crabs and lobsters you have ever seen, and even ones that are full of live ocean fish, like seabass. When you pick out your lunch from the vendor, they will take out the fish of your choosing, club it on the head, then hand it off to a restaurant vendor standing nearby, who will escort you to their restaurant stall upstairs and ask you if you would prefer your fish barbequed or sashimi style. Within half an hour, you will have before you the freshest seafood that you have ever had, which was alive before your eyes just moments prior. One popular treat that the locals love is raw octopus, where the tentacles of the octopus are chopped off and put onto a plate and then continue to wiggle and writhe on the plate and as they are eaten. Speaking of food, be sure while in Busan, like any Asian city, to check out the great night markets and have some food there, especially the giant toasted marshmallows with ice cream inside!

Finally, while in Busan, I recommend doing a day trip an hour north to Gyeongju, which was once an imperial capital and today is a charming town of a quarter million people with a fantastic main street. In the heart of the city are numerous parks that you can enter for free with dozens of large grassy mounds in them, which are burial tombs of the rulers from the Silla dynasty more than a thousand years ago. Go for a 45 or so minute stroll through these and admire them; for a small fee you can even go inside one of them and see the preserved inside of a tomb. These reminded me tremendously of the ones that I wrote about in Ireland of the similar style and intent.

While there is enough to pack a couple of days of sightseeing in the Gyeongju area, the one other attraction that we chose to visit was the Buddhist Temple of Bulguksa, which was founded about 1500 years ago. The temple complex is on a mountain and is massive. There are ponds with islands, and picturesque bridges that look like they are out of a painting, as well as numerous halls, Buddhist shrines, paintings, and ancient pagodas. Many of the national treasurers of Korea are found at this temple, as well as some of the most beautiful fall foliage. It was at Bulguksa that some of the earliest printing blocks in the world, dating back to the 8th century, were found, and in 1995, Bulguksa was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For an authentic Korean culinary experience, go to the Dosolmaeul restaurant in Gyeongju next to the Tumuli-gongwon tombs. The restaurant is in a traditional family courtyard and you have a private room, where you remove your shoes and sit on the floor. You will be served very traditional Korean cuisine, so this is a good opportunity to experience the culture and your adventurous side!

While the world has become obsessed with the Gangnam Style and K-Pop culture of Seoul, if you are looking for one of the most beautiful cities in the world to visit alongside wonderful attractions, spectacular beaches and literally the freshest seafood, head over and spend a few days in Busan!

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