Romana and I took a three-day trip to Songjeong Beach in Busan (송정해수욕장, 부산), Cheongsapo Harbour (청사포), and Yeongdo Island (영도) for a pre-New Year’s Eve break. We had fun time exploring the area, basically eating and drinking.

DAY 1 OF 3-DAY TRIP to Busan

We arrived very hungover in Busan around 12:30. We’d had some friends around the night before, and neither of us slept on the train! We didn’t feel up for doing much so grabbed some tofu soup by the station which helped. Our plan next was to get to the accommodation to rest, but I wanted to do at least one other thing by the station.

I’ve been using an app called Day Trip which features posts of interesting places to see in Seoul. The photos and spots seem nicely curated so I recommend trying it out. Using the app, I found Brown Hands Cafe (브라운핸즈백제) inside an old, tall redbrick building. We relaxed more and I had a ‘nice cup of tea’.

In order to get some more shut eye, we got on a red intercity bus for an hour’s ride to the beach. Sleep finally! Once there, we checked in to the Songjeong Olla Hotel (올라호텔). I stayed here last month on a solo trip. The rooms look over the beach and there’s free coffee in the lobby. You can walk straight out over the tram line and onto the beach. It’s a great hotel.

We wandered up the beach and saw some interesting beach art, then along some back streets to look for a place for food. We walked past the old train station that’s now used for the Haeundae Blueline Park train (해운대블루라인파크 송정정거장). I went on this last month on my solo trip.

Romana wanted to try Dogajib (도가집) a grilled eel place in a hanok. The eel we got was gomjangoh (곰장어) and was a new type for me. Frankly, it looked a bit gross (like it was turned inside out, like intestines) but grilled enough, it was fine. This might be my only try though!

After that, we strolled back to the hotel for a long bath ready for tomorrow.

Places visited this trip (click the ‘door’ icon to see a list):