Cruise Layover: Essential Busan Day Tour with Local Food Tasting and Cultural Exploration

Maximize your cruise layover in Busan with this essential day tour. Visit major attractions, taste local food, and immerse yourself in Busan’s culture. Book now!

Duration: 8 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Haedong Yonggungsa - After your tour guide picks you up at Busan International Cruise Terminal, you will head to Haedong Yonggung Temple.

This place offers tourists a chance to know two birds with one stone- head up for second-to-none panoramic views of the ocean against the city, and learn more about traditional Korean religion.

  • Nurimaru APAC House - Nurimaru APEC House means an APEC conference hall. It is noted for its beautiful, natural landscape accented by dense camellia and pine trees. Nurimaru APEC House has been used as a memorial hall and a prestigious international conference hall since the APEC summit meeting.

  • UN Memorial Cemetery - The UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea honors UN soldiers from 16 countries and UN aids from five countries that were killed in battle during the Korean War from 1950-1953. This serene park spreads across a grassy plain area of 135,000 square meters. Some notable sites and memorials include: Memorial Service Hall, Memorabilia Hall, two Turkish Monuments, Greek Monument, Australian Monument, British Common Wealth Monument and two ponds. The Memorial Service Hall and the Memorabilia Hall were constructed in 1964 and 1968 respectively. The citizens of Busan dedicated the Main Gate in 1966. There are many annual events held here such as April’s Tributary Ceremony of the Veterans of the Korean War, May’s American Memorial Day, June’s Korean Memorial Day, and October’s UN Ceremony Day.

  • Busan Tower - One of the most famous landmarks in Busan. You can see almost the entire metropolis as you walk around the top deck. You will find yourself surprised at the view of Busan Tower as you exit the tower. Busan Tower offers a 360 degree view of Busan.

  • BIFF Square - Are you interested in Busan’s modern district? Then hit BIFF Square. There are events such as hand printing of movie celebrities.

The 428 meter-long street stretching from the Buyeong Theater in Nampo-dong to the overpass in Chungmu-dong was divided into “Star Street” and “Festival Street,” and on the eve of the festival each year the “Ground Opening the BIFF Square” is held on the street.

During the ceremony events such as the hand printing of famous movie celebrities and Nunggot Jeomdeung (snow-flower lighting) take place.

  • Jagalchi Market - Because Busan is one of the biggest seaports in South Korea, it says nothing of best seafood. Jagalchi market is the most famous seafood market in all of Korea. You can see every seller yell their bargains and bargain at once. You can try some seafood like squid, octopus, crab, mussels and prawns.
  • Busan Gamcheon Culture Village - Here is one historically rich mountainside cultural quarter. It was originally settled by refugees during the Korean War. You will see tiny hillside homes and nifty collection of clever decorative pieces installed by art students. After Gamcheon Culture Village, you will have lunch. Your guide will take you to local restaurant.
What's Included
  • English speaking guide
  • Entrance fees included
  • Lunch provided
  • Complimentary pickup & drop-off at Busan International Cruise Terminal
  • Comfortable in-vehicle air conditioning
  • Guided by a professional photographer
  • All fees and taxes covered
What's Not Included
  • Dinner
  • Gratuities(optional)
Additional Information

Interested in maximizing your cruise stopover tour in Busan? In this itinerary, you can explore prominent tourist sites in Busan, such as Korea’s most picturesque temple, Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, Busan’s equivalent to Santorini - Gamcheon Cultural village, APEC house located in Dongbaek Island, and Busan Tower offering a panoramic view of the city. Other attractions include Jagalchi seafood market, BIFF street where the Busan international film festival takes place, and Bupyeong ggangtong market full of delicious food. This tour also offers a taste of Busan’s local food, with options like Korean BBQ, well-loved seaweed soup with seafood, Pork Soup, Busan-style fried chicken! Furthermore, your skilled and kindhearted tour guide will provide comprehensive commentary on each tour site and Busan, adding a special and memorable touch to your Busan day trip! If you’re in search of a quality tour at an affordable price, this is it!

  • Please add country code to your phone number at time of booking
  • Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
Location
Haedong Yonggungsa
86, Yonggung-gil, Gijang-gun
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(30 Ratings)
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Davidbeckwith
Jun 15, 2024
Taste of Busan - Our family of four had a great time. The perfect mixture of history, scenery and interesting things to see. Mirom was very helpful and kept us moving on our busy day.
Review provided by Viator
Allan_r
Jun 6, 2024
Cruise Visit to Busan - The tour was well organized and the guide was very informative and personable. Excellent Korean BBQ lunch.
Review provided by Viator
Mutsumi_i
Jun 4, 2024
woderful day in Busan! - It was our guide, Paul! He was the best guide we had in our many years of traveling. He was very accommodating, had a fantastic personality, and very kind young man. He spoke perfect English and treated us like his own grandparents. We didn't want to go to typical tourist spots so he drove us to places he goes, it was fascinating and we learned a lot about Korea and culture, and we got to taste typical Korean food.
Review provided by Viator
Lindaarthurs
Apr 16, 2024
Kevin in Korea - The temple - wonderful, fish market - soooo many fish and the meal - a veritable feast of new flavour and taste experiences!.
Review provided by Viator
Nicola_t
Apr 12, 2024
Absolutely amazing - Our tour guide Min was absolute fantastic! She had planned the day and looked after us so well. She even gave us some home made tea when we had a rest during the tour. We saw Busan and loved the experience, Thank you
Review provided by Viator
Carla_k
Apr 10, 2024
The Best of Busan - Fantastic tour with Naomi and Mr. Kim our driver. Visited a beautiful Buddha temple, toured a busy fish market and shopping area, had a traditional Korean lunch sampling many delicious Korean dishes, did a Sky walk along the coast and the ended the day in the Gamcheon area. Naomi is a very knowledgeable and patient tour guide, with excellent English language skills. Our day with Naomi touring the beautiful city of Busan was exceptional.
Review provided by Viator
Blizzardpatricia
Apr 3, 2024
Excellent tour and guide! - Great guide. Jess’s English was very good and she was so attentive to everyone’s needs. Busan is a beautiful city. We had an amazing Korean BBQ lunch and could never have found the restaurant on our own.
Review provided by Viator
Caroline_q
Apr 9, 2024
Late start - Tour Guide Jenny is wonderful in sharing her knowledge and passion of Korea and its history. Sometimes it is difficult to understand with her accent, but she explains well. Unfortunately the tour was late as we waited around 1 hour and 15 minutes for the last family to join.
Review provided by Viator
Vn_a
Apr 21, 2024
It would have been better... - It would have been better if our guide could explain more about the places we visited. He was a good driver but not a good "story teller"
Review provided by Viator
Andrew_d
Aug 2, 2024
It is with a sense of... - It is with a sense of reluctance we must express some disappointment with the excursion we experienced today and ask you to consider some partial refund. We were delighted to be in Busan. We understood that this was a small group excursion and there two groups in the total. Our guide, Kevin Anderson, was pleasant and willing, keen to meet the needs of his group. However, whilst meeting the needs of some members, he was placed in a difficult position. The other group wished to leave the excursion part way through to take part in another activity. Kevin spent a lot of time on his mobile phone making arrangements for them to take their yacht excursion. We felt we missed out on explanation and description of what we were seeing. Even when the others left, we felt Kevin assumed we knew all the information about the places we were seeing and Korea in general. He did give some explanations- but it was limited. As a consequence, our disappointment comes at not seeing everything we expected and paid for. We did not expect for the rest of the group to leave part way - and that we would lose time in traffic to go to the harbourside for their yacht excursion and, in addition, wait 20 minutes whilst they could choose and buy a lunch box. We appreciate that the summer holidays makes traffic in the area very busy. We would have assumed that local tour operators would be aware of this and plan the itinerary accordingly in advance. We were pleased to visit the temple. We had 15 minutes at the APEC centre. We did the Gamcheon village quickly. Lunch was an interesting experience but there was no real explanation of the food we were eating. We waited a long time whilst entering and leaving car parks. We did not visit the UN Memorial cemetery, the Busan Tower, BIFF Square, or Jagalchi Market as advertised. We acknowledge that there was not enough time to do everything. Our last half an hour was very stressful uncertain that we would reach the ship on time. Kevin initially did not seem to have an understanding of how important it was to be back on time. This all detracted from the overall enjoyment. We did not express our full disappointment at the time because with decisions already made, there was little option for an alternative and it would have spoilt the day further. We look forward to your response, Yours sincerely Andrew Dack
Review provided by Viator
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up to 15 guests
2 Adult
September 2024
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