Visited in February of 2019 the week before Carnival. Great time to visit as there were hardly any tourists and only a few other travelers. Downside is a lot of the restaurants aren't open and some tours are shut down. Upside is you get to live like a local in a insanely touristy town 10 months of the year. We were able to grab a very nice 1 bedroom apartment in the old town center with a kitchen for 150 euros for 5 nights (30 euros/n). Probably 10-15 restaurants were open in the old town, including the main grocery store. It appeared most everything was getting ready to open for Carnival, which probably marks the end of the lowest season (Few days after New Year's to Carnival). We did all the touristy stuff, and saw no other International travelers but a few random couples and one Chinese tour bus that overnighted (Right as COVID was taking hold...) We walked the walls and saw less than 20 people in 2 hours. If you want to avoid the crowds you can't beat Dubrovnik in the winter.
Pros and Cons of Living in Busan, South Korea
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Pros of Living in Busan
Very safe Fast internet Lots of fun stuff to do Warm in the spring Good air quality on average Nomad List members liked going here a lot Many Nomad List members have been Spacious and not crowded Very easy to do business High quality of education Great hospitals Roads are pretty safe Freedom of speech Democratic Very safe for women Family friendly
Cons of Living in Busan
Gets cold in the winter Not many Nomad List members right now Very difficult to make friends People don't speak English well Hostile towards LGBTQ+ People smoking tobacco a lot -
Great place if you like Korean cuisine and fresh fish in general. Haedong Yonggungsa seaside temple is the absolute highlight. Locals are helpful too bad 8/10 won't speak english. Young people included! Remember: Uber, Grab, Google Maps won't work in Korea, in favour of Kakao app which is pure garbage and all in Korean. And by the way pornography is illegal.
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Korea's second biggest city after Seoul. Busan is a nice place to go if you want to see another part of Korea that's still pretty comfortable. It's in the south of South Korea on the ocean, and that makes it a great place to eat fish. In fact that's where all the fish in Seoul comes from, so you can eat it fresh in Busan! In many ways Busan feels like Seoul but 10 or 20 years ago. It's a bit more grimy and broken down and less futuristic than Seoul, but still very nice. I'd suggest staying in Seomyeon, which is kinda like Seoul's Hongdae. It's a student area with some hipster vibes to it. But take hipster vibes with a grain of salt, this is Busan after all. People are very friendly, even more friendly than Seoul. Where in Seoul as a foreigner they don't really care anymore, in Busan you're still hailed as a curiosity which can be fun! If you want to see the beach, take a taxi to Haeundae Beach. It's especially nice in the evening if you'd like to party. Korean beach culture is a bit different than in the West, so you'll probably see less swimming and sunbathing that you're used to. More like people walking on the beach boulevard. Also nice is to see the Jagalchi fish market, pick some fish you like in the big building and you can ask them to prepare it for you upstairs and cook it. Fish as fresh as you can get in Korea.
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