Explore Busan

Haeundae Beach is an urban beach in Haeundae District, with a sandy strip about 1.46 km long and 40 m wide between Dongbaek Island and the Mipo area, lined by hotels and high-rise towers. It is used year-round and hosts events such as the January Polar Bear Swim and the Haeundae Sand Festival.

Beomeosa is a head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism on the eastern slopes of Geumjeongsan in northern Busan, founded in 678 by the monk Uisang. Rebuilt after the Japanese invasion of 1592, it keeps a main hall of 1614, the Jogyemun one-pillar gate and a Silla-era stone pagoda, and wild wisteria fills the valley around it.

Haedong Yonggungsa is a Buddhist temple on the rocky shore of Gijang, on Busan's north-eastern coast, one of the few Korean temples set by the sea. It traces its founding to 1376, a date historians dispute. A stairway leads down to halls built on the rocks above the waves, and a statue of Haesu Gwaneum, the bodhisattva of mercy, looks out over the water.

Taejongdae is a wooded headland at the southern tip of Yeongdo island in Busan, with sheer cliffs above the Korea Strait. Its name recalls the Silla king Taejong Muyeol, who is said to have practised archery here. A loop road through pine forest links an observatory, a lighthouse and the cliff paths, and on clear days Tsushima, about 56 km away, can be seen.