Move over, Haeundae: These lesser-known Busan spots are foreign travelers’ new favorites

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Move over, Haeundae: These lesser-known Busan spots are foreign travelers’ new favorites

Published: 15 May. 2026, 07:00

WOO JI-WON
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Photo spot in Ami-dong Tombstone Culture Village [WOO JI-WON]

[BUSAN DEEP DIVE]

BUSAN — Busan has long drawn foreign travelers with its scenic coastlines, vibrant food scene and layered history.

Now firmly established as Korea's second-most-visited destination after Seoul, the southern port city is drawing visitors well beyond tourist spots like Haeundae and Seomyeon.

They are increasingly spilling into quieter corners of the city — neighborhoods where distinct character and traces of its past offer a more intimate glimpse into Busan's everyday life.

Bongnae 2-dong in Yeongdo District saw the biggest jump in foreign visitors, up 947.4 percent to 76,697 from February to April this year, compared to the same period last year. Ami-dong in Seo District followed with a 649.5 percent increase, while Beomil-dong in Dong District rose by 571.1 percent.

These neighborhoods may lack the sweeping ocean views and flashy nightlife the city is famous for, but they offer something different — a journey into the city's roots, where traces of its past still live on in narrow alleys, aging markets and hillside streets.

A view from Ami-dong in Seo District [WOO JI-WON]

Let's wander through these lesser-known areas, just as deep and mesmerizing as the sea itself.

Ami-dong Tombstone Culture Village

At first glance, Ami-dong in Seo District looks like any other Busan hillside neighborhood: pastel homes, narrow alleys and steep staircases. But beneath many of those homes lies a history far stranger.

Ami-dong Tombstone Culture Village [WOO JI-WON]

During the Korean War (1950-1953), waves of refugees flooded into Busan, causing the city's population to swell rapidly. With little space left to settle, many families were pushed into mountainous areas, including Ami-dong, where a Japanese crematorium and cemetery established during the late Joseon era (1392-1910) already occupied much of the area.

With few alternatives, refugees began building houses on the cemetery grounds. Tombstones scattered throughout the area were stacked and repurposed as house foundations, traces of which can still be found throughout the neighborhood today.

The idea of living atop dead bodies may sound unsettling at first, but the village feels far from eerie.

Murals on houses in Ami-dong Tombstone Culture Village [WOO JI-WON]

Reshaped through urban renewal projects, the community now sports murals, flowers and brightly painted homes, softening the atmosphere. The remnants of tombstones appear rather naturally throughout the neighborhood — tucked into staircases, alley corners and even house foundations.

Start the journey by stopping by the Tombstone Culture Village Information Center, where visitors can pick up maps outlining three walking courses through the area. With narrow alleys branching off in every direction, the maps help profoundly with navigating the neighborhood's historic sites.

The longest route takes only about 15 minutes, though it may take longer, as you pause to search for tombstones embedded unexpectedly throughout the village and admire them.

A house built on Japanese graveyard [WOO JI-WON]

The first stop is a house built directly atop a Japanese graveyard, preserving the original form in which the graveyard served as its foundation. While covered with protective plastic, traces of the past remain visible in the weathered, timeworn walls. Along the route are small houses remodeled into small museums recreating scenes from refugee life, including a student's bedroom, a market and a tiny hair salon.

But the most fun part of the experience is noticing how tombstones became woven into ordinary life. Staircases leading to playgrounds and laundromats, doorsteps of still-inhabited homes, platforms supporting rows of traditional earthenware jars. It would be nearly impossible to spot them without the signs, which also explain how many tombstones were used in each structure.

Tombstones found in Ami-dongTombstone Culture Village [WOO JI-WON]

Many tourists simply pass through Ami-dong on their way to the nearby Gamcheon Culture Village, but with its unique structure and quieter, more restrained atmosphere, the Ami-dong Tombstone Culture Village is well worth stopping for. Given its historical significance, the area's refugee housing became Busan's first city-registered cultural property in 2022 and was also placed on Unesco's tentative World Heritage list along with other local Korean War-related sites.

Because the village sits high on the hillside, the views are also striking. From the observatory along the walking course, visitors can look out on downtown Busan below.

Beomil-dong Webtoon Ibagu-gil

Sometimes the oddest combinations make the most memorable pairings. In Beomil 1-dong, Dong District, that means cartoons and traditional markets.

Webtoon characters appear across storefront signboards and walls at Webtoon Ibagu-gil in Beomil-dong, Dong DIstrict, on May 5. [WOO JI-WON]

Webtoon characters appear across storefront signboards and walls, transforming the ordinary market into something resembling an open-air comic strip.

Beomil-dong was once home to workers employed at nearby Busan Port and other urban industries that developed around the harbor. As the neighborhood grew, Seongbuk Market was established in the 1960s, serving as a gathering place where residents bought groceries and exchanged stories.

But as businesses gradually closed and residents moved away, the neighborhood grew quieter, and the aging market edged toward decline.

Webtoon Ibagu-gil in Beomil-dong, Dong DIstrict, on May 5. [WOO JI-WON]

Then, as part of an urban regeneration project, Webtoon Ibagu-gil was created in 2017 at Seongbuk Market, injecting a modern, playful energy into the once-neglected area.

The street itself is not particularly long, but the signboards — the kind most people would normally walk past without a second glance — have become attractions in their own right, making the stroll feel much longer in the best way.

While residents casually shop and linger around fruit stands, egg vendors and clothing stores, visitors slow down to admire the webtoons and street art spilled across signboards and building walls. Their bright colors and playful illustrations breathe new life into the market.

The project involved cartoonists, including Yu Hyun-sook and Hwang Mi-na, and characters and scenes from webtoons such as "The Man Living in Our House" (2015), "Sseomnam" (2014) and "Padong" (2012) appear throughout the alleys.

A view from Dong-gu Library in Beomil-dong, Dong District [WOO JI-WON]

Lee Jung-seop street [WOO JI-WON]

At the Donggu Cartoon Center, open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, one can explore the evolution of Korean comics and webtoons through representative works from different generations. Its rooftop also offers nice views of the neighborhood, though an even broader panorama can be found farther uphill near Dong-gu Library, not far from the center.

A street dedicated to the famed Korean artist Lee Jung-seop (1916-56), best known for works such as "A Bull," believed to have been painted in the 1950s, is also tucked within the neighborhood. The artist once took refuge in Busan during the Korean War.

Walls along the street display reproductions of his paintings, including some of his best-known works such as "A Family Dancing Together." After taking them in, visitors should climb the "100 Stairs Hope" to read excerpts from letters Lee wrote to his family, before reaching a small observatory believed to be the spot where he painted "Scenery of Beomil-dong."

A latte and trdlo bread on the rooftop of Cafe Pyeonan in Beomil-dong, Dong DIstrict, on May 5. [WOO JI-WON]

For a slower ending, head to Cafe Pyeonan, whose rooftop terrace overlooks the village below. With coffee and its signature Czech-style trdlo bread in hand, you can take in the neighborhood as it unfolds in layers of rooftops and alleys.

Bongnae-dong Bongsan Village

Busan is a vertical city. The sea crashes below, mountains rise behind it and, squeezed in between, neighborhoods stack themselves upward.

That comes through most clearly in Bongsan Village in Bongnae 2-dong, Yeongdo District.

A view framed by pastel-toned homes in Bongsan Village, Bongnae-dong, Yeongdo District, shows the water and mountains on May 5. [WOO JI-WON]

Take a turn downhill into a narrow alley and suddenly the water comes into view, framed between pastel-toned walls of tightly clustered homes. It is reason enough alone to visit the village.

The neighborhood also carries the warmth of ordinary life. Laundry hangs from windows, while the sounds of dishes clattering and neighbors chatting drift through open doors. Here, Busan reveals itself in a whole new light, where time itself seems to soften.

The village's past traces back to the Japanese colonial era, when shipbuilding-related industries clustered around the area. Housing shortages led to the rapid construction of worker residences along the slopes of Mount Bongnae and formed today's village.

A view of a street in Bongsan Village in Bongnae-dong, Yeongdo District, on May 5. [WOO JI-WON]

As the area rapidly expanded during Busan's industrial boom, homes were squeezed into every available gap, sometimes even blocking doors that once opened directly onto the street.

But by the 2000s, the decline of the shipbuilding industry had left the neighborhood aging and hollowed out. In 2018, more than 80 of the village’s roughly 400 homes sat abandoned, while nearly 90 percent of the houses were more than 30 years old.

Through urban regeneration projects, the area was gradually revived with rows of pastel-colored homes lining the steep hillsides. Residents also formed a social cooperative and led efforts to revitalize the neighborhood.

Pharmacy and restaurant along the main road in Bongnae-dong, Yeongdo District, on May 5. [WOO JI-WON]

Even along the main road, the area has resisted the wave of franchise cafes and chain stores common elsewhere in Korea. Old pharmacies, restaurants and neighborhood markets remain, their faded signs and worn interiors giving Bongnae 2-dong a sense of Busan that feels increasingly rare. Neighborhoods like this are the ones that stay with visitors the longest.

BY WOO JI-WON [[email protected]]