While Seoul is an incredible city to explore, Busan, the second-largest city in South Korea, is also more than worth a visit.
If you’re staying in Seoul for a while, I recommend visiting Busan for a couple of days, as it has lots of exciting things to see and experience, including beautiful beach scenery right next to the vast city.
Recommended Read: How To Get to Jeju from Seoul and Busan
The two primary ways to get from Seoul to Busan are by train or by plane. By train, you have to take the KTX train from Seoul Station to Busan Central Station. By plane, you have to take a flight from Gimpo Airport (Seoul) to Gimhae Airport (Busan).
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How to get to Busan from Seoul
Busan is a great city to visit for a short trip if you’re staying in Seoul for a longer period of time. I recommend going there for a couple of days if you get the chance.
Busan, being the second-largest city in South Korea, is similar to Seoul in many ways, but Busan has many things to offer that Seoul doesn’t, including beautiful beach scenery right next to the bussing city.
Here is how you can get to Busan from Seoul:
Train
The most common way to get to Busan from Seoul is by train.
The KTX bullet train goes from Seoul Station, located in the middle of Seoul, to Busan Central Station, located a bit below the city center in Busan.
There are many departures from Seoul Station to Busan Central Station daily, making it a convenient option.
You can purchase train tickets for the KTX train from Seoul to Busan on the KTX website.
The journey from Seoul to Busan by train is approximately 2.5 to 3 hours and costs around ₩80,000-95,000 (~$60-70).
Plane
You can also choose to take a flight from Seoul To Busan, specifically from the Gimpo Airport in Seoul to the Gimhae Airport in Busan.
Taking a flight is a bit faster than taking the train, but the total travel time will end up being approximately the same. We’re talking maybe a 30-45 minute difference if you get to the Gimpo Airport close to your boarding time.
When I went to Busan from Seoul by plane, we purchased our tickets on Kiwi. You can, however, use any other website you’d like to find tickets.
The flight time from Seoul to Busan is around 1 hour, and the price is around ₩50,000 ($37).
You can use both of these options to get back to Seoul from Busan after your trip.
Technically, you can also take the bus, but the train is faster and around the same price, so I’d recommend going by train over the bus.
Whether you choose to go by train or plane, you need to get to either Seoul Station or Gimpo Aiport in Seoul, which you can do by either taking transport or a taxi. You can find the public transportation route from your accommodation with one of the two main navigation apps in Korea.
When I went to Busan from Seoul, we took the plane there from Gimpo airport and took the KTX bullet train back to Seoul from Busan. In my experience, both options were fine, and I didn’t really prefer one over the other. The total travel time was approximately the same for both options, with the plane being a bit shorter.
That’s how to get from Seoul to Busan in South Korea!
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