By Lilit Marcus, CNN
Busan, South Korea (CNN) — Crabs pulled, still alive, out of tanks and cooked to order. Groups of teens wearing fan gear for their favorite pop idols. Moms and daughters relaxing side-by-side in a naturally heated pool.
Yes, Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, has all of those things. But in the past few years, the city has made major moves to transition from a tacked-on side trip to a destination in its own right.
But this isn’t just a watered-down version of Seoul.
Busan, on South Korea’s southeast coast, is known for warm, placid weather. It’s home to an avid surfing community and an annual sand sculpture contest that awes with mini versions of the Pyramids of Giza and Mount Rushmore. If Seoul is New York City, then Busan is Los Angeles: younger, cooler, less stressed out.
“It offers something totally different — it’s by the coast, has beaches, a slower-paced way of life, and the people are much more vivacious,” says Rebecca Barry, South Korea product manager at Inside Travel Group. She helps curate itineraries for travelers who are keen to experience Korean food, pop culture, beauty and more.
Once a busy working-class area with an active shipping harbor, the newly re-conceived Busan North Port district is connected through a pedestrian pathway. People can exit Busan’s central train station and follow an elevated walkway past the waterfront and over the busy freeways.
Busan, one of the world’s biggest port cities, has greenlit a series of high-profile, design-forward projects that will change the city’s skyline, and its global cultural standing, forever.
The Lotte Tower skyscraper is one of them. Currently under construction, it occupies a plum waterfront space once home to Busan’s city hall and has a dramatic stacked-disc style inspired by crashing waves. When it opens, expect at least one luxury hotel to be there, in addition to high-end shops and offices.
The tower is just down the road from Jagalchi, the country’s biggest fish market. Although it’s already a popular attraction, Busan’s city government has made an effort to make the market more tourist-friendly by upgrading bathroom facilities, bringing outdoor vendors inside and being more transparent about food hygiene practices.
“We will foster Jagalchi Market into a leading brand of maritime culture and seafood tourism that attracts people from around the world, and we will spare no support to achieve this,” Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon said at a 2025 press conference.
Arguably the city’s most attention-grabbing structure is an opera house designed by ultra-high-end architecture firm Snøhetta, slated to open in late 2027.
“They’re changing Busan from more of a port city to a design-driven one,” says Emily Yan, Asia-based director at Snøhetta. “The Opera House is going to be a catalyst for development around the area.”
As part of these aims, Busan has expressed its ambition to become a “15-minute city.” The term, coined by French urbanist Carlos Moreno, envisions the main elements of a person’s life — work, school, stores and outdoor recreation areas — are within 15 minutes’ walk, bike ride, or public transit journey from their home. Busan North Port is already a proof of concept for a walkable, tourist-friendly core.
That may seem incongruous with an opera house, as the art form has a reputation for being elitist and inaccessible. But Yan disagrees. One major design principle of the opera house is that, like its counterparts in Oslo and Sydney, much of the building is accessible 24/7 to members of the public without having to buy a ticket.
A popular Busan coffee shop brand — local officials declined to name which one, but several homegrown cafes have been recognized internationally of late — will have an outpost on the opera house roof.
“This is much more than a traditional opera house,” she says.
Yan’s sentiment rings true, because creativity is everywhere in Busan. The cost of living is lower than in Seoul, making it easier for young people to start new projects or open small businesses.
The Busan Film Festival, launched in 1996, has become an international event attracting A-list actors and directors. It added a permanent year-round venue, Busan Cinema Centre, in 2011. Besides having dedicated screening rooms and a film archive, it’s also home to the world’s largest cantilevered roof.
Meanwhile, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) reopened in 2026 after a splashy, $32 million multi-year renovation and expansion.
Attracting the eyes of the world
Getting to Busan has gotten simpler, too. South Korea’s high-speed rail network, KTX, whisks travelers from Seoul to Busan in just under three hours. Meanwhile, Busan’s Gimhae International Airport (PUS) has direct flights from major Asian cities like Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
In 2025, Gimhae passed the 10 million international traveler mark for the first time in its history. Traffic has gotten significant enough that the Korean government greenlit a second airport, Gadeokdo, to be built on an island just south of Busan. It’s slated to open in 2035.
Meanwhile, travelers coming from Japan have the option of catching a six-hour ferry to Busan from the seaside city of Fukuoka.
One thing is clear: travelers are taking notice.
Airbnb named Busan one of its destinations on the rise for 2026. Expedia.com put Busan on its list of places to visit in 2027, saying that the city was up 50% in search year-over-year.
“Korea’s cultural pull has always been strong, but travelers now want to experience it beyond the capital,” says Lyla Seo, the South Korea country manager at Airbnb. “Our latest research found that 79% of international visitors and prospective travelers want to explore outside Seoul, and Busan is the destination they name first.”
And Airbnb’s data shows that searches for accommodations in Busan have gone up 30% in the past year.
Major hotel brands have gotten on board with Busan, too. Hyatt Centric opened in the business district near City Hall in 2025, while a beachside property from Banyan Tree is slated to open by the end of this year. Also on deck is a wellness-focused Hilton property that will be close to the Instagram-beloved Haedong Yonggungsa temple.
Barry, the travel advisor, says that in 2025, 74% of people booking trips to South Korea through Inside Travel Group went to Busan.
“Three or four years ago when we started selling in Korea, there were limited accommodations,” says Barry. “Now there are big brands, new hotels and new attractions. They’re quick to change. They have no qualms building something new and interesting. You could go back to Busan every year and there’d be something different for you to see.
“They know this is their moment in the sun, and they’re ready to capitalize on it.”
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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