Seoul to Busan to Fukuoka: A 10-Day Korean Loop (With a Ferry to Japan)

The article brief called for "Seoul to Busan to Jeju". We didn't do Jeju. We did Seoul, Busan, and then got on a 90-minute fast ferry across the strait to Fukuoka, which is the Korean loop nobody tells you about and about a hundred times more interesting than another Korean island.

Days 1 to 6: What to do in Seoul

Stay in Hongdae or Mapo. Hongdae is the university nightlife district and the energy is excellent if you're under 35.

Day one: Soft landing. Hike up Namsan to the N Seoul Tower (walk, don't cable car, 45 minutes), watch the city light up at dusk. Korean BBQ for dinner, £25/person with two bottles of soju.

Day two: The palace day. Gyeongbokgung at 9am for the changing of the guard, then Bukchon Hanok Village (the Instagram alley with tiled rooftops over the city), Insadong for tea, lunch at Gwangjang Market (bindaetteok, the mung bean pancake, is the dish). Dinner at Balwoo Gongyang, the Buddhist temple cuisine restaurant (£45/person, two hours of vegetarian temple food, the antithesis of every other meal in Seoul).

Day three: DMZ half-day tour (£35 each, departs 7am). Dorasan Observatory, Third Tunnel, JSA-adjacent area. Bleak and informative and absolutely worth it.

Day four: Gangnam. Coex Mall and the Starfield Library, then Itaewon for international food. Pho Mein for Vietnamese, genuinely good after four straight days of Korean.

Day five: Myeongdong shopping and Namdaemun Market. Linda came home with eleven sheet masks.

Day six: Recovery day. Sleep in.

Day 7: How do you get from Seoul to Busan?

KTX bullet train from Seoul Station. 2 hours 42 minutes, £41 each. Sit on the right for the green corridor of central Korea. We arrived at noon, dropped bags in Seomyeon, ate lunch at Gwangbokdong Food Street, and were on Haeundae Beach by 3pm. Full Busan day guide →

Days 7 to 10: What to do in Busan

Three nights is the sweet spot (two is rushed, four is one too many). Gamcheon Culture Village day one, Jagalchi Fish Market for sashimi lunch day two, Haedong Yonggungsa Buddhist temple on the cliffs day three, Haeundae beach for sunset every day.

Day 11: The ferry from Busan to Fukuoka

The JR Beetle ferry from Busan to Fukuoka leaves at 8:30am and takes three hours. £102 each one-way. You walk on, sit in airline-style seats, fall asleep, and wake up in Japan. Customs at Hakata Port takes 45 minutes.

By lunch you're eating Hakata ramen at the original Ichiran on Nishi-Nakasu, a 15-minute walk from the port. Tonkotsu pork-bone broth, hand-pulled noodles, a single soft-boiled egg, garlic, chilli, you fill out a paper order form at the booth-divided counter. £6 for the bowl. Fukuoka is the best ramen city in Japan.

Days 11 to 13: What to do in Fukuoka

Hakata neighbourhood for the food scene, Tenjin for shopping, the Yatai night market for one of your dinners. About thirty wheeled food stalls set up after dark on the Naka River: yakitori, oden, motsu nabe (offal hot pot). You sit on a stool, you order, you drink a beer, after an hour you move to the next one. Go between 7pm and 9pm (after 10pm the queues form).

Day trip option: Nanzoin Temple with its giant reclining Buddha (an hour from Hakata by train). Otherwise Fukuoka is a low-key, food-focused city break, and that's the point.

How much does this 10-day loop cost for two people?

Plus flights in to Seoul and out of Fukuoka.

Why Fukuoka instead of Jeju?

Jeju is a volcanic island with hiking, beaches, and the haenyeo women divers. It's worth doing on a two-week-plus Korea trip. Fukuoka, by contrast, is a different country, a different cuisine, and the whole trip becomes more interesting because you're not looking at Korean food for ten days straight. Korean food is excellent. So is the variety.