EAT.TRAVEL.REPEAT: [KOREA] BUSAN : TRANSPORTATION

On this post, i will tell you easy and fastest way how to go to Busan. Actually you can do by flight and also bus, but flight is too expensive and Bus takes too long time. So i chose the middle one and most popular among Korean and Tourist, by TRAIN. Train to Busan has 3 different level, 1. KTX the fastest ( 2 hours 35 minutes ) only stop on 3 or 4 big station, and most expensive one ( ₩58000~85000 oneway) , 2. ITX, also fast but stop at more than 6-10 station ( ₩58000~85000 oneway) so it takes longer time, and 3. Mugunghwa, the cheapest and the longest one( ₩25000~30000 oneway ) ( around 5 hours)

for schedule and price you can check www.letskorail.com

SEOUL TO BUSAN

If you feel unsecure in buying your ticket in the station, you can reserve your ticket online. But i just bought it directly from the station. It was not complicated at all. Just go to the ticket counter, and ask for what kind of train to Busan blablabla don't worry, they can speak Englist ( a little ). So me and my boyfriend decided to try KTX for Seoul to Busan, it priced ₩59800 / pax. for departure time at 10.30 am

We had breakfast first at McDonalds, and then went into the train. The departure track is very clear near the ticket booth, there is the departure hall sign and there you can see what number line your train on. Then you take elevator down and taa-daaaa if you have much time, you can go to the end of the train to take photo with the train head? HAHA and then you can see your ticket with train car you are in.

The seat is very comfy, every like 10 minutes, train officer offers some snack or drink that you can buy. 2 hours and 35 minutes is not as long as I imagined.

NB : THE OFFICER DOESNT CHECK OUR TICKET, BEFORE WE ENTER THE TRACK OR EVEN INSIDE THE TRAIN. SO IF YOU DARE, YOU CAN GO WITHOUT TICKET LOL!

INSIDE BUSAN

Arrived at Busan, We immediately looked for MRT station. You have to take exit 1 to MRT station, and IT IS NOT IN THE BUSAN STATION BUILDING, So you have to go out passing a park? and you will see like bricks stairs to the basement, yes that's the MRT station. I felt like in Busan MRT is not as cool as Seoul, it looks old and not that clean.

For you asked," can we use T-MONEY like in seoul?? BIG NO!!!!

here in Busan they have their own transportation card, and I think not necessary to buy it, i suggest you to buy "ONE DAY PASS" ticket ₩4500 / ticket. you can use it for whole day BUT just for MRT can't for bus or taxi. One way ticket MRT is around ₩1200~1400 so i think it gonna be so much cheaper when you buy a one day pass ticket.

And here the machine doesnt accept another bill than ₩1000 so if your money is ₩5000 or ₩10000, you can use money exchanger machine first.

BUSAN TO SEOUL

When you arrive at Busan Station, go to 2nd Floor for departure. You can easily find a ticket booth when you go outside from lift. For this turn, we decided to try another type of train, we chose MUGUNGHWA, it priced ₩24300 / pax. for departure time at 12.42 pm. and you know what WE DIDNT GET SEAT BECAUSE IT FULL BOOKED OH YEAH WE GONNA STAND FOR 5 HOURS. Me and my boyfie thought we gonna die we really die.

So we went inside the train and found TRAIN CAFE, where people buy food and drink, and we saw MANY PEOPLE, sat on the floor, and we thought," is that allowed?" so whatever we didnt think anymore and grabbed our seats HAHA and fortunately, another person newly come inside the train all did it, yess we didnt alone dont having a seat HAHAHA so funny! super new experience right!

5 hours was super long time! Me and my boyfie were super tired because sit for along time, so we went to toilet by turns. When i went to the toilet, i saw many people also sat near toilet, which very hot ( because no AC near toilet ) and also some people sat down behind booked seat, they were sitting like everywhere space available.

NB : IT IS VERY CHEAP 1 KTX = 2 MUGUNGHWA TICKET. BUT DONT TRY GO IN WITHOUT TICKET BECAUSE IN THIS TRAIN, OFFICERS MANY TIMES CHECK FOR TICKET.