Help Busan Korea - tours

[BCHappyGal]

We are booked on the Rhapsody of the Seas sailing into Busan Korea for a full day and I would like to find an independant tour operator to provide a custom tour. Recommendations please.

[hoppy2]

I don't know about private tour operators in Busan, but if you can decide on what you want to see on your own, you won't have much problem communicating with the taxi drivers or using the subway. The website tour2korea.com is the government's tourism site and lists and describes all the top tourist attractions and events.

[Duranee]

We were in Pusan (or "Busan as they like to also call it) last month and we also wanted to hire a private guide for the day. I searched various web sites for months before we left and could not find anyone so we finally decided to do it on our own, as that is what everyone generally recommended. We actually found another couple on board ship who wanted to do the same things we did (not hard to find), so we headed out with them. There's generallly a free shuttle into town (at least there was on Princess), and from there, we took a subway out to the Beomosa Temple -- well, not actually all the way; it stops a few miles out from the Temple, and then you can take a local bus out to the Temple itself. After the Temple, we reversed out direction, and went back into town to experience the Jagaluchi (sp?) market (which is an experience) and, I think we hiked it up to Youngdusan Park, which is nice).

I haven't got my notes in front of me, but there was another really beautiful Temple listed on the web sites, that was located out on the ocean, at the bottom of a mountain that sounded like a nice trip to take also.

I'd recommend getting the specific names/address of the places you want to visit IF you are going to take a Taxi as there are many who don't speak a speck of English. Try to get maps (the ship had limited copies that they handed out at the last minute) or print pictures from web sites, and try to share taxi's with another couple if you're headed out of the immediate town area.

I also tried two web sites (for guides) but I can't remember now if there was anything useful on them .. one was www.private-guides.com and the other one was www.myexcursions.com They both came from other Cruise Critic passengers.

Good Luck