Busan

Busan (부산) is Korea's second city and biggest port, strung along a coast of headlands and beaches with mountains pressing in behind. Haeundae is the beach everyone knows, a wide arc backed by towers, while Gwangalli faces the lit span of the Diamond Bridge. Jagalchi is the country's largest fish market, where the catch is chosen alive downstairs and eaten upstairs. Gamcheon Culture Village steps up a hillside in painted terraces, a refugee settlement turned art project, and Huinnyeoul does the same on a cliff above the sea. Two temples anchor the extremes. Beomeosa stands in the forest of Geumjeongsan, and Haedong Yonggungsa built out on the rocks where the waves break. The Busan International Film Festival and its cinema centre have made the city Asia's film capital for one week a year.