Busan Shore Excursion Tour with Gamcheon Culture Village

Sailed around Japan on Celebrity, November 2019 with a stop in Busan/South Korean, which was our last port. Booked shore excursion with viator and our guide STEVE was the Perfect person. We did tours in all previous ports, all tour guides were good. But Steve was EXCELLENT!!! He surely stole the cake, on this full day trip. The best guide to have. He spoke perfect fluent English. He knows his stuff well, was knowledgeable, patient, funny, lots of info and interacted with everyone.at all times. No slow and dull moments. He even picked up bottles of water for everyone. Thanks. Busan is beautiful and lots to see. We enjoyed the Authentic Korean lunch which was included. Steve explained the different foods served and everyone savoured it all. The bus was like a disco party bus- beautifully decorated and very comfortable. Best of the Best by far. Thanks again Steve, great job. Loved it. E&M Canadians

Steve was an excellent guide. The tour covered the highlights of Busan, was well paced and included a very good Korean BBQ lunch. I would have rated the tour excellent BUT it was advertised (and booked) as a small group tour using a mini van or small coach. There were 20 in our group and the coach was at least 40 seater - neither small numbers to my understanding. Because of the number of people we often missed out on the guide’s commentary (we were still getting off the coach while he was talking) and a number of us actually got separated from the main group and temporarily lost near the fish market. Others in the group were under the impression they had booked a private tour so were astounded to find 20 of us. We wouldn’t have minded 8-10 in our group but would not have booked this tour if we had not been mislead as to the final size. Misleading advertising.

We were picked up by a wonderful guide who called herself Beth. We had a group of 6 which was fantastic! Beth gave us an overview of Korean history and culture while she was driving. Busan is a large city, but appears to be clean and modern. We first went to the Songdu Sky Walk, which is a curvy jetty going out over the water. One can get some nice photos of the city from there. The next stop was the Gamcheon Culture Village, which is fascinating especially after learning the history of the area. We walked around there for a while looking in some of the shops and the food available to buy. We then went to BIFF Square and walked to Gukje Market where we shopped and observed all of the eateries. We then had Korean BBQ for lunch. This was a new experience for me, but one I would gladly repeat. Next we walked to the Jagalchi seafood market which was unbelievable with the variety of fish, squid, crabs and other creatures that live in the sea which are all held alive in salt water. Beth, our tour guide told us about a popular sweet filled pancake which is stuffed with chopped nuts, seeds and brown sugar, called ssiat hotteok. We tried one of these and it was delicious! The next stop was Samgwangsa Temple, a beautiful mountain top Buddhist temple, which is famous for its lantern festival. The area is fairly new (built in the 1980’s) and is recognized as one of Korea’s most beautiful places. Even as a Christian, I found this place to be very peaceful. The tour was supposed to go to the top of Mountain Hwangnyeongsan Observatory, but the weather was misty with a light rain drizzle and we would have not seen much. Busan is a good place to visit and I’m sure there is much more to see if more time was available, but a one day shore excursion is a good place to start and Viator does a great tour!

I booked this tour as a “private shore excursion” for 4 of us traveling together. My receipt stated that we would be picked up at the port in a minivan. We were put onto a bus with over 30 people. The guide, Beth, was very sweet and enthusiastic, but this is not the private shore excursion that I expected. I book all private excursions when we travel and this is the first time this has happened. The 4 of us were extremely disappointed. It we had wanted a large group experience, we would have booked a ship’s tour. If you are looking for a private tour, look elsewhere.

Despite a day of rain, we saw all the important sites as promised for this tour. Our guide was really great and also had to tolerate an ugly rainy day!!

We arrived in Busan for our only day in Korea in the pouring rain. Hayden was right on time with umbrellas, raincoats, water, WiFi, charging cords, cookies and a very amiable attitude. For the next 7 hours we sloshed thru the rain without missing a beat. In fact we saw more than we imagined we could see because there were no lines or crowds. Hayden was very attentive to our very need. I was recovering from a hip replacement and worried about slippery steps but Hayden was always there the lend a hand. He even took pictures with his own phone and I had them in my email that night. He made a potential bad day into an exciting informative day. Lunch was a traditional Korean lunch and was perfect

We scheduled this for a 9-5 trip. Another cruise ship was also booked and we lost 30 minutes that morning and had to be back 30 minutes early. We would have been concerned but the guide juggled everything and made it a great tour. Beth was her American name.

Beth was our guide for our group. She was an amazing tour guide! Showed us so many places/sites and tailored the tour to what we wanted to see and when we needed to be back to the ship for immigration. About 14 of us on the Windstar booked this trip. We were on a chartered Windstar cruise. She picked us up on time and got us back in time as well. Her personal stories were fun and she made the most of every minute of our tour. I could not believe she got us all the places we wanted to see in time. The lunch experience was incredible. We usually dont like to waste tour time on eating, but this was a local place and a fabulous experience!! I would highly recommend this tour to everyone!!! I was so pleased I had booked it. We saw twice the amount of sights that the Windstar excursions offered for half the price. Book this tour, you will be so glad you did!!!!

We were a small group. Just my husband and myself and two sisters from Pennsylvania and our guide 'Beth' was excellent. She had a very good command of English & knowledge of her subject & was most charming & accommodating in allowing for my husbands bad back & trouble climbing lots of stairs. Whenever possible she left us & ran up 100,s of stairs to fetch our minibus.Highly recommended!

Our guide Beth was fantastic. She was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. The places we visited were impressive. The cherry blossoms were spectacular. Beth also catered for my needs with an allergy to seafood.