Probably blue is the color that people think of about Busan thanks to the city’s amazing beaches and breathtaking ocean views. However, Busan boasts many more colors than blue, and you will understand what I am saying as soon as you step into Gamcheon Culture Village (감천문화마을).
Korea Tourism Organization has selected this colorful village as one of the 100 Must-Visit Tourist Spots in Korea for five consecutive times and Gamcheon Culture Village definitely deserves it.
Table of Contents
- General Information
- Artistic Photo Spots and Artwork
- How To Get Around Gamcheon Culture Village
- History of Gamcheon Culture Village
- What to Eat at Gamcheon Culture Village
- What to Shop
- Things To Do in Gamcheon Culture Village
- Other Tips
- Gamcheon Culture Village in K-dramas and Korean Movies
- Where to Stay in Gamcheon Culture Village
- Other Attractions Nearby
General Information about Gamcheon Culture Village
Address of Gamcheon Culture Village
203, Gamnae 2-ro, Saha-gu, Busan, South Korea
Opening Hours
The village is open 24/7, but each store and facility has its own hours.
Entrance Fee
Free
How to Get to Gamcheon Culture Village
Take subway line 1 (Orange Line) and get off at Toseong Station (토성/109). Exit 6 > Transfer to local bus Saha 1-1, Seogu 2, or Seogu 2-2. > Get off at Gamcheon Elementary School / Gamcheon Culture Village (감천초등학교/감천문화마을) bus stop.
A taxi is an option. The fare from Busan Station would be around 9,000 KRW (7 USD). Or, you can take a tour that visits the village (the list of tours will be at the end of the post.)
How Do You Say Gamcheon Culture Village in Korean?
Gamcheon Munhwa Maeul (감천문화마을) is what Koreans call this colorful village. ‘Munhwa (문화)’ means culture and ‘maeul (마을)’ is a village or town in Korean. That’s why you see a lot of ‘maeul’ in Korea.
Contact
- Call: +82-51-204-1444
Watch a Short Clip of Gamcheon Culture Village
Artistic Photo Spots and Artwork at Gamcheon Culture Village
If I had to choose one word for this place, ‘colorful’ would be the perfect one. Whenever you turn around corners, you will find interesting murals and cute wall paintings. It’s like a street art gallery without a roof.
Thanks to these colors and artistic touches, the best thing to do in Gamchen Culture Village would be to take pictures. A lot of pictures. This village offers almost endless spots for your camera, Instagram feed, TikTok, and anything visual.
Here are popular photo spots in Gamcheon Culture Village. At some photo zones like the famous The Little Prince and The Fox, you may need to wait in line (see the video below.)
The Little Prince and The Fox spot
Haneul Maru Observatory (하늘마루)
For the best views of Gamcheon Culture Village, walk up to Haneul Maru Observatory (하늘마루). At the observatory, you can enjoy impressive views of the entire village. When the sky is clear, you can see the South Port of Busan (부산남항).
To understand the village more, I borrowed a part of the sign at Haneul Maru:
“…the fact that it was built on terraced fields means none of the houses block their neighboring house’s view…
…it plays a highly educative role in the community by approaching and solving problems through active interaction and collaboration between the local government and residents….”
If this neighborhood reminds you of Lego houses, you are not alone.
Popular Art Works
Busan Gamcheon Culture Village is a successful result of collaboration between the residents in the area and many local artists. Thus, the village is full of artworks, especially colorful street art.
I don’t think anyone can see all the artwork in the village in one visit. In addition, the artists keep creating new artwork in the village constantly so people who have visited the village before still can be awed.
This picture of the stairs right above is the street art, “Star and Flowers Road (별꽃길)” by Kim Lyangkyung and Tak Youngwoo. But, it is also called ‘Stairs to See Stars (별 보러 가는 계단).”
The name may sound romantic but it means actually the opposite. The stairway has a total of 148 steps. It is so steep that people got dizzy and saw imaginary stars (yes, this is a metaphor) when they climbed up these stairs while carrying heavy loads.
How To Get Around Gamcheon Culture Village
One of the most recommended ways to enjoy Gamcheon Culture Village is to get lost in the colorful streets and alleys. You will face unexpected street art and views at every turn.
The other great way to enjoy the neighborhood is to get a village map at the information center. Visitors can buy the village map at ₩2,000 KRW. The village is quite a maze and it is large so the map can be handy.
In addition, you can get stamped on the Gamcehon Culture Village map. The map has twelve stamp spots throughout the routes. Here are the stamp locations:
- Little Museum
- Haneul Maru
- Asteroid B612 Souvenir Shop
- Gamcheon Bakery
- House of Peace
- Modern Man
- House of Hope II
- Gamnae Eoulteo
- House with Puppies
- Happy Power Station
- Gamcheon Loess Salt Company
- Message of Hope
Among the locations, you can get a free postcard at Haneul Maru, Gamnae Eoulteo, and Gamcheon Loess Salt Company. For your information, the profit goes to the maintenance of the village and other welfare of residents.
Busan Gamcheon Culture Village Tourist Information Center
- Hours: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Phone: +82-51-204-1444
- Website: www.gamcheon.or.kr (Google Translation available)
The information center offers lockers and a tour guide service (reservation required) in addition to the village map.
How much time do you need to explore Gamcheon Culture Village?
There are virtually hundreds of ways to explore this colorful village of Busan. How long you need to stay in Gamcheon Village completely depends on your schedule.
The Gamcheon Culture Village map suggests three routes. The shortest route takes 40 minutes, the next one takes 1 hour 20 minutes, and the longest way takes 2 hours.
However, you will want more than simply following the route so spending a half day in this popular Busan destination wouldn’t be hard.
You will see many visitors wearing Hanbok, traditional Korean clothing. You can rent Hanbok or vintage Korean school uniforms at the rental shops near the entrance of the village.
Two photogenic postboxes. The yellow one is a postbox for regular mail and postcards, and the red one is a slow postbox. The recipients will receive your mail or postcard a year later.
History of Gamcheon Culture Village
Gamcheon Culture Village is full of a lively vibe, but how this village was born carries a sad story. The village was formed due to a sad part of Korea’s modern history, The Korean War.
Refugees started to live in this area to survive the war and carried on hard lives. The village had to confront poverty and poor living conditions for a long time.
The village reached a turning point in 2009, when the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism launched a project to renovate the village into an art-themed cultural hub. Now painted with all different colors and covered with beautiful murals, all the efforts by local residents and artists finally have borne fruits in the shape of not only domestically but also a globally popular destination.
This colorful neighborhood has attracted attention as a model of urban renewal, and the millions of annual visitors prove the village deserves praise. In addition, the village is a recipient of the President’s Award at 2016 The Good Place Award and the winner of the first Educating Cities Award by the International Association of Education Cities (IAEC).
What to Eat at Gamcheon Culture Village
Tasting Korean street food is absolutely one of the fun experiences in the village. Tteokbokki (떡볶이), Eomuk (어묵/fishcake), Dakgangjeong (닭강정/glazed fried chicken bites), Hweori Gamja (회오리감자/Tornado Potato) and many more.
If you want to take a seat and have some time to relax, there are restaurants and cafes as well.
Wooin Cafe in Gamcheon Culture Village
There are more than a dozen of cafes in the area and chances are that these cafes have great views of this Busan’s colorful village. Among them, I stopped by Wooin (우인) Cafe.
- Address: 172, Gamnae 2-ro, Saha-gu, Busan, South Korea
- Call: +82-507-1310-5789
- Hours: 9 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. (every day)
As I expected, the cafe offers such wide and breathtaking views. You can take in those views from inside or outside of your choice.
Did you have a hard time taking perfect pictures at other photo spots in the village because of the shoulders or fingers of other visitors? Go up to the rooftop and take all those colorful pictures of Gamcheon Culture Village.
The owner of Wooin Cafe is very kind. I’m not sure if she speaks any foreign language, but I am quite sure if you ask her for directions, information, or any help, she would be very willing to help you out.
The cafe offers a variety of coffee including cappuccino, latte, and cafe mocha. You can also order teas and smoothies as well.
If you want to grab a bite, you can have muffins, bagels, and cheesecake here. The prices are between ₩3,500 (about $3 USD) and ₩5,000 (about $4.2 USD) so I don’t think it’s too expensive.
Visitors write what they wish (or whatever they want to say) and tie them on the ropes above, which have become another addition to the cafe’s interior.
What to Shop at Gamcheon Culture Village
From small souvenirs to quite high-priced artworks created by local artists, you can enjoy a wide variety of shopping here based on your budget.
Items include Busan and Gamcheon Culture Village-themed souvenirs like cellphone cases with The Little Prince and The Fox illustration, lamps with traditional Korean designs, Korean Beauty accessories, and many more.
Things To Do in Gamcheon Culture Village
In addition to popular activities in Gamcheon Culture Village like walking in the alleys and taking pictures wearing hanbok, you can choose other fun things to do as well.
Grand Budapest Doll Hotel is home to a large number of vintage dolls, especially from the 1910s to 1940s. It has an entrance fee of 4,000 KRW.
If you are interested in horoscopes or zodiac signs, this machine will tell your fortune. Whether to believe what it says is completely up to you. One thing is for sure: things like the movie, Big or Secret Garden, never happen. You can find your Chinese Zodiac sign here.
Other Tips
When to visit Gamcheon Culture Village
The village will be always colorful whenever you visit. But, summer would be a bit too hot and humid for a long walk.
Recently the village has started holding a light festival during November and December. The town boasts different beauty in this season.
Do People Live in Gamcheon Culture Village?
The residents are living here, which makes this neighborhood more authentic and lively. Considering that, please, respect their privacy when you visit the place, so more visitors can appreciate this colorful village with heartfelt hospitality from the people of Busan Gamcheon Culture Village.
In addition, drones are not so welcome here due to the privacy of residents. I would suggest contacting the local authority (www.gamcheon.or.kr) for its permission if you need to use them.
Parking
Public parking lot (paid)
One More Tip
As I mentioned above, the village is quite large and has many ups and downs. Do you remember that ‘Stairs to See Stars’ has another name ‘148 Stairs’? And it’s just one of many stairs. So, wear a pair of comfortable shoes.
Gamcheon Culture Village in K-dramas and Korean Movies
The wave of colorful roofs and maze-like alleys of this village have been a great destination not only for tourists but also for filmmakers. The Korean movie, “A Little Princess (감쪽같은 그녀)” and the K-drama, “LUCA: The Beginning (루카: 더 비기닝)” are filmed in this place.
Related Post: 15 Filming Locations of K-dramas and Korean Movies
Where to Stay in Gamcheon Culture Village
There are a few guesthouses in the village. You can find more information about the accommodations on the village’s website.
For convenient access to nearby hotels, Nampo-dong is the ideal location for the village.
Other Attractions Nearby
Ami-dong Tombstone Culture Village is right across from Gamcheon Culture Village. The area got its name because the refugees during the Korean War settled in this area which was a Japanese cemetery during the Japanese Occupation period. Here you can see the houses and building that uses the actual tombstones for their parts like stairs and foundations.
Wondosim Area (the original downtown of Busan) is not very far from the village, where you can visit BIFF Square, Jagalchi Market (Korea’s largest seafood market), Gukje Market, Bupyeong Kkangtong Market, and more. If you want to see Busan’s beach, head to Songdo Beach. There you can walk on the beach, ride a cable car, or walk over Yonggung Suspension Bridge.
Other Destinations in Busan, Korea
Find more destinations in the second-largest city in South Korea. See the full list.
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