If we still had two days to spend in Seoul before returning to Thailand, Busan marked the last stop as such for this trip from the north to the south of South Korea. And what better way than to embark on one of the city's main attractions, the colorful district of Gamcheon.
Gamcheon Culture Village, with its colorful houses on a hillside with its winding alleys before a breathtaking view of the sea, is a living tableau. In the year of our visit, the site alone attracted more than two million visitors, testifying to its spectacular rebirth. Originally composed of shacks made of bricks and jugs used as shelters for refugees from the Korean War, this transformed shantytown has become a symbol of creativity and resilience thanks to an ambitious renovation program that began in the 2000s.
History of Gamcheon
The history of Gamcheon Culture Village dates back to before the Korean War, with the first settlements emerging on the hills as early as the 1920s and 30s. However, it was the outbreak of war in 1950 that marked a turning point for the area. At that time, Busan became a refuge for thousands of displaced people, the city remaining the only area under full South Korean control. Desperate for shelter, refugees settled on the hills of Gamcheon, building makeshift dwellings that would eventually form a poverty-stricken shantytown.
Gamcheon used to look like this.
It was not until 2007 that the city of Busan decided to undertake an ambitious renovation project for Gamcheon, inviting artists to take over the area. Through their works, which combined vibrant murals, sculptures and interactive art installations, Gamcheon gradually transformed into an open-air museum, reborn as a cultural and tourist destination. This metamorphosis, in addition to bringing color back to the area, boosted the local economy and changed the perception of Gamcheon, transforming it from a slum to an artistic icon.
This renaissance is not only an aesthetic achievement, but also a testament to the power of art in urban revitalization, offering a new chapter of hope and renewal for its residents. Today, Gamcheon Culture Village attracts visitors and curious onlookers from around the world, eager to discover its unique history and the creative energy that pulses through its colorful alleyways.
How to get to Gamcheon Culture Village
Our hotel being at the level of Haeundae beach, all we had to do was take the subway (line 2) from the stop a stone's throw from our street, change at Seomyeon to take line 1 and get off at Teosong. From there, the exit for Gamcheon was indicated in exit 6.
Normally, it is then possible to take a bus to get closer to the main entrance of the village, but not having looked into this detail, we walked up from the metro station. It is not excessively far, 1,3 km, but all uphill, which was not really to Jitima's taste... Including the photo stops, because after all, we were already technically in the neighborhood, it took us 20 minutes to get to the main area.
The metro exit is well signposted.
A bit of a walk from the metro.
To realize how it climbs anyway?
Okay, we're finally here!
Regardless of where you're starting from, here's a summary of how to reach the village:
- Take metro line 1 and stop at Toseong (토성역) then head towards exit 6.
- Take one of the following buses from the stop Busan National University Hospital (부산대학교병원): Seogu 2 (서구2), Seogu 2-2 (서구2-2) or Saha 1-1 (사하1-1).
- Get off at the stop Gamcheon Elementary School, also indicated by Gamcheon Culture Village (감천초등학교.감천문화마을)
What to do in Gamcheon?
If we had to roughly summarize what you can do there, here is a 4-point summary:
- Stamp Hunt: A fun way to visit the village is to buy a map at the information center (2 won, or about €000). You then have to find the different stamps, which you will find distributed in the buildings of the village. An original way to visit the neighborhood in depth, with apparently, a small reward at the end if you find them all!
- Quaint cafes: Some cafes are known for their view or prime location on Gamcheon. Examples include the Faro Coffee (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the Avant Garde Cafe but for our part, we first tested the Water from, known for its terrace and its ice creams, then later, we went to the atypical The Plate, which offers brunches. You will also find good pastries like at Gamcheon Bakery (감천제빵소), next to a stamp to find.
- Shopping and museums: Right from the start, you will be greeted by souvenir shops. Among the best known, we can mention theAsteroid B612 (near which you will find a stamp) or even the Gamcheon Culture Station, known for its DIY (do-it-yourself) jewelry. Gamcheon also has several small museums, the most famous of which is simply titled " Little Museum " and another, " House Of Hope II » (you will find a stamp there).
- Walk through the alleys: The most obvious thing to do when going to Gamcheon is to wander through its sloping alleys. There are so many works to discover that it would be complicated to summarize here where to go exactly, but the village maps, in addition to listing the important points, offer circuits to see the essentials. In our case, what we did was more or less the path traced in blue on this map:
Our visit to Gamcheon Culture Village
If I have mentioned so far the generalities necessary to get to the essential information, namely, to complete my article, I still have to talk concretely about our experience. As mentioned in the transport part, we had just spent 20 minutes going up from the metro, and it is at the height of the information Center (number 1 on the map) that we truly arrived in the heart of the village.
Arrived on site at 11am, we finished our visit around 14pm, so allow 2-3 hours to tour the village.
We are very quickly immersed in the artistic and colorful atmosphere of Gamcheon, sometimes crossing a screaming Homer, multi-colored birds, paintings here and there or even a sculpture in the shape of a whale covering an entire section of wall. It is also just after this sculpture that we took a staircase leading to theHaneul Maru Observatory (number 4 on the map). There you will have a rooftop terrace with a panoramic view of all of Gamcheon, from where you can see the sea in the background.
We are put in the mood from the start.
I also, unknowingly at the time, took a photo of the “Little Museum” (number 2 on the map) mentioned above.
Just the time to take a few pictures, look at what they offer in the first shops we come across and admire the view, it already filled us for a good 20 minutes before arriving at the crossroads where we turned left. Since our arrival, note that when arriving in this area, if you are a fan of K-pop and especially the group BTS, you will see a mural representing two of its members, Jungkook and Jimin, since they are from Busan (spotted Jungkook & Jimin Mural on Google Maps).
Shortly after, we came across the bakery mentioned above, Gamcheon Bakery. If at the beginning it was rather souvenir shops that we came across, from there, it was rather small cafes, restaurants, snacks and ice cream galore. As a result, it tickled the miss who wanted to enjoy a little gourmet break. It is at Water from that she was having a little ice cream, the opportunity to go to their terrace to enjoy the view. We stopped for almost half an hour, the time to observe the lively street below. You can see people dressed in traditional outfits for rent (the famous hanbok) or even, more atypical, in schoolgirl outfits.
One of Gamcheon's snacks.
The view from the Voda Vom cafe.
Atmosphere on the main street.
Back on the street, after 50 m we arrive at the iconic place of Gamcheon, the statue of Little Prince and the Fox, posed on the side of the road as if they were admiring the beautiful view of Gamcheon Culture Village that you can indeed get from this spot. It's also predictable, but it's the most popular photo spot in the village. So expect to have to queue if you want to take a picture with the statues, or even wait for a slot without anyone like in my case.
Even though we had just stopped recently, we arrived at 13pm, so it was time to eat! Just before that, we snuck along a colorful staircase, surrounded by paintings with books, at the end of which is a stone well and an old water pump, indicating that this particular place was once used as a water point. And at the bottom of this staircase is a café, The Plate, which is a bit of a meal and will do the trick for us that day.
There are people but it's still pleasant.
Interior of the small cafe “The Plate”.
Once full, we walk along this same street again, until we reach a bend from where we can see an area of the hill used for terraced crops. This is where we found access to one of the attractions of the village, Stairs to See Stars (number 11 on the map). The name can be translated as " the staircase to see stars", because the inhabitants who used to take the 148 steps of this staircase, loaded like mules, ended up feeling dizzy (therefore by extension "seeing stars"). The latter is lined with a few small sculptures, and displays paintings and mosaics as a decorative guide.
Area dedicated to agriculture.
We begin the descent.
At one point, we come across a fork. It is possible to continue straight, which then leads to the road. By turning left, it goes back up to the street level from where we started, at the height of The Plate café. We chose the last option, turning right. In doing so, we continued our walk through the narrow and colorful alleys, until arriving in an area with a small landscaped park, where we could see a sculpture of a lady with a kid and cats.
Shortly after, we arrive at a roundabout and the lower part of Gamcheon. It remains colorful, but there are clearly fewer activities in the area, significantly fewer people. However, we can still come across works here and there. We find the Little Prince perched on an ornamental tree, sculptures by painters, illustrating, I think, the renaissance of Gamcheon with street art, as evidenced by the mural associated with this sculpture.
Lower Gamcheon area.
Another Little Prince.
A sculpture symbolizing the rebirth of the neighborhood.
In this corner, we saw a temple built in a Korean style but we did not visit it, continuing our descent. We had about 800 m left to reach the main artery that will allow us to easily go to our next destination of the day, the Jagalchi fish market.
Overview of the temple at the bottom of Gamcheon
Back to the metro.
