See more of Korea with these city bus tours

The Woo Young-woo Hackberry Tree city tour is a special city tour that is planned to run until the end of November. Bukburi viillage's hackberry tree became popular after appearing in the popular TV series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo." [CHANGWON CITY GOVERNMENT]

If you want to get a feel for a place in a relatively short period of time in the most cost-efficient way possible, it's hard to beat a city tour.

There are more than 70 local governments across Korea that operate some kind of city bus tour. As each town has its own history, culture and tourist attractions, the city tours they offer have their own characteristics. Ranging from the “Woo Young-woo Bus” that takes travelers around filming sites from popular K-drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" to tours that take in Instagram-worthy locations, here are some of the most eye-catching city tours that you can enjoy over the weekend.

Seoul City Tour's Trolley Bus runs past Sungnyemun in central Seoul. [KIM SU-JEONG]

Seoul City Tour Bus

Everybody likes a classic, and that's exactly what the Seoul City Tour Bus is. Taking in four different courses — Downtown Palace Namsan Course, Panorama Course, Gangnam Around Course and Night Course, the Seoul City Tour Bus offers a quick way to get a taste of the capital city without spending hours trying to navigate it on your own.

The biggest advantage of the Seoul City Tour Bus is that once you purchase a one-day ticket online, you can freely hop on and off the bus throughout the day. However, if you have booked your tickets online, you must change the e-ticket for a paper version at the Seoul City Tour Bus ticket office near Gwanghwamun Station, central Seoul.

The Night Course is a particular favorite, departing once a day at 7:30 p.m. from Gwanghwamun in central Seoul and stopping by 11 other spots around the city famous for their night view, before finally coming to a stop near Cheonggye Plaza.

Currently, discounts are available for the Downtown Palace Namsan Course and Night Course throughout the month of November, with the former costing 19,000 won ($14) per person and the latter costing 17,000 won per person.

Those who board the bus will be given an audio guide with earphones that support up to 12 different languages: Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Indonesian and Malaysian.

Depending on the number of reservations made, traffic and vehicle conditions, visitors may be assigned to an open-roof double-decker bus, an open-roof single-decker bus or a general double-decker bus. It can be cold in the fall or winter, so if you are boarding an open-roof bus, it is recommended to bring a jacket, blanket or a hot pack to stay warm.

The price of the tour varies for each course, and visitors must book in advance through seoulcitybus.com.

@seoulcitytourbus.official
62-9 Taepyeongno 1(il)-ga, Jung District
Closed every Monday
Phone number: 02) 777-6090
www.seoulcitybus.com

Busan City Tour's open-roof city tour bus runs past Gwangalli Beach in Busan. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

Busan City Tour Bus

The Busan City Tour Bus is one of the most popular city tour buses in Korea. It started operating in 2006 and has maintained more than 100,000 visitors every year since then. In 2019, up to 260,000 visitors took a ride around Busan using the city tour bus. The open-roof city tour bus was introduced in Busan before any other city in Korea.

Busan City Tour Bus doesn’t have a tour guide on board, but provides an audio or video guide for users — but only in Korean. The bus also runs on four different routes, the red line, blue line, green line and orange line. These lines connect various tourist attractions in the city with each other, making each attraction easier to visit.

Out of the four lines, the orange line is new this year. It runs every week from Wednesday to Sunday and departs from Busan station eight times a day, hourly from 9:20 a.m. There are also tourist attractions that are a part of this route that are especially popular in the fall, such as Dadaepo Beach and Eulsuk Island.

A single-pass-ticket costs 15,000 won per person and can be used for the whole day. It is also free to transfer to different lines while on board. You can buy your ticket at the Busan City Tour Information Center located inside Busan Station, or from the bus driver at all Busan City Tour bus stops with cash or credit card.

192 Jungang-daero, Dong District, Busan
Closed every Monday and Tuesday
Phone number: 051) 464-9898
www.citytourbusan.com

Paju City Tour Bus [BAEK JONG-HYUN]

Paju City Tour Bus

Paju’s city tour bus runs on different routes every day.

On Tuesdays, it operates the History Nuri course, which stops by Majang Reservoir and Bogwangsa. It also takes you to see the Two Rock-carved Standing Buddhas statue, which is classified as a National Treasure. On Wednesdays, the city operates the Unification Nuri course, which takes visitors to visit the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

All tours are conducted with tour guides. Out of the six courses available, the Traditional Nuri course, which runs every Friday, is the most popular. The bus runs through some of the most Instagram-worthy hotspots in the city, including the Imjin River, Mount. Gamak and Yulgok Arboretum.

A Suspension Bridge at Mt. Gamak [BAEK JONG-HYUN]

The biggest advantage of these tours is that they depart and arrive near Hongik University Station in western Seoul. Most of the Paju city tours run through the day from Tuesday to Sunday, but there is also an overnight tour every weekend. Prices for each tour vary and visitors must remember to book in advance through pjcitytour.kr. Please note that this tour is only conducted in Korean.

Paju City Tour will halt its services from Nov. 30 for the winter, and will resume again in March or April next year.

@pajusi_tour
50 Sicheong-ro, Paju, Gyeonggi
Closed every Monday
Phone number: 02) 730-0531
www.pjcitytour.kr

Tourists ride the Woo Young-woo Hackberry Tree City Tour Bus to see the hackberry tree in Bukburi Village.[CHANGWON CITY GOVERNMENT]

Woo Young-woo Hackberry Tree City Tour

This city tour bus takes its tourists to see the 500-year-old, 16-meter-tall (52-foot-tall) hackberry tree located in the village of Bukburi in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, which appeared in the ENA hit series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.”

In the series, the tree, which is said to have protected the fictional neighborhood of Sodeok-dong for centuries, is in danger of being wiped out due to road construction plans. The episode ends with the tree being designated as a national monument. In reality, the hackberry tree has also been designated a national monument following an investigation conducted by the Cultural Heritage Administration.

The hackberry tree featured in ENA's hit drama series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," which has also been designated a Korean national monument. [CHANGWON CITY GOVERNMENT]

The tour originally started as a special month-long tour over September, but due to its popularity, the program has been extended until Nov. 30. Visitors will also get a chance to look around the village and take pictures. Villagers have painted various murals around the town that resemble iconic scenes from the series.

The tour departs from Changwon Sports Park at 9:30 a.m. and runs until midday every week from Tuesday to Sunday. The tour costs 3,000 won per person and takes a maximum of 40 visitors. Visitors must book in advance through changwoncitytour.com. There isn’t a tour guide available during the tour, so even if you are not fluent in Korean, you won’t have to worry about missing out on anything.

450 Woni-daero, Seongsan District, South Gyeongsang
Closed every Monday
Phone number: 055) 712-0777, 0778
www.changwoncitytour.com

Reference
Written by LEE JUNG-JOO, BAEK JONG-HYUN [lee.jungjoo@joongang.co.kr]
Provided by Korea JoongAng Daily

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