A day in Tongyeong

Tongyeong is a southern harbour town of murals, islands and oysters, wrapped tight around a working fishing port. It’s an easy day trip or an overnight from Busan — an hour and a half to two hours by express bus — and small enough that once you arrive, the day is mostly on foot.

It runs from the port up to a ridge over the islands and back down to the water. Food is left to the town’s full local list; Tongyeong is a place known for a handful of dishes rather than any single restaurant.

Morning — Dongpirang and the port

The heart of Tongyeong is Gangguan, the old inner harbour, where fishing boats and small ferries tie up below a rim of hills. On the eastern hill, the Dongpirang mural village — once slated for demolition, saved by a painting campaign — climbs a tangle of steep lanes to a lookout over the whole port.

Down at the water, Jungang Market spreads along the quay, half fish market and half street food, at its best in the morning. A few streets inland stands the Sebyeonggwan, the great wooden hall of the old naval command that ran the southern coast — a reminder of the town’s place in Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s war at sea.

Midday — the cable car and the islands

The Mireuksan cable car rises in a few minutes to a ridge near the summit, and the view from the top is the reason people come: the Hallyeosudo, hundreds of islands scattered across the sea toward the open water, a maze that a clear day stretches out for miles.

With longer, the passenger terminal sends ferries out among those islands, chief among them Hansando, where Yi Sun-sin drew the enemy fleet into the strait and destroyed it in 1592. A shrine on the island still marks the battle.

Local flavours

Tongyeong grows more of Korea’s oysters than anywhere else, and in the cold months they are everywhere — raw, grilled, in soup, folded through rice. The other local names are chungmu gimbap, small seaweed rolls served with spicy squid and radish, and the honey bread, kkulppang, sold warm all over town.

None of it needs a reservation or a famous address; the pleasure is in wandering the market and the port lanes and choosing as you go. Browse the full local list rather than any single stall.

Getting there

Express buses run from Busan’s Sasang (Seobu) terminal to Tongyeong in about an hour and a half to two hours, usually without booking. The terminal is a short local bus or taxi ride from Gangguan, and from the port most of the day is walkable.