Busan and Nagasaki questions

Hi folks

We are on the Diamond Princess Far East cruise in October and have now booked all our excursions. Amongst them are tours at Busan in South Korea and Nagasaki in Japan.

We are not a lover of full day tours with lunch included (we are not big lunch eaters) and then the obligatory stop at a lacquerware factory or similar. We therefore prefer the half day tours and often they include pretty much the same as the full day ones other than the unwanted extras (purely our personal wishes as we are sure lots of people love the lunches and visits to factories.)

Anyway, getting back to the point…….we will be back at the ship in Busan and Nagasaki by late morning/lunchtime. Can anyone please let us know how far we are from the shops or areas to stroll round so that we can plan our afternoons – or are we too far away at the respective ports? I have tried without success to find out online so thought this site with so much knowledge may be able to help!

Any help appreciated and thank you very much.

Kind regards.

Peter and Beverley

I recently posted info on Busan here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1846797

Info on both ports can be found at cruiseportwiki dot com

Hi, in Nagasaki, ship docks right in the centre, shops, restaurants across the road. Don't miss the sail away, the bridge is amazing!

At Busan, you will be taking a shuttle into an area where there is alot of restaurants and shopping, but the area around the ship is simply not for tourists, nothing to see nor anything to do. You can easily hop on the shuttle into town. It is about 20-30 min drive depending on traffic.

As for Nagasaki, you can easily walk to where there is shopping and restaurants, about 10 minute walk from the ship.

We spent a wonderful day in Nagasaki. The cruise terminal had very helpful people who gave us maps and information on getting tram tickets. We went to the Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum. Then we took the cable car up to the lookoff on the far side of the harbour. We later found a shopping area and had lunch. Finally we went to see the Glover Gardens which are high up the hill above where our ship docked. We walked down to the ship from there.

The people are all very friendly and the place was beautiful and amazingly clean.

For Busan we took the free shuttle and walked around from there, seeing the amazing fish market, the upscale shopping area, and the far from upscale shopping area. Then we took the escalator to the top of the hill where there is a tower and temple. The shuttle bus picked us up there. This may sound complicated but it was not.

The cruise terminal in Busan is not near any shopping. There are some vendors set up at the pier selling tourist stuff at high prices. But there is a lovely waterfront promenade just outside and to the left of the port gates. We walked the length of it and saw several local fishermen trying their luck, as well as happy school kids playing along the walkway. The National Maritime Museum of Korea is nearby and there are attractive art sculptures along the seawall. Other than that, not much around the port.

In Nagasaki, the cruise terminal is well situated. It's withing walking distance of shopping, restaurants and several attractions, including Glover Gardens. We were greeted in the terminal by friendly info staff as well as numerous volunteer citizens offering to help. We purchased a 1-day tram pass (Y500) and asked directions to the closest tram stop. A local woman overheard our question and she escorted us to the tram stop! We found this friendliness over and over again in Nagasaki. In fact, we were blown away by the generosity and sincere kindness of the local people in every Japanese port that we visited.

I recently returned from a Diamond Princess cruise that included these ports :)

I echo the other posters about Nagasaki - what a lovely spot :)

....such gracious and welcoming people, and a beautiful and peaceful city.

I had the great privilege to meet a survivor of the atomic bombing when visiting the Peace Park. He had no English, and other than 'thank you' I have no Japanese - but words were not needed. This gentle elderly man held my hand so tightly, and it's hard to say who cried the most. A truly moving experience.

Busan was also very pleasant - a lovely beach area, which I hadn't expected. I visited a stunning temple out by the ocean - very lovely backdrop, and the cherry blossom was an added bonus.

I would do this trip again in a heartbeat :D

When in Nagasaki, do not miss the Atomic Bomb museum.

We spent a wonderful day in Nagasaki. The cruise terminal had very helpful people who gave us maps and information on getting tram tickets. We went to the Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum. Then we took the cable car up to the lookoff on the far side of the harbour. We later found a shopping area and had lunch. Finally we went to see the Glover Gardens which are high up the hill above where our ship docked. We walked down to the ship from there.

 

The people are all very friendly and the place was beautiful and amazingly clean.

 

For Busan we took the free shuttle and walked around from there, seeing the amazing fish market, the upscale shopping area, and the far from upscale shopping area. Then we took the escalator to the top of the hill where there is a tower and temple. The shuttle bus picked us up there. This may sound complicated but it was not.

Hi Mary Ann

Fancy 'meeting' you on this Asia thread. You were very helpful on the Atlantic coast forums and now equally helpful here. We will be in Nagasaki in October and plan to do it ourself using a similar plan to yours.

We spent a wonderful day in Nagasaki. The cruise terminal had very helpful people who gave us maps and information on getting tram tickets. We went to the Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum. Then we took the cable car up to the lookoff on the far side of the harbour. We later found a shopping area and had lunch. Finally we went to see the Glover Gardens which are high up the hill above where our ship docked. We walked down to the ship from there.

 

The people are all very friendly and the place was beautiful and amazingly clean.

 

For Busan we took the free shuttle and walked around from there, seeing the amazing fish market, the upscale shopping area, and the far from upscale shopping area. Then we took the escalator to the top of the hill where there is a tower and temple. The shuttle bus picked us up there. This may sound complicated but it was not.

Thank you for the info, we will be in Nagasaki and Busan in September. Could I just ask, did you travel by tram around Nagasaki? I know it goes to the Peace Park but can you get from the to shop and to Glover gardens by tram as well?

Yes we travelled by tram most places. My DH was the navigator so I am vague on details. I believe we took the tram to the shopping area. There is a large pedestrian area. We had lunch there.

Some places we just walked. To get to the Glover Gardens you go up an elevator and something else. We were running late so just had a peek. Our ship was visible right below us so we had a pleasant walk down the hill to board it.

So if you can read a map and walk a bit the tram pass is all you need.

Hi Maryanne I realise your post is 2 years old but have a couple of questions re busan.

How did you find the escalator to go to the tower and temple.

How did the shuttle bus know to collect you from up there?

We will be in busan from 7am to 2pm so really not long enough to do much so I am trying to decide whether to take the city tour bus and hope we dont get stuck at a stop with a full bus not letting us back on, or just do the loop or do what you did.

thanks heaps

We had a map which I think we were given, and there were two stops for the bus, one on a main street downtown near the fish market and other shopping, and the second bus stop was up the hill in Yongdusan Park with the Busan Tower. Again my DH does the navigating and had no problem seeing the outdoor escalator to the area with the tower. We had to wait a while for the bus back but were back in lots of time.

Thanks heaps Maryann

I am the navigator and tour guide for our group, I know about 10 japanese words and get around just fine, but dont know any korean so it will be interesting:)

I take it that there would be an escalator down too.

There were at least stairs going down but we went at the end of our day and got the bus back to the port from there.

Thanks Maryann we always aim to be back on board at least an hour to hour and half before we are required as a precaution. Being the ships shuttle I guess they would be regularly doing the route too, just dont want to get stranded up there but all should be good. thanks for you help

It would be great to come back here with a quick report to tell how it all went.

Sounds like fun.

My wife and I have booked the same cruise with the Bejing land tour for Nov 2016.

This will be out 2nd cruise. So we are looking forward to it.

If you could. Could you post the daily pratter and your exp with the city's.

We would love to,look at them . To help calm our jitters.

Have a great time

When we were on Diamond Princess in July, they only had one drop-off and pick-up point in Busan, in front of the Phoenix Hotel.

For Nagasaki, if you are taking the tram, since everybody else will be going to the tram station to the left of the terminal which is #48 (green line), I suggest follow the track and go one stop before (#50 Ouratenshudo-****a). The trams were basically empty coming from stop #50 but filled up to the brim at #48 (Ourakaigan-Dori). The line was so long at #48 we did not get on until the third tram came by. To go to the Peace Park you have to switch trams.