Thinking about Korea for my next chapter but can’t decide between Busan or Seoul.
On the one hand it’s a little more chill pace in Busan which could be nice but that would also mean less people and in turn less girls. Maybe English would be less there too?
I know renting is a bit cheaper there but not by a huge amount. Also weather would be better.
I think I’m leaning towards Seoul. I know
@predeterminism was obsessed about Busan for a while but decide not to go? Also
@kamster was talking a lot about it.
Maybe we need an in field report still. Seoul has 25 million people in the metro area compared to 4 million in metro Busan, that might be the deciding factor in favor of Seoul.
I lived in both Seoul and Busan for a while so maybe I can answer this.
IMO I like the vibe in Busan alot better, kinda has that seaside city thing going on and is alot more chill than Seoul. Though definitely less of a foreign vibe.
Major nightlife neighorhoods in Busan are:
서면 Seomyeon: Very early 20's mainly, I'll expand more on this in a second.
광안리 Gwangalli Beach: Good place for dates, more so resturants and bars but there's some clubs here (not many).
남포 Nampo: Pretty sure it's only old boomers here.
경성대 Gyeongseong Uni: Apparently there's some clubs here, I've never been but there were alot of young people last time I was in the area.
해운대 Haeundae Beach: Some clubs, lots of tourists, though skews older and foreign so never went.
I'll talk about Seomyeon since it's the biggest one and the one I have the most experience with, it's a very very korean vibe, and mainly people in their early 20's. The unfortunate reality about nightlife in korea is that the more korean of a vibe a place has, the less they want do anything to do with foreigners, no matter how well you speak korean.
Especially the hunting bars where young koreans go to hit on girls usually don't accept westerners because the korean paypig guys think that having a western face inside will fuck up the vibe. I speak fluent korean, and went in with a group of korean guys and they still wouldn't let me in most of the time. Some of the clubs are like this too but it's a little better.
People are dressed pretty well here so you need to bring your A-game. I recommend after 11 pm to go with your bros and talk to groups of girls on the street and ask them to go drink, because that strangely seemed to work sometimes. Busan is racist as fuck to put it simply, though yeah the weather is better and rent is cheaper.
Seoul has been discussed quite a bit, so I leave it unless you're curious. More foreigners but also more foreign friendly, there are still racist places but significantly less, though IMO it just doesn't have the vibe Busan has.