Busan, South Korea

I debated long and hard over which Korean city to include in this list. While I’ll always have a soft spot for Gwangju and Seoul is undeniably a bigger tourist draw, I ended up going with Busan because I’m a sucker for a city with a good beach.

One of my favourite places in the world to just waste an afternoon was Gwangalli Beach in Busan.

I was lucky enough to call South Korea’s second largest city home for a tumultuous six months back in 2011. Between a harridan of a boss and struggling to get over a break-up, my time there wasn’t all it could have been – but I still had a lot of fun visiting places such as the Jagalchi Fish Markets, chilling out on Gwangalli Beach, and taking in the city’s often debauched night life.
Regardless of the city in South Korea, the biggest draws for me are this nocturnal life that cities take on, and the amazing (and cheap) Korean food that is available at every turn.