Jagalchi Fish Market
Jagalchi Market · 자갈치시장
Today
Why go
One of the largest fish markets in Korea. Its name comes from the fist-sized pebbles on the shore, and the market grew out of fish stalls set up by refugees during the Korean War. You can have the fish you choose prepared as raw fish and eat it looking out at the sea.
Highlights
History
Stalls selling seafood stood on this shore from the Japanese colonial period. During the Korean War, refugees who poured into Busan built shacks along the shore and sold fish to make a living, and it grew into a large seafood market.
The current modern market building took 2 years and 8 months to build from December 2003 and was completed in 2006. It runs from basement level 2 to the 7th floor above ground, and the market on the 1st and 2nd floors is run by the Busan Fish & Shellfish Processing Cooperative.
The market is split into the open-air traditional market outside and the modern market inside the building. Indoors, tanks line up along blocks laid out as neatly as a go board. Most of the fish sellers are women, so they are called 'Jagalchi ajimae' (Jagalchi aunties), and on the roadside and waterfront outside the building they still lay out mackerel and sea squirts on wooden crates to sell. 'Oiso! Boiso! Saiso!' (Come! Look! Buy!) is the phrase that sums up this market.
Getting there
Where next
Photos
Tips
- The 1st-floor seafood market and 2nd-floor raw-fish restaurants of the modern market building close on the first, third and fifth Tuesday of each month. Over the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays they close for two days: the holiday itself and the day after.
- For exact opening hours, ask the Busan Fish & Shellfish Processing Cooperative (051-245-2594).
- By subway, come out of exit 10 of Jagalchi Station or exit 2 of Nampo Station on Line 1.
- Gukje Market and BIFF Square are a 5-minute walk away, and Yongdusan Park, home of Busan Tower, is 10 minutes away.
Show details
- Address
- 부산광역시 중구 자갈치해안로 52