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Busan's National Maritime Museum: The Divers Are Still There

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Last verified: 2026-08-31. Rules and prices change — always confirm on the official site before you travel.

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Korea’s National Maritime Museum is the only one of its kind in the country, holds around ten thousand objects across four floors, and costs nothing to enter.

It is also two kilometers from women who are still diving for a living, in a neighborhood where people have been pulling food out of this same water for about eight thousand years.

The National Maritime Museum of Korea's atrium seen from an upper floor, with a masted Joseon envoy ship displayed across the open space and escalators running between levels below it
The atrium, with the half-scale Joseon envoy ship rigged across the open space. The building runs from B1 to the fourth floor around this void. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization — ⓒ한국관광공사 사진갤러리-한국관광공사 김지호, Photo Korea · KOGL Type 1

Getting around: our guide to data and map apps in Korea covers what public wifi misses and what Kakao Map or Naver Map can tell you that Google Maps still can't.

The neighborhood is the exhibit

The museum sits in Dongsam-dong, on the island of Yeongdo. Three things have happened in that one dong, and they are the same thing three times.

About 8,000 years ago, Neolithic people began piling up the shells of what they ate here. The heap kept growing for four thousand years. The Dongsam-dong Shell Midden was designated a National Historic Site on 26 July 1979, and it turned out to be more than a rubbish tip — jar burials, dwellings and hearths came out of it too. A small exhibition hall opened on the site in 2002.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Jeju haenyeo crossed to the mainland to dive, and Yeongdo was their first foothold. From the 1960s they began settling rather than coming seasonally, and they sold what they caught — sea urchin especially — into the Japanese market.

Today there are around 119 haenyeo of Jeju descent working on Yeongdo, second and third generation included. That is the largest group in Busan. The district is building a Haenyeo Culture Exhibition Hall at Jungni Beach, about 1.8 km from the museum, on the shore where the first generation started.

If you have read our piece on the Jeju Haenyeo Museum, this is the other end of that story. Jeju has the museum; Yeongdo has where they went.

What is inside

The museum opened on 9 July 2012 on a 45,386 m² site, with about 25,870 m² of building running from one basement level to the fourth floor.

The ship
A half-scale Joseon Tongsinsa vessel — the ships that carried Korean diplomatic missions to Japan — rigged across the central atrium
Collection
Around 10,000 objects on maritime history, science and industry
Aquarium
A tunnel tank and touch pool inside the museum, which is not a thing most museums have
Library
A maritime library, Tue–Sun 09:00–17:30
Children's museum
By reservation only

The aquarium is the detail worth flagging in advance. It is genuinely part of the museum rather than a separate attraction, and it is the reason a visit here works for families in a way that most national museums do not.

Free, except for two things

The permanent exhibitions are free. What is not free is the 4D theater and any paid special exhibition running at the time. Neither is compulsory, so a full visit here can cost nothing at all.

That puts it in the same bracket as the national history museums on our museum map, and unlike the paid halls on the sea and ecology side — the whale museum charges ₩2,000, and the Ecorium ₩5,000.

The closing pattern is the aquarium-and-park one, though: Mondays, moving to the next weekday when the Monday is a public holiday.

The weekend hours are better than the weekday hours, which is unusual enough to plan around. Tuesday to Friday it runs 09:00–18:00 with last entry at 17:30. On Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays it runs to 19:00, with last entry at 18:30 — a full extra hour.

Admission
Free for permanent exhibitions · 4D theater and special exhibitions charged
Tue–Fri
09:00–18:00, last entry 17:30
Sat / Sun / holidays
09:00–19:00, last entry 18:30
Closed
Mondays (next weekday if the Monday is a holiday)

Getting there: Yeongdo has no subway

This is the practical thing to know before you set out. Yeongdo is the only one of Busan’s sixteen districts with no metro station. The island is joined to the mainland by bridges, and the metro stops on the other side of them.

The route is Busan Metro Line 1 to Nampo Station, Exit 6, then bus 66 or 186, which takes around thirty minutes. Budget that transfer rather than assuming a station.

Our two days in Busan covers the city’s fare zones, which catch people out on longer rides. A Korean eSIM pays for itself on a bus-dependent trip like this one — both Korean map apps track the 66 live, and Google Maps will not route you.

What else is on the island

The lighthouse at Taejongdae on Yeongdo, white tower and observation building set on a rocky cliff above open sea, with a boardwalk path running along the headland
Taejongdae — the lighthouse on the headland, and the cliffs that are the reason most people cross to Yeongdo at all. The museum is a short ride back up the same island. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization — ⓒ한국관광공사 사진갤러리-한국관광공사 송재근, Photo Korea · KOGL Type 1

Taejongdae is about 2.3 km away, and its cliffed coast is part of the Busan National Geopark — the cliff walk is the reason most people come to Yeongdo at all. Pairing it with the museum makes the trip across the bridge worth the transfer in a way that either does alone.

Stays in Busan mostly cluster around Haeundae, which is the other end of the city from here — check the fare zones before assuming the ride is cheap.

In the same trip

Other museums within reach

Festivals near here

These run on their own dates, so check them against yours before you build a route around them.

The coast from here

  • The Namparang Trail — Oryukdo, Nam-gu, Busan, about 4 km away. The trail itself runs 1,470 km along the south coast, so it likely passes closer than this.

Filmed near here

Quick answers

Is the National Maritime Museum in Busan free?
Yes, the permanent exhibitions are free. The 4D theater and any paid special exhibition cost extra, but neither is compulsory, so a full visit can cost nothing.
How do you get to the National Maritime Museum?
Busan Metro Line 1 to Nampo Station, Exit 6, then bus 66 or 186 for about thirty minutes. Yeongdo is the only one of Busan’s sixteen districts without a metro station, so the bus transfer is unavoidable.
What are the National Maritime Museum's opening hours?
Tuesday to Friday 09:00–18:00 with last entry at 17:30, and Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays 09:00–19:00 with last entry at 18:30. It closes on Mondays, or the next weekday when the Monday is a public holiday.
Does the National Maritime Museum have an aquarium?
Yes — a tunnel tank and a touch pool inside the museum itself, not as a separate attraction. It is unusual for a national museum and it is why this one works for families.
Are there still haenyeo in Busan?
Yes. Around 119 divers of Jeju descent, second and third generation included, work on Yeongdo — the largest group in Busan. Jeju haenyeo first crossed to Yeongdo at the end of the nineteenth century and began settling from the 1960s.

Checked 31 August 2026. Opening hours, the Monday closure, free permanent admission, the paid 4D theater, the reservation-only children’s museum and the maritime library hours from the museum’s own visitor information. The 9 July 2012 opening, the 45,386 m² site and 25,870 m² building area, the B1–4F layout, the roughly 10,000 objects and the half-scale Joseon Tongsinsa ship from the museum’s materials and Korean reference sources. The Dongsam-dong Shell Midden’s designation as a National Historic Site on 26 July 1979, its formation between roughly 8,000 and 4,000 years ago, and the jar burials, dwellings and hearths found in it from Korea Heritage Service records; the on-site exhibition hall opened 24 April 2002. The late-nineteenth-century arrival of Jeju haenyeo on Yeongdo, settlement from the 1960s, the sea urchin export trade, the figure of 119 divers of Jeju descent and the Haenyeo Culture Exhibition Hall planned at Jungni Beach from Korean regional press reporting — the diver count is theirs, not one we can verify. Yeongdo’s lack of a metro station and the Nampo Station bus connection from Busan transport and tourism information. Hours and prices change — confirm before you travel.