Busan Ferries to Japan: Which Terminal, Which Boat, and What the Port Authority Page Says

Our Busan ferry hub lists the ferries from Busan to Japan, using the Busan Port Authority's table. This guide explains how to read that table, where the two Busan passenger terminals are, and what to ask before you plan a crossing from a cruise call. We cover Tsushima, Fukuoka, Shimonoseki and Osaka; Jeju is covered at the end.

1. Two terminals, not one

The Busan Port Authority's terminal pages (in Korean) describe two different passenger terminals. The Busan Yeongdo Cruise Terminal, opened in April 2007, is at 17 Haeyang-ro 301beon-gil, Yeongdo-gu. The International Passenger Terminal, where the Japan ferries leave, is at 206 Chungjang-daero, Dong-gu. We have not read which terminal a particular cruise ship uses; the authority's International Passenger Terminal menu includes a cruise arrival schedule that we did not open, so ask your cruise line which terminal your ship will use.

2. Getting to the ferry terminal

The authority's directions page says it is about a 10 to 15 minute walk from Busan Station, leaving by station exit 10 and following a moving walkway and the port's pedestrian deck. From Gimhae Airport it lists a public-transport route of about 70 minutes with transfers to Busan Station, or about 30 minutes by car; our flights page covers the flight. It also lists city buses 5-1, 1004 and 42, and still carries a notice that the terminal's circular bus has been suspended since 10 March 2020, so do not count on it. The terminal's main number on that page is 051-400-1200.

From the Yeongdo Cruise Terminal, the authority's directions page gives, from Busan Station, bus 101 or 88 from in front of the station to the Dongsam-samgeori stop and then about a 15-minute walk, or Subway Line 1 to Nampo-dong station and a taxi. We found no official page that plans the journey between the two terminals, so check a journey planner and allow time.

3. The routes, as the authority lists them

The authority's table (Korean, no date shown on the page, read 30 October 2026) has columns headed arrival (입항) and departure (출항), which is Busan's side of each crossing. Several times are marked "(유동적)", fluctuating. Journey times are the page's own figures.

Three cautions. First, for Osaka, Panstar's own English page lists Busan departures at 15:00 on Sunday and 16:00 on Tuesday and Thursday, Osaka arrivals at 08:30 on Sunday and 09:00 on Tuesday and Thursday, and Osaka departures at 17:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday arriving in Busan the next day at 10:00. The authority's days therefore mix arrivals (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) and departures (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday). The operator's times work out to a little under the authority's 18 hours, so confirm the duration with Panstar. Second, the Fukuoka row gives 6 hours under arrival and 9 hours under departure; by the page's own column headings, the 9 hours goes with the 22:30 departure from Busan, which is an overnight crossing. Third, the authority's description of Korea Ferry says New Camellia sails six times a week, while its table and Korea Ferry's own home page say daily, so check the date you want.

4. Tickets, timing and the border

• The authority's departure procedure page says to arrive 2 hours before departure, show your passport at the operator's ticket counter and receive a boarding pass, and pass customs and exit immigration. Ticket offices are on the 3rd-floor departure hall. Checked baggage is for car-ferry passengers only, on that page.
• On the same page, goods valued at 450,000 won or more should be declared before leaving, and cash totalling US$10,000 or more must be declared. It tells readers to see each operator's site or the border agencies for details.
• On arrival at Busan, the authority's page says passengers disembark in the order of higher class, elderly or infirm, then general passengers, and that you prepare the customs declaration form on board. For the other direction, it says to fill in the entry card kept on board before the ship reaches Japan.
• Korea: the Ministry of Justice's K-ETA page says the system targets nationals who can enter Korea without a visa, and carries a notice dated 20 March 2026 about an extension of a temporary exemption period. We did not read the scope of that exemption, so check the Ministry's page for your passport.
• Japan: we could not open Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa page (the site blocked our request), so this guide states no Japanese entry rule. Check it on a Japanese government page.

5. Access, luggage and comfort

The authority's terminal pages that we read do not describe lifts, wheelchair routes or seating, and its facilities pages for floors 2 and 3 were not readable as text, so we cannot give accessibility information for either terminal. We also did not find accessibility details on the operator pages we read. Ask the operator before you book what help is available at the terminal and at the gangway, and which gate your ship uses. The authority lists Korea Ferry and Panstar's Osaka ship at car-ferry gates 2 and 3, Pukwan at car-ferry gate 1, and the Star Line and DAE-A fast boats at the fast-boat gate; it does not name a gate for Panstar Tsushima Link.

6. Weather, Jeju and your return to the ship

No operator weather rule was available to us. The authority's page marks the Tsushima times as fluctuating and tells readers to check the operator, and the Fukuoka, Shimonoseki and Osaka boats are overnight or longer, so none of them fits a port day. Jeju does not appear on the authority's international table, and we read no page about a Jeju service, so this guide does not cover it.

Work back from your ship's all-aboard time with our guides on separate tickets and a buffer and the all-aboard worksheet, and see the full route list on the Busan ferry hub.