Cherry blossoms were just starting to open when Woojin and I set out on Course 2, a mostly flat 11-kilometer stretch through Gijang that runs from a riverside park down to a small fishing village lined with some of the more unusual lighthouses I’ve seen in Busan. We caught an early train out to Ilgwang Station, cutting the walk slightly short at the start to make time for a full look at the finish.
Route order
Gangsongjeong Park and Ilgwang’s bread street
The trail begins near Gangsongjeong Park, crossing a small bridge into a neighborhood famous locally for its steamed bun bakeries — though at the hour we passed through, most of the shops were still shuttered. The park itself is a quiet, well-kept space with a children’s playground and a small memorial garden dedicated to loyalty and filial piety, one of those understated civic monuments that Korean neighborhood parks often have tucked into a corner. The cherry trees here were maybe a third open, chilly morning air keeping most of them holding back for a few more days.
Ilgwang Beach to Gijang County Office
From the park, the trail follows the coast to Ilgwang Beach — long, wide, and mostly empty on a cool late-March morning, the kind of beach that gets its own summer crowd later in the year but felt entirely ours that day. The path then turns inland slightly, passing Gijang County Office before climbing toward Bongdaesan.
Bongdaesan’s old beacon mound
The climb up Bongdaesan isn’t long, but it’s steady, and this being our second-ever outing together on Gamnaetgil, it was also our first real hill. Azaleas were just starting to bud along the trail — apparently this section turns properly pink a few weeks later in April. At the top, the restored beacon mound (bongsudae) offers a genuinely wide view back over the coast we’d just walked, a reminder that these old signal-fire systems were built precisely for sightlines like this one.
Down to Seoam Village and its lighthouses
The descent from Bongdaesan drops into Seoam, a small fishing village that turned out to be the real highlight of the day. Seoam has quietly built a reputation for its collection of oddly-themed lighthouses along the breakwater — including one shaped like a rooster’s comb and, a little further along, one shaped unmistakably like a baby bottle, apparently installed as a lighthearted nod to encouraging childbirth in the area. We arrived hoping for a proper sunrise over the water, but cloud cover softened the light into something quieter instead — still a good enough scene for us to stop for a long while before finishing at the fishermen’s welfare center.
Soft morning light over Seoam’s breakwater lighthouse.
Seoam’s harbor, backed by hills and a newer hotel development.
The baby-bottle lighthouse at the end of Seoam’s breakwater.
Trail info at a glance
- Distance: approx. 11 km
- Walking time: 3–3.5 hours
- Difficulty: Easy, with one moderate climb up Bongdaesan
- Start: Gangsongjeong Park (near Ilgwang Station)
- Finish: Seoam Village fishermen’s welfare center
- Best season: Late March to April for cherry blossoms at Gangsongjeong and azaleas on Bongdaesan; early morning for the best light at Seoam’s lighthouses
Map of the route
Course 2 route
A few practical notes
Ilgwang Station makes a convenient start or split point if you’d rather walk this course in the opposite direction and finish near the train line. If you’re chasing sunrise photos at Seoam’s lighthouses, check the forecast — cloud cover along this stretch of coast can soften or completely block the effect, as it did for us. The bakeries near Gangsongjeong open later in the morning, so an early start means you’ll likely miss the famous steamed buns unless you time it for the way back.
For train and bus routes around Gijang, see our guide to getting around Busan.
Walked in late March, cool morning with cloud cover that softened the sunrise at Seoam.
More walks nearby
Other walks in Gijang and the east coast on this site: