Haeundae, Dongbaekseom and the Blueline Park: A Coastal Walk (Galmaetgil 2-1)

This is the Galmaetgil section most visitors walk, and with reason. It runs along the Haeundae waterfront, loops the wooded headland of Dongbaekseom, and follows the old coastal railway that is now the Blueline Park. It is flat, it is entirely on the subway network, and you can do it in a morning.

It belongs to Galmaetgil Course 2, which runs 18.3 km from Moontan Road to the Oryukdo ferry pier and takes about six hours end to end. Route 2-1 is the northern part of that, and most people walk only this much.

Walking load

Time	2–3 hours for the beach, headland and Moontan Road
Surface	Promenade, boardwalk, one short wooded track
Ascent	Minimal — one gentle rise
Shade	Limited — open coast, with shade only on the headland and Moontan Road
Exertion	Low
Leaving early	Easy — road, bus and subway access along the whole route
Facilities	Frequent: toilets, convenience stores, cafés

Load figures are our editorial assessment for trip planning, not measurements. If a clinic has given you activity restrictions, read these against that advice — see treatments that don’t cost you a hiking day.

What is on the route

Haeundae Beach — a wide arc of sand backed by hotel towers. The trail simply follows the promenade, so the busiest beach in Korea becomes the easiest possible start to a walk.

Dongbaekseom — not really an island any more, but a pine-and-camellia headland joined to the shore. A boardwalk circles it just above the water, past the Nurimaru conference hall built for the 2005 APEC summit, with the Gwangan Bridge filling the view to the west. Twenty to thirty minutes for the loop, and the best part of the section.

Moontan Road — literally “moon tan road”, a wooded path over the low hill at the eastern end of the beach. The name refers to walking it at night; by day it is simply a shaded forest track with sea views through the trees.

The Blueline Park corridor — the coastal railway to Songjeong closed and reopened as a walking path with a small beach train and the Sky Capsule running alongside it. You can walk the whole stretch, or walk out and ride back.

The walk itself

Almost entirely flat. Promenade, boardwalk and packed track, with one gentle wooded rise over Moontan Road. Trainers are fine. There is no point on the route more than a few minutes from a road, a café or a bus stop, which makes it the easiest section in the network to shorten or abandon.

Allow two to three hours at a relaxed pace for Haeundae, Dongbaekseom and Moontan Road together. Add an hour or more if you continue along the coastal railway towards Songjeong.

Shade is limited outside the headland and the wooded hill, so in midsummer walk it early or late. In spring the camellias on Dongbaekseom are the reason the headland has its name.

Getting there

Haeundae station on subway line 2 puts you a few minutes’ walk from the beach. Finish at Mipo, at Cheongsapo, or all the way at Songjeong — each has buses back, and Songjeong has its own subway station.

Walked in reverse, from Songjeong towards Haeundae, it finishes in the middle of the restaurant district, which some people prefer.

Combine it with

Haeundae Beach — what else is on the beachfront
The Sky Capsule — riding the coastal line instead of walking it
Course 3-3 on Yeongdo — a rockier coastal contrast for the afternoon

In an emergency

Korea has two emergency numbers, and both answer in English.

119 — fire, rescue and ambulance. This is the one to call for an injury on a trail.
112 — police.

Korean trails carry numbered rescue markers — small posts with a code on them. Reading that code to the operator locates you far faster than describing the scenery. Note the last one you passed.

Mobile coverage is good on almost all the routes described here, including the ridges.

Galmaetgil routes were restructured in 2023 and section boundaries have changed. Course-level distances here follow Busan Metropolitan City’s current figures; times for individual sections are planning estimates. Check the official service for closures.

Closures are the thing worth checking

Korean trails close, and not only for weather. National park ridgelines shut during the spring and autumn fire-risk periods, coastal sections close for construction or erosion, and some routes run on fixed opening hours rather than dawn to dusk. These are published by the managing authority and almost never by the blogs describing the walk.

Distances and difficulty ratings are worth taking from the official course data too. The national walking trail portal publishes track files and an assigned difficulty grade, which is a steadier basis for planning a day than someone else’s impression of how hard it felt.

Sources

Institutional sources behind the regulatory, statistical and practical statements above. Each link checked 16 September 2026.

Galmaetgil official site (Busan Metropolitan City) Course-by-course distances, stamp booth locations and current closures for the Busan coastal trail network.
Durunubi — Korea Tourism Organization walking trail portal The national register of walking routes, with track files and the official difficulty rating rather than a blogger’s impression.
Visit Busan — Busan Metropolitan City official tourism site The city’s own listings for opening hours, seasonal closures and admission. It goes stale far more slowly than third-party guides.
Korea National Park Service Entry hours, seasonal trail closures and the fire-risk restrictions that shut ridgelines in spring and autumn. Bukhansan included.