Galmaetgil is Busan’s walking network: 278.8 km arranged into nine courses and, since a 2023 revision, 23 individual routes. It wraps almost the entire city — along the coast, over two rivers, around a mountain fortress and straight through the old markets.
The name comes from galmaegi (갈매기), the seagull that is Busan’s civic bird, joined to gil, path. It is a dulle-gil — a perimeter trail rather than a summit route — which is why most of it can be walked in whatever shoes you packed.
Why it works for visitors
Three things make Galmaetgil unusually easy to drop into.
It is coastal. Long stretches run at sea level between beaches, headlands and fishing harbours. There is almost no climbing on the sections most visitors walk, and there is sea breeze on hot days.
It is already in the city. Busan’s subway and bus network reaches most of the route. You do not need to arrange transport to a trailhead — you get off at Haeundae, or Jagalchi, or Oncheonjang, and you are on it.
It is cut into pieces deliberately. Nobody expects you to walk 278 km. The courses are subdivided precisely so that a single route can be a half-day outing.
The nine courses
Official distances and walking times, from the Busan Metropolitan City Galmaetgil service. Times assume a steady pace with short breaks.
| Course | From → To | Distance | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Imnang Beach → Moontan Road | 33.6 km | 10 h |
| 2 | Moontan Road → Oryukdo ferry pier | 18.3 km | 6 h |
| 3 | Oryukdo ferry pier → Dongsam | 41.0 km | 14 h |
| 4 | Namhang Bridge → Nakdong estuary barrage | 36.3 km | 13 h |
| 5 | Nakdong estuary barrage → Cheonga Bridge | 42.1 km | 13 h |
| 6 | Nakdong estuary barrage → Geumjeong Fortress / Children’s Grand Park | 47.5 km | 15 h |
| 7 | Seongjigok Reservoir → Sanghyeon Village | 22.3 km | 9 h |
| 8 | Sanghyeon Village → Millak Bridge | 17.2 km | 5 h |
| 9 | Sanghyeon Village → Gijang County Office | 20.5 km | 6 h |
Those totals are for the full course. Each is split into numbered routes — 2-1, 3-2, 4-1 and so on — and a route is the unit you actually walk.
Four kinds of terrain
Busan classifies the network into coastal, forest, riverside and urban paths, and the difference between them is larger than the numbers suggest.
- Coastal — courses 1, 2 and 3. Beaches, cliffs, harbours, the sections most visitors want.
- Riverside — courses 4 and 5, along the Nakdong. Flat, wide, long.
- Forest and mountain — courses 6 and 7, including Geumjeong Fortress. This is the part that genuinely climbs.
- Urban — the market and old-quarter stretches inside course 3.
Which section to walk first
If you have one morning in Busan and want the best return on it, start with course 2 or the Yeongdo part of course 3. Both are short, coastal, dense with things to look at, and reachable from the city centre.
Waymarking and completion stamps
The route is marked with coloured ribbons tied to branches and railings, painted arrows on the ground, and posts at junctions. Follow the marker colour rather than the Korean text and you will not get lost on the coastal sections.
Busan runs an official completion scheme — walkers collect stamps along the network and can be certified for finishing it. There is also an official Galmaetgil walking app. Neither is necessary for a single afternoon, but the stamp boxes are a useful confirmation that you are on the right path.
Practical notes
- Season — spring and autumn are ideal. Coastal sections handle summer better than any inland trail in Korea, but there is little shade; the monsoon arrives around late June or July.
- Shoes — trainers are fine on coastal and urban routes. Courses 6 and 7 need grip.
- Food — the coastal routes pass constant convenience stores and harbour restaurants. The mountain courses do not.
- Direction — routes are described in one direction but walk equally well reversed, which often makes transport easier.
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 last restructured in 2023 and are revised from time to time. Distances and times here follow the current official figures published by Busan Metropolitan City; check the official service for closures before you set out.
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.