Songdo Cloud Trails
A skywalk over the sea
A curving walkway running out from the eastern end of the beach to the rock of Geobukseom, partly with a glass floor. Free, and the largest skywalk in Busan.
South coast & Busan · Busan
Songdo Beach
송도해수욕장
Korea's first public beach, opened in 1913 — with a cable car over it.
Songdo opened to the public in 1913, which makes it the oldest public beach in the country. It fell out of fashion for years and has been rebuilt since.
A glass-floored skywalk runs out over the water and the Busan Air Cruise cable car crosses the bay above it, some cabins with transparent floors.
What else is here
The first one, and the one with the cable car
Songdo opened in 1913 and is the oldest public beach in Korea. It spent decades in decline and has been comprehensively rebuilt, and it now has the most to do of any Busan beach per metre of sand.
Busan Air Cruise
Cable car across the bay
A 1.6-kilometre cable car crossing the water from the beach to Amnam Park, with glass-floored crystal cabins available. A cable car has crossed here since 1964; the present one opened in 2017.
Amnam Park
Cliffs at the far end
Where the cable car lands: a wooded headland of sea cliffs with a coastal boardwalk. Quieter than anywhere on the beach side.
No camping
Busan-wide ban
Tents and shade screens are banned on Busan's beaches, Songdo included. The nearest beach camping in the city is the designated area behind Songjeong, out at the eastern end.
Songdo Yonggung Suspension Bridge
Out to the island
A footbridge running from the beach out to Geobukseom, the turtle-shaped rock offshore. Short, and it completes the loop with the skywalk.
1913
Korea's first public beach
- 1913
- Opened
- 1964
- Cable car since
- 1 June – 31 Aug
- Swimming
- ≈1.6 km
- Cable car length
Songdo was laid out as a bathing beach in 1913, during the Japanese colonial period, which makes it the first public beach in the country. For most of the twentieth century it was where Busan went to swim.
Then Haeundae was developed, the water quality here declined, and by the 1990s Songdo was largely abandoned — the original cable car, which had run since 1964, was dismantled in 1988. The city spent the 2000s and 2010s rebuilding the sand, cleaning the water and putting the attractions back.
The result is unusual: a small beach, only a few hundred metres, with a skywalk at one end, a suspension bridge to an offshore rock, and a cable car crossing the whole bay. It is the most family-friendly half day in Busan, and it is a short bus ride from Jagalchi market rather than out at the eastern end of the city.
More on the south coast & busan
Haeundae Beach
The most famous beach in Korea, with a city of towers standing behind it.
Gwangalli Beach
The beach to be on after dark — Gwangan Bridge lit up across the bay.
Songjeong Beach
Busan's surf beach — gentler, younger and a long way from the Haeundae crowds.