Day 3: 29 April 2026, Wednesday

Day 3 will be a free-and-easy day exploring the attractions in Haeundae, South Korea’s most famous coastal district, located in eastern Busan. We woke up at 7:00am and had breakfast in our room, consisting of sandwiches that we bought from the GS25 convenience store last night, and free Nespresso coffee courtesy of Lotte Hotel. The weather forecast showed that it will be cloudy today, with the current temperature at 11 deg C, reaching a high of 16 deg C later in the day.

At 8:41am, we left our hotel via an Uber Taxi, a very sleek silver Hyundai car. From Seomyeon, we headed east towards Haeundae. Along the way, we drove across Gwangandaegyo, or Gwangan Bridge. This iconic double-decker bridge spans 7,420 metres and it is the second longest bridge in the country. It offers spectacular views of the surrounding ocean, Gwangalli Beach and Millak Waterfront Park. At night, Gwangandaegyo is lit with thousands of LED lights, making it one of the most famous night time sights in Busan.

I chose to take an Uber taxi because getting to our first destination by public transport is a little cumbersome. It requires taking the Metro and transferring to a bus, followed by an uphill walk. A taxi ride is good because we can see some nice scenery along the way, whereas the Metro is all underground. Our 32-minute Uber ride cost 24,000 won (S$20.87), which wasn’t outrageously expensive.

At 9:13am, we arrived at Haedong Yonggung Temple, or Haedong Yonggungsa. This is one of the top attractions in Busan so it can get very crowded, hence we came early to avoid the big tourist groups. After alighting at the drop off point, we strolled through a walkway lined with souvenir shops and street snacks stalls before reaching the entrance of the temple.

After passing through the gates, we walked past a row of statues representing the 12 zodiac animal deities, which protect the temple against evil spirits. We then saw the Traffic Safety Prayer Pagoda. Normally, you will enter the temple via Iljumun Gate in front of the pagoda, where you will climb 108 steps down towards the coast, while being surrounded by a pine grove. You will then cross Yongmungyo Bridge, a beautiful stone arch bridge, to reach the temple. Unfortunately, Iljumun Gate and Yongmungyo Bridge were closed for repairs so we had to take a more direct but less scenic route to the temple.

As such, we approached the temple from the upper section, and the first building we encountered was Gwangmyeongjeon Hall on the left and the Main Buddha Hall on the right. Just like at Bulguksa Temple yesterday, a sea of colourful paper lanterns covered the entire lower section of the temple grounds. The decorations are for the upcoming celebrations for Buddha’s birthday.

Haedong Yonggungsa is one of the most unique temples in South Korea because it is located right along the coast, unlike most temples, which are deep in the mountains. The temple was first built in 1376 but it was completely burned down during the Japanese invasion in the late 16^th century. It was rebuilt in the 1930’s and restored in the 1970’s, when it took its present form.

The origins of Haedong Yonggungsa are as follows. Reverend Naong, who founded the temple, had a dream where Gwanseum Bodhisatva emerged from the sea while riding a dragon and went up to Heaven. Upon seeing the mysterious embodiment of Gwanseum, Reverend Naong searched for a place to build the temple. This location was eventually chosen because it was deemed the holiest place in Korea with a mountain at the back and the sea in front. Legend has it that heavenly beings descended on the mountain and strolled there. Hence, when you look at the map of Haedong Yonggungsa, you can see the shape of a dragon superimposed on it, a nod to the temple’s origins.

Beside the Main Buddha Hall is a large statue of Happy Buddha, also known as Laughing Buddha. Next to the Happy Buddha is a small building called Yonggungdan Hall, and beside it is the entrance of the stairway leading to the Great Goddess Buddha of Mercy above. Note that the stone steps are uneven and the stairway is quite steep. Alternatively, there is another path at the side that is flat and more elderly-friendly.

Gwanseum is the Korean name for Avalokiteshvara, the Boddhisatva of Compassion, also widely known as Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy in China, or Kannon in Japan. Here, the Great Goddess Buddha of Mercy occupies the highest spot in Haedong Yonggungsa, with a majestic view overlooking the sea. Visitors pray here with the belief that their wishes will be granted.

As we walked to the lower section, we saw a station where visitors can donate 10,000 won (S$8.80) and pen a message on a plastic gold Bodhi tree leaf attached to a mini lantern. We decided to make a donation. I chose a yellow lantern. Dad and I penned our wishes on the front and back of the golden leaf before I climbed a short step ladder to attach our lantern onto the rack, joining hundreds of other well-wishers. Hope our wishes will be carried by the wind into the heavens and come true!

I also bought a small wooden figurine of a cat from the small gift shop at the temple. It was carved out of polished wood, with a smooth finish and blue-rimmed eyes. Very cute. Adding this to my collection of trinkets from my travels.

As we concluded our visit around 10:10am, busloads of tourists started coming in. We were lucky we went early and could enjoy the serenity before the big tour groups arrived. Overall, we enjoyed the visit to Haedong Yonggungsa. The seaside location made it really special. It was a slight pity that Iljumun Gate was closed and we couldn’t walk across Yongmungyo Bridge, but nevertheless, it was worth making a long drive to get here.

At 10:22am, we left Haedong Yonggungsa via another Uber Taxi and drove to the nearby Lotte Premium Outlets Dongbusan. We arrived just 3 minutes later because the driver was a speed demon. The Uber ride cost 4,800 won (S$4.17). We were right on time because the mall opens at 10:30am daily.

Lotte Mall Dongbusan claims to be Korea’s largest premium outlet with the most brands. The mall has three zones – the Premium Outlet, Lotte Shopping Mall and Premium Living Store. Based on what I counted on the mall’s brochure, the Premium Outlet has 257 shops, the Lotte Shopping Mall has 55 shops, and the Premium Living Store has 42 shops. The shops are all located on the first and second floors while the third floor houses most of the F&B outlets, a Toys R Us store and a Lotte cinema.

The Premium Outlet shops are categorised into Overseas Fashion (luxury brands like Gucci, Hugo Boss), Women’s, Men’s and Young Fashion (mid-range brands), Outdoor/Sports (international brands like Nike, Adidas, The North Face), Golf, Shoes/Handbags/Cosmetics/Accessories, and Infant/Kids. The Lotte Shopping Mall has shops like Uniqlo, Mont-bell, Levi’s and Calvin Klein selling items at regular prices. The Premium Living Store is where you shop for home appliances and furnishing.

We shopped free-and-easy for about two hours before meeting again for lunch. Usually, premium outlets are more miss than hit, and this was no exception. There weren’t many good deals but I bought a pair of New Balance trail running shoes for 89,100 won (S$77.47).

For lunch, we looked at all the restaurants but nothing really caught our fancy so we settled for the easy option of Japanese ramen at Katsura. I ordered two bowls of ramen with karaage and tonkatsu for mum and dad while I had a katsudon with salad and a can of Pepsi. Our meal cost 50,000 won (S$43.48). It wasn’t the best lunch but it did its job.

Earlier, I saw that the lighthouse tower had an observatory so we went up to check out the view. Unsurprisingly, we were the only ones there. From the observatory, we could see the Lotte World Adventure Busan theme park just across the road, with its rollercoasters and thrill rides. Further afield was Skyline Luge Busan. I had considered going there because I thought it was a fun activity that mum and dad could enjoy, but it was either shopping or the Luge so I chose the former.

At 2:04pm, we left Lotte Premium Outlets Dongbusan via Uber Taxi to our third destination for the day – Cheongsapo Daritdol Skywalk. The ride took 16 minutes and it cost 8,800 won (S$7.65). I must say that Uber Taxi rides in Busan are quite affordable. The cars are pretty new and the drivers are usually quite well-dressed.

We dropped off at a small carpark beside of a row of restaurants, which was as close as we could get to the skywalk by car. Perhaps we should have come here for lunch instead. At the end of the row of restaurants is where you can get the best view of the entire skywalk structure from afar, but close enough. There is a standalone building here with toilets and a lift to go up to the third floor, which is connected to the skywalk level. There is a gift shop on the third floor, and I bought a fridge magnet here.

Right in front of the gift shop building is a walkway that is part of the Haeundae Blueline Park (click here). This is an eco-friendly redevelopment of the old railway facilities of the East Sea South Line, offering beautiful coastal scenery along a 4.8km section from Haeundae Mipo through Cheongsapo to Songjeong. You can walk the entire 4.8km section on foot, but most visitors will take the Beach Train or Sky Capsule, or a combination of the two.

The Beach Train a romantic sightseeing train running the entire 4.8km length from Haeundae Mipo to Songjeong with 7 stations in total. One of the stops is here at Cheongsapo Daritdol Skywalk. The train moves quite slowly at 15km/hr and it takes about 25 minutes for a one-way trip.

The Sky Capsule is a much more intimate experience as it fits only up to 4 people a capsule. It runs on an elevated monorail track between 7m and 10m in the air. However, the Sky Capsule only covers the 2km section between Mipo and Cheongsapo. It does not stop here at the Daritdol Skywalk. The Sky Capsule moves at a slow speed of 4km/hr and it takes about 25 minutes to travel between Mipo and Cheongsapo Stations.

We will take the Sky Capsule later but now, it’s time to visit the Cheongsapo Daritdol Skywalk. This observatory is an elevated walkway standing 20m high from the sea level and stretching 72.5m out to sea. It originally had a half-moon shape before it was extended to make a full loop that returns to the mainland. Its total length is now 191m. Entry is free.

From the skywalk, there is a line of five rock reefs stretching to a lighthouse on the sea. The rocks look like stepping stones across the water. Hence, the skywalk is called Daritdol, which means “stepping stones”.

Certain sections of the walkway have transparent floors made of reinforced glass, offering visitors the thrill of walking above the sea. It is not scary because it is only 20m high. We spent around 15 minutes at the Cheongsapo Daritdol Skywalk. While it’s not extremely thrilling or unique, it’s quite nice and worth popping by if you’re in the area.

From the skywalk, we walked the footpath that runs beside the Beach Train towards Cheongsapo Station. It took us less than 10 minutes to cover the 540m distance on a leisurely stroll. We had about 25 minutes to spare before our 3:30pm timeslot for the Sky Capsule so we decided to have our caricatures drawn at a shop just beside the station.

Actually, we already had a caricature done yesterday at Gyeongju but Dad wasn’t very pleased with it because he felt it didn’t resemble us. Yesterday’s caricature was drawn using only black marker on a plain white canvas. This shop at Cheongsapo does it in a different style, using a fine black pen to sketch the outlines before filling the faces and backgrounds with splashes of colour.

The caricature artist sketched me first, then dad and finally mum. He drew us on a piece of white A4-sized paper before using his index finger wrapped in cloth to dab the colours onto the drawing. The entire process took around 15 minutes. Dad was much more pleased with the result, and we all agreed that my resemblance was the strongest. We paid 45,000 won for the sketch, plus another 10,000 won for the frame, amounting to 55,000 won (S$47.82) in total.

At 3:30pm, we went to Cheongsapo Station next door to board the Sky Capsule. The platform is located on the second floor. Upon reaching the second floor, we saw a huge crowd of people standing around the small landing area. There was a counter that said “Sky Capsule Check In” so we approached the staff and presented our booking confirmation. They handed us a number tag and asked us to wait for our number to be called.

Our Sky Capsule booking was for the boarding timeslot between 3:30pm and 4:00pm. Tickets for the Sky Capsule are extremely hard to book. Reservations begin every Tuesday at 7:00am four weeks in advance on Blueline Park website (click here). Note that the bookings open for the week that you wish to visit, and not for the specific day. That means if you wish to visit on a Sunday of Week 5, the bookings open on Tuesday at 7:00am on Week 1.

The most popular time to ride the Sky Capsule is one hour before sunset (around 6:00pm – 7:00pm) during the golden hour, and from Mipo to Cheongsapo direction. This is because the capsule will be on the outer track so you will be closer to the sea and get uninterrupted coastal views.

I set a reminder to book the tickets but I mistakenly thought it was for four weeks before the date of visit. We wanted to visit on 29^th April 2026, a Wednesday, and I only logged in to the website on 1^st April, which is the Wednesday four weeks prior. Unknowingly, tickets had already gone on sale a day earlier on 30^th March (Tuesday) at 7:00am. All the best sunset slots from Mipo to Cheongsapo were already taken so I had to choose the next best option, which was the 3:30pm – 4:00pm slot from Cheongsapo to Mipo. You really have to snag your tickets as soon as the bookings open up to secure your preferred time slot.

I also had difficulties completing my reservation on the official website due to authentication errors with my foreign credit card, so I asked my Korean friend to help me book using her local credit card. It costs 45,000 won (S$39.60) to book a capsule for 3 people. To get around the foreign credit card issue, you can also book your tickets through Klook, but the timeslots and/or direction of travel may be limited.

While waiting for our number to be called, we went to the gift shop/café on the second floor because there was very limited standing room at the landing area. The facility isn’t designed well to accommodate the number of people waiting there. It was around 3:55pm when our number was called, but we still had to join the queue to board the capsule. The line moved painfully slowly and we only got into our capsule at 4:19pm, almost 20 minutes past our stipulated boarding timeslot. Finally, after a long wait, we were on our way.

The Sky Capsule was one of the things I was most excited about coming on this trip. I had seen photos and videos on social media and it looked really nice. The capsule was small and cosy but comfortable enough for four people. The slow and scenic ride reminded me of the old Sentosa Monorail, but this is much more private because you have the whole capsule to yourself.

It was a cloudy day so we didn’t have picture-perfect, sunny views but it was still nice. Even though we were travelling from Cheongsapo to Mipo on the inner track, the “interruptions” from the capsules travelling in the opposite direction on the outer track didn’t diminish the enjoyment of the coastal views at all. Furthermore, the view of Haeundae Beach and the city skyline as we approached around the curve was gorgeous. Hence, I will say it is not a big loss if you didn’t manage to get tickets for the golden hour slot from Mipo to Cheongsapo. Going from Cheongsapo to Mipo during non-sunset hour is just as good.

We alighted at Mipo Station at 4:46pm and walked briskly to our next destination. We were in a bit of hurry because we had a reservation for 5:00pm. I didn’t expect to arrive at Mipo Station so late but we were unexpectedly delayed by the boarding of the Sky Capsule. Thankfully, it was only a short walk and we arrived at Haeundae LCT Landmark Tower less than 10 minutes later.

Standing at 411.6m, Haeundae LCT Landmark Tower is the second tallest building in Korea. There is a large observatory called Busan X The Sky 100 on the 98^th to 100^th floors. A ticket to the observatory costs 29,000 won (S$25.52) for adults. The observatory offers panoramic views of both the ocean and the city, with Haeundae Beach right at its doorstep and the mountains nearby. The world’s highest Starbucks is also located here on the 99^th floor.

I had a reservation for dinner at the Sky 99 Grill & Pasta restaurant located on the 99^th floor. I booked a window seat table for the 5:00pm slot. To secure a table, there is a refundable deposit of 20,000 won per person. Additionally, there is a 100-minute time limit for dining. Likewise, it wasn’t easy for foreigners to make a reservation because a local phone number is required, so I asked my Korean friend to make the reservation for me.

After checking in with reception on the ground floor, we took the lift straight to the top of the building. The elevator ride was quite fancy, with LED screens on the three sides and ceiling. There happened to be a pop-up exhibition for Rosé (from the K-Pop group Blackpink) at Busan X The Sky during our visit so as we rose steadily, we were accompanied by the music video of Rosé singing APT., her catchy duet with Bruno Mars (“Apateu, apateu…apateu, apateu”). Upon alighting at the 100^th floor, we walked through another fancy passageway called the Tunnel of Light with strips of colourful LED lights before reaching the observatory.

We walked down a floor and arrived at Sky 99 Grill & Pasta right on the dot at 5:00pm. The friendly staff member led us to our window seat table. The interior was classy and refined but the restaurant was largely empty, with only two other tables occupied. The view was great as you’d expect, but we weren’t facing Haeundae Beach and there weren’t any landmarks, just lots of buildings below and the ocean in front of us.

I initially thought we could order from the à la carte menu but the waiter informed us that we could only go for the Ocean Set for 3, which costs 199,000 won (S$173.04). There is also an Ocean Set for 2, which costs 139,000 won. Apparently, this restaurant is a popular dating spot for couples or those celebrating anniversaries and special occasions.

The 3 Ocean Set includes two sets of Hanwoo tenderloin steak and one pasta for mains. For each person, there is also one serving of salad, soup, amuse-bouche, bread, dessert, and coffee or tea. For the pasta, there were five choices and we chose the beef pasta.

The multi-course meal started with a welcome drink of sparkling white wine and bread with lemon butter. This was followed by Korean beef tartare and grilled abalone appetisers, presented exquisitely on the finest tableware. Next up was broccoli cream soup with pumpkin and pistachio, which was really tasty.

The tomato salad with feta cheese was not an individual portion but a shared serving. Then came the mains. The steak was tender and juicy. The pasta was a big serving with lots of beef chunks so we each had a bit of it as well. Dessert was soy milk panna cotta, and I rounded up the dinner with peppermint tea.

We finished our meal within 80 minutes. It was quite expensive but the food was good. With the dinner reservation, we also get free access to the observatory. Hence, if you deduct the admission cost of the observatory, we only paid 112,000 won (S$99) for the dinner, or S$33 per person, which is actually quite reasonable.

After dinner, we walked around the observatory. It was still cloudy so the views weren’t the best. Anyway, if I can be completely honest, rooftop views from skyscrapers are overrated. The same view from the top of a mountain is much better.

There was also a Shocking Bridge, a short section of glass floor where you can look down 400 metres below. Another free attraction is the Ocean Floor, a small rectangular room about 10 metres long where digital images of corals and fish are projected onto the floor. Every step you take will create rippling waves across the ocean floor, as if you’re walking under the ocean in the sky.

We left Busan X The Sky 100 at 6:35pm, bought some buns from the bakery next door before taking a leisurely evening stroll along Haeundae Beach, just to see why this area is so popular among tourists. Haeundae Beach is Busan’s most famous and iconic 1.5km-long white sand beach. Due to the chilly weather, no one was sunbathing on the beach or swimming in the water, but there were lots of locals jogging on the path beside the beach. We also saw many hotels and nice condominiums along the waterfront. The area around the Metro station was quite vibrant too, with many shops and restaurants.

We took the Metro back to Seomyeon station. The train journey took 30 minutes and we arrived at 7:45pm. The fare was 1,600 won (S$1.41). We went to the Seomyeon Underground Shopping Center that is directly connected to the Metro station for a look, but most of the shops were already closing as it was almost 8:00pm. Mum and dad went back to the hotel first to rest while I proceeded to locate a CD shop nearby that I had bookmarked.

The CD shop is called Power Station and it is located near Seomyeon’s Youth Street, a vibrant shopping district with neon lights, restaurants, bars and retail shops. It was buzzing at night with lots of young people, true to its name. I also noticed lots of rubbish strewn on the ground, which is pretty rare in South Korea. Any correlation here?

As I walked through the street, I saw a large Nike store, Olive Young (of course), SPAO (a popular South Korean fast-fashion and casual wear brand, like the Korean equivalent of Uniqlo), shops selling e-cigarettes and more. There was even a bar called Billie Jean.

Power Station was deserted when I stepped in at 9:00pm. The store is quite big, with a good selection of international CDs and vinyl records alongside their domestic K-Pop releases. I managed to find what I was looking for – the Michael movie soundtrack. I was hoping to pick up Korean pressings but they only had the imported versions of the CD and vinyl, and I bought both anyway.

I went back to the room after that, a little tired but happy. Today’s highlights for me were Haedong Yonggungsa and the Blueline Park Sky Capsule. Cheongsapo Daritdol Skywalk was quite nice too, though I wouldn’t consider it a main highlight. Lotte Mall Dongbusan and the dinner at Sky Grill 99 were within expectations. End of Day 3, looking forward to one more day in Busan tomorrow!