Igidae Coastal Trail and Oryukdo Skywalk: Pick Your Direction
It is the same 4.7km either way, but the end you start from decides whether you make the skywalk before it shuts
| The walk | Dongsaengmal to Oryukdo Sunrise Park is 4.7km and roughly two and a half hours. |
|---|---|
| Cost | Nothing. The trail and the glass skywalk are both free. |
| Direction | Start at Oryukdo and the skywalk is done early. Finish at Dongsaengmal and you walk into the Gwangan Bridge lighting up. |
| Closing | The skywalk shuts at 19:00 from June to September and 18:00 from October to May, with last entry ten minutes earlier. |
| Winter catch | The village bus up to Dongsaengmal only runs from April to December. |
| Difficulty | Constant up and down with stairs. Not viable with a pushchair; wear trainers. |
1. The city and the sea in the same frame
2. Which end you start from changes everything
3. Starting from the glass skywalk
4. Oryukdo is five islands and also six
5. Why this cliff is still empty
6. You are walking on an 80-million-year-old volcano
7. The suspension bridge, Eoulmadang and Nongbawi
8. Finish at Dongsaengmal and the city switches on
9. How hard it actually is
10. When to walk it
11. The danger is off the trail, not on it
There is a 4.7km stretch of undeveloped sea cliff inside Busan. This page is part of our complete Busan travel guide.
1. The city and the sea in the same frame
The IgidaeMap coastal trail runs 4.7km from Dongsaengmal to Oryukdo Sunrise Park. The Busan Tourism Organization puts it at about two and a half hours, and nothing along it costs money.
What makes it unusual is the split view. On one side there is cliff and surf. On the other, across the water, you get Gwangalli, the Gwangan Bridge and the Marine City towers of Haeundae at the same time. This is not a walk that takes you away from the city. It is a walk that keeps the city in the corner of your eye for two hours.
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Distance | 4.7km, Dongsaengmal to Oryukdo Sunrise Park |
| Time | About 2 hours 30 minutes (Busan Tourism Organization) |
| Cost | Free, open year round |
| What it is | Section 2 of the Galmaetgil network and a Busan National Geopark site |
| Suspension bridge | 127m, made of five short spans linked together |
| Skywalk enquiries | Nam-gu facilities agency, 051-601-3416 |
You will also see 3.95km and two hours quoted. That is the geopark’s figure and it measures from Eoulmadang rather than Dongsaengmal. Add the first section back and you get 4.7km.
2. Which end you start from changes everything
Same path, but the direction changes four things: your deadline, how you arrive, where you end up, and what is in front of you while you walk.
| Starting at Oryukdo | Starting at Dongsaengmal | |
|---|---|---|
| Skywalk | Done first. Closing time stops mattering | You have to arrive before it shuts |
| Getting there | City buses 24, 27 and 131, end of the line | Village bus Nam-gu 2, or walk up |
| Where you finish | Dongsaengmal, next to Gwangalli | Oryukdo, then back out by bus |
| What you see | The city grows in front of you | Sea and islands take over the view |
Winter adds a second catch. The Nam-gu 2 village bus, the one that climbs to Dongsaengmal, only runs from April to December. Between January and March you are walking up from a city bus stop or taking a taxi. At weekends and on public holidays that same bus loops between the Oryukdo jetty, the Haeparang trail office, the Keungogae rest stop, the Igidae park car park and the Dongsaengmal entrance.
If the night view is the point, there is only one answer: start at Oryukdo and finish at Dongsaengmal. The spot where the Gwangan Bridge lights up straight ahead of you is at that end.
3. Starting from the glass skywalk
The Oryukdo SkywalkMap is a 15m glass walkway cantilevered 35m above the cliff. The floor is transparent, so the surf breaking underneath is part of the experience. It is free.
The city says it draws more than a million visits a year. For a free installation it is well kept, and on a clear day you can pick out Tsushima, the Japanese island, on the horizon. Busan signs this point as the boundary between the East Sea and the South Sea.
The car park and the information office are on this side. So are toilets, along with the ones at the far end; the middle of the route has almost none. Buy water before you set off, because nothing is sold along the trail.
4. Oryukdo is five islands and also six
The name records the fact that, depending on the tide and your angle, you count five or you count six. OryukdoMap was designated Scenic Site No. 24 on 1 October 2007. It covers 28,189 square metres and is managed by Nam-gu district.
Working outward from the shore, each rock has a name.
| Island | Where the name comes from |
|---|---|
| Bangpaeseom | Shaped like a shield, taking the wind and swell |
| Solseom | A pine grows on top. With Bangpaeseom it forms Usakdo |
| Suriseom | Eagles and kites gathered here to hunt gulls |
| Songgotseom | It comes to a point |
| Gulseom | There is a cave through the middle |
| Deungdaeseom | It carries the lighthouse |
Six names, but the place is called five-or-six because Bangpaeseom and Solseom sit against each other. A high tide floods the gap and they read as one rock; a low tide splits them in two. Count from the same spot morning and evening and you get different answers.
5. Why this cliff is still empty
Not conservation. Access control. Igidae was a military operations zone for decades and civilians could not enter it.
- 1993. Civilian access is permitted. Until then this was a coastline that existed on the map and nowhere else.
- 1997. It is designated a park to protect the landscape.
- 2005. Work on the walking trail begins.
- 2009. The Galmaetgil programme upgrades it into the route people walk today.
While Gwangalli and Haeundae filled up with towers, this stretch stayed as it was. Development did not spare it; development could not get in. Apart from the cliffs on Yeongdo island, no comparable length of natural coast survives inside the city.
The name is far older. Igidae means the terrace of the two courtesans, and is linked to a story from the Japanese invasions of the 1590s in which two women went into the sea from these rocks. The geopark itself notes that the origin is not confirmed.
6. You are walking on an 80-million-year-old volcano
Igidae and Oryukdo are geosites within the Busan National Geopark. According to the geopark, the rock here formed around 80 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous, from lava, ash and pyroclastic flows that settled into volcanic rock and tuffaceous sediment.
You do not need a geology degree to spot the results.
Cliffs and shore platforms
The vertical face the waves have cut, and the flat rock shelf left below it. Much of the trail runs along the top.
Potholes
Round hollows drilled by a pebble spinning in a depression for centuries. They come in every size.
Dykes
Bands of magma that pushed up through older rock and cooled inside it. They read as stripes of a different colour.
There are human traces too. Remains of a colonial-era copper mine sit near the water, and between Dongsaengmal and Eoulmadang you pass low stone mounds that were shelters for haenyeo divers, used to store gear and rest between dives.
7. The suspension bridge, Eoulmadang and Nongbawi
The places people stop are more or less fixed.
The suspension bridge
It is 127m long, and it is not one span. It is five short suspension bridges linked end to end, so the deck gives slightly under each step. Rock and water sit below. High railings and a timber deck make it safe enough, but if heights bother you, budget extra time here.
Eoulmadang
An open platform facing the water, used as a location for the Korean disaster film Haeundae. From here the Gwangan Bridge, Haeundae beach and the Nurimaru pavilion line up in a single frame, which is why this is the spot people name when they ask about photo spots in Busan within Igidae.
Chimabawi and Nongbawi
Chimabawi is named for its resemblance to a folded hanbok skirt. Nongbawi looks like stacked traditional chests and served as a navigation marker for haenyeo divers who came up from Jeju to work this coast. A rock name that records how people made a living here.
8. Finish at Dongsaengmal and the city switches on
The last half hour can be the best part of the day. After sunset the Gwangan BridgeMap lights up and the Marine City towers come on one by one. The place that takes all of that head on is DongsaengmalMap.
It needs planning, though. Parts of the trail have no continuous lighting, and the bridge and stair sections slow right down in the dark. Aim to be past the suspension bridge an hour before sunset. Carry a torch, or at least a charged phone.
From Dongsaengmal it is a short drop to Gwangalli beach, which makes dinner and a night out in Busan a natural continuation. Finishing at Oryukdo instead means backtracking from a bus terminus, and that end of the trail has little open after dark.
9. How hard it actually is
This is not a flat promenade. Following a cliff line means continuous climbing and dropping, with staircases spread through the route. No single climb is long, but you are going up and down for two and a half hours.
| Aspect | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Surface | Timber boardwalk, packed earth and rock sections |
| Stairs | Several flights. Slippery when wet |
| Pushchair or wheelchair | Not viable end to end. The Oryukdo park area is adapted |
| Toilets | At both ends. Assume none in between |
| Food and drink | Nothing is sold on the trail. Bring water |
| Footwear | Trainers at minimum. No sandals, no heels |
If the full route is too much, half works well. Oryukdo to Nongbawi and back, or Dongsaengmal to Eoulmadang and back, each take about an hour. Among things to do in Busan that involve effort, this sits in the middle.
10. When to walk it
Every season has its own catch. Busan being mild year round does not make the months interchangeable.
| Season | What to weigh up |
|---|---|
| Spring | Daffodils out at Oryukdo park, and the best walking temperatures of the year |
| Summer | Very little shade. Skip the middle of the day and start late afternoon |
| Autumn | Clearer air, so more days when Tsushima is visible |
| Winter | Strong wind, plus the Nam-gu 2 village bus stops running from January to March |
By time of day there are two choices. For sunrise, Oryukdo: the park is named for it and faces due east. For the night view, Dongsaengmal. Doing both in one day means two separate trips out, before dawn and again at dusk. Month by month conditions are in the best time to visit Busan.
Rain is not worth it here. Rock and stairs get slippery, and on a cliff walk with no visibility there is not much left.
11. The danger is off the trail, not on it
The path itself is safe. Incidents happen when people leave it. This coast is a known fishing spot and some visitors climb down from the boardwalk onto the rocks.
The rest is simple. Where signage closes a section, it is closed for a reason, and the suspension bridge section can be shut in typhoon or high wind warnings. Carry plenty of water in summer, and avoid walking alone after dark.
Staying near Busan Station puts this about 40 minutes away. For a short outing straight off the train, Choryang Ibagu-gil is the closer option; this route wants half a day cleared for it. Bus numbers change when the city reorganises routes, so check them along with your Busan transit card before you set out. For fitting it into a wider plan, see things to do in Busan.
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🍜Food7
🏨Where to Stay3
🚇Getting Around7
🧭Travel Tips14
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Frequently asked questions
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Images: All photographs from the Busan Tourism Archive (visitbusan.net/archive) under KOGL Type 1. Gwangan Bridge view, coastal aerial and both Oryukdo Sunrise Park images: Hyphen Group / Busan Tourism Organization. Suspension bridge, drone night view and Dongsaengmal viewpoint: Summertree and Jeong Min-gyu / Busan Metropolitan City. Coastal rock and angler: Summertree and Ieum Media / Busan Metropolitan City and Busan Tourism Organization.