Busan’s Haedong Yonggungsa Temple and Haeundae Beach

 

Driving the majority of Korea’s length made it overly apparent that Korea is a mountainous country, with around two thirds of it being mountains and uplands.  After a long five-hour drive along the coast from Sokcho to Busan, what we really needed was a peaceful, calming temple. Next to the Lotte World theme park, Haedong Yonggungsa Temple is a far cry from rejuvenating on a summer’s afternoon.  If you are looking for a serene temple atmosphere, try going when it opens at 5am.

 

Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, situated on rocks overlooking the ocean, is a modern temple built upon the foundational grounds of a historic temple site.

 

From the pagoda statue near the entrance to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, you can turn right or left.  If you want the stunning view first, go left.  Descending down the 108 stairs, which are symbolic of the 108 temptations found in Buddhism, you'll pass the turnoff for the rocks overlooking the viewpoint.  Then make your way towards the main temple courtyard.

 

Chris tossed a coin into the temple’s wishing pond.  He slightly missed the jackpot wish.

 

 

The temple’s motto is “At least one of your wishes will be answered here through your heartful prayers.”

 

Located at the southeast tip of Korea, Busan is the summer capital and second largest city.  With a rich cultural past, interesting cuisine, numerous temples, and seaside activities, Busan offers more than enough to keep you busy for a minimum of two days.  There's so much to do that I traded it for my original reservations at a temple stay.

 

After the drive and draining heat at the temple, we needed to act like kids for a minute. Across from the temple and directly next to Lotte World is a great opportunity to do that: Skyline Luge Busan.  We paid ₩ 30,000 for three rides ($23).  (Afterwards I noticed that Klook sells a ticket that includes a digital picture for only $2 more.)

 

First you take the chairlift up to the top of the course.

 

At the top they start you off with a briefing and test on how to operate the luge: push to go, pull to stop.

 

The two main routes each split off, totaling four different routes down.

 

Spotting a large slow group in front of us, Chris commented that they’re just more obstacles.  After our quick lesson, I went first and obviously wasn’t fast enough through the chicane because I heard “beep beep” right behind me from Chris’s verbal horn.  Chris took lead on the second run - surely reaching 22 mph, pushing the limits of the luge.  At the bottom I got my first Chris smile of the day; he just needed to speed without any speed enforcement cameras.  On our final round, I left him in the dust, using a tactic I knew he wouldn’t deploy: I passed some lugers (“obstacles”) screaming like a crazy white lady out of control. “Brake,” they called after me, conveniently blocking Chris in. Too much fun!

 

In close proximity to the temple is the Haeundae Beach area, one of Busan’s main tourist attractions. If we had an extra day, it would’ve been nice to spend time lounging here on the 1-mile stretch of white-sand beach.

 

The Busan beaches are open July 1-August 31, with some opening in June. You can be fined if you swim without a lifeguard present.

 

Putting our toes in the water, walking the stretch of the beach and watching everyone enjoying themselves brought the serenity and happiness that the temple was lacking.

 

Brilliant! We need compressed air stations at our beaches!

 

Other popular activities in Haeundae Beach (that we didn't do):

 

Busan X in the Sky is an observatory located on floors 98-100 of the Landmark Tower, dominating Haeundae's skyline since 2019.

 

You can enjoy a 30-minute coastal ride in a 4-person retro-looking Haeundae Sky Capsule in Blueline Park, offering a choice to take the beach train back. Several joggers passed us headed to and from the parallel coastal walking trail (the “green railway”).

 

In the evening, the Haeundae Beach area transforms into a popular night hotspot. For dinner we sampled a variety of food from Haeundae Traditional Market.

 

Haeundae Market is a popular traditional market, conveniently located near Haeundae Beach.

 

There was a long line for the tteokbokki (simmered rice cakes in spicy gochujang sauce).  It was very spicy!

 

Toasted marshmallow ice cream and honeycomb ice cream - we couldn’t decide so tried both.  Yum!

 

At the night markets it especially became apparent how difficult it is to throw trash away in Korea.  They take their trash rules very seriously and offer very few public trash cans.  If you don’t want to carry your own trash, you can give it back to the vendor or find a trash can in a public restroom.