Barely Busan: Off to Dadaepo - Beach, Sunset and Fountain of Dream

Following our Jeju Island itinerary of ending our day by the beach, I scheduled a trip to Dadaepo Beach in the late afternoon of Day 1 of our Busan sight-seeing so the boys would have time to play by the beach and we could watch the musical fountain show after watching the sunset, which according to my reading was the best place to do so in Busan.

looking up at Gamcheon Village from Jagalchi area

From Taejongdae Park, we were supposed to go to Gamcheon Cultural Village but as it required around 3 hours to walk around the village (as per suggested on several sources) and it was starting to drizzle so we knew we wouldn't be able to explore the village under the rain, we decided we would schedule it for the following day. 

 

We walked towards the Jagalchi Fish Market but didn't enter the building itself. Instead, we walked pass some of the vendors along the streets selling a variety of seafood. No food tasting, only seafood ogling.

We headed back to Jagalchi Station and took the train to Sinpyeong Station (subway Line 1) then took a bus going to Dadaepo Beach. There were several buses to choose from (#2, 11, 338, 1000, Saha 3-1). We took the first one that came. It was a long bus journey, estimated to be about 40mins, so we had to make sure we got a seat. The bus was a bit packed, some were students. Although we had the location on my smartphone map I had to ask one of the cute Korean students if they knew where we should alight. They were giggling at each other trying to figure out how to explain to us the directions in English. She managed a "yes", "no", and "still far" answer. After roughly 40mins since we boarded the bus, we heard "Dadaepo" so we thought we should go down there. We asked around, from the CU shop, how we could get to the beach area. It was still about a 10-minute walk from the bus stop.

The boys couldn't wait to see the sand and the beach, as expected, but we still had to walk through the Fountain Area then through a park and finally to the beach. While the boys were more excited to run around and play in the sand, Mark and I were looking forward to the beautiful sunset which, according to what I've read, was why a lot of photographers go to Dadaepo Beach for.

hubby and I having fun with the smartphone cam while watching the kids

family photo just before sundown

We had the beach all to ourselves until people started arriving. They all had one thing in common - tripods, cameras, big lenses. We assumed these were photographers who would also want to capture Busan sunset at Dadaepo. I told hubby we should get a good place to get a good shot of the sunset, too. We were already sitting by the staircase at the edge of the park which we thought was a good enough location. But then it seemed that the sun wasn't going to show up anytime soon. It was cloudy and there was a possibility of missing the famous sunset at Dadaepo.

After what seemed to be hours of waiting, some of the photographers gave up and left, while others waited a bit longer, just in case. For us, waiting was no issue since we were also waiting for the Fountain of Dreams show after sunset. And the kids were still busy entertaining themselves. I guess it really pays off being patient. After almost all of the photographers gave up and left, we were rewarded by a quick peek by the setting sun.

my husband was able to catch a peep from the sun before it disappeared into the clouds again

Before it got dark, we walked back to the fountain area to watch the famous Fountain of Dreams show. It started to drizzle again so we were quite worried the show would be postponed or even cancelled. We took shelter from a nearby small building. Few minutes passed and the drizzles stopped. 

 It was a combination of lights, water and sound show which was mesmerizing.

Visitors have the option to sit by the bleachers or in the set up chairs surrounding the fountain area. We decided to take the bleachers as the breeze was catching on and we had a feeling there were "soak zones". We didn't want to get soaked specially as it started to get colder in the night. It was a good choice after all. We braced ourselves for the cold weather as we enjoyed the sights and sounds right in front of us.

We travelled a long way from where we were staying in Busan but it was all worth it. 

Here's more of Dadaepo Beach: