Haeundae Station: Which Exit for the Beach, the Market and Haeridan-gil

Haeundae Station is the subway stop Visit Busan gives for Haeundae Beach, and its exits are easy to mix up. The operator's own list names six of them. Two of them are listed for the beach, and a third leads to the streets I'd most like you to see. This post answers one question: which exit should you use, and for what?

I'll give you the official exit list first, then the choice I'd actually make, and the two aren't quite the same.

Aerial view of Gunam-ro, the pedestrian street from Haeundae Station

The exit list, straight from the operator

Haeundae Station is on subway Line 2. The Busan Transportation Corporation, which runs the subway, publishes a short table of what sits outside each exit. Here it is in plain English:

  • Exit 1: Haeundae-gu District Office, the U1-dong post office and the KT Haeundae branch
  • Exit 2: toward the Haeundae new town area and the intercity bus terminal
  • Exit 3: Haeundae Beach, Haeundae Traditional Market and the Save Zone shopping center
  • Exit 4: Busan Machinery Technical High School
  • Exit 5: Haeundae Beach
  • Exit 7: the station police box and the U1-dong community center

The operator's table has no line for an Exit 6, so I won't guess what's there. What matters is the pattern: Exits 3 and 5 both point to the beach. Exit 4 lists only a school, and for most visitors that undersells it badly.

For the beach: Exit 5, and expect a real walk

If the sand is the plan, use Exit 5. That's the exit Visit Busan, the city's official tourism site, gives for Haeundae Beach, and it puts the walk from there at 15 minutes.

That number may surprise you, because on a map the station looks like it's practically on the beach. Visit Busan lists the beach itself at 264 Haeundaehaebyeon-ro. If you're carrying a parasol, a cooler and a tired child, 15 minutes is a real cost — plan for it rather than being annoyed by it.

Exit 3 is the other beach exit on the operator's list, and I'd use it when the market comes first. The operator lists Haeundae Traditional Market at Exit 3 alongside the beach, so it's the natural choice for lunch before swimming. I've written about what to eat there in my Haeundae market post. Visit Busan gives no walking time from Exit 3, so I won't invent one.

There's a trade-off here worth being honest about. Exit 5 is the official beach route with a published time. Exit 3 is listed for the beach too, but nobody official says how long it takes. If you want certainty, Exit 5 wins, but if food is the first stop anyway, Exit 3 is the better door.

You can also skip the subway. Visit Busan lists bus routes 139, 307 and 1003, all stopping at Haeundae Beach, along with a public parking lot at the beach itself.

For Haeridan-gil: Exit 4, and go there first

This next part is easy to overlook if you only read the exit list. Guests come back to my front desk and tell me the same thing more often than anything else. What they liked best wasn't the beach, it was the small streets around it.

The former Haeundae railway station, now Haeundae Platform

The best known of those streets is Haeridan-gil, and its exit is Exit 4. Visit Busan puts it four minutes on foot from there, which is a far shorter walk than the beach is from Exit 5.

Haeridan-gil sits in U-dong, behind the old Haeundae railway station on the Donghae Nambu Line. That line was taken out of service, but the station building still stands, and the Busan Tourism Archive lists it today as Haeundae Platform. After the trains stopped, small cafes, shops and restaurants moved into the neighborhood behind the tracks. Over time people began calling the area Haeridan-gil.

The contrast with the beachfront is the whole point. Near the sand you get towers, while here, according to Visit Busan, you get two- and three-story houses packed tightly together, many of them turned into places to eat. It's a neighborhood rather than a strip, and that's what guests seem to remember.

A Haeridan-gil cafe with outdoor tables

Visit Busan's own description leans hard on food. It highlights cooking from many different countries, a dim sum restaurant, a Thai-style rice noodle place and a cafe in a converted house. I'm not going to rank individual places here, because they change and a list I can't check against an official source would be guesswork.

Why I'd send you to Exit 4 before the beach

This is where I'll take a side. If you have one afternoon in Haeundae, start at Exit 4 and leave the beach for later.

My reason is simple. The streets are what guests talk about afterward, and the beach will still be there at five o'clock. Exit 4 is also the shorter walk, so you lose almost nothing by starting there. Do it the other way round and you reach the back streets sandy, hot and ready to sit down anywhere.

There are costs to this plan, and you should know them before you commit.

  • Queues. Visit Busan notes that one popular restaurant here always has people waiting. At lunchtime on a weekend, expect to queue somewhere.
  • People live here. These are residential blocks with shops mixed in. Keep your voice down on side streets, especially at night.
  • It isn't one straight line. Visit Busan describes Haeridan-gil as the village and shops behind the old tracks, not a single road. Save the Korean name, 해리단길, before you set out.
  • A second walk. Starting at Exit 4 means the beach is a separate walk afterward, not a short step across the road.

None of that is a reason to skip it, only a reason to go with a loose plan and comfortable shoes.

Low brick buildings along a Haeridan-gil street

Getting to Haeundae Station in the first place

From my part of the city it's a short ride. Board Line 2 at Centum City going east, and Haeundae is the third stop after BEXCO and Dongbaek. The next stop, Jung-dong, is the one for Blue Line Park's Mipo station.

The operator gives the station's address as 626 Haeundae-ro, underground.

For fares and the transit card you'll need at the gate, see Paying Your Way Around Busan, so I won't repeat any of it here.

The short version

For the beach, use Exit 5 and allow 15 minutes on foot, and for the market first, use Exit 3. For Haeridan-gil, use Exit 4 — four minutes on foot, and I'd go there before the sand.

If you're staying with me, one practical note for the evening. My front desk is staffed from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., and every week some guests arrive outside those hours. Keep that in mind if Haeridan-gil holds on to you late. Rooms and questions both go straight to me through korea-busan.com.

Facts checked on 26 September 2026. Station exits, station order and station address: Busan Transportation Corporation (humetro.busan.kr). Beach walking time, bus routes, parking, and Haeridan-gil location, history and walking time: Visit Busan (visitbusan.net). Former station building name: Busan Tourism Archive (visitbusan.net).

Photo: Busan Tourism Archive (visitbusan.net), KOGL Type 1

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