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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Gwangalli Beach (A Review)

Versus.... Haeundae Beach vs Daytona Beach vs Waikiki

Ok, no, I'm not going to really compare it to all those. Just to Haeundae.

Yes this is our super sweet sand castle!! And you can't even see the twigs we used for trees!

Our goal is to try all the major beaches near Busan and some closer to us. Unfortunately, I suck at taking pictures recently and this is really the only picture I took while we were at Gwangalli. God I suck.

I summary, Haeundae is a much nicer beach. Nicer sand, nicer water, beach umbrellas are nicer and they don't stab you in the head by accident. <-- Ok, that was mostly me and not the beach. Still it goes into my reasons why Gwangalli just wasn't as good.

So, at Haeundae you can rent an umbrella and beach tarp for 5,000W for all day. At Gwangalli, you can rent an umbrella for 5,000W, but it doesn't come with a sweet tarp. However, you can buy a tarp for forever if you pay another 3,000W.  But who wants to lug a tarp around with them? Also, at Haeundae there are umbrellas that have chairs you can rent for slightly more. They don't at Gwangalli though... sad face.

At both beaches you can rent inner-tubes for 5,000W all day. That's pretty cool. Though I have yet to do this because the water is still so cold (think spring fed river cold). My theory thus far... get in, get numb, get back out.

Some better pictures thanks to the Korea Tourism website...
Gwangalli Beach

 And at night during one of the many festivals.

Although I wouldn't recommend Gwangalli during the day... unless you're staying in Busan during the peak season and you just can't stand the thought of going to Haeundae during this:
***Shudder***

I would recommend Gwangalli at night. After having spent several several nights trying to get drunk at both beaches I feel confident in saying that the bars and nightlife at Gwangalli far exceeds the one at Haeundae. Just walking up and down the strip it is far easier to find bars that have a nice view of the beach and there are Noribangs in excess of course. Whereas in Haeundae you really need to head in-land, not so easy for the normal tourist to know where the good spots are. If you're not careful you could easily end up in the red-light district of Haeundae. (Not Joking there)

I would also like to emphasize how easy public transportation is in Busan as well. Between trains, buses, very reasonably priced taxis and even a "representative driver" (too drunk to drive but don't want to leave your car downtown? Call a representative driver to drive you home!) service which costs about the same as a taxi, there's no reason to drive drunk and no reason why everyone in your party can't drink! Gombae!!

I'll let you know how the other beaches go as the summer continues on!

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