Riding the Donghae Line in Busan

The Donghae Line is the railway that carries you from central Busan up the east coast. Visit Busan, the city’s official tourism site, recommends five stops on it, from Bujeon Station to Ilgwang Station in Gijang-gun. That page still describes Ilgwang as the last stop, but the line has since been extended. This guide uses Visit Busan for the stops and walking times, and an official Busan city notice for the line itself.

We checked every fact on 2 October 2026. The sources are listed at the end.

The Line Today

The Busan city notice of 4 January 2022 says the second phase of the line, from Ilgwang to Taehwagang Station (37.2 kilometers, 8 stations), opened on 28 December 2021. Taehwagang is in Ulsan, and the notice says one-way travel from Bujeon to Taehwagang takes 76 minutes. It lists 23 stations in all. The notice says trains ran every 15 minutes at peak times and every 25 to 30 minutes at other times. That is the 2022 wording, so check the current timetable.

A second city notice mentions a separate KTX-Eum fast service. We did not confirm its start date, route or tickets, so this guide covers the local line only.

The Route Visit Busan Recommends

Visit Busan’s order is Bujeon, Allak, Songjeong, Gijang and Ilgwang. The notice’s station list shows what the recommendation skips, and we mark it in the diagram: Geojehaemaji, Geoje, Busan National University of Education and Dongnae between Bujeon and Allak; Busan Wondong and Jaesong between Allak and Centum; BEXCO and Shin-Haeundae between Centum and Songjeong; OSIRIA between Songjeong and Gijang.

1. Bujeon Station and Bujeon Market

Visit Busan calls Bujeon Station the starting point of the line. The market next to it is a cluster of eight markets, often called Bujeon Market Town, and Visit Busan says it feels like a small town. It lists food such as fruit, roasted chestnuts, roasted sweet potatoes, fish cake, spicy rice cakes, blood sausage and fritters, and suggests eating there before you start the line. For more on the market, see our Bujeon Market guide.

2. Allak Station and Oncheoncheon Café Street

Visit Busan says it takes about 10 minutes to walk from Allak Station to the Oncheoncheon Stream, where a café street runs along the water with brunch items and coffee. Another page we used for our Oncheon guide gives a 12-minute walk from Exit 1, so allow 10 to 12 minutes.

3. Songjeong Station and Songjeong Beach

From Songjeong Station, Visit Busan says it is a 20-minute walk to Songjeong Beach. It says the beach is not crowded except during the university “MT” season, that small vans on the beachfront sell toast, and that Jukdo Park at the edge of the beach has a short pine-forest trail and a sea view from the Songiljeong Pavilion.

4. Gijang Station and Jukseong Catholic Church

Visit Busan says the church is about 20 minutes by bus from Gijang Station. It was built as a drama filming location and sits at the end of a rock facing the sea. We did not find a bus number in this source. For a bus route to the temple Haedong Yonggungsa from OSIRIA Station, see our Yonggungsa and Jukseong guide.

5. Ilgwang Station and Ilgwang Beach

Visit Busan says the beach is a 10-minute walk from Ilgwang Station. It describes a crescent-shaped beach with shallow water, marine sports when the beach is open, and a campsite. Trains continue beyond Ilgwang toward Taehwagang, and we did not research the stops after Ilgwang.

Fares, Hours and Passes

The 2022 city notice gave the fare as 1,300 won for up to 10 kilometers, plus 200 won for each additional 10 kilometers, plus 200 won for crossing the Busan-Ulsan border, up to a maximum of 2,500 won. We could not confirm today’s fares.

Our Busan metro guide reports what Visit Busan says: Lines 1 to 4, the Busan-Gimhae Light Rail and the Donghae Line operate from 05:00 to 23:59, and first and last trains vary by station. It also says the 1-, 3- and 30-day metro passes are not valid on the Donghae Line. Read our Busan metro and card guide before you buy a pass.

First-Timer Tips

These are our suggestions, not sourced facts.

Do not try all five stops in one day. Pick two, such as Songjeong and Ilgwang.
Take a screenshot of your station name in Korean and English before you ride.
Check the last train for your return station on the day. We could not find a timetable in our sources.

FAQ

Where does the line start and end? The city notice lists 23 stations from Bujeon to Taehwagang in Ulsan. Visit Busan’s recommended route ends at Ilgwang.

How long does it take? The city notice says 76 minutes one way from Bujeon to Taehwagang. For Gijang and Ilgwang, Visit Busan’s tour page says about 30 minutes from downtown. We did not verify either ourselves.

Can I use my metro day pass? Visit Busan says the 1-, 3- and 30-day metro passes are not valid on the Donghae Line.

Is the line in English? We did not confirm this, so check station signs and your map app.

What We Could Not Confirm

Current fares and today’s timetable.
Whether card transfer discounts apply on the Donghae Line.
Where to buy tickets at the Donghae Line stations.
Bus numbers from Gijang Station to Jukseong Catholic Church.
Anything about the stops after Ilgwang.
How the KTX-Eum fast service relates to local trains and tickets.

Before You Go

Pick the stop that suits your day, check the walk times above and have a map app ready. For short guides, follow @rolo.koreaguide on Instagram.

Related guides

Sources

Checked on 2 Oct 2026.

Busan Metropolitan City, official English site: “Donghae Line (Busan-Ulsan) Fully Opens on December 28, 2021” (published 4 Jan 2022), https://www.busan.go.kr/eng/bsnews01/1516364 ; “Extension of KTX-Eum Services (Cheongnyangni-Bujeon Route)”, https://www.busan.go.kr/eng/bsnews01/1711637.
Visit Busan (official Busan tourism site): Donghae Line recommended tour, https://www.visitbusan.net/en/index.do?menuCd=DOM_000000302011001000&uc_seq=490&lang_cd=en. This page predates the 2021 extension.
Hours and pass rules come from our own Busan metro guide, which cites Visit Busan’s Preparing for a Trip pages.
The diagram is our own drawing and is not to scale.