Haeundae Blueline park operates both the Haeundae Blueline Sky Capsule and Haeundae Blueline Beach Train, which opened in 2020 on an abandoned railway track. Both are very colorful and cute, hence, loved by the Instagrammers.
The Sky Capsule
Price for 2 people: 1 way – 35,000 won, return ticket needs to be purchased separately. Not included in the Busan Pass.
The Sky capsules run only between two stops – Mipo near Haeundae beach and Cheongsapo. It’s slower than the train and takes about half an hour to get from one station to another.
Each Sky capsule fits max 4 people and they allow minimum 2-person fare to be paid (meaning if you travel alone, unfortunately you will have to pay for 2 persons, but you will get the whole capsule to yourself).
The Beach Train
Prices: 1 way – 7,000 won, Round trip -12,000 won, all day ticket – 16,000 won. Included in the Busan Pass.
The beach trains runs from Mipo to Songeong via Cheongsapo and has several stops. The ride from Mipo to Songjeong takes about half an hour.
The train has 6 stops: from Mipo you can hop off at Dalmaji tunnel, Cheongsapo stop, Daritdol Observatory, Gudeokpo or go all the way to Songjeong. The train has two rows of seats and is often very crowded.
Note: there is also a package fair for 1 way Sky Capsule + Beach train, but it costs 59,000 won for 2 people, as opposed to 67,000 = 35,000 (1 way Sky capsule for 2) + 32,000 (all day train ticket for 2), but it doesn’t provide much of a discount, unless, you want unlimited train rides.
Tickets
If you are visiting on a weekday not during a busy season, you may be able to get tickets on the spot. However, you can’t be sure of that even on quieter days, while weekends (especially during cherry blossom and autumn seasons) are almost always sold out in advance. Also particularly busy times are just before sunset, as people love watching sunset from the capsule.
If when booking the ticket of Sky capsule from Mipo to Cheongsapo are already sold out, don’t despair early and double check if the vice versa are available. I recently helped someone find tickets on the day, as Mipo-Cheongsapo route was sold out and they thought they missed out. Luckily, several tickets on Cheongsapo-Mipo route were still available.
As we were visiting on a weekend day and didn’t have too much flexibility in terms of coming here twice or staying around all day, if certain slots were not available, I made sure to book tickets 2 weeks in advance. We received the email confirmation, which we presented at the ticket office on the day to get the actual tickets.
Most people take Sky Capsule one way and Beach train back to experience both. Some do only train to save money. We decided to only do Sky Capsule one way – Cheongsapo to Mipo – as this direction usually has less crowds, so we would have to wait less.
Our Experience of Taking the Sky Capsule
Before our ride, we explored Cheongsapo with its observation deck and lovely cafes. Once the time on our booked ticket neared, we headed to the station. The ticket has a 30-minute slot (for instance, it says 15.00-15.30), which means that your boarding time is within this window. You may have to wait quite a lot (for both Sky Capsule and train) if the station is busy. We showed up slightly earlier than our 30-minute window and had to wait about 10 minutes from Cheongsapo to Mipo.
We loved our slow ride in the colorful Sky capsule – they come in green, red, blue, yellow and pinky-colorful (this last is for the Busan festival). It’s lovely observing the other Sky capsules in front and behind, as well passing ones. On this route we were on the track on the side of the forest, not the sea, but we had an amazing sea view, as well as lots of opportunities to take photos of the passing capsule with sea in the background.
Small side windows actually open for you to take photos or feel the wind. We certainly used this for our photos, as well as saying hi to people in passing capsules 😊
First, we took photos of the greenery, as we were passing tree covered areas. Towards the end of the ride, we got nice shots of the Haeundae high rise skyline as well.
Overall, it took about 30 minutes, however, we felt this time flew by really fast. We wouldn’t mind having even more time. I don’t understand people who say it was too long.
Overall, this was one of our favorite activities in Korea, so I do recommend doing this, especially if you like trains and nice views.
By the way from the capsule, we noticed a terraced café Dongbaek 104 (Montee 104 on Google). From the terrace, you can watch the passing capsules and take cute photos. Once you are done with your ride, you can check out this or another cute café in Mipo.
See details of the possible options in the area in my post dedicated to Busan cafes.
See also:
Post about visiting Busan and possible itineraries.
Suggested 1-day itinerary for visiting Busan
