Yongdusan Park

Yongdusan is a small wooded hill in the middle of old Busan, rising straight out of the Nampo shopping streets, and it is the city's central park - a flat summit plaza with a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, a bell pavilion, flower beds, pigeons and benches, and Busan Tower standing a hundred and twenty metres above it. The tower's observation deck looks over the old harbour, the Yeongdo bridge, the container terminals and the ranges behind the city; it is ticketed and was refurbished with a media exhibit. Getting up is easy - a covered escalator runs from Gwangbok-ro, which most people take, or there are steps. Fires in the 1940s and 1950s left the hill charred and it was replanted afterwards, so the woodland is younger than it looks. It is the natural pause between Jagalchi fish market and the Nampo streets rather than a destination on its own.

History

The hill was once called Songhyeonsan for its pines, and in the Joseon period it held a waegwan, a Japanese trading enclave; its present name means dragon's head. The park covers 69,000 square meters with 70 species of trees, and the 120-meter Busan Tower stands on it (Wikipedia, Yongdusan Park).

What's there

• The summit plaza - statue, bell pavilion and flower beds.
• Busan Tower - the observation deck over the harbour.
• The harbour view - old port, bridges and the ranges behind.
• The escalator - the covered run up from the shopping street.

When to go

Any time; evenings for the lit harbour are the local favourite. April to June and September to November are the comfortable months.

Things to know

The park itself is small and ordinary. The tower is charged separately and queues at weekends and sunset. The view is of a working port, not scenery.

Nearby

Jagalchi fish market and Gukje market are at the foot; Gamcheon village is a bus ride.

Key facts