Ride the Busan Air Cruise over Songdo Bay, then walk the Cloud Trail above the waves

A line of little cabins swings out across Songdo Bay, 86 metres above the water, linking Korea’s oldest public beach to a wooded headland of layered cliffs. The crossing takes only a few minutes, but with the right ticket and an early start, the cable car, the clifftop bridge at the far end and the walkway below it make one of the most memorable half days on the coast.

I rode the cable car across Songdo Bay in October, on a day spent exploring the older, western side of Busan, and it’s one of the things I’d tell anyone not to miss there. The cabin glides out over open water with the coastline unrolling beside you, and once you step off at the other end and wander round the headland, the whole of the city is laid out in front of you.

I’d give anyone heading there two bits of advice. Pay a little extra for a cabin with a glass floor, and get to Songdo early if you possibly can, because that’s when cloud tends to settle over the islet at the end of the walkway. Oh, and when you reach the top station, don’t let the growling gorillas put you off.

This guide covers which ticket to buy, what’s waiting at each end of the line, the suspension bridge and the walkway over the sea, the best time of day to visit and the buses that get you there.

Busan Air Cruise at a glance

• What it is: a 1.62 km cable car over the sea from Songdo Beach to Amnam Park, also known as the Songdo Marine Cable Car (송도해상케이블카).
• Where: Songdo Bay Station, 171 Songdohaebyeon-ro, Seo-gu. Search for 송도해상케이블카 in Naver Map or KakaoMap.
• Hours: daily from 9am, closing at 8pm from December to February, 9pm from March to June and September to November, and 10pm in July and August. Ticket sales stop 30 minutes before closing, and the cable car can shut early in bad weather.
• Tickets: an adult return costs 19,000 won (about £11) for a regular cabin or 24,000 won (about £14) for a glass-floored Crystal Cruise cabin. One way is 15,000 or 19,000 won. Children aged three to 12 pay 14,000 or 18,000 won return, and under-threes ride free.
• How long: each crossing takes up to about eight minutes. Give yourself two or three hours to fit in the crossing, the top station, the suspension bridge and the Cloud Trail.
• Also here: the Songdo Cloud Trail (free, 6am to 11pm) and the Songdo Yonggung Suspension Bridge (1,000 won).

Why the Crystal Cruise is worth the upgrade

The first cable car over Songdo Bay opened in the 1960s, back when its sands were the place for a day at the seaside. That line shut down in the late 1980s, and the modern one you ride today opened in June 2017. Its 39 cabins each carry up to eight people, and 13 of them are Crystal Cruise cabins with transparent floors. The line runs from Songdo Bay Station, beside the beach, out across the water to Songdo Sky Park Station in Amnam Park, rising as high as 86 metres above the waves.

I’d book the Crystal Cruise without a second thought. For an extra 5,000 won on a return, you get more windows and a see-through floor, so the rugged cliffs and the bay slide past directly beneath your feet instead of somewhere off to the side. It’s the kind of upgrade that’s very easy to justify once you’re on board.

The views reach well beyond the bay. Looking back from the cabin, you can pick out the apartment towers that crowd the beachfront, the long, low Namhang Bridge leading across to Yeongdo island and, on its hill above the port, the white needle of Busan Tower.

Look past the gorillas at Songdo Sky Park

Step out at Songdo Sky Park Station and you’ll find more going on than you might expect. The building has a cable car museum in the basement, a cafe and an Ocean Terrace on the second floor and, on the third, the Skyharbor Observatory, with a rooftop themed around The Little Prince. Outside, a plaza holds a dinosaur exhibit and an assortment of photo spots.

It’s all a bit strange, truth be told. My advice is to ignore the slightly weird growling gorillas and head for the viewpoints instead, because the views out over the city from up here are the real reward.

Amnam Park itself is a big part of the appeal. The headland is cloaked in pine woods, and its paths lead to lookouts over the sea and back across the bay to the city. It’s also one of the geosites of Busan’s national geopark, prized for its coastal cliffs of conglomerate, sandstone and mudstone, laid down in bands that you can see clearly from the walkways. Archaeologists have also turned up Neolithic pottery and shell middens here, so people have been enjoying this spot for thousands of years.

Cross the Yonggung suspension bridge to Dongseom

A couple of minutes’ walk down from the Sky Park plaza, a staircase drops through the trees to the Songdo Yonggung Suspension Bridge (Songdo Yonggung Gureum Dari, or “cloud bridge”), which strides 127 metres across the sea from the tip of Amnam Park to Dongseom, a small rocky islet with a viewing platform at the end. The deck is just 2 metres wide and hangs more than 20 metres above the water, and its steel grating floor lets you watch the sea moving below as you cross.

The bridge is a revival. Songdo had an earlier cloud bridge, one of the best-loved sights on the coast, but Typhoon Selma battered it in 1987 and it was pulled down in 2002. The new one opened in June 2020 and has drawn more than three million visitors since. It was busy when I was there, with a steady stream of people filing down the steps and out over the water.

Walk out over the sea on the Songdo Cloud Trail

Back down at the beach, the Songdo Cloud Trail (sometimes called the Cloud Walk or the Songdo Skywalk) carries on where the cable car leaves off. Starting from the shore close to Songdo Bay Station, this 365-metre walkway loops out over the water on stilts and ends at Geobukseom, a tiny islet said to look like a turtle. Parts of the floor are tempered glass or open grating, so the waves wash in and out right under your shoes.

If you’re a bit funny with heights, don’t let that put you off. It honestly isn’t bad at all, and it’s an easy, level stroll, with the lighthouse, the sweep of the bay and nothing but sea ahead of you.

On the islet, look out for a pair of statues. They tell a Songdo legend of a fisherman who fell in love with the daughter of the Dragon King, a mermaid.

The walkway is free and open every day from 6am to 11pm. Come early in the morning if you can: that’s when cloud often wraps itself round the island, and you’ll understand straight away how the trail came by its name.

When to go

• Early morning: the Cloud Trail opens at 6am, hours before the cable car, so walk it first while the cloud is still about, then be at Songdo Bay Station for the first cabins at 9am, when queues are at their shortest.
• Weekends and holidays: these bring the biggest crowds, and the wait for a cabin can run long on weekend afternoons. Go on a weekday if your plans allow.
• Evening: the cable car runs into the evening all year, so you can ride across with the lights of the beachfront coming on. The suspension bridge shuts at 5pm or 6pm, though, so do that part first.
• Weather: the cable car and the bridge both close in strong winds and storms. Check the live status on the Air Cruise website before you set off, and remember the bridge is shut on the first and third Mondays of the month.

How to get to the Busan Air Cruise

Songdo sits on the far west side of the city from Haeundae, so allow time to get across. From Haeundae, take subway line 2 to Seomyeon, change to line 1 and ride on to Nampo or Jagalchi, then finish by bus. A taxi is much simpler, especially if you’re coming from Gamcheon Culture Village, a short ride away.

• To Songdo Bay Station and the Cloud Trail: from Nampo Station (line 1, exit 8) take bus 6, 30 or 71, from Jagalchi Station (line 1, exit 2) bus 6, 26, 30, 71, 96 or 96-1, or from Busan Station bus 26 (about 15 minutes). Get off at the Amnam-dong Community Service Center stop and walk about six minutes.
• To Songdo Sky Park Station and the bridge: bus 7, 30 or 71 from Nampo Station to the Amnam Park stop, then walk about two minutes.
• By car: there’s a large car park of about 500 spaces by Songdo Bay Station.

Google Maps isn’t much help in South Korea, so use Naver Map or KakaoMap for bus routes, and see my South Korea travel tips for the apps and transport cards that make getting around easy. If you’d like to fit Songdo into a longer stay, my 3 days in Busan itinerary pairs it with Gamcheon and Yeongdo on its first day.

Map

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• How to spend 10 days in South Korea, from Seoul’s palaces to live octopus in Busan

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