A sand beach walled by a line of hotel and apartment towers, with a rocky, pine covered headland at one end.
What Haeundae looks like
The sand runs about 1.5 kilometres along the curve of the bay and stays narrow against that length, rarely more than about 40 metres across. Directly behind it stands a wall of hotel and apartment towers in glass and pale stone, stacked the full width of the beach rather than set back from it.
The tallest of the group is a glass supertall with a tapered, pointed crown, 101 storeys and 411.6 metres at the centre of the wall. Lower hotel blocks sit either side of it along the sand, with a line of pine trees and a stepped concrete seawall running between the towers and the beach itself.
At the western end the beach meets , a rocky, pine covered point joined to the mainland by a paved path that circles the rocks under a red metal railing. The , a domed hall at the point's tip, looks back across the water toward the beach and its wall of towers.
climbs the high ground at the opposite end of the bay, a coastal road that looks back down over the whole curve of sand and skyline. A few streets inland, runs a narrow paved lane under food stall awnings and stacked signs. A low building with a curved, tiled roof stands near the old rail corridor along the shore, a civic gallery behind its glass doors today. The tracks beside it are kept as a walking path.
Shot in Haeundae
Haeundae, the 2009 disaster film released internationally as Tidal Wave, used the real beach for its crowded daytime scenes before cutting to a computer generated tsunami. The SBS drama Star's Lover filmed a confession and a walk along the promenade near Dongbaek Island for its own central couple.
Haeundae, 2009 (English release title Tidal Wave)
The crowded sand here is the real backdrop for Haeundae, released internationally as Tidal Wave, a disaster film built around a tsunami striking the beach. Billed as South Korea's first disaster film, it is set in the Haeundae district of Busan.
Star's Lover, 2008 to 2009
The Dongbaekseom promenade
The confession between Ma-ri and Chul-soo plays out on the promenade near Dongbaek Island, with the couple walking the beach afterward. Dongbaekseom's rocky, pine covered point is a short walk from the main stretch of sand, joined to it by a paved path along the rocks.
What Haeundae can double for
Surfers Paradise in Gold Coast, Queensland
Surfers Paradise backs its sand with a tower wall of slender high rises, much the same proportion of beach to skyline as Haeundae. Its high rises run paler and more even than Haeundae's, so a few taller towers help sell the skyline in a wide shot. Try searching beach with a tower wall now.
Waikiki backs its own sand with a dense line of resort hotels right at the water, the same hotel wall behind a beach that Haeundae has. Waikiki's hotels top out lower than Haeundae's supertalls, so a tight lens at beach level reads closer than a wide skyline shot. Try searching hotel wall behind a beach now.
Copacabana pairs a long curved beach with a dense wall of apartment buildings along its promenade, the same curve of sand against buildings that Haeundae has. Copacabana's buildings read shorter and older than Haeundae's glass towers, and its wave pattern pavement is a giveaway in close shots. Try searching curved beach with apartment buildings now.
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