Haeundae Beach Sand Festival 2026

Every May, the beach at Haeundae gets taken over by enormous sand sculptures. Sculptures of a size and detail that shouldn't be possible from sand, and yet there they are. The festival runs for a long weekend, the sculptures stay up for weeks afterward, and it's been one of the most reliably interesting things to do in Busan every spring since 2005.

The 2026 Haeundae Sand Festival runs from Thursday, May 15th to Sunday, May 18th at Haeundae Beach Event Plaza. The sculptures stay on display until June 14th, which gives you plenty of runway to catch them even if you miss the festival itself.

The 2026 theme is Time Travel in Busan. As a Busan resident I'm very excited to see this years' sculptures. As of Apr 19 you can already see the beginnings of the skyline of Busan on the main sculpture, but expect some interesting historical and architectural sculptures as well.

The sand sculptures are the main event. They're built by professional sand artists from Korea and abroad. The 2025 centerpiece was 12 meters high and 25 meters wide.

Beyond the sculptures: sandboarding on a purpose-built slope, a sand sculpture playground for kids, and evening performances during the festival weekend.

On the right side of the beach you'll find the famous bright red HAEUNDAE sign and the panorama walkway. The walkway has markers showing you exactly where to stand for the best angle. You can decide how you feel about that.

The Haeundae Sand Festival started in 2005, not as a standalone idea but as a cultural add-on to that year's APEC Summit in Busan. The Korean government was hosting world leaders and wanted events that would showcase the city. The sand festival was one of them. The APEC Summit came and went. The sand festival kept going.

The theme is what makes each year distinct. The organizers tend to pick one concept and commit to it fully, which produces some years that are spectacular and some that are fine.

• 2022 - World Travel: Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, Pyramids, Angkor Wat
• 2023 - Expo 2030: Busan's World Expo bid, future technology and nature
• 2024 - Art History: Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Picasso, Warhol
• 2025 - K-Culture (20th anniversary): Dangun, Goguryeo, Hangeul, K-pop, K-drama, Baby Shark

The 2025 anniversary edition leaned hard into the K-culture moment, which makes sense for a 20th birthday. The centerpiece was General Yi Sun-sin and a traditional wedding ceremony against a backdrop of Gyeongbokgung and Cheomseongdae Observatory.

Location:
Haeundae Beach Event Plaza

부산 해운대구 중동 1411-23

Dates:

• Festival: May 15–18, 2026.
• Sand sculptures on display until June 14, 2026.

Getting there: Haeundae Station (Metro Line 2), Exit 3 or 5. Walk straight toward the beach.