A day in Ulsan

Ulsan is Korea’s industrial heart — the shipyards, refineries and car plants that powered the country’s rise — and most travellers pass it by. Give it a day, though, and it turns up whales, a headland of sea rocks and a bamboo forest along the river, folded in among the factories. It’s a straightforward run up the coast from Busan on the Donghae Line, or about an hour by intercity bus.

The draws are spread across a wide city, so a rechargeable card and the odd taxi tie the day together. The food, as ever, is left to the local list rather than any one place.

Jangsaengpo whale village

Ulsan’s history with the sea is older than its factories, and Jangsaengpo — once the country’s main whaling port — is where that story is told. The old harbour is now a cluster of museums and a re-created village, with a whale museum, a monorail along the water and, in season, a boat that goes out looking for the real thing.

The prehistoric rock carvings at Bangudae, upriver, show people hunting whales off this coast thousands of years ago — a reminder that the industrial city has a very long life on the water behind it.

The coast and the bamboo

East of the centre, Daewangam Park sits out on a headland of dramatic sea rocks, its old pine wood ending at a red-and-white lighthouse and a suspension footbridge out to the great rock the park is named for. It’s a good hour’s walk with the sea on three sides.

Back in the city, the Taehwagang runs through a long grove of bamboo — the Simnidaesup, the ‘ten-ri bamboo forest’ — cool and green and level, an easy stroll that feels a world away from the plants a few kilometres off.

The city centre

Nam-gu, around Samsan, is where Ulsan eats and shops once the working day ends: department stores, covered arcades and a dense grid of restaurants that fill in the evening. It’s the natural place to settle for a meal before the trip back.

If you want a walk first, the vast Ulsan Grand Park sits on the district’s edge, and the whale village is a short ride south.

Getting there

The Donghae Line runs from Busan up the coast to Taehwagang station in Ulsan in a little over an hour, and intercity buses reach the centre a little quicker; either works for a day trip. Within the city, buses and taxis link the whale village, the coast and downtown, none of them far apart.