I first heard about the festival through one of my new favorite websites: BusanHaps.com which features an updated listing every week of things to do in the Busan area. Best part is all the information is in English, which can sometimes be hard to find.
The festival runs usually the first or second week of April and this was its fourth year. I chose to go on a Friday during the day and late afternoon as I knew it wouldn’t be as busy as the weekend. From what I could tell the “festival” is one of the smaller events in town but when I heard about it I knew it was worth a visit. It’s located at the Daejeo Exological Park which is easy to access right off of Busan’s yellow line 3. Get off at the Gangseo-gu Office Station exit 1 to head in the right direction. You’ll see the fields from the metro station so it’s easy to find.
The flowers are really quite amazing to see and stretch pretty far across the park. There are main trails laid down that weave through the flowers. The pathways are lined with a mesh berlap fabric which makes it handicap accessible. Then there were smaller pathways that led in different directions so you could pose for pictures among the flowers.
It was nice nature walk to enjoy the beautiful day. I grabbed a popsicle from one of the vendors and sat among the flowers which completely surrounded me in a warm yellow glow. I took the time to draw one of the flower blossoms closest to me and just relax.
The Daejeo Park seems quite lovely even without the flowers. I continued to walk down the pathways along the river which offer a beautiful view from the city. Most of the trails here are bike friendly so I might go back to enjoy the park again if I need a relaxing day.
One thing I enjoyed most about the festival was the sculptures. They set up various sculptures for kids and kids at heart to pose and interact with.
There were also horse-back rides through the flowers, and a couple of other smaller activities for kids, like sand art and a couple of crafts. Food stands were easy to access on both sides of the field, although the stands closer to the main building had a more comfortable eating area with tables and chairs and background music playing. They played mostly Irish music, which I really enjoyed and also found interesting. Some of the stands had English but most were in Korean but it was easy to see what each stand offered. I grabbed some sesame chicken and an apple juice and had a late lunch.
I went back to the fields for one more walkthrough on my way back to toward the metro line
Overall I wouldn’t go out of your way to go to this festival but if you’re in Busan during this time it is most definitely worth checking out
