Eden Valley Ski Resort

Eden Valley ski resort

Eden Valley Ski Resort is perched in the mountains just above the city of Busan, South Korea’s second city and largest port. Given the location on the south coast and the fairly low altitude, it should be no surprise that Eden Valley sees very little snow and generally doesn’t have great riding conditions. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the place – don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely small, but it’s larger than I was expecting for the local hill of a south coast city and is of comparable size to the Seoul area hills (see this Korean ski resorts size comparison)

Eden Valley: the hill

Mountain stats
Highest lifted point: 730m
Lowest skiable point: 570m
Vertical drop: 160m
Lifts: 3
Runs: 5
Longest run: 1.5km (‘Uranus’)
Terrain park: no

Homepage & piste map (Korean only)

The vertical drop is an underwhelming 160m, with 3 chairlifts. There are a handful of routes down on wide open pistes. To be honest it’s a mediocre piece of terrain with a gentle gradient, and it doesn’t take long to ski the place out.

It definitely isn’t worth travelling all the way from Seoul to hit Eden Valley (believe me – I’m speaking from experience! You can hit High1 in the same travel time from Seoul), but if you’re in Busan or Ulsan it’s a decent enough spot to get your fix. It also has cool views, both of Busan below and of the wind turbines along the ridge.

Ski slopes at Eden Valley Resort

There’s no freestyle at all at Eden Valley, so it really doesn’t have much for advanced riders; it’s a fine place for learning though, and for those pushing on to intermediate.

Eden Valley is good for:

People living in Busan & Ulsan (and elsewhere in South Korea’s southeast corner)

It’s pretty cool to snowboard directly under the massive wind turbines on the ridge – the only such place I know of (other than Vancouver’s Grouse Mountain, but they only have one small turbine). Also if you’re up there at night you can catch some views of the city lights below.

Eden Valley is not so good for:

Freestyle (there isn’t any)

Access. Public transport access is poor, even from Busan (see below)

Eden Valley lift tickets

Eden Valley follows the standard ticketing model in Korea, with the operating hours split into day & night by a 2-hour snow grooming break at 5pm; the daytime hours are subdivided into morning and afternoon, and the nighttime hours are subdivided into evening and midnight. You can get a lift ticket for any of those slots, pay a little more for a 5-hour ticket, or more again for two slots combined, as shown here (these are the 2016/17 rates, click to enlarge):

Eden Valley lift ticket rates

If you need rentals it may be cheaper to book a package (see here, here including transportation, or here for the overnight option), depending whether or not you want to buy a full lift pass or take a lesson.

Update: this season’s rates are shown here

Eden Valley: accommodation

There’s a hotel at Eden Valley right at the base of the ski slopes, which you can book here or here. You can also book it as part of a package including transportation, rentals etc.

There are also some hotels nearby in Yangsan (see listings) – they’re of the ‘love motel’ variety, which might put you off, or might make for an interesting Korean experience!

If you’d rather stay in Busan proper, search for Busan hotel deals (of course they also have plenty of listings in Seoul, too)

Airbnb is also a great choice for Busan – hosts usually have it set up so you can arrive & check in by yourself without having to wait around or meet anyone, and the housing standards are decent with underfloor heating and excellent internet connections as standard. If you haven’t used Airbnb before, you can get a 35-dollar discount off your first rental by signing up through Snow Guide Korea; simply click on this link and register!

How to get to Eden Valley

There is a resort shuttle bus, but it runs by reservation only, only when there’s a minimum of 7 passengers, and costs 3,000 won from Yangsan (양산) Station or 4,000 won from central Busan (부산); if you want to try and book it, you have to call New Busan Tour on 051-806-8811 (details here (Korean only); shuttles from Ulsan 울산, Gimhae 김해, and Daegu 대구 are also listed on that page).

Much easier (especially if you don’t have 7 people) is to book this shuttle bus, though it’s a bit more expensive. If you need rentals etc anyway then the easiest way is to go for the full package here (or the 2D1N package). They can also arrange private van hire.

Of course, you could also take a taxi up – it’s reasonable if you have a group to split the cost. Yangsan Station is the northern terminus of Busan Metro Line 2; this is the closest you can get by public transport, and the best place from which to take a taxi. A taxi from Yangsan should be around 20,000 won.

If coming from Seoul:

Whatever you do, don’t try to take a taxi from Wondong Station on the main Seoul – Daegu – Busan railway line (as advised elsewhere online!). I actually tried this, but Wondong’s a tiny little town with no taxi rank and I ended up visiting the lone coffee shop and asking where I could find a cab. They tried calling one for me, but none would come out there: I ended up having to get back on the train (after a long wait) one more stop to Mulgeum and taking a taxi from there, which is significantly further than from Yangsan metro station.

In other words; if coming directly from Seoul, take the KTX all the way to Busan, then ride the metro up to Yangsan, then take a taxi from there. But really, if you’re willing to spend that much time and money travelling from Seoul, High1 and Yongpyong are much, much better calls.

Train tickets: you can easily buy train tickets on the day from the ticket machines or manned ticket counters at railway stations, but trains do sell out (especially during peak hours & on holidays) so if you want to be sure of a seat on a specific train it’s better to book in advance. You can either do this in person by visiting a station, or book online on 12go Asia

Any questions about Eden Valley ski resort? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

For full reviews of every ski resort in Korea, see here

Also check out the best Korean ski resorts according to various criteria, and this size comparison of Korea’s ski resorts using satellite imagery.


42 comments on “Eden Valley Ski Resort
  1. Si Wayt says:

    Good info, presently working near Busan & returning Jan-18 for 5/6 weeks (hopefully) – so fully intend to visit Eden Valley – hopefully more than once.

    I appreciate from your comment’s that as an intermediate to advanced boarder – I’ll probably ‘run dry’ of runs very quickly, but as you also said it’s All about getting that ‘fix’ isn’t it?!??

    Any thoughts (anyone) on where best to get an up-to-date daily snow weather report for the resort – in English – afraid my Korean is non-existent.

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Si Wayt, yeah if you’re intermediate or higher you’ll ski the whole place out pretty quickly. But yeah, a snow fix is a snow fix!

      For ski resort weather I always use Snow Forecast, it’s amazingly accurate and includes Eden Valley – here you go

      Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any more questions!

  2. These ski resorts are perfect! I will surely visit South Korea to ski next year!

  3. Yanu says:

    Very good information. However i need more info: Can i go and back from there by a taxi from yangsan station? Thankyou.

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Yanu,

      Yes, you can. It might be a good idea to arrange with the driver who takes you up, to come back and take you down at a specified time. Otherwise, you’d probably need to ask the resort to call a taxi for you to go back down. You might be able to negotiate lower, but do be prepared to spend 40000 KRW (possibly more) in total.

  4. wyner says:

    I thinking to go eden valley coming February. Anyone knows the resort still open for ski?

    Anyone knows the taxi/private car fare from Busan city to/back Eden Valley.

    Thanks

    • Simon Norton says:

      The photos on this page were taken on February 27th 2017, so yes they’re still open in February! To keep costs down I’d recommend taking a taxi from Yangsan Station rather than central Busan

  5. unknown says:

    it looks pretty, i would like to know if the resort is still open during mid of Feb? because i’m coming there during that time, not sure if the snow still gonna be there. tq.

  6. nini says:

    i would like to know the fee for one person including clothes and the equipment for ski. i’m going there next week. the picture for the fees are not so clear, tq in advance 🙂

  7. fer says:

    How about snow quality? Is it having good restaurants? Is hiring a car helpful in trip to Eden Valley?

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi, the snow quality isn’t great – it’s mostly man-made snow, and it gets quite icy.

      I haven’t tried the food at Eden Valley to be honest, but I wouldn’t expect anything special!

      Yes, hiring a car would be very helpful – that’s the best way to get there.

  8. Sally says:

    Is Eden Valley open on Nov?

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Sally,

      I was actually just in Busan this weekend and I’m afraid it’s still far too warm, I doubt they’ll be open before December. Busan’s a great city though, hope you enjoy it!

  9. Jaclyn says:

    Does it open early December?

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Jaclyn, they should be opening some time in early December but I’m afraid we don’t know the specific date yet

  10. JoIce says:

    Can we still ski by 1st week of April next year? When are they usually open? Which season and months?

  11. Tan says:

    Can we ski during 15-18 December? how much cost per pax?

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Tan, they still haven’t announced their opening date. Hopefully they’ll be open by the 15th, but not sure yet. You can check the prices above, but generally skiing in Korea is about 60 dollars for 4 hours

  12. Ray says:

    Hello Simon

    Thanks for your info. And i wondering to visit Eden Valley from Daegu, do you know some other way to go by public transportation? I found some ppl arrange tour to there, but i am not so sure. Thank you.

    Ray

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Ray, the closest you can get by public transport is Busan Metro’s Yangsan Station, but from there you need to take a taxi (or shuttle bus if you can arrange it).

      • Ray says:

        So i should go to Busan Metro’s Yangsan Station from “Daegu” first? Am i correct? Thank you very much!

        • Simon Norton says:

          First take the train to Busan, either the KTX from Dong-Daegu, or the mugunghwa from Daegu or Dong-Daegu (KTX is much faster, mugunghwa is cheaper), then ride the Busan subway up to Yangsan.

  13. Iris says:

    is it easy to get a cab back to yangsan station from the resort? if not, how do you suggest we go back?

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Iris, I don’t think so. If you take a taxi up there in the first place, you could arrange for the same driver to come back to pick you up afterwards. Otherwise, you’d need to order one

  14. Morris says:

    Hello, if we take a ski package, there is surcharge around 40.000 KRW for ski lift.
    What is mean of ski lift? Is it same with chair lift?
    Are we must buy it?
    Is that the only way if we want to the top again? Or we can walk to the top?
    Thankyou.

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Morris, yes ski lift & chairlift are the same thing. You can’t walk up, you need the ticket to go up. But if it’s your first time and you take a lesson, you might not need a ticket as you’ll probably just be practising in the lesson area.

      • Morris says:

        Owh..thankyou bro Simon. Yes, this is my first time. And i think i will take a free lesson.
        So, there is lesson area. Is that area wide enough to explore for 5-7 hours?
        How is your opinion?

        But now, i have a vision of how the situation will be.

  15. Matt says:

    Hey simon, I’m wanting to go to eden valley in the next couple of days. How can I found out which runs are open at the moment?
    Thanks in advance

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Matt, the pop-up window on their site says the slopes open this weekend are Basic & the lower half of Uranus. So not a lot

  16. Alexis casiano says:

    Hi! Yangsan ski resort is open today?

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Alexis, sorry, I couldn’t access my site this week so I missed your comment, hope you had a good time at Eden Valley.

  17. Mogens says:

    Does it have snow for now? We’re planning going there on 2/5~7, but it seems that the temperature is about 5°c these days.

    • Simon Norton says:

      Hi Mogens, sorry, I couldn’t access my site this week so I missed your comment. Yeah it’s not a good season this winter so they’ll probably close early, but early Feb should still be ok.

  18. Santi says:

    Hello Simon, how are you? My name is Santi and I plan to go to Eden Valley to ski one day with a ski pass package from 1:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., do you think they will close the slopes for two hours in the middle of the afternoon? On the other hand, I would like to go to a ski resort near Seoul another day. Any recommendation?. All the best

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Hi I’m Simon, British snowboard addict & travel blogger presently based in NE Asia. I run this site to help international visitors plan their trips to Korean ski resorts; you might also be interested in my travel blog, especially the Korea sightseeing and Japan snowboarding content

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