Gwangalli Beach, Public beach in Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea
Gwangalli Beach is a 1.4 km-long sandy beach in Gwangan 2(i)-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, curving in a half-moon shape with fine sand. It covers 82,000 square metres and is 25 to 110 metres wide. The beach sits inside a cove spanned by the Gwangan Bridge, and alleys with restaurants, coffee shops and nightclubs run alongside it.
Gwangalli Beach hosted the sailing events of the 1988 Summer Olympics at the nearby Busan Yachting Center. In 2001, three local festivals were merged into the Gwangalli Eobang Festival, named after the historical fishing cooperatives of the Suyeong area. Since 2004, the beach has annually hosted StarCraft Proleague finals, earning the nickname 'E-sports Mecca'.
The beach hosts the Gwangalli Eobang Festival, held over three days each April, created in 2001 by merging the Namcheon and Millak raw fish festivals, the Gwangalli beach festival and the Namcheon-dong cherry blossom festival. Its name comes from eobang, the old term for fishing cooperatives in the Suyeong area. Since 2004 the beach has also hosted annual StarCraft Pro League finals, earning it the nickname "E-sports holy ground".
The beach lies in Gwangan 2(i)-dong, Suyeong District, west of Haeundae Beach. Since 1 July 2008 smoking has been banned across the entire white-sand area. The sand is 1.4 km long and 25 to 110 m wide, so the two ends are quieter than the central strip.
Since 2004 the beach has hosted a StarCraft Proleague final once a year, earning it the nickname "E-sports holy site"; fans call the recurring event the "Gwangalli Great Battle". At the 2009 final between SKT T1 and Hwaseung OZ, police estimated 15,000 spectators on the first day and 40,000 on the second.
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