Changwon, South Korea: Clay pigeon shooting on the city's international-grade range
Changwon, April 2021: Inga's go at clay shooting on the city's international-grade range, wooded hills behind the traps and an instructor close by.
Changwon is a planned industrial city that rarely makes the tourist brochures, but it hides one very good reason to visit: a serious international-grade shooting range in the hills, open to have-a-go visitors. In April 2021 we booked a lane.
Inga on the clays with an instructor keeping a very close eye. The hills absorbed both the noise and our pride.
It's a strange and brilliant way to spend a morning: green netting, spring hillsides, and the occasional satisfying puff of a clay that didn't get away.
Watching Korea at the World Cup, June 2026
Five years later Changwon gave us a very different kind of day out. Changwon FC put on an outdoor watch party for Korea's World Cup 2026 match, so we pulled on red shirts and went along.
Red shirts on, walking up to the watch party in June 2026. We weren't the only ones heading that way.A signed Changwon FC ball, a red inflatable clapper and a visor roughly the size of a satellite dish. Correct kit, we're told.
Between a shooting range in the hills and a football crowd in the street, Changwon keeps finding ways to justify the stop. It sits an easy hop from Busan and Haman if you're building a southern loop.
