Day Trip: Taean
Millie’s daycare was on summer break this past week which meant I needed more things to occupy all of our time. Our local base was offering a trip out to Taean to visit the Anmyeondo Recreational Forest, Kkotji beach and Taean light festival so I signed us all up.
Anmyeondo Recreational Forest (안면도자연휴양림) is a 100 year old “healing” forest. This variety of pine was used for building hanok palaces and ships during the Goryeo Dynasty. The forest is the only one in Korea that’s been managed since the Goryeo Dynasty. It’s actually a two part park crossing both sides of a highway - one side is the recreational forest and the other is a botanical garden. Our ticket was only for the forest side, so we didn't get to venture across the road. However, I’ve read that the botanical garden is very beautiful and the map of it is huge! You could easily spend a few hours there.
We did a lap around the trail and it was actually really nice and pleasant, hidden under the shade of the pine trees. If you’re terrified of spiders, this is not the place for you. Almost every bannister of the railings had a spider web, with a spider proudly at home. They’re not big, they’re not small, they’re not chasing you, but they are very visible. The hours are: March-October 09:00-18:00 / November - February 09:00-17:00. They are closed the first Monday of the month.
Kkotji beach (꽃지해수욕장) is most well known for Grandma & Grandpa Rocks (할미할아비바위) and the sunsets. At low tide, you can walk all the way to the rocks. We had the perfect evening weather, the beach was not at all crowded, and the water was the perfect temperature. My girls had the best time.
Since it was low tide when we visited, you could clearly see how rocky a large majority of the beach is. In between all of those little rocks are little beds of water that hadn’t escaped and they were FULL of hermit crabs of all shapes and sizes! I was amazed. I’ve always known hermit crabs to be skittish and hide when they sense people around but not these guys! They were all moving around and would even peek out of their shells when you picked them up. Millie calls them “sea shell crabs” and I love that.
Knowing the itinerary included a beach, and Millie has been asking for the last month to go to a beach, I brought our own food anticipating that the girls wouldn’t give me a chance to sit at a restaurant. Uncrustables and turkey lunchables are always my go to meals. There were a handful of street vendor restaurants set up as well as one cafe that we saw. If you’re not interested in seafood from a street vendor or convenience store foods, I suggest bringing your own.
The Taean light festival is open throughout the year. The light festival is held at Nature World (네이처월드) and once the sun sets, the lights turn on. Taean is best known for its flower festival and the majority of the lights were flower themed. They were truly works of art. We spent about an hour walking through the light festival and I’m sure we didn't see all of it. The paths are stroller friendly but I would caution you to be very careful where you step. There are over 2 million lights here but no directly lit walking path. Also make sure to bring bug spray. There were so many mosquitos and other itchy bugs flying around our legs. I haven’t been in an area in Korea with so many bugs!
Your best option for this kind of day trip is to drive. The closest train station is Cheonan/Asan and then you’d need to take a bus. If you’re coming from the Seoul area, you can take a bus to Taean and then transfer to Anymyeondo. Once you’re here your transportation options are limited and sporadic. Like I said, this is a day trip best done with a car. Lots of available parking everywhere we went and the island was overall very quiet and peaceful. Depending on traffic and routes, it takes between 2.5-3 hours from Seoul and the same from the Osan/Camp Humphrey’s area.
