West coast · Taean, South Chungcheong
몽산포해수욕장
Pine trees behind the sand, and clams to dig for when the tide goes out.
Mongsanpo is backed by an old pine grove that people camp under in summer, and the tide withdraws a very long way, leaving flats that families comb for clams.
It is a shallow, safe beach and one of the quieter ones in Taean Haean National Park.
What else is here
Mongsanpo is three kilometres of gently sloping sand with a very dense pine forest behind it — and inside that forest is the campsite that most Korean campers will name first if you ask about the coast.
155 pitches, under the pines
Run by the Korea National Park Service inside the pine belt, with around 155 vehicle pitches, shower blocks, cooking rooms and toilets. The pines are thick enough that many pitches never see direct sun. It is under a minute's walk to the sand, which makes it unusually good with small children.
Getting there: Open year-round, pre-booking only, through the Korea National Park Service reservation site.
The other park site
A second national park auto campground further up the same coast, booked the same way. Between them they are the reason people bring a tent to Taean rather than book a pension.
At low tide, with a rake
The flats here are among the best on the coast for digging clams and finding mud crabs, and equipment is hired from shops behind the beach. Go on a falling tide and come back before it turns.
Shade, all day
A dense, mature stand of Korean red pine runs the length of the beach. On a 33°C August afternoon it is roughly ten degrees cooler under the trees than on the sand.
Tide times matter here
Mongsanpo shelves at about five degrees, which is very shallow, and the water over the flats warms to around 22°C in high summer. That combination — warm, shallow, no drop-off — is why it is a family beach rather than a swimming beach in the athletic sense.
It is also why the tide matters. On a big spring tide the sea goes out several hundred metres and the beach becomes a mudflat, which is either a disappointment or the whole point depending on whether you brought a rake. Check the tide table for Taean before you plan the day.
The campsite is the real draw and it is properly good: national park run, year-round, pre-booked online, and set in pine forest thick enough to block the sky. Book early for July and August, when it goes within minutes of the booking window opening.
Daecheon Beach
The mud festival beach — and the west coast's biggest stretch of sand.
Eurwangni Beach
Thirty minutes from Incheon Airport — the easiest beach in Korea to reach on a layover.
Kkotji Beach
Two rocks in the surf that the sun sets between — the classic west-coast sunset.