Taean Anmyeondo Arboretum and Uinyeo Beach, Great for Relaxing

A 1-night, 2-day trip to Taean is a great idea!!! I thought there would only be the sea, but there turned out to be more places to visit than I expected.

I do think Taean is one of the best places for a healing trip. Next to Anmyeondo Arboretum is Anmyeondo Recreational Forest, so it seems many people visit both together, but I only toured the arboretum area. Even just the arboretum area alone could easily take half a day. Rather than feeling like a walk, it felt more like I was taking in a long stretch of scenery.

Anmyeondo Arboretum and Anmyeondo Recreational Forest can both be visited for an admission fee of 1,000 won. As I walked around here, I kept thinking it was almost unbelievable that you could see all this for such a price.

I started with Anmyeondo Arboretum. Maybe because there are so many trees, I could definitely feel that the air was different. And even just standing still, the fresh green colors naturally gave me a healing feeling.

As soon as you start exploring Anmyeondo Arboretum, you’ll see traditional-looking jangseung totem poles standing there. One of them has "Anmyeondo Goblin, I really made you fall in love with me" engraved on it so people can take commemorative photos. A little farther along, there are also jangseung poles labeled with the names of places such as Asan City, Boryeong City, Gongju City, and Cheonan City, with "Daejanggun" and "Yeojanggun" written on them. Seeing those made it clear that Anmyeondo Arboretum is managed by Chungcheongnam-do.

It felt like I was seeing tall pine trees for the first time in a long while. Since the pine trees block the sky, walking through the arboretum felt cool, while sunlight still filtered down through the trees, which was lovely. After looking at buildings all the time, seeing trees like this makes my eyes feel brighter too.

This tree, which seems to have been planted for landscaping, was trimmed into a very neat round shape, and I thought it looked so pretty. Its name, I learned, is somgwanggwangnamu (small gwanja holly). I had never even heard of a tree with this kind of name before, but maybe because it has "gwanggwang" in the name, it sounded fun. Apparently, there are two types: somgwanggwangnamu and gwanggwangnamu, both from the holly family, and they are grown more often than I expected. The two trees look similar yet different, so they are said to be hard to tell apart.

The name somgwanggwangnamu apparently came from the sound it makes when burned, which is a popping "gwang-gwang" sound. After learning that, I found myself curious about the sound it makes when burned.

The beauty that nature gives us is so great that it’s a pity photos can’t fully capture it.

After touring Taean Anmyeondo Arboretum, which is great for a healing trip, of course I had to see the sea too!!

I went to Uinyeo Beach, which is famous as a sunset spot because of its beautiful sunsets. Since I was heading to the sea around sunset after visiting the arboretum, I thought it would be best to choose a place with a pretty sunset, so I picked Uinyeo Beach.

Uinyeo refers to rocks that are exposed above the water at low tide and submerged during high tide. The name comes from the wide-open front sea, where waves are high and the foam created as they crash against the rocks is so grand that it resembles clouds.

Because this is a place designated and managed by law by the government under the Taeanhaean National Park Office, there was also an information sign explaining the meaning of Uinyeo Beach.

When I arrived at Uinyeo Beach, the sun was still up. It looked like it would set soon. When you watch the sunrise, you sometimes get distracted thinking, "Why isn’t it rising yet?" and before you know it, the sun is up. I think sunset is probably like that too.

I immediately understood why it’s called a sunset spot. Even random snapshots turned out to capture the sea with such a beautiful sunset.

Depending on where and how you look, the sunset scenery feels completely different. Even though I was in one place, Uinyeo Beach offered different sunset views from different spots, so if you’re traveling to Anmyeondo, I’d definitely recommend watching the sunset there.

The sunset was so beautiful that I even took a 360-degree panoramic shot. The 1 night and 2 day trip may have been short, but I really enjoyed traveling around Taean and Anmyeondo. I think it’s because you end up working hard again with such a refreshed feeling after a trip like this. There’s a three-day holiday starting tomorrow, so if you need to make plans quickly, I recommend an Anmyeondo trip. Many people also go there for a day trip.