Sinduri Coastal Dunes

The Sinduri dunes run for about three and a half kilometres along the northern Taean coast, built up over thousands of years by winter winds pushing sand off the tidal flats inland, and they are the largest system of their kind in the country - designated a natural monument, and a wetland protection area for the pools that sit in the hollows between the ridges. What grows there is unusual for Korea: dune specialists like sea rocket, beach vitex and dune reed, along with insect and amphibian populations that live nowhere else nearby. A boardwalk loop of a couple of kilometres runs through the dunes with interpretation panels and a small visitor centre at the entrance, and walking off the boardwalk is prohibited because footfall destroys the dune plants that hold the sand together. Sand mining and coastal development shrank the system considerably in the twentieth century before it was protected.

What you actually see

• The dune ridges - wind-built sand running along the coast.
• The wetland hollows - pools between the ridges.
• The dune plants - species found in few other places in Korea.
• The boardwalk loop - the marked route through the system.

When to go

April to June and September to November. Spring and early summer for flowering dune plants; winter winds are what build the dunes but make walking unpleasant.

Honest expectations

Staying on the boardwalk is required and enforced - the vegetation is fragile and is what holds the dunes together. It is exposed with no shade. A car helps; buses are infrequent.

Nearby

Taeanhaean's beaches run down the coast; Taean town is 20 km inland.