Samcheunpo Travel Guide

Samcheunpo is a lovely but very small city on the southern coast of South Korea.  It is so small, in fact, that it's residents boast of being "the smallest city in Korea" - that is, the city with the minimum possible residents to be considered a city, and not a town. 

There are many small public beaches nestled between the high rock cliffs of the coast.  The water is quite warm in the summer, although the inlets are very shallow, so you may have to wade out quite a bit to get in deeper than your waist.  Most of the beaches feature banana boat or jetski rides and plenty of rentable amenities.

Perhaps the most interesting jewel of this city for the traveller interested in rare finds is the Dinosaur Park Beach.  Many families come to this attractive place to swim, picnic, and walk along the boardwalk that wraps around the beautiful cliffs.  What makes this place so special, however, is that embedded in the rocks along the shore are several real dinosaur footprints!  You can see both the clawed footprints of predators as well as the round, plodding steps of herbivores winding their way across the land.  Wherever the land was when the prints were made, they are right at the water's edge now, and constantly lapped by the tides, so they may not be there for much longer.

The rest of the city has many fine seafood restaurants and several inexpensive but comfortable hotels and bars.