Ansan Travel Guide, South Korea

Ansan, Travel guide – Location

Ansan is a captivating city located on the eastern shores of the Yellow Sea in South Korea, near Daegu and the capital city Seoul.

Ansan, Travel guide – Geography

The city has a typical topography for the Yellow Sea coast area, represented by lowlands, beaches and marshes along the shores and low hills towards inland and an average elevation of 8m. Several small rivers cross the city; the most important being Banwol Stream, Ansan Stream and Hwajeong Stream, flowing into the sea and creating important surfaces of wetlands used intensively in agriculture.

Ansan has a continental climate with strong maritime influences characterized by hot and humid summers and cold winters with little snow. Temperatures vary from 22ºC in summer to -7ºC in winter and precipitations are more abundant in July and August when they are brought by the East Asian Monsoon.

The city also comprises the following islands: Daebudo, Jebudo, Pungdo and Yukdo, among which only Daebudo and Jebudo are inhabited.

Ansan, Travel guide – Flora and Fauna

Ansan is located in an area with various and spectacular flora and fauna. The local flora can be admired in the city’s botanical garden which comprises a tropical garden, wild flowers garden, wetland species as well as rare species of plants including the well known lotuses. Tourists can also admire here a wonderful rose garden, fruit tree garden and many other beauties of nature.

The beautiful local fauna can also be found in any of the city’s parks with alleys along the rivers or in the enchanting gardens with numerous tree and plant species. Some of the most beautiful such places are the Citizen’s Park, Nojeok Bong Park, Wadong Park and the Seongpo Arts Square.

The local fauna is just as diverse represented by numerous mammal species, aquatic species and birds which find favorable living conditions here.

Ansan, Travel guide – Transports

Most Ansan travel guides will recommend it as a city with a well represented transport infrastructure due to location and economic development. You can get here by car following the expressway which connects Ansan with Seoul, by air arriving at the Inchon International Airport which is the nearest airport and by boat arriving again at Incheon Port.

The city is connected with Seoul and Inchon by a subway which also offers transfer for tourists who travel by air or boat and want to get to Ansan. Within the city one can choose between traveling by bus, subway, taxi or a rented car. The city is usually very crowded but due to the efficient traffic infrastructure transport is as easy as possible.

Ansan, Travel guide – Population and Economy

The city numbers about 700.000 inhabitants and growing, most of them Koreans followed by Chinese and Japanese. The dominating religion here is Buddhism followed by Christianity, Shamanism and others.

Due to its strategic location near airports, ports and the highly educated people from Ansan, the city has known a continuous growth for the last years. Important companies have settled here and offered numerous jobs for the locals and not only to them. The main activities are based on production, commerce, agriculture and tourism and have a major role in the city’s continuous development.

Ansan, Travel guide – Cuisine

The local cuisine in Ansan is exotic using many locally produced ingredients such as rice, local fish and seafood, spices, different types of seeds, seaweed, flower petals and more. They use frequently pork, beef and game meat in their dishes such as gukbap, which is beef soup, saengchi mandu, which are dumplings stuffed with pheasant meat and gaphoe, also a beef meat based dish. Their dishes are very frequently besides boiled, stewed or fries also dried, salted, fermented or pickled. You can experience here for example a gulbi, dried and salted fish, gwamegi, dried herring, jeotgal, fermented and salted seafood or simply gulhoe, raw oysters.

The most popular drinks are the teas usually made of flower petals, spices, grains or herbs, and the cold drinks served during summer which have as ingredients fruits, nuts, honey and sometimes spices.