Panjin Red Beach

National Wetland Reserve And Scenic Corridor In The Liao River Delta; The World'S Largest Reed Marsh, A Saunders'S Gull Breeding Ground And The Southernmost Red Crowned Crane Nesting Site · Panjin, Liaoning

Where the Liao River meets the sea there is a delta of alkaline tidal flat and reed marsh so large - something like a thousand square kilometres of reed, the biggest stand in the world - that the scale is difficult to take in from the ground. On the salt flats at its edge grows seablite, a low succulent that tolerates soil almost nothing else will, and for a few weeks in autumn it turns a deep and improbable crimson, sheet after sheet of it running out to the water with boardwalks threaded above. That is the red beach, and the name misleads twice: there is no sand, and the red is not there most of the year. In spring and summer the same flats are green. The marsh behind is a serious wildlife site, the breeding ground of the globally threatened Saunders's gull and the southernmost place red-crowned cranes nest, and out among the reeds, incongruously, stand the nodding donkeys of the Liaohe oilfield.

Red Beach Scenic Corridor, Dawa District, Panjin, Panjin, Liaoning, China

Open daily in season, generally around 8:00-18:00 with shorter hours outside the peak and some winter closure - confirm before travelling. A scenic area ticket covers the boardwalks and the internal shuttle is usually a separate charge worth paying, as the corridor runs for kilometres. THE CRIMSON COLOUR IS PRESENT ONLY FOR A FEW WEEKS, ROUGHLY LATE SEPTEMBER TO MID OCTOBER, and the peak shifts year to year - confirm the colour is actually up first. SOME BOARDWALK SECTIONS CLOSE FOR BIRD NESTING. Go at sunset; midday light kills the colour.

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