A book lounge closest to the sea allowing visitors to read about marine ecosystems while wading in the waves

The blue book lounge that opened this month on Yulpo Beach, Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do. Courtesy of Boseong-gun

On Yulpo Beach in Hoicheon-myeon, Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do, there stands a book lounge closest to the sea. At the blue book lounge located on a silver beach lined with pine trees, visitors can borrow sunshades and beach chairs and comfortably read books.

On October 10, Boseong-gun announced, “We opened the ‘blue book lounge’ at Yulpo Beach this month and are receiving 30-40 visitors a day.” The book lounge is run with support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s project to promote ecological green tourism.

There are over 130 books on marine ecosystems and the environment in the blue book lounge on the beach. They mostly explain the importance of the marine environment.

Visitors can borrow the books and return them after reading them on the beach. People can also borrow tools to collect marine debris from the book lounge. When a person brings the trash one collects while walking along the beach, the lounge gives them a Boseong-gun souvenir.

The county also operates a small library in the green tea fields near the beach. There is also an eco-humanities book lounge on the observation deck on the fifth floor of the Tea Museum of Korea, where visitors can enjoy the view of the Botjae area in Boseong, famous for its tea fields.

The book lounge houses more than two hundred books introducing green tea and sustainable tourism that does not damage the environment. The book lounges on Yulpo Beach and in the Tea Museum are open every day of the week except Mondays.