Offbeat Traveler: Red Beach in Panjin, China

In the spring, the seaweed starts off green and reddens as fall approaches. Its vermillion color peaks sometime in September. (AFP / Getty Images)

Jan. 29, 2013 8:01 AM PT

Papakolea Beach on Hawaii’s Big Island get its green color from olivine minerals. Coral tints Pink Sands Beach in the Bahamas. At Red Beach in Panjin, a city about 300 miles northeast of Beijing, it’s seaweed. The wetland is home to a unique variety of alkali-tolerant seaweed that changes from green to red in the fall.