Landscape

Battleship Rock (秀巒軍艦岩)

Over the years I’ve published quite a few articles about the mountains and hiking trails that encircle Taipei City - Starting with popular hikes like Elephant Mountain (象山) and the rest of the so-called Four Beasts (四獸山), I’ve also covered trails such as Fuzhou Mountain (福州山), Qixing Mountain (七星山), Jiantan Mountain (劍潭山), Jinmian Mountain (金面山) and Guanyin Mountain (觀音山). I’ve even published a guide that provides a comprehensive list of the best mountains and vistas in the city where you can take awesome photos of the city in my Taipei Cityscapes Guide.

With so many articles dedicated to the mountains that surround the capital of this great nation, some readers have asked why I’ve yet to publish anything about the popular ‘Battleship Rock’ (軍艦岩) hike in the city’s Beitou District (北投區) - Well, I’m here today to finally answer that question.

However, you may find yourself a little disappointed.

The ‘Battleship Rock’ I’m going to introduce today isn’t the popular hike in Taipei, but another tourist destination that shares the same name deep in the mountains of Hsinchu. Suffice to say, you won’t be getting instructions on how to hike the popular Taipei mountain this time round, but hey, you get to learn about and (possibly) enjoy photos of an entirely different ‘Battleship’ that rarely gets much attention.

The Battleship Rock I’m introducing this time is a lesser known, yet beautiful tourist stop high up the mountains of Hsinchu County’s Jianshih Village (尖石鄉). Instead of a beautiful cityscape, this location features a couple of beautiful suspension bridges, the confluence of two large rivers, wild hot springs, maple trees and a much larger ‘battleship' than the one in Taipei. However, while all of that might sound great, the biggest difference between this ‘Battleship’ and the one in Taipei is accessibility.

The hike in Taipei is one that is easily reachable via the city’s excellent public transportation network while this one is likely out of reach for most tourists. Nevertheless, even though Hsinchu’s Battleship Rock is more difficult to reach, if you are lucky enough to visit, likely on your way to Qalang Smangus (司馬庫斯部落), Cinsbu (鎮西堡) or the Syaroko Historic Trail (霞喀羅古道), you’re in for a treat.

As a travel-related article, I won’t be overloading you with information this time - I’m just going to spend some time introducing some of the cool things that you’ll see if you ever have a chance to visit the area. And hopefully the photos I share today might entice you to want to take some time to visit the area for a weekend, especially if Smangus is your final destination!

For those of you who landed here hoping to read about Taipei’s Battleship Rock, I hope I didn’t mislead you. I’ll eventually publish something about that hike - It’s on my list of places to write about, I just haven’t gotten to it yet, and these days I prefer to write about destinations that are off of the typical tourist’s radar.

Btunux Tukang (秀巒軍艦岩)

To introduce Hsinchu’s Battleship Rock, most writers would probably start with some scientific information about the geologic process that took place to form this beautiful rock. However, I feel like it’s a better idea to start out with an explanation of its name and the people who have lived in its midst for hundreds (if not thousands) of years.

Translated literally from Chinese as ‘Battleship Rock’ (軍艦岩 / jūn jiàn yán), it is known as ‘Btunux Tukang’ in the Tayal Indigenous language (泰雅語). Located a short distance from the rock, you’ll find the ‘Hbun-Tunan’ (控溪部落) tribe of Taiwan’s Tayal Indigenous People (泰雅族), whose ancestors settled along the river around four hundred years ago.

In the Chinese language, the tribe’s name is literally translated into English as the ‘River Control Tribe’ (控溪部落), a name which was given to them by the Japanese, and is something that might lead one to believe that they somehow nefariously controlled access to the mountains and river. However, in the Tayal language, ‘Hbun-Tunan’ instead refers to the geographic location where the two rivers intersected, and the traditional marketplace of goods that the tribe became known for.

Making their home in the river valley close to where Battleship Rock is located was geographically significant as the tribe played an important role within greater Tayal society for quite some time as the tribe was strategically located along the historic hunting trails used by the Indigenous people to traverse the mountains.

Crossing the river in front of Battleship Rock.

Acting as somewhat of a middle-man between the various tribes on either side of the river, the Hbun-Tunan, who are more commonly known these days as the Xiuluan Tribe (秀巒部落), created a marketplace that allowed the various tribes in the mountains to transport fruit, vegetables, meat and other commodities for trade.

That being said, the river valley was not only a strategic place to live, it was also filled with abundance as the river and the mountains provided the tribe with more than enough sustenance to get by on, and today that marketplace continues to thrive as Xiuluan Village (秀巒村) is the largest producer of peaches and pears in Taiwan.

Living in the midst of the giant rock, at some point, the Hbun-Tunan started referring to it as ‘Btunux Tukang’, which is likely pretty difficult for most native English speakers to even try pronouncing. Nevertheless, as the story goes, it was likely a name that was influenced by missionaries living in the area, because to the indigenous people, it was simply just a big rock. Thus, in Tayal, ‘Btunux’ is the equivalent of ‘rock’ (石頭) and ‘Tukang’ would have been a relatively new word to them that translated as ‘warship’ (軍艦).

Sadly, I spent quite a while trying to figure out the meaning of the name, consulting several Tayal scholars, who also thought it was funny.

The point where the confluence of rivers takes place.

Situated at the confluence where the Baishi / Sakyaking River (白石溪 / 薩克亞金溪) and Taigang / Takejin River (泰崗溪 / 塔克金溪) meet to form the Yufeng / Maliguang River (玉峰溪 / 馬里光溪), Battleship rock is said to resemble the bow of a giant warship. However, when it comes to (almost all of) Taiwan’s popular rock formation tourist destinations, my imagination tends not to be as wild as others. In this case though, I suppose you could argue that the sharp triangular shape of the rock cutting into the river actually does create the effect of a boat speeding its way through the water.

Admittedly, I’m not as knowledgeable about Taiwan’s river systems as others, but I was surprised to learn that two rivers that can see joining together here, eventually join with the greater Dahan / Takoham River (大漢溪 / 大嵙崁溪), which flows into Taoyuan, and is part of the river system controlled by the Shimen Reservoir (石門水庫).

Writing previously about the Youling Waterfalls (幽靈瀑布), Xiao Wulai Waterfall / Rahu-Ulay (小烏來瀑布) and other points of interest along the river, I was actually unaware that they were all part of the same tributary.

Note: For each of the location names above, I’ve included the name more commonly used on maps today as well as their original Tayal names for a bit of clarity.

Layers on the battleship.

Looking at Battleship Rock from a distance, you’re likely to notice the various layers in the rock, telling the story of its long history. Dating back to the collision of tectonic plates that allowed the land mass we known as Taiwan to emerge from the Pacific Ocean, the stripes in the rock are primarily comprised of silt, shale and white sandstone, each of which consists of a different shade.

Unfortunately, there is very little written about the area, and very few resources about provide any concrete estimation of how tall the rock is, but I’d estimate its anywhere between twenty to thirty meters tall.

Fortunately, for anyone visiting today, the local government constructed a sixty meter long Battleship Rock Suspension Bridge (軍艦岩吊橋) in 2015 (民國104年), just over where the two rivers meet up.

The suspension bridge not only allows visitors to get a view of the rock from vantage points above the river, but also provides with the opportunity to cross to the other side to make your way down to the river bank where there are even closer views.

Likewise, just above the Baishi River, you’ll find the Kongxi Suspension Bridge (控溪吊橋), which was originally constructed during the Japanese-era, and then later rebuilt in 1985 (民國74年). In this case, the bridge allow visitors to enjoy the maple trees that grow on this side of the mountain during the late fall and winter months in addition to allowing visitors to make their way to the Taigang Wild Hotsprings (泰崗野溪溫泉) where you can dip your feet in the water.

Maples on the mountain across the river.

That being said, it’s important to remind readers that (as I mentioned earlier) the Hbun-Tunan tribe sat at the crossroads of the so-called ‘ancient’ network of Tayal trails that allowed the various tribes to connect with each other - so when the Japanese arrived in Taiwan in 1895, these routes were thought to pose a risk to their control. The early years of the colonial era saw a heavy handed approach to suppressing any opposition to Japanese rule, and given the tribe’s strategic geographic location, the military converted the ancient trails into police patrol roads which were equipped with artillery batteries and police stations in remote mountain areas.

While attempting to control the movements of the Indigenous people, a number of violent massacres took place leaving a legacy of violence that pushed the indigenous people further into the mountains and completely changed their traditional way of life.

Today, if you cross the Kongxi Suspension Bridge and continue hiking several kilometers up the mountain, you can find the ruins of some of those historic outposts, which were spread throughout the mountains, especially along the Syakoro Historic Trail (霞喀羅古道), where some of them have recently been restored.

Note: During the same visit to the area, I hiked part of the Syakaro Historic Trail, but it was more of a volunteer experience that didn’t allow me to hike the entire trail, so I missed out on the parts of the hike that I was most interested in. Eventually I’ll hike the entire length of the trail and write a blog about it, but until then I recommend you check out Anusha Lee’s article about the trail

Syakaro Historic Trail: A Hike with History, Suspension Bridges and Fall Foliage (Taiwan Hikes)

Crossing over onto maple mountain.

Somewhat ironically, despite the area being referred to as Battleship Rock, the maple trees growing on the mountain on the other side of the Kongxi Suspension Bridge have become the star attraction in recent years. During the months when the trees are changing colors, you’ll find the parking lot full of shuttle vans bringing tourists up and down the mountains.

While the Battleship Rock area isn’t the best spot for maple viewing in Jianshih Village, it’s probably the easiest for most people to get to, making it a popular spot for weekend day-trippers. Coming from Canada, it’s difficult to impress me when it comes to maple trees, but after years of not seeing the leaves change colors back at home in the autumn, it was nice to see Taiwan’s mountains changing colors, especially in this area with the combination of the rivers and the mountains.

With that in mind, the best time to visit the area is in the autumn between October and January, but you’ll want to remember that the maples change colors at different times than they do in North America, so you should consider going a bit later in the year to see them, or simply check the recent photos from the area on Instagram to see if its a good time to visit or not.

Visiting the Battleship Rock area probably won’t require a whole lot of time, but if you plan on hiking the trail to see some of the ruins, or soaking your feet in the wild hot spring, you might want to schedule a bit more time to enjoy yourself. Either way, the parking lot next to the bridge is 100NT per visit for a car, and 30NT for scooters. Everything else is free, unless of course you decide to buy some delicious indigenous snacks from the vendors across the street.

Getting There

 

Address: Xiuluan Village, Jianshih Village, Hsinchu (新竹縣尖石鄉秀巒村)

GPS: 24.633680, 121.279510

As mentioned earlier, the biggest difference between Taipei’s Battleship Rock and Hsinchu’s Battleship Rock is accessibility. The hike in Taipei is pretty easy to get to, but this one is considerably more difficult.

Part of the problem, at least for most international tourists, is that there is no method of public transportation that will take you anywhere near the area. So, if you’re interested in visiting, your only option is to go by car or scooter, or arrange for a shuttle bus to get you there.

That being said, if you’re driving a car or a scooter, I recommend inputting the address or coordinates provided above into a GPS system to map out your route. Depending on where you’re coming from, you’ll want to get off of Highway #3 at the Zhulin Interchange (竹林交流道) and make your way towards Neiwan (內灣) on the #120 County Highway. Passing Neiwan, you’ll continue on towards Jianshih on the #60 rural road pretty much until you arrive.

As one of the stops along the road towards Smangus or the Syaroko Historic Trail, if you’ve planned a trip to either location, Battleship Rock is one of the must-stops along the road. Not only will you get a break from sitting in the shuttle bus, but you’ll also enjoy the opportunity to get a sneak peek of some of the amazing natural beauty that you’re going to experience on your trip. On the other hand, if you’re just enjoying a day-trip through the area, it makes an excellent place to stop, hike a bit and then turn back on your way home. Whatever your itinerary, a visit to Hsinchu’s Battleship Rock is a rewarding experience

References

  1. 秀巒軍艦岩步道 (健行筆記)

  2. 漫步新竹尖石「秀巒軍艦岩」、「軍艦岩吊橋」壯闊美景 (Jamie慢森活)

  3. 新竹景點 尖石鄉/秀巒軍艦岩/軍艦岩吊橋/大自然之旅一日遊/陡峭岩壁超壯觀! | 綠歐樂生活 (綠歐樂生活)

  4. 新竹尖石二日遊 玉峰村部落住一晚,沿途遼闊山巒陵線,凝聽老鷹溪步道溪流 (微笑台灣)

  5. 秀巒 Hbun-Tunan (霞喀羅國家步道)

  6. 控溪部落 Hbun-tunan (Taiwan Indigenous People’s Portal)


Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Park (滿月圓國家森林遊樂區)

Virgin Waterfall

After seven years, it’s about time for a much needed update to this article.

One of the first blog posts I published on this website, the first version of this article was posted when I was still quite new to this whole travel writing thing. Actually, now that I look back, even though the original had some nice photos, it embarrassingly contained very little usable information. So after more than half a decade, I figured it was about time to address that problem.

My writing style has evolved quite a bit over the years, and so has the way I present information on this blog, so I’ve written an entirely new article that will combine both old and new photos to give readers a better idea what this beautiful natural space has to offer.

Suffice to say, if you haven’t had the chance to visit the Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Park, you’re not exactly alone.

The park tends to be quite a popular one with domestic tourists, but hasn’t really appeared on the radar of international tourists yet, which is quite unfortunate. As one of only two of Taiwan’s designated ‘National Forest Recreation Parks’ located within the greater Taipei region, Manyueyuan serves as a great escape for weekend tourists wanting to get a taste of Taiwan’s stunning natural environment.

This massive forest reserve is home to a number of mountains, one of New Taipei’s most important rivers, several waterfalls, a number of hiking trails, and just so happens to be a great spot for bird and butterfly watching. Even better, a trip to the park can also be combined with a number of other popular tourist attractions within the area, making a day-trip there an eventful one.

Unfortunately, the one drawback is that getting to the park can be a bit of a hassle, especially for international tourists, as public transportation options are limited. Thankfully, there are now tour groups like Parkbus, which offer group trips to the park (and other hard to reach mountainous areas around the Taiwan), so if you’re interested in that kind of thing, I highly recommend checking them out as they’ll take care of all your travel-related headaches.

Link: Manyueyuan National Forest Recreation Area 滿月圓國家森林遊樂區 (Parkbus)

That being said, getting to the park on your own isn’t impossible, and I hope that this article will help to show you why all the effort it takes to get there is worth it.

In this updated version, I’ll introduce the park, the beautiful waterfalls within as well as the various hiking trails you’ll be able to enjoy when you visit. To start though, lets first take a look at Taiwan’s National Forest Recreation Parks, so that you can have a better idea of what’s actually going on in these environmental sanctuaries.

National Forest Recreation Parks (國家森林遊樂區)

Established by the Forestry Bureau in 1965 (民國54年), the government has designated a number of Taiwan’s mountainous areas as protected ‘Forest Recreation Parks’ (國家森林遊樂區). Over the six decades since these protected areas were established, the number of parks on the list has grown significantly, with many of them once utilized by the Forestry Bureau for the purpose of extracting natural resources.

Currently there are twenty-two designated areas around the country that have established Forest Recreation Parks, but that list of parks can often be somewhat confusing, even for locals, given that they often receive slightly different designations, and may or may not be included within what are considered National Parks (國家公園) or National Scenic Areas (國家級風景特定區). Officially, the list includes some twenty-two established areas, which are classified simply as ‘Forest Parks’ or ‘Forest Wetland Parks’, making the actual number of these spaces slightly misleading, given that they differ greatly in size and scope.

Nevertheless, no matter how you classify them, these parks range from tropical monsoon forests in the south and east of the country to temperate high-mountain forests in northern and central Taiwan. In each case, the Forestry Bureau has developed a system of walking paths and hiking trails within where visitors are able to enjoy the natural beauty of Taiwan at their leisure.

Below, I’ve compiled a list of the (current) areas classified as 'Forest Recreation Areas,’ each of which have become popular with local and international tourists, with a few of them becoming rather iconic.

    1. Taipingshan Forest Recreation Area (太平山國家森林遊樂區)

    2. Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Area (滿月圓國家森林遊樂區)

    3. Neidong Forest Recreation Area (內洞國家森林遊樂區)

    4. Dongyanshan Forest Recreation Area (東眼山國家森林遊樂區)

    5. Guanwu Forest Recreation Area (觀霧國家森林遊樂區)

    6. Mingchih Forest Recreation Area (明池國家森林遊樂區)

    7. Wuling Forest Recreation Area (武陵國家森林遊樂區)

    8. Basianshan Forest Recreation Area (八仙山國家森林遊樂區)

    9. Dasyueshan Forest Recreation Area (大雪山國家森林遊樂區)

    10. Hehuanshan Forest Recreation Area (合歡山國家森林遊樂區)

    11. Aowanda Forest Recreation Area (奧萬大國家森林遊樂區)

    12. Alishan Forest Recreation Area (阿里山國家森林遊樂區)

    13. Tengjhih Forest Recreation Area (藤枝國家森林遊樂區)

    14. Kenting Forest Recreation Area (墾丁國家森林遊樂區)

    15. Shuangliu Forest Recreation Area (雙流國家森林遊樂區)

    16. Jhihben Forest Recreation Area (知本國家森林遊樂區)

    17. Siangyang Forest Recreation Area (向陽國家森林遊樂區)

    18. Chihnan Forest Recreation Area (池南國家森林遊樂區)

    19. Fuyuan Forest Recreation Area (富源國家森林遊樂區)

Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Park

Hiking trails through the park

The Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Park (滿月圓森林遊樂區) is located on the territorial border between New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽區) and Taoyuan county’s northern Fuxing District (復興區). As one of two designated forest parks in the greater Taipei area, the park is an invaluable environmental sanctuary in addition to being a pretty popular tourist attraction, with people traveling from around the country to visit. Consisting of 1573 acres of protected land, a number of forest trails, and some really beautiful waterfalls, a visit to the park has a little something for everyone looking to enjoy the outdoors.

Located within the mountainous area just outside of Sanxia, the Manyueyuan Forest Park is situated on land that combines parts of Manyueyuan Mountain (滿月圓山), Southern Xiongkong Mountain (熊空南山), Beichatian Mountain (北插天山), Laka Mountain (拉卡山) and Dongyan Mountain (東眼山). The elevation within the park ranges between 300 meters to 1700 meters above sea level, offering visitors and adventurous hikers a glimpse of Taiwan’s various temperate environments within a single space.

That being said, the mountains aren’t the only important natural aspect of the park as it is also home to the Ruizai Creek (蚋仔溪), which is a tributary to the Dabao River (大豹溪), one of New Taipei City’s most important rivers. Working hand-in-hand with the mountainous habitat, Ruizui Creek flows through the park, and over the years has crafted a beautiful river valley, acting as the lifeblood of the park, and as the source of the various waterfalls within.

While Manyueyuan is a protected forest sanctuary today, the area was originally the native home of the Llyung Topa (拉流斗霸), a tribe of Tayal Indigenous people (泰雅族), who made their homes along the river. More commonly known today as the Dabao Tribe (大豹社), named after the Dabao River (大豹溪), the people who lived in the area were essentially forced from their homes further into the mountains, first by the Qing and then later the Japanese.

When the Qing government removed its prohibition regarding entering Taiwan’s mountainous regions (開山撫番), Chinese inhabitants of Taiwan started a violent effort to force their way into the mountains of Sanxia in order to extract the area’s rich camphor reserves. This campaign resulted in what is referred to as the Takoham Incident (大嵙崁社事件), a violent affair that left many on both sides dead. Then, when the Japanese took control of Taiwan in 1895 (明治28年), a similar push into the mountains took place, resulting in guerilla-style warfare and unfortunately ended with a well-equipped army marching into the mountains and forcing the Indigenous people to leave their ancestral homeland.

It goes without saying that the encroachment of the Japanese on indigenous territories across the island often resulted in violence and misery for Taiwan’s indigenous people, but as they stood in the way of the empire’s ambition for the extraction of the island’s precious natural resources, the violence was relentless and unforgiving.

Ironically, there’s (somewhat of a hidden) Japanese memorial to the members of the Japanese army who were killed during the conflict on a mountain near Manyueyuan. Not many people know about it, but it is a sad reminder of the historic suffering of the Dabao Tribe. I recommend giving the article linked below a read if you’re interested in a rare English-language article dedicated to the history of what happened to the Llyung Topa people.

Link: Sanxia Loyal Spirit Monument (三峽忠魂碑)

Serving as a base for the extraction of the area’s rich reserve of camphor, the Manyueyuan area was also part of a Japanese reforestation effort that brought prized Japanese cedar (柳杉) to Taiwan for future extraction. Nevertheless, unlike the neighboring Dongyanshan Forest Recreation Area (東眼山國家森林遊樂區), little evidence remains of the historic logging industry within the park today. That being said, the cedar that was planted by the Japanese has been given well over a century to grow, creating a beautiful forest that boasts a wide variety of local and imported trees.

Note: Manyueyuan Forest Park is one of the best locations in Northern Taiwan to view the changing colors of the maple leaves. However, when this does happen, the park tends to explode with visitors, as it is probably one of the most popular times of the year to visit. For a Canadian like myself, there’s a bit of nostalgia to see the red and yellow maple trees, but if you choose this time of the year to visit, you’re also going to have to put up with a lot of traffic as well.

With the decline of the camphor industry in the 1960s, the Forestry Bureau (林務局) moved almost everything out of the area and later reserved an estimated 1,500 hectares of land to be eventually converted into a protected ‘Forest Recreation Park’ (國家森林遊樂區). The Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Park, named after Manyueyuan Mountain (滿月圓山) opened to the public in 1988 (民國77年), providing the people of Taiwan with a beautiful natural sanctuary, a short distance from the capital. Over the three decades that the the park has been open to the public, it has undergone a number of changes, but the important thing to keep in mind is that it remains a sustainable natural habitat for Taiwan’s wildlife, a protected forest reserve, and a popular tourist attraction.

However, even though the park famously combines both the mountains and the river, it would be an understatement to say that it also provides a very healthy habitat for wildlife, unfortunately, that hasn’t always been the case.

Taking into consideration the history of the forest and the harvesting of its natural resources over the past century, many of the area’s original human and wildlife residents moved to safer areas higher up in the mountains. The good news though is that thanks to the reforestation effort, and several long periods of closure (for a period of renovation, and then again during the COVID-19 pandemic), the park has started to come alive again. Recently installed motion-activated infrared cameras have started to show a significant return of the area’s wildlife. The cameras, which are used to collect data on the wildlife within the park, have recorded an increase in sightings of rare mammal and bird species that have made their return to the area.

Link: Sightings of elusive wildlife on the rise in Manyueyuan (Taipei Times)

The most visible (and less disturbed by human activity) are the Formosan Rock Macaques (台灣獼猴), which most visitors to the park are likely to encounter at some point foraging for food in the trees along the trails. If you’re lucky, you might also encounter Formosan Red-Bellied Squirrels (赤腹松鼠), Reeves’ muntjacs (台灣山羌), crab-eating mongooses (食蟹獴), ferret-badgers (鼬獾), Swinhoe's pheasants (藍腹鷴) and Taiwan bamboo partridges (台灣竹雞). The park is also home to a wide variety of other birds, reptiles and amphibians, and during the spring and summer months, an impressive variety of butterflies, making it an ideal location for bird watchers, who you’re likely to encounter in the forest taking photos of the over fifty different species of birds in the park.

That being said, Manyueyuan is often referred to by locals as a ‘Waterfall Paradise’ (瀑布天堂), and even though the forest trails, bird and butterfly watching attract visitors on a regular basis, the park’s beautiful waterfalls are probably one of the biggest reasons why so many people visit. Below, I’ll introduce each of the waterfalls as well as a few of the other important points of interest within the park before moving on to introducing the various hiking trails that are open to the public.

Manyueyuan Waterfall (滿月圓瀑布)

Manyueyuan Waterfall, which is be literally translated as “Full Moon Waterfall” is a twenty-meter high waterfall that can be viewed from several different vantage points. Unfortunately, no matter which side you’re viewing the steep waterfall from, you can’t really get a full view of it as half of it is obscured by a large stone.

Note: Due to it being obscured in this way, the waterfall has been nicknamed by locals as a ‘dragon waving its tail’ (神龍擺尾) because you can see the top of the falls, but not the bottom. I don’t particularly get the analogy, but it’s probably quite clever.

As you approach the falls along the hiking trail, there is a trail that climbs up a hill high above the falls on the right where you’ll find a covered pavilion where you can sit and enjoy the beauty of the falls. On the other hand, as you approach the falls, you’ll have to cross the “Full Moon Bridge” (滿月小橋) where you can enjoy the beauty of the river valley, and the lower section of the waterfall as it reappears from behind the large rock. Once you pass the bridge, you’ll walk up a set of stairs to the left of the waterfall that will take you to a platform space at the top of the falls.

Personally, I recommend anyone who visits the park to climb the hill to the right of the waterfall just before you reach the bridge as it offers a panoramic view of the falls from above, which is the best vantage point.

Silver Curtain Waterfall (銀簾瀑布)

Located not too far away from the top of the Manyueyuan Waterfall, you’ll find the Silver Curtain Waterfall. While not as large or impressive as the other two waterfalls within the park, the two meter high and five meter wide falls can be quite beautiful in the right light, especially if you are lucky enough to visit on a day when the sunlight is shining over the falls, which creates the ‘silver curtain’ effect.

To reach the falls, simply continue walking past the top of the Manyueyuan Waterfall until you reach the end of the flat stone area. The end of the trail is marked by guard rails, which have been put in place to prevent anyone from getting too close to the water.

Virgin Waterfall (處女瀑布)

What I personally consider the star attraction of the park, the (oddly named) ‘Virgin Waterfall’ is located along the left tributary of the Ruizai Creek. The twenty-five meter high cascading waterfall a stunning sight whenever you visit, but if you’re visiting on a sunny day, the waterfall is going to treat you to a beautiful rainbow display, created by a mixture of the light and mist. The probability of seeing the rainbow created by the waterfall is pretty high, but you may have to be patient, so I recommend if you are planning a visit to the park, plan to have a picnic or a rest while on one of the waterfall viewing platforms, so that you can get a glimpse of the light show.

Conveniently located next to the waterfall you’ll find a three-storey viewing platform that features benches on each of its level and offers beautiful vantage points to take photos of the waterfall. Sitting in the gazebo on a hot day is both calm and comforting as the waterfall treats visitors to a cool mist that acts like a natural air-conditioner, while it also dazzles with its rainbow displays.

And just to let you know, I have been lucky enough to see a rainbow at the waterfall every time I’ve visited the park, so I’m sure that if you’re patient enough, you’ll be treated with one as well.

Tourist Visitor Center (遊客中心)

The recently completed Visitor Center is located along the main hiking trail that visitors will take from the front gate prior to reaching any of the other hiking trails within the park. The large buildings are beautifully designed and feature washrooms for guests in addition to some impressive and informative displays about the natural environment within the park. The three exhibition spaces within the tourist visitor center are the Forest Building (森林館), River Building (溪流館) and the Butterfly Building (蝴蝶館), each of which has been opened within the last few years and features exhibitions that are probably more suitable for children, but are quite enjoyable nonetheless.

Refreshment Station (森林小舖)

Within the park, you’ll also find a small, but beautiful canteen, where a number of snacks and drinks are available for hungry hikers. The menu within the canteen tends to change quite regularly, but you can expect local snacks like dumplings, braised tea eggs, buns, rice dumplings, etc. There also a variety of hot teas, coffee and Taiwanese soups available. For the less adventurous, there are a number of packaged instant noodle options.

The prices within the shop are pretty much what you’d expect from any eatery around Taiwan, so don’t worry about it being a tourist trap.

Manyueyuan Hiking Trails (滿月圓健行步道)

Now that I’ve introduced the waterfalls and various points of interest within the park, I’m going to take some time to introduce the network of trails that have been set up for all our of enjoyment. The trails within the park are all well-developed and well-maintained, some of which have been recently given a fresh coat of paint, making them quite accessible for people of all ages.

That being said, not every trail within the park is considered ‘easy’ and although most of them are quite leisurely, it’s important that visitors keep track of where they are and where they intend to visit while in the park so that they don’t miss out.

Its also important to point out that even though most of the trails well-developed, not all of them are accessible for visitors with certain physical disabilities, or those with strollers. The Virgin Waterfall trail for example has quite a few stairs, making it relatively difficult if you’re traveling with a small child. So if you’d like to hike these trails, you might want to find a spot to fold up your stroller and leave it behind.

Ruizai Creek Ecological Trail (蚋仔溪生態步道)

The Ruizai Creek Ecological Trail is essentially just a newly developed trail that curves its way the park’s four designated parking lots, leading up the main entrance to the park. The trail is more or less just an added bonus to the rest of the park as it is just an off-shoot of the parking lot from the main road and provides visitors with the opportunity to check out the wide river basin prior to it joining up with the much larger Dabao River downstream. It also allows you to avoid any of the cars and scooters coming and going on the road to the other parking lots.

Total Length: 800 meters

Time Required: 20 minutes at the most.

The ‘Hiking Trail’ (健行步道)

Starting from the main entrance and following the river all the way past the Visitor Center and the Refreshment Station, the so-called ‘Hiking Trail’ is a (mostly) flat trail that connects to the other trails within the park. From the ticketing booth, the trail does have a gradual incline, but it is quite accessible for anyone who would like to enjoy a leisurely walk through the park. Similar to the Ruizai Creek Trail mentioned above, it’s part of the walking section of the park that most visitors have to pass by, but although it is forested in sections, it is just a leisurely walking trail that runs parallel to the river and offers views of the stream with plenty of places to stop and rest. That being said, this is essentially one of the most important trails within the park as it connects to all of the others, allowing visitors to head off in different directions.

While on the trail, you’ll find a number of informative displays that the have been set up to help inform visitors of the various species of wildlife and vegetation within the park.

Total Length: Between 1250 meters - 2km (the trail splits off at one section)

Time Required: 25-30 minutes.

Virgin Waterfall Trail (處女瀑布步道)

As an offshoot of the ‘Hiking Trail’ you’ll eventually come across a fork in the road where you’ll see signage that points in the direction of continuing along the path toward the Manyueyuan Waterfall, or cross the river on your way toward the Virgin Waterfall. Both waterfalls are worth the time and the effort, but if you only have enough time to check out one of them, this should be the one you choose.

The trail to the Virgin Waterfall isn’t a long one, but it is considered to be more difficult than the others due to the incline of the trail, which includes a number of stairs that takes you up along another section of the Ruizai Creek. From the start of the trail, you’ll cross the Manzu Bridge (滿足小僑) and then start your climb to the waterfall. Even though the hike is a little less than a kilometer long, it’ll feel like the most strenuous exercise that you’ll have had on your journey through the park thanks to all the stairs.

The trail ultimately comes to an end when you reach the Virgin Waterfall, which has a nice three-storey covered pavilion for you to view the waterfall and rest.

If you’re lucky, you may also be able to make use of the ‘Connecting Trail’ (連接步道) to take an easier and direct route back and forth from the Manyueyuan Waterfall Trail. I’ll introduce that trail in more detail below.

Total Length: 930 meters (+300 meters with connecting trail)

Time Required: 45 minutes (+10 minutes with connecting trail)

Manyueyuan Waterfall Trail (滿月圓瀑布步道)

As another offshoot of the main ‘Hiking Trail’ you’ll reach a fork in the road where you can turn right and continue along the path toward the Manyueyuan Waterfall. This trail is considerably easier than the Virgin Waterfall mentioned above in terms of the incline of the path, but it does feature a number of stairs that hikers will have to climb on either side of the waterfall to reach the end of the trail.

Much of this trail is covered covered by the forest, and is noticeably a lot more damp than the rest of the park as it is the area where you’ll find the Ruizai Creek at its strongest.

As mentioned earlier, the trail splits off into two sections, one where you’ll cross the beautiful ‘Full Moon Bridge’ (滿月小橋) and make your wall up to the top of the waterfall to an area where you can also enjoy the Silver Curtain Waterfall.

The other part of the trail is a section where you’ll climb a steep set of stairs prior to crossing the bridge. It will bring you to a platform high above the waterfall where you can enjoy panoramic views while sitting in a roof-covered pavilion.

Similar to the Virgin Waterfall trail mentioned above, hikers can make use of the ‘Connecting Trail’ (連接步道) to take an easier and more direct route to the other waterfall, rather than climbing all the way back down and starting all over again.

Total Length: 930 meters (+300 meters with connecting trail)

Time Required: 45 minutes (+10 minutes with connecting trail)

Connecting Trail (連接步道)

Making things convenient for hikers, there is a ‘Connecting Trail’ between the Virgin Waterfall Trail and the Manyueyuan Waterfall Trail that allows visitors to save quite a bit of time biking between the two waterfalls. That being said, it’s important to note that the ‘Connecting Trail’ has experienced long periods of closures in recent years due to the instability of the trail as it passes from one waterfall trail to the other. Unfortunately, it’s possible that the trail might be closed at any given time, so although it is an extremely convenient way to pass between the two waterfalls, you may end up discovering that it is blocked off with notices warning hikers not to enter.

You’ll want to keep this in mind as you hike through the park and ultimately be prepared to hike back to the start of the other trail.

Total Length: 300 meters

Time Required: 10 minutes

Self-Guided Trail (自導式步道)

What is it they say about taking the road less travelled?

Starting as an off-shoot from the ‘Hiking Trail’ that follows the river through the park, the ‘Self-Guided Trail’ follows a completely different route through the forest, ultimately connecting to the Manyueyuan Waterfall trail at the end. This trail tends to be the most secluded of all the trails in the park as well as being considered the most ‘difficult’, but it does offer those who take it a much different view of the lush untouched forest, where you’re also much more likely to encounter some of the local wildlife.

Taking a stroll through this section of forest tends to be pretty quiet, with far fewer hikers than the other trails, and it’s also a pretty good section for checking out the butterflies in spring and summer. This is also the area where you’ll find the trailhead for the Dongman Hiking trail, which will take you from Manyueyuan Forest Park to the Dongyanshan Forest Park.

If it’s your first visit to the park and you’d like to enjoy a bit of a hike, I recommend starting with this trail and taking it all the way to the Manyueyuan Waterfall before making your way back to the entrance along the much easier and more leisurely ‘Hiking Trail’.

Total Length: 1100 meters

Time Required: 40 minutes

Dongman Hiking Trail (東滿步道)

The longest trail in the park is an interesting one because it is essentially a one-way hike that’ll take the entire day and connects you from one Forest Recreation Park to another. The name “Dongman” (東滿) is a combination of the first characters in “Dongyanshan” (東眼山) another Forest Recreation Park located in the mountains of Taoyuan and “Manyueyuan” (滿月圓).

Hikers are free to choose to start the roughly eight kilometer hike in the Forest Park of their choice with one starting at a lower elevation and the other starting at a higher elevation. The trail is known for its panoramic views of the northern mountain range, but is considered an advanced hike, and should always be done in a group for safety.

The other thing that has to be reiterated is that since the hike starts in one park and ends in another, your method of getting there and getting home will be different, so it doesn’t make much sense to drive your car to one, do the hike, and end up stranded in the other. Fortunately, there are hiking groups like Parkbus that coordinate hikes to the trail and conveniently provides drop off at one park and pick up at the other, solving those logistical problems.

Trail length: 8km (4-5 hours one way)

Time Required: 4-5 hours (one way)

Getting There

 

Address: (新北市三峽區有木里174-1號)

GPS: 121.44470, 24.830391

Car / Scooter

If you have access to your own means of transportation, getting to the park is quite easy thanks to quick access to the expressway that runs between Sanxia (三峽) and Yingge (鶯歌). Simply get off of National Highway #3 at the Sanying Interchange (三鶯交流道) and make your way to Rural Highway North North 115. The best way to achieve this is to copy the address or the GPS coordinates provided above into your vehicle’s GPS or your phone’s Google Maps.

If you’re riding a scooter however, you obviously don’t have the option of taking the expressway, so you’ll have to find your way to Sanxia and then to the Rural Highway #115, where you’re able to drive.

In both cases you’ll ultimately follow the rural highway to the very end where you’ll find the park. Driving a car might seem like your best option, but it’s important to keep in mind that on weekends and during national holidays, the narrow mountainous road can get quite busy and you may find yourself stuck in a traffic jam on the way up the mountain.

If you’re on a scooter on the otherhand, you can simply zip past all the people sitting in traffic and enjoy the park at your leisure.

Public Transport

Unfortunately, the only way to get to Manyueyuan via public transportation is by bus, and that tends to be a bit of a pain in the ass.

First you’ll have to get yourself to Sanxia (三峽), and the best way to do that is to take Taipei Bus (臺北客運) #702 from Banqiao Station (板橋車站) or Taipei Bus (臺北客運) #812 from either Dingpu MRT Station (頂埔捷運站) or Yongning MRT Station (永寧捷運站) on the Blue Line (板南線) all the way to Sanxia Stop 1 (三峽一站). From there, you’ll need to hop on Taipei Bus #807, which will take you to the Manyueyuan Parking Lot.

While that sounds simple, it’s important to note that there are only a handful of buses that depart from Sanxia each day, so you’ll have to keep a tight schedule in order to ensure that you catch the bus there, and more importantly, your bus home.

Link: Taipei Bus #807 Real Time Location (Taipei eBus 大台北公車)

From Sanxia 1 Bus Terminal to Manyueyuan (三峽一站 - 滿月圓)

Weekday Departures: 05:20, 07:00, 09:30, 12:00, 15:00, 17:30

Weekend Departures: 06:00, 08:30, 11:00, 14:30, 17:30

From Manyueyuan Parking Lot to Sanxia (滿月圓 - 三峽一站)

Weekday Departures: 06:05, 07:45, 10:15, 12:45, 15:45, 18:10

Weekend Departures: 06:45, 09:10, 11:45, 15:15, 18:10

Once again, you’re going to have to be very careful about the amount of time you spend in the park if you are taking the bus home - If you miss the last bus out of the park, you’re going to find yourself stranded, and your only option might be to hitch a ride with another hiker who would be willing to drive you into town.

Park Admission Fees

It is somewhat uncommon for popular tourist destinations to charge an admission fee in Taiwan, but in this case, for the purpose of maintaining the quality of the trails, the administration of the park, and more importantly the wildlife conservation effort, a modest admission fee is collected at the entrance.

The current admission fee scheme is as follows:

Weekdays: Adults NT$80

Weekends & National Holidays: Adults NT$100

Group Rate (20 or more people): NT$80

Children: NT$50

Seniors (65+): NT$10

Hours

Weekdays: 08:00 - 17:00

Weekends: 07:00 - 17:00

The park is open year-round, but is closed for Lunar New Year’s Eve (除夕). The Visitor Center on the other hand doesn’t open on Tuesdays.

If you are looking for something to do on the weekend or during a holiday, a quick trip to Manyueyuan for a bit of nature is definitely worth a visit. Not only are the trails within the park beautiful, but you also get to see a couple of beautiful waterfalls and possibly even some wild monkeys.

And hey, if you arrive early enough and still have time and energy for another short hike, you can make your day complete and visit the nearby Cloud Forest waterfall (雲森瀑布), or just take a dip in one of the pool areas of the Dabao River on the way out of the mountain. Finally, why not end your day checking out Sanxia Old Street (三峽老街), where you can fill your belly with some pretty good food!

References

  1. 滿月圓國家森林遊樂區 (台灣山林悠遊網)

  2. 滿月圓國家森林遊樂區 (新北市觀光旅遊網)

  3. 滿月圓國家森林遊樂區 (Wiki)

  4. 三峽.滿月圓 (Tony的自然人文旅記)

  5. 滿月圓人團圓,隱身於中海拔森林裡,在大台北地區就能四季森林體驗!(微笑台灣)

  6. 國家森林遊樂區 (Wiki)

  7. Manyueyuan National Forest Recreation Area (Wiki)

  8. Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Area (Taiwan Forest Recreation)

  9. Manyueyuan National Forest Recreation Area (Parkbus)

  10. Sightings of elusive wildlife on the rise in Manyueyuan (Taipei Times)


Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園)

One of the best ways to know what people are looking for when they visit this site is to make use of analytics tools made available to developers that analyze what visitors are looking for when they arrive. Sometimes though, I don’t really have to bother spending time looking at these things as people are often a little more direct, and when I don’t have what they’re looking for, they get in touch. Needless to say, over the years, I’ve discovered that in both cases the most important area where this site is lacking is on the subject of Taiwan’s most iconic tourist destination, Taroko Gorge.  

So, when I receive emails asking: “Why can’t I find anything on here about Taroko Gorge?”, I can completely understand your frustration; I’ve been writing travel blogs about Taiwan for several years now, but have avoided the topic for far too long.

In my defense, there are actually a few reasons for this: 

  1. There are already some great travel guides dedicated to introducing Taroko.

  2. I tend to focus on some of Taiwan’s lesser-known tourist destinations.

However, the main reason why I’ve avoided the topic is that I’ve always been of the opinion that when I did publish something about Taroko that it would have to be an extensive travel guide that encompassed the most popular stops within the National Park, as well as those that are considered much less accessible. I’ve always considered Taroko Gorge to be a subject that required a considerable amount of dedication, and until I was ready, I wasn’t really comfortable with putting anything out there to compete with what is already available. I also wanted to compile a large collection of photos from my many visits to the area to ensure that I had all my bases covered and would be able to provide a travel guide that I wish I could have had when I first visited the area well over a decade ago.

Ultimately, I’ve started to change the way I approach this blog and have come to the conclusion that any guide that I write about Taroko would essentially be a ‘work-in-progress’ article requiring regular updates, and a web of links to individual articles about the popular destinations with the massive park.

Taroko is deservedly one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist destinations and even though there is far too much to cover in any one guide, or any one visit - I think it’s best to start with some basics and build from there.

I’m not going to make any bold claims that this will an ultimate travel guide, but I will continue to update this space with new information, new photos and new destinations as time goes by, and hopefully at some point it will become a useful tool for anyone wanting to get the most out of their visit to one of the most beautiful natureal tourist destinations in Taiwan, if not the world.   

Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園)

Whenever I write an article, I like to start out with a bit of an introduction of the history of whatever I’m writing about. When it comes to Taroko though, that is a little more difficult as the origin of the gorge dates back to the origin of this beautiful island itself.

Essentially both Taroko Gorge and the rest of the island made its first appearance nearly four million years ago when the Philippine and Eurasian tectonic plates forced this absolutely beautiful landmass out of the Pacific Ocean in spectacular fashion.

Over the span of that several million year history, Taroko Gorge has been in a constant state of geological change as shifts in the tectonic plates have gradually reshaped the land in addition to natural forces such as earthquakes, typhoons and natural erosion which have taken part in shaping the rock walls and the landscape within the gorge.

Located on the East Coast of Taiwan, Hualien (花蓮) is one of the most geologically active areas in the country due to its proximity to the volatile Ring of Fire. That being said, Hualien’s proximity to what geologists refer to as a ‘subduction zone’ comprised of the two tectonics plates mentioned above, means that it would be an understatement to say that the area is no stranger to earthquakes. This is why you’ll find that the earth seems to be pretty busy moving around whenever you’re in the area. Fortunately for us, this is simply a natural method for the earth to release energy and it shouldn’t deter anyone from visiting the area, as this has been something people have had to put up with for as long as Hualien has been settled by humans.

It’s also one of the reasons why Taroko Gorge, and many other areas along Taiwan’s East Coast are so damned beautiful. 

I suppose you could say that one of the most amazing things about those four million years of geological activity is that the changing faces of Taroko Gorge revealed a treasure of unimaginable proportions - The geological pressure that forced the island to emerge from the ocean has been a constant thing, with the land mass being pushed a few millimeters further out of the ocean as each year passes. So, in conjunction will all of this tectonic activity, millions of years of erosion revealed one of the largest deposits of marble in the world.

More specifically, you’ll find high concentrations of stone that are composed primarily of gneiss, green schist and metamorphic limestone, which is more commonly known as marble - in addition to granite and quartz, all of which works together to present a wide range of vivid natural colors, especially within the gorge. 

While all of the rocks are pretty important, the Grand Canyon wouldn’t be as ‘grand’ if it weren’t for the Colorado River, and Taroko likewise wouldn’t the same without its Tkijig River (塔次基里溪), better known today as the Liwu River (立霧溪). Originating at an elevation of over three thousand meters high in the mountains, the beautiful river flows down into Tianxiang (天祥) and then into the gorge before emptying into the Pacific Ocean.

Today, Taroko National Park is recognized as one of Taiwan’s nine official National Parks and spans an area of 920 km2, encompassing land in Hualien (花蓮縣), Nantou (南投縣) and Taichung (台中縣).

The park is home to a considerable amount of flora and fauna as well as twenty-seven mountains over three thousand meters high, or around twenty percent of Taiwan’s one hundred highest peaks.

Link: 100 Peaks of Taiwan | 台灣百岳 

Modern development in Taroko started during Taiwan’s Japanese Colonial Era (1895-1945) with the area becoming important for the extraction of natural resources. Once there was enough infrastructure in place, the Governor Generals’s Office established the Tsugitaka-Taroko National Park (次高タロコ國立公園) in 1937 (昭和12年), which was (interestingly) much larger than the park of today as it also included Tsugitakayama (次高山), known these days as Snow Mountain (雪山), Taiwan’s second highest peak. 

The Taroko National Park as we know it today was established almost half a century later in 1986, and it seems like ever since then the area has been in a perpetual state of construction as the infrastructure within the park has never been adequate enough to accommodate for the amount of tourists wanting to visit, especially during weekends and national holidays. Fortunately, it seems like those problems have finally been solved and the park has become much more accessible than ever before as the problem with traffic jams on the narrow mountainous roads has been addressed by the government. 

I could keep going into further detail about the origin of park, but I’m going to stop here and focus on something much more important - The name “Taroko” (太魯閣) is derived from the indigenous peoples who made the area their home thousands of years prior to the arrival of any other humans to Taiwan.

The Truku (太魯閣族), who are often also referred to as the “Taroko” people are one of the sixteen (currently) recognized groups of Indigenous peoples in the country, and it doesn’t matter what colonial power controlled Taiwan, the area has been a part of their ancestral home for thousands of years.

It’s important to remember that even though we’re able to enjoy the beauty of Taroko today. It’s theirs.

Link: Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples | 臺灣原住民族 (Wiki) 

That being said, the changing eras in Taiwan have seen changes within the gorge - for example, when the Japanese controlled Taiwan, you’d find Shinto Shrines - These days you’ll find Buddhist temples and churches. The further you travel up into the mountains beyond all the tourist destinations however, you’ll start to find where the real inhabitants of Taroko have made their homes for the past few thousand years.

With that in mind, many of the tourist destinations and hiking trails within Taroko National Park have been given Mandarin names, reflecting Taiwan’s current (colonial) status, but its important to note that the vast majority of what we are able to enjoy today was once the territorial hunting grounds for the Truku people, who graciously share their homeland with the people of Taiwan, and the rest of the world today.

Note: As I introduce each of the National Park’s various tourist destinations below, I’ll do my best to include the original name of each of these locations, even though the current Mandarin names are often just transliterations. 

It goes without saying that any visit to Taiwan should include a trip to the East Coast, so that you can experience the beauty of Taiwan. Even if you’re only in the country for a short period of time, a trip to Taroko should be on the top of your list of places to visit. I’ve personally been to the gorge well over a dozen times, and it never gets old. More importantly, even after visiting so many times, I’ve still only seen a fraction of what this massive National Park has to offer. 

Things to see and do within Taroko National Park

If you haven’t already, Taroko National Park is the kind of place that’ll make you fall in love with Taiwan, and the great thing about this massive park is that one visit will never suffice!

Sure, you could do the typical day-trip thing and check out all the most popular sights, but if you’re able to invest a bit more time, you could easily spend days in the park and never grow tired with all the hiking trails, hot springs, camp grounds, luxury hotels, and so on. 

For first time visitors, a trip to Taroko can be an overwhelming experience due to the sheer size of the park. This is why planning a trip can be overwhelming, especially international tourists who have a difficult time reading Mandarin. To solve this problem, Taroko National Park has been divided up into four different regions: Taroko Recreation Area, Bulowan Recreation Area, Tianxiang Recreation Area, and the Hehuan Mountain Recreation Area.

For most visitors, especially those who are day-tripping from Hualien, the majority of time spent within Taroko will be done between the Taroko Recreation Area and the Tianxiang Recreation Area. However, given that the highway can take you across the Central Mountain Range to the western side of Taiwan, Hehuan Mountain is also an option.

That being said, most people prefer to enjoy that portion of the park from the Nantou side on a different trip. 

Before I go into detail about some of Taroko National Park’s most popular attractions, I think it’s a good idea to provide a list of what you’ll find within each of the four designated areas of the park.

As this article is updated over time, I hope to provide photos and descriptions of each of these locations.

Until then, you’ll find each of them marked on the map that I’m including below. 

Taroko Recreation Area (太魯閣遊憩區) 

The Taroko Recreation Area of the National Park is the lowest portion of the park and essentially acts as the entrance, and your introduction to the rest of the park. This area stretches from the coast of Hualien where you’ll find the Qingshui Cliffs and the area where the Liwu River empties into the sea. Within this area you’ll find several hiking trails, temples, the headquarters of the National Park, quite a few restaurants and even more hotels.

  1. Qingshui Cliffs (清水斷崖)

  2. Taroko Visitor Center (太魯閣遊客中心)

  3. Changchun Shrine (長春祠)

  4. Changuang Temple (禪光寺)

  5. Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑步道)

Bulowan Recreation Area (布洛灣遊憩區)

Once the home of a Truku Village, the Bulowan Recreation Area is separated by an ‘upper terrace’ and ‘lower terrace’, and is where the vast majority of day-tripping tourists visiting the National Park will spend most of their time. The lower terrace area has traditionally been the most popular with tourists, but over the past few years the ‘upper’ area has started to compete for attention with its beautiful suspension bridge, and the celebration and promotion of indigenous culture and history. Within this area you’ll not only find Taroko’s most popular tourist stops, but some of the best hiking trails in the park.   

  1. Zhuiliu Cliffs (錐麓斷崖)

  2. Zhuiliu Old Road (錐麓古道)

  3. Bulowan Village (布洛灣臺地)

  4. Shanyue Suspension Bridge (山月吊橋)

  5. Swallow Grotto (燕子口)

  6. Jinheng Park (靳珩公園)

  7. The Tunnel of Nine Turns (九曲洞)

Tianxiang Recreation Area (天祥遊憩區)

For most tourists, the Tianxiang Recreation Area is the end of the line when it comes to a day-trip adventure through Taroko National Park. This is the area where traffic is easily able to turn around and head back down through the gorge, and also a pretty good spot to get out, stretch and check out some of the attractions within the small village. Tianxiang is home to one of Taiwan’s most expensive luxury hotels, a beautiful Buddhist monastery, several hiking trails, wild hot springs, etc. So even though some might consider this area a simple area to turn around and head back down the mountain, you’d be missing out on quite a bit if you didn’t explore for a while! 

  1. Xiangde Temple / Tianfeng Pagoda (祥德寺 / 天峯塔)

  2. Wen Tianxiang Park (天祥公園)

  3. Tianxiang Youth Activity Centre (天祥青年活動中心)

  4. Huoran Pavillion (豁然亭)

  5. Wenshan Park (文山公園)

  6. Baiyang Trail (白楊步道)

  7. Water Curtain Cave (白楊步道水濂洞)

Hehuan Mountain Recreation Area (合歡山遊憩區)

The Hehuan Mountain Recreation Area is the highest portion of the National Park, and is located in a different county than the rest of the park. As mentioned above, the vast majority of tourists who visit this area are arriving from the opposite side of Taiwan than the rest of the park, and are usually staying for a few days. This area of the park is known for its hiking trails and the ability to actually drive your car or scooter to some of the highest elevated roads in Taiwan. 

  1. Wuling (武陵)

  2. Hehuan Mountain (合歡山)

Now that we have this list out of the way, I’m going to start going into more detail about some of the most popular stops listed above, and then I’ll move onto some of the places that most of the day-trippers miss, due to a lack of time. 

Eternal Spring Shrine (長春祠)

The Eternal Spring Shrine is one of those iconic picturesque locations within Taroko Gorge, and is often either the first or last stop on most people’s trip through the gorge. The shrine, which can been seen from a distance from the highway is located on the side of a mountain across the Liwu River and features a two-kilometer hiking trail that brings you through the mountain to the temple and beyond. 

The shrine is dedicated to the 226 workers who perished during the construction of the Central Cross-Island Highway, and was originally constructed in 1958 - however the temple that you see today is actually the third iteration as landslides have destroyed the temple on two separate occasions. 

Even though there is a long hiking trail around the temple, the walk from the parking lot to the temple itself is actually only around three hundred meters, so don’t be afraid to visit. It’s actually pretty close and the walk to the shrine through a cave and a tunnel constructed within the mountain is pretty cool.

As most of you know, I’m a pretty big fan of Taiwan’s temples, but when it comes to this one, I think it looks best from a distance rather than up close. When you are viewing the temple from the parking lot or the road, it looks beautiful with the Changchun Waterfall (長春瀑布) flowing through the middle of the shrine.

When you get closer though, you its just not the same. I highly recommend taking lots of beautiful photos of the shrine from a distance - and I do think everyone should make the effort to walk through the cave. 

One thing that you’ll have to keep in mind about the hike however is that the trail is often closed due to falling rocks. I’ve been to the shrine probably half a dozen times over the years, and unfortunately have never had the luck of going when the trail to the bell tower above was open. If you’re lucky to visit when its open, I highly recommend completing the hike! 

Swallow Grotto Trail (燕子口)

The Swallow Grotto trail is one of Taroko Gorge’s most popular tourist stops, and is part of an absolutely beautiful narrow section of highway that allows tourists to walk along parts of the old road, with one-way traffic driving nearby. The trail derives its name from the swallows that are constantly flying around the grotto, nesting within conveniently located potholes (壺穴) within the side of the mountain on the opposite side of the Liwu River. 

The beginning of the trail is located near the entrance of the popular Zhuilu Old Road (錐麓古道) trail, and follows the highway up the mountain. The beautiful thing about the walking sections of the grotto is that you get to walk through the caves constructed for the original highway, with the steep mountain on both sides, and the Liwu River running through a narrow valley below, making for absolutely stunning photo opportunities. Even though the area is quite narrow within the grotto, you’ll feel quite small yourself as you are looking over the edge of the mountain at the beautiful marble rock-face in addition to the emerald green river below. Likewise, many of the caves that you walk through are dark and damp and are perfect places to cool off on hot days.

As you walk through the grotto, it’ll eventually open up to a wider valley area where visitors are able to park their car, and where you’ll also find Jinheng Park (靳珩公園). Within the park you might find some vendors selling food and drinks, but more importantly there is a public restroom for visitors.

On that note, if you’re driving a car, stopping and getting out near the grotto can sometimes be a little difficult, especially if you’re visiting on a busy weekend or during a national holiday. The park area might be your best option for stopping and getting out, but it also fills up pretty quickly and you’ll have to put your parallel parking skills to the test. 

Another thing you’ll want to keep in mind is that (although it’s not entirely necessary) you may also want to pick up one of the free safety helmets at the National Park Headquarters before visiting the grotto as there are frequent rockslides, especially within the dark cave areas.   

The Tunnel of Nine Turns (九曲洞)

Arguably one of the top tourist stops within Taroko Gorge, the Tunnel of Nine Turns has seen considerable investment and an impressive upgrade in the condition of this absolutely stunning pedestrian walking trail in recent years. A few years back when I first visited Taroko, the trail was showing signs of age and there was always the threat of falling rocks - but that didn’t stop people from visiting as it is one of the best areas to enjoy the beauty of Taroko Gorge.

These days, the newly upgraded trail has been made considerably safer, and I have to say the end result looks eerily similar to a Bond villain’s secret lair. Closed to the public for around six years, the trail is considered an engineering marvel given all the work that went into its restoration. With that in mind, walking this trail is something that every visitor to Taroko must do now that it is finally reopened to the public.

Even if you’ve only planned a half-day trip through the park and you only end up visiting one or two locations, you can rest assured that if one of them is this walking trail, you’ll be absolutely amazed at the beauty of the gorge as it offers some pretty amazing vantage points and you’ll leave content with your visit!

The walking trail only takes only about half an hour to compete (not including the amount of time you’ll be taking photos) and leads you through a narrow part of the gorge where the Liwu River winds through the valley around several corners, with steep marble walls on both sides. Not only are the vantage points to enjoy the gorge beautiful, but the tunnel itself, which weaves through beautiful well-lit caves.

If you’re lucky enough to visit when the park isn’t busy, you’ll not only enjoy the beauty of the gorge, but also natural silence as all you’ll hear as you walk through the caves are the sounds of the river flowing through the gorge below, and birds flying around. 

What you’ll want to keep in mind about the Tunnel of Nine Turns, whether you’re driving a car, or a scooter is that there is only one entrance and exit to the newly restored trail. This means that when you walk the trail, you’ll also have to leave the same way you came. Arguably though, this is a pretty good thing as it gives you two different perspectives of the trail. 

Just a healthy reminder, if you are visiting on the weekend or during a National Holiday, finding parking for a car near the tunnel can be a little difficult, and it will test your parallel parking skills in the process. 

Water Curtain Cave (白楊步道水濂洞)

One of the more popular places to visit in Taroko as of late is the Baiyang Water Curtain Cave, a picturesque tunnel where you’ll be showered with natural spring water. The Water Curtain Cave is located within the Baiyang Hiking Trail (白楊步道), just past Tianxiang and is roughly a three-hour round-trip hike that allows you check out a large two-tiered waterfall in addition to the Instagram-famous cave.

While the cave itself is beautiful, there is quite a lot to see along the hiking trail, but its important to remember that you’ll need to bring along a flashlight, raincoat and waterproof footwear as its the kind of trail where you’re going to get wet! 

Xiangde Temple / Tianfeng Pagoda (祥德寺 / 天峯塔)

One of the most vivid memories of my first few months in Taiwan are from my first trip to Taroko Gorge, and more specifically walking around Xiangde Temple. It was the trip that likely cemented my love affair with this country.

The Buddhist temple is located high atop a mountainous crag just as you cross the Pudu Bridge (普渡橋) into Tianxiang (天祥) and while I was walking around the temple grounds on a beautifully sunny day, a cloud of mist suddenly rolled in and enveloped the entire mountaintop where we were exploring.

It felt a bit like a scene straight out of a movie and made our visit to the temple much more special.

In the years since, the temple has changed quite a bit with restoration and renovation projects undertaken to ensure that the half century-old temple remains intact.

During my most recent visit to the temple, they were busy constructing a new more accessible pathway to the temple, repairing their giant Buddha statue, as well as the pagoda. 

To reach the temple, you first have to walk across a beautiful pedestrian bridge that crosses the Liwu River from the highway. Once you’re on the other side, you have to walk up a very steep set of stairs until you reach the next level, where you’ll find vegetarian restaurants, and a small store where you’re able to purchase drinks while chatting with the monks and nuns who live at the temple. From there, you’ll have to make your way up another set of stairs to reach the temple and the pagoda, which is thankfully situated on a flat section of land.

I will caution you that the stairs to the temple are quite steep, but don’t let that deter you - you’d be missing out if you skipped the temple because of some stairs.

Xiangde Temple was constructed in 1968, and is known for having one of the highest-elevated statues of Ksitigarbha (地藏), a popular Buddhist figure in East Asia. The temple has a beautiful exterior, while the interior is a simple space with meditation cushions on the floor. Nearby you’ll find the Tianfeng Pagoda, which in the past was open for guests to climb to the top, but these days is most often closed for safety reasons.

One thing you’ll want to keep in mind though is that unlike most temples in Taiwan, this one is actually a functioning monastery with a group of Buddhist monks and nuns living in the dorms next to the temple. So, even though the temple is a popular tourist attraction, it’s important to remember to keep your voice down and follow any of the rules they have posted at the front entrance. 

Tianxiang Recreation Area (天祥)

Tianxiang Village is pretty much the final stop for most people traveling through Taroko.

The village is essentially one of the best areas along the highway to stop, have a snack, use the bathroom, and then turn your vehicle around and head back down through the gorge. That being said, Tianxiang isn’t just a place where you should stop before heading back down as there are quite a few things to see within the historic village.  

Within the village you’ll find a tourist visitor centre, luxury hotel, hostels, restaurants and bus stops. You’ll also find hiking trails, gardens, two historic churches and the ruins of a former Shinto Shrine, among others.

Originally named Tapido (塔比多) in the local Truku language, the village was (somewhat absurdly) renamed “Tianxiang” in honor of a Song Dynasty (宋朝) hero named Wen Tianxiang (文天祥) who helped in the battle against Kublai Khan (元世祖).

What relation did a guy who died in China more than a thousand years ago have to do with this area?

Very little. It’s just another leftover from Taiwan’s legacy of colonialism. 

The Shinto Shrine that once existed within the village (another remnant of a past colonial era) was demolished and converted into the Wen Tianxiang Park (文天祥公園), a memorial space that retains much of its original layout. 

Some of the things you’ll find within Tianxiang:

  1. Tianxiang Plum Garden (天祥梅園)

  2. Tianxiang Catholic Church (天祥天主堂)

  3. Wen Tianxiang Park (文天祥公園) - Formerly Sakuma Shinto Shrine (佐久間神社)

  4. Baiyang Hiking Trail (白楊步道)

  5. Huoranting Hiking Trail (豁然亭步道)

  6. Lushui Wenshan Trail / Hot Spring (綠水文山步道/溫泉)

  7. Tianxiang Youth Activity Centre (天祥青年活動中心)

  8. Silks Place Taroko Hotel (太魯閣晶英酒店)

Bulowan Village / Terrace (布洛灣山月吊橋)

Bulowan Village, located high above the cross-island highway is one of the more recent additions to the list of attractions within the National Park. The area was once home to a former settlement of Truku Indigenous people, and today is a large open space that celebrates Indigenous culture with educational resources to help tourists to learn more about the history of the area. 

While up on the Bulowan Terrace, you’ll find the Bulowan Service Center (布洛灣遊憩區), the Bulowan Visitor Center (布洛灣管理站), the Shanyue Suspension Bridge (山月吊橋) and the Taroko Village Hotel (太魯閣山月村). 

Arguably this area is relatively new, and not so well advertised - If it weren’t for the beautiful suspension bridge that crosses the Liwu River just above of Swallow Grotto, I think most people wouldn’t even really notice that it exists. You would be missing out though if you didn’t take the opportunity to head up to the terrace, check out the suspension bridge and take the opportunity to learn more about the culture and history of the Truku people.  

If you’d like to cross the Shanyue Suspension Bridge, you’ll have to keep in mind that there is an online application process to go through before you’re able to visit. Visiting the bridge is free, but there is a quota for each of the four daily sessions that allow tourists to cross.

Link: Booking Guidelines for Shanyue Suspension Bridge (Taroko National Park)

Qingshui Cliffs (清水斷崖)

While not located within the ‘Taroko Gorge’ area, the iconic Qingshui Cliffs are still part of Taroko National Park, and if you’re visiting the gorge, you might as well visit the cliffs as well, right? 

There are a couple of areas where tourists can stop to enjoy the stunning natural beauty of the Qingshui Cliffs, each of which offer tourists with unique views at varying elevations. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the areas where you can enjoy the cliffs, I recommend checking my article that is entirely dedicated to visiting them.

Link: Qingshui Cliffs (清水斷崖)

Hiking Trails within Taroko National Park

Arguably, one of the most rewarding experiences any visitor can have while touring Taroko National Park is hiking one of the more than a dozen hiking trails available to tourists. Within the park we are blessed with trails that range from being short and sweet to those that require an investment of several days.

But how is one to figure out which are family friendly and which are better suited to experienced hikers? 

Well, one of the areas that has been covered quite well with regard to Taroko National Park on the internet are its hiking trails. So, when planning a trip to the area, its important to do some research beforehand so you can decide which hiking experience will be best for you. Likewise, one of the things that you’ll want to keep in mind is that the environment at Taroko can sometimes be a little unstable due to earthquakes, typhoons and erosion, so if you’re planning a hike, you might be sorely disappointed when you arrive and find out that the trail is closed for repairs. 

Fortunately, the Taroko National Park website is an excellent resource that provides frequently updated information (in both Chinese and English) about the trails and should be able to prevent you from the disappointment of finding a ‘Trail Closed’ sign when you arrive at the park. 

Link: Taroko National Park Trails (太魯閣國家公園步道列表) - English | 中文

Sadly, one of the areas where the English-language information is lacking is with regard to the parks six official trail ‘difficulty levels’, which are actually very important for anyone wanting to visit.

Below, I’ll explain each of the levels, what you’ll need for the hikes, and list each of the trails within that particular difficulty level so that you’ll better understand what you’ll need to visit. 

I’ll also provide links to the official Taroko National Park English and Chinese language pages about each of the trails where you can find out real-time info about their condition and whether or not they’re currently open and if trail requires hikers apply for a permit before entering, I’ll add a star next to them. 

If the trail does require a permit before hiking, you can easily visit the Taroko National Park Headquarters, Tianxiang police station, or apply on the Taroko National Park Website.

Link: Trails, Campgrounds and Bed Availability (Taiwan’s National Parks) 

Note: There are some discrepancies within the official literature with regard to the level of difficulty of some of the trails between the English-language and Chinese-language lists. I’ve gone ahead and used the Chinese-language list as it is very likely the most accurate and should ensure that you don’t come across any unexpected issues. 

  • Level 0 (第0級)

Description: The easiest of the trails within the park, mostly flat and well maintained. open for all ages and also wheelchair and baby carriage accessible. 

Requirements: Water, rain gear, cellphone

  1. Taroko Terrace Trail (太魯閣臺地步道) - English | 中文

  • Level 1 (第1級)

Description: Well-maintained trails with adequate signage available for hikers. These trails generally aren’t very steep, and can be completed within several hours. Open for hikers of all levels of experience. 

Requirements: Water, rain gear, cellphone

  1. Xiaozhuilu Trail (小錐麓步道) - English | 中文

  2. Huide Trail (匯德步道) - English | 中文

  3. Chongde Trail (崇德步道) - English | 中文

  4. Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑步道) - English | 中文

  5. Baiyang Trail (白楊步道) - English | 中文

  6. Bulowan Scenic Trail (布洛灣景觀步道) - English | 中文

  7. Lushui Trail (綠水步道) - English | 中文

  • Level 2 (第2級)

Description: The trail is well-maintained but there are several slopes and potential risks for hikers. These trails can generally be completed within a day, and are open for hikers of all experience, but those in good shape are preferred.  

Requirements: Water, rain gear, cell phone, quick-dry clothing, hiking bag

  1. Changchun Shrine Trail (長春祠步道) - English | 中文

  2. Huoran Pavilion Trail (豁然亭步道) - English | 中文

  3. Dekalun Trail (得卡倫步道) - English | 中文

  • Level 3 (第3級)

Description: The trails are maintained, but are in remote mountainous areas and feature steep slopes and frequent weather changes. The time it takes to complete these trails varies, but generally anywhere between one to three days is to be expected. Hikers should be experienced and travel in groups. 

Requirements: Water, rain gear, cell phone, quick-dry clothing, hiking bag, camping gear

  1. Dali-Datong Trail (大禮大同步道) - English | 中文

  2. Zhuilu Old Trail (錐麓古道) - English | 中文 🌟

  3. Lushui-Wenshan Trail (綠水文山步道) - English | 中文

  4. Yangtou Mountain (羊頭山步道) - English | 中文 🌟

  5. Hehuan Mountain Main Peak (合歡山主峰步道) - English | 中文

  6. Hehuan Mountain North Peak (合歡山北峰步道) - English | 中文

  7. Hehuan Mountain East Peak (合歡山東峰) - English | 中文

  8. Shimen Mountain Trail (石門山步道) - English | 中文

  9. Xiao-Qilai Trail (小奇萊步道) - English | 中文

  • Level 4 (第4級)

Description: The trails are located in remote mountainous areas with a mixture of maintained paths, rugged terrain and steep slopes. These trails take anywhere between three to five days and hikers should be relatively experienced, travel in groups and be capable of performing first aid.   

Requirements: Water, rain gear, cell phone, quick-dry clothing, hiking bag, camping gear

  1. Hehuan Mountain West Peak (合歡山西峰) - English | 中文

  2. Bilu Mountain (畢祿山步道) - English | 中文 🌟

  3. Pingfeng Mountain (屏風山步道) - English | 中文

  4. Qingshui Mountain (清水山步道) - English | 中文 🌟

  5. Nanhu Mountain (南湖大山) - English | 中文 🌟

  • Level 5 (第5級)

Description: The trails are located in remote mountainous areas with limited cellphone reception, the paths are rugged and there are steep slopes that are considered quite dangerous. The climate in the area tends to change frequently, so hikers should be well-prepared. These hikes generally take about three to five days and require hikers to camp and be capable of carrying heavier bags as well as traveling in groups in addition to applying for permits. 

Requirements: Water, rain gear, cell phone, quick-dry clothing, hiking bag, camping gear

  1. Qilai Mountain (奇萊連峰) - English | 中文 🌟

  2. Qilai East Ridge (奇萊東稜) - English | 中文 🌟

  3. The North Section Trail (北二段全段) - English | 中文 🌟

Before I move on, I think its important to mention that in years past you could visit Taroko and easily find a camping spot along the river, go swimming, river tracing, or enjoy one of the wild hot springs.

You might have heard from friends that Taroko is a pretty cool place for all of these things, and yes it’s true - its great for these things. Unfortunately in recent years the government has cracked down pretty hard on these activities, so if you’re found swimming in the river, or enjoying one of the hot springs, its likely that you might be fined.

One would hope that the government might see the error in its ways with regard to banning these outdoor activities, but until then it’s probably best not to violate the rules. If none of that worries you, please be careful.

Getting There

Marked on the map above are almost all of the points of interest within Taroko National Park. 

The question however is, how do you actually get there? And when you’re there, how do you get around

There are a number of methods for which you can tour the park, and even though I have my own preferred methods, others might disagree. Its a very subjective argument! 

Taroko is easily accessible with a train station nearby, so if you’re planning a visit you have the option of making use of buses, cars, scooters, or bicycles. If you were brave, you could even walk through the gorge, but that wouldn’t exactly be the most efficient use of your time.

Suffice to say, Taroko National Park is (for the most part) located in Northern Hualien County (花蓮縣), and day trips to the area most often use Hualien City as a starting point given that it is much more convenient to start a tour of the park early in the morning after waking up in an accommodation nearby.

With several flights and even more trains out of Taipei daily, Hualien is quite accessible from the capital - that being said, even though it takes a bit longer, you’d certainly be missing out if you didn’t take the railway option as the views on the train along the east coast railway are absolutely stunning. 

Flights to Hualien

Taipei Songshan Airport - Hualien Airport (台北松山機場 - 花蓮航空站)

Flights out of Taipei’s Songshan Airport are serviced by UNI-Air (立榮航空

  1. Taipei 7:10 - Hualien 8:00 (Monday to Saturday)

  2. Taipei 19:20 - Hualien 20:10 (Daily)

  3. Taipei 12:00 - Hualien 12:50 (Sundays)

Return flights

  1. Hualien 8:35 - Taipei 9:25 (Monday to Saturday)

  2. Hualien 20:40 - Taipei 21:40 (Daily)

  3. Hualien 13:20 - Taipei 14:10 (Sundays)

There are also flights out of the airports in Taichung and Kaohsiung, but they are infrequent (twice a week) and are much more expensive, so I recommend just taking a train instead.

The prices for flights tends to fluctuate, but they’re actually not that expensive, so if you are willing to pay a bit more, you can generally take flights there and back for less than $3000NT.

I’m not particularly sure the time you spend checking in for the flight and the security screening process is actually worth taking the forty minute flight when you consider that the train only takes three hours.

Trains to Hualien

Taking the train to Hualien right now is an experience that I think every person who travels to Taiwan should experience at least once. As I mentioned above, the train ride along Taiwan’s east coast is absolutely stunning. That being said, in recent years the time it takes to get there from Taipei has been drastically reduced thanks to improvements in the railway infrastructure.

Options for the train range from the slower local trains (區間車) and the Tze-Chiang (自強號) and Chu-Kuang (莒光號) limited-express trains to the newest additions, the Puyuma (普悠瑪號) and Taroko (太魯閣號) Express trains, both of which have reduced the travel time by at least an hour. 

And fortunately for travelers, all of these trains conveniently stop at both Hualien Railway Station (花蓮車站) as well as Xincheng Railway Station (新城火車站), which is the station closest to Taroko National Park. 

Link: Taiwan Railway (臺灣鐵路) - English | 中文

Car

If you’re traveling in a group, driving a car through the park is a pretty good option. 

Years ago, I would have never recommend driving into the gorge, but the traffic situation within the busiest sections has improved considerably, thanks to the construction of several new tunnels that separate traffic on the narrowest sections of highway. This make driving a car slightly more tolerable, but if you’re visiting during a holiday, it’s likely that you’ll still get stuck in a traffic jam. 

That being said, one of the reasons why I don’t actually recommend driving a car into the park is due to the fact that you’ll end up missing a lot due to the inability to stop whenever you feel like it.

There are so many areas along the highway where you’ll want to stop to take photos, but when you’re in a car you’d end up causing a major traffic jam if you did - and you might even end up on TV as the asshole of the day.

Likewise, finding parking spots within the gorge, especially at the most popular stops can be difficult, and will put your parallel parking skills to the test.

If you don’t have your own vehicle, cars can be easily rented once you’ve arrived in Hualien near both of the train stations mentioned above.

You’ll need to have a local license or a valid international drivers license however to rent one.  

Scooter

Personally, I’d argue that the best way to enjoy Taroko Gorge is to first make your way to Hualien, and then renting a scooter. I’d argue that riding a scooter through Taroko offers tourists quite a few benefits that includes being able to stop pretty much whenever you want, but also giving you a better sense of the immense size of the gorge while riding through it.  

Unfortunately for foreign tourists, the various scooter rental shops in Hualien have become strict with their rental policies, so if you don’t have a local drivers license or an International Drivers License, you might not have much luck finding a scooter to rent. 

It was explained to me by the rental place that I frequent near Hualien Train Station that foreigners often “have no idea how to ride a scooter” and when they’re rented out, they come back half destroyed, or end up being involved in a traffic accident. This has led quite a few of the rental places to not want to take the risk. There are of course work-arounds for this, but you may want to have a back up plan just in case you can’t get a scooter. 

I recommend checking the two links below for a more detailed explanation of the scooter rental situation in Hualien. 

Links: Scooter Rental in Taiwan (Foreigners in Taiwan) | Exploring Hualien with a Scooter (The Spice to My Travel) 

While this would be my personal preferred method of transportation while in Hualien, I have a Taiwanese scooter license, so it is considerably easier for me to rent scooters. I’m not going to recommend any specific places to rent one, but you will find several near Hualien Station and Xincheng Station that offer a variety of scooters for travelers. The prices might be slightly more expensive during weekends and national holidays, but generally speaking you can rent a scooter for around 450-600NT per day, which isn’t different from most other areas of Taiwan.

Cycling

For cyclists, Taroko has become an extremely popular destination in recent years and the local government has made cycling through the National Park even more convenient by allowing travelers to take their bicycles on (certain) trains. Likewise, you’ll find several professional bike rental shops in Hualien City as well as in Xincheng that allow for short-term rentals.

If you are planning to cycle through Taroko, I highly recommend renting your bike near Xincheng Station rather than cycling directly out of Hualien considering that it takes more than an hour from the city to the park compared to the fifteen minutes it takes from the latter.

The prices of rentals varies, but you’ll find that most bikes go for around $250NT per day, which isn’t that bad. 

Like scooters, cycling allows travelers to stop pretty much anywhere they like along the road through Taroko Gorge, but I imagine the twenty or so kilometer journey up the mountain isn’t the easiest if you’re not in good shape, or an experienced cyclist. Likewise, the highway becomes quite narrow in a few sections, so cyclists should be wary of traffic, especially on weekends or national holidays as there will be a number of tour buses sharing the road. 

Bus

For those travelers who don’t have access to their own means of transportation, taking a bus through the gorge might be one of your only options. That being said, taking the bus tends to be slow, inconvenient, and requires considerably planning to ensure that you get the most out of your trip through the park. 

If the bus is your only option, you’re going to have to plan a schedule and keep track of all of the times to ensure that you don’t find yourself waiting around for too long. This means that when you stop at a place like Swallow Grotto, you’ll have to keep track of your time to ensure that you don’t miss the bus on the other side.

It’s also important to note that the buses that travel through the gorge start at Hualien Train Station and only go as far as Tianxiang, where they’ll turn around and head back down the mountain.

So, if you’re planning on hiking one of the trails beyond there, you’ll have to walk to the trailheads. 

  1. Taiwan Trip (台灣好行) - Taroko Route (太魯閣線) Day Pass: $250NT

  2. Taroko Bus (太魯閣客運) - #302

  3. Hualien Bus (花蓮客運) - #1126, #1133, #1141

All of these buses will also stop at Xincheng Train Station (新城火車站), so if you want to save some time you might want to hop on one of the buses from there.

You should also become familiar with the iBus info System website, which is available in both English and Chinese, and will help you schedule your routes and know where the bus is in real time. There are likewise some apps that you can download for your phone to help you with the bus schedules, but most of them are only available in Chinese. 

For more detailed information about the buses and how and where you can purchase tickets, I recommend checking out the link below from the official Taroko website. 

Link: Bus Timetable (Taroko National Park) 

Accommodations in Hualien

Last, but not least - You’ve planned a trip to Hualien to check out Taroko and some of the other cool things to see in the area. But now you have to ask yourself, where will you stay? Should you stay in Hualien City to be close to all the action? Or should you stay close to Taroko so you can spend as much time as possible in the National Park? 

When it comes to planning where to stay during your trip to Hualien, it can become a bit of a headache for travelers as there are a number of options, but some of them fill up quite quickly, and the closer you get to Taroko, the more expensive they become. 

Likewise, the closer you stay to the train station in Hualien, the more expensive your accommodation will be. That being said, no matter where you stay in the area you’ll be able to find a wide range of accommodations from inexpensive hostels to premium five-star hotels.

With this in mind, what you’ll want to take into consideration when deciding where you’ll stay is how you plan on getting around Hualien and what your budget is. To put it simply, if you have access to your own means of transportation, be it car or scooter, you can easily find a place at your preferred price range.

If however you plan on making use of public transportation, your choices will become a bit more limited.

Personally, I’ve always elected to stay in an accommodation close to Hualien Station as I always rent a scooter when I’m in the area. What I tend to look for in a place to stay however is likely a bit different than others, so I recommend taking some time to research places to stay. 

While planning your trip, I recommend checking out AirBnB, booking.com, Agoda, Trip Advisor where you’ll be able to find some of the best places to stay in the area. 

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