Taiwan’s Top Ten Day Trips

I’ve just written this piece for a Korean magazine, and while most of the places here have already been put on the Blog, it’s probably worth putting the whole thing up here  - Taiwan really is an extraordinary place!

This list is only a start, and on another day I might have come up with a completely different ’top 10,’ but these are wonderful places, and all are great personal favorites. I’ve uploaded new photos and expanded the write-up on the spectacular Taiji Canyon, which is not covered elsewhere here.

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The secret’s finally out: more and more tourists are discovering that Taiwan is an island of quite extraordinary natural beauty. But whatever you do, don’t limit yourself to the big tourist draw cards such as Sun Moon Lake, Alishan and Kenting. The island’s popular sights are great of course, but be sure to make time for at least a couple of the countless little-known gems that lie scattered around the island and on the outlying islets.

   There are enough enchanting spots to keep a weekend explorer going for decades, and any ‘top ten’ list is bound to be highly subjective, but here’s a personal list of ten places – all feasible day trips from one or other of the island’s big cities – that may well prove to leave more lasting memories than lying on the beach in Kenting or zooming through Taroko Gorge in a bus. 

1.  Loyal Son Mountain and

2. Sandiaoling Waterfall Walk, Taipei County

Descending Loving Mother Mountain

The 12 kilometer-long Pingxi Branch Railway Line, an hour’s ride from Taipei city center, is one of the most beautiful train rides in northern Taiwan, but the real attraction of coming here is the host of natural and cultural attractions easily accessible from the tracks. The area is dotted with atmospheric reminders of the area’s coal mining past, and the valley (which boasts the wettest place in Taiwan) features well over twenty waterfalls. The most famous (and touristy) of these is forty meter-broad Shifen Waterfall (十分瀑布), the widest waterfall in Taiwan, but waterfall lovers can’t do better than take the stunningly scenic, 3-hour Sandiaoling Waterfall (三貂嶺瀑布) Walk nearby. Named for an impressive 30-meter high fall which plunges over a huge overhang behind which hikers can stand, the walk also features a further two beautiful waterfalls, and several exciting but safe climbs up cliff faces on chunky rope ladders.

Niya Waterfall, on the Sandiaoling Waterfall Walk

  

Mount Nanhuda (南湖大山)

Climbing the North Peak ridge (Day 2)

Mount Nanhuda, the fifth highest mountain in Taiwan (behind Yushan, Snow Mountain, Mt Xiuguluan and the little-climbed  Mt Mabolasi) seems to be amongst the best-loved of all Taiwan’s highest mountains, and I’ve heard many people over the last decade or more claim that it’s the one of the most beautiful. Unfortunately it’s a much longer hike than either Yushan or Snow Mountain, taking four days. Some crazy locals make the dash to the main summit and back in just three, but that’s really pushing it - five days would probably be the best option, allowing a full day to fully explore the spellbinding moonscape of the summit ridges around Nanhu Hut at the top, and maybe bag a fifth or sixth ‘Top Hundred’ peak as well. 

A return visit to Yuemeikang Waterfall: Paradise (not yet) Lost

It had to happen sometime, and it seems to be starting to happen now. My very favorite ‘secret’ spot in the Taipei area is gradually becoming known. Yuemeikang waterfall in Yilan is the perfect destination for a hike during a boiling hot Sunday in June, as the only way to it involves a short but fun wade up the stream through the narrow gorge below the falls, and with three (yes three!) pools below the falls that are deep enough for a swim, it never fails to enchant me.  

The gang, wetted and refreshed, below Yuemeikang Waterfall

  

Paradise Valley

 Yesterday’s weather promised so little hiking fun that if I wasn’t so far behind on my hike-revising schedule, I’d have stayed at home with a good book, practiced the piano, or gone out to see Paranormal Activity II at the movies. In the end however, a grim determination to get this book revision finished and done with asap (so I can get back to exploring some new places, and, just maybe, a few more high mountain trips)  saw me and David heading out to Ilan to tackle a hike I haven’t done for nearly a decade: Paradise Valley.

Sacred Mother Peak

On November 9th, 1980, a group of five hikers from a mountain club in Taipei set off from Pinglin on a hike over the mountains to Ilan in the east. On the way however they became lost, and as darkness settled over the mountains, they arrived at the spot now known as Sacred Mother Peak. Seeking deliverance from their nasty predicament, they prayed, not to Guanyin as you might have expected, but to the Virgin Mary.  Suddenly there appeared, in the top of a nearby tree, a ghostly, white-clad figure. The men found their way off the mountain safely, and to commemorate what they regarded as a miracle, they later set up a statue of the Sacred Mother. Thus this unique and extraordinary combination of hiking route and Catholic pilgrimage site had its origins.

  

Turtle Island

  

The underwater hot springs of Turtle Island, seen from the summit path

Getting to Turtle Island (or rather obtaining the necessary permit to land there) is enough of a hassle that I’ve only been there once before, eight or nine years ago, and that time I never landed. Getting permission to climb the path to the highest point of the island is even more difficult to get, so when I noticed a hiking group in Sanchong City included the hike to the summit of the island in their autumn schedule this year, I jumped at the chance to join them.  

The larger of Turtle Island's two lakes, near the visitor center

These days boat trips to Turtle Island (龜山島) mostly go from Wushi Harbor (烏石漁港), just outside Toucheng (頭城) in northern Ilan County, and although there was no time to check for sure as we were hurried off the coach and on to the waiting boat at 8:30 in a Sunday morning, posters up on walls nearby seemed to imply that it’s still possible (on weekends at least) to do what I did the last time I visited the island, and simply turn up and get on a non-landing, dolphin watching boat (the pesky permit is required only to land on the island).

Linmei Shipan Trail

Trail just below Linmei Shipan Waterfall

I often find myself saying rude things about the government’s development of northern Taiwan’s amazing system of trails, but when it comes to Ilan, they almost always seem to get it right. Ilan County’s ecological awareness has been notable for many years, and after the ‘open-as-many-trails-up-to the-public-even-if-they’re-unsuitable-and-the-environment-be-damned’ attitude  that appears to be favored by many local authorities around Taipei, it’s a refreshing change to see their counterparts in Ilan are generally keen to emphasize the value of keeping the countryside pristine while allowing the masses in to marvel at the incredible beauty of this part of Taiwan.  The trails to Xinliao Waterfall (新寮瀑布) south of Luodong and Yulan Waterfall (玉蘭 瀑布), two of the most scenic short walks in the  Taipei area, immediately come to mind.

  

Yuemeikang Waterfall

It’s still early (not even 9 am) when we arrive, yet the car park at the entrance to Wufengchi Waterfalls (五峰旗瀑布) is packed with cars this fine Saturday morning in June, and we’re forced to find an empty roadside place to leave the car.