First Trip

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I am planning a solo trip to Taiwan (my first) in October for 10-12 days or so: I hate guided tours because they drag you around too fast and you never have time to really take in the atmosphere.

Is this schedule realistic?: Taipei Museums/Sights 5-6 days, Taroko Gorge 2 days, Sun Moon Lake 2 days. I am a passionate Taiwanese stamp collector, so I will probably spend at least a day at the Postal Museum, and as an art/culture buff I am sure I will do the same at the National Palace Museum and some of the shrines thus I am thinking 5-6 days in Taipei. But I would like to see the other areas and, ultimately, the Penghu Islands, Tainan too.

Travelling in a new environment is stressful enough (I have a “talent” for getting lost anywhere) so I am thinking that 10 days in Taipei and vicinity may be enough for a first trip, inasmuch as there are mountains, beaches all nearby. On a second trip for another 2 weeks, with a high comfort level, I could do Taroko, Sun Moon Lake, Tainan, and perhaps Penghu, Matsu, Quemoy. Make sense?

Comments welcome.

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A full day at the Postal Museum???

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BeachBoy: How much time in Taipei is a bit like asking how long a piece of string is, especially if you have a particular interest you want to pursue. Five or six days there might only give you a nibble if you’re interested in cultural stuff.

I’ve only been to Sun Moon Lake for one of the big swims there, so I don’t know too much about what it’s like at any other time of the year. I don’t know how much stuff there is to do right there, but there’s stuff slightly farther afield. You do need to take into account how much time you’d need to get there. From Taipei, it would basically be to Taizhong, and then on to Sun Moon Lake. I figure you’re going to lose at least half a day in each direction, so that might not leave you much time to do anything.

Likewise, with Taroko Gorge, I would say that’s not enough time. By the time you leave Taipei and actually get to Taroko Gorge (it requires a trip out from Hualian, and I assume you’d be relying on either public transport or taxis), you’re probably only going to have half a day there, maybe not even that. Likewise, on your second day, you might only get half a day or slightly longer. In my opinion, that wouldn’t do the place justice. I think you’d want at least one full day there so you could get off the really touristy trails. However, with Taroko, you will need to have a Plan B. If the weather is bad, especially if there’s a typhoon, or a typhoon has recently been through there, most trails may be closed.

In a sense, maybe it would be better/more efficient to just stick to Taipei and its surrounds. On the other hand, I actually think a lot of the really appealling stuff is nowhere near Taipei. The east, centre, and south of Taiwan are radically different from Taipei and there’s nothing in, or near, Taipei that’s like that. Although, a nice little alternative for you if you’re interested in hiking might be the Caoling Historic Trail in Yilan County. That’s not too far from Taipei and would give you some sort of taste of the Taiwanese wilderness (though it’s nothing like Taroko Gorge).

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The cities are nothing special here. You’ve seen one, and you’ve seen all of them. The time you want to spend in Taipei is too long. National Palace Museum does indeed have a lot of stuff, but most of this is hidden in a secret mountain cave everyone knows about, and only a small part of the loot (sorry, collection) is on display at any given time.

I’d do like that. Rent a car: I think you can do it at the airport, so no need to even go to Taipei. Drive to Nantou. Stay there for the night. Next day, cross the mountains along the Central Cross-Island Highway (be sure to leave early and have your fuel tank full, this drive will take a while, but it’s beautiful). Arrive in Taroko. You can stay there for the night, there’s one great place if it’s within your budget. Next day, drive to Hualian and along the East Coast. Make sure you choose Highway 11, which is closer to the coast and way more beautiful. Stay in some B&B along the road. Next, stay in Taimali, which is a beautiful place slightly south of Taidong. From there, you can either explore the southern tip of the island: the Kending village is nothing special, but the adjacent national park is nice enough to warrant a visit. When you’re finished, drive the car back to Gaoxiong (Kaohsiung) and give it back. Stay there for a while. Take the high-speed rail to Taipei. Now you can explore the capital. If you want to go to the islands, you’ll also be flying from Taipei: I haven’t been to any of these, but from what I know Mazu is the most interesting, Jinmen (Kinmen, Quemoy) also is, while Penghu is mostly an overcrowded tourist trap.

At any time you always have the option of staying longer in a place you like: in Nantou, you can see Xitou tree walk and the suspension bridge; on the East Coast between Hualian and Taidong, there’s the beautiful Walami Trail. Sun Moon Lake is mostly an overrated parking lot for Chinese tourists these days, but if you really want to see it, it’s also conveniently close when you pass Nantou in the beginning.

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You may want to check out the stamp dealers on nearby Kuling Street. Also around the main post office on Chungxiao west road.

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Penghu is not overcrowded , it actually has bountiful space compared to the mainland, some of the the tourist highlights might get crowded, that’s it. They are beautiful islands but it just gets really hot this time of year.

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He’s coming in October. Penghu will be virtually empty then and should have pleasant temperatures.

Renting a car on Penghu would be fine – perhaps preferable to a scooter, given the winds there. But I certainly would not second Doraemonster’s recommendation for a newbie to drive around the main island of Taiwan on a solo vacation. :noway:

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Why?

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Thank you, all, for your comments so far.

Chris, my Republic of China (Taiwan) stamp collection goes back to the early 1950s, so I am intensely interested in Chinese/Taiwanese postal history. (When I was a youngster, I would send $2 or $3 in an envelope – I didn’t know any better than to mail cash-- yet the Directorate General of Posts In Taipei always sent the full value back to me.) And yes (thank you Tempo) I have a few gaps I want to fill with the stamp dealers on Kuling Street.

Developing my collection has raised my interest in the history of Taiwan and I am certainly a “culture vulture” (I worked at American museums for 7 years), so I would expect to spend a significant amount of time at the Chiang Memorial, the 2-28 memorial, other museums and shrines near Taipei.

Doraemonster, you offer an interesting scenario, but I simply cannot imagine renting a car and driving around the island solo. I would need to think about that. I am simply too risk adverse. I feel weird driving around Canada on my American license! I guess you could say the materials in the National Palace Museum are loot, but at least they survived the Cultural Revolution!

Guy, what is your take on Yangminshan mountains, Neidong Forest Recreation area, and Fulong Beach? I suspect there is a lot around Taipei and northern Taiwan to keep me busy for the first trip, but I could be persuaded otherwise.

Again, thank you all!

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It’s just that I had heard somewhere that the Postal Museum was tiny and dreadful, though I could be wrong.

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[quote=“Doraemonster”][quote=“BeachBoy”] National Palace Museum does indeed have a lot of stuff, but most of this is hidden in a secret mountain cave everyone knows about, and only a small part of the loot (sorry, collection) is on display at any given time.

[/quote][/quote]

I am sure you meant as a funny line. If KMT did not spend the time, money, and lives to move those more than 10,000 boxes of treasure from BeiPing all the way to Taiwan, today, they will either be in Japanese museum, or sold off to European private collectors or destroyed by Cultural revolution. You will see zero instead of a small portion rotated out every 3 months.

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there are a lot of great day trips from Taipei with good public transit. Not having to rent a car/scooter is a big benefit for a first timer in Taiwan. Wulai/Neidong is nice especially if you go on a weekday. Here are my photos from last year. theworldisnotthatbig.com/2011/08 … -in-wulai/

This isn’t comprehensive (I have not been everywhere) but this contains photos of the places that I’ve gone in Taiwan. theworldisnotthatbig.com/taiwan-travel-guide/
And I’ve started a waterfall guide with some basic directions/photos. taiwanswaterfalls.com/

the most comprehensive online guide is this one (not mine). guide.taiwan-adventures.com/

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I think my response to the “looting” remark was a fair comment. There is/was nothing funny about the Cultural Revolution.

Anyone have anything to say about my Northern Taiwan scenario? I am not sure I want to spend the better part of 3 or 4days in transit!

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Northern Taiwan has a lot of nice stuff to see, yangminshan, fulong beach by train, wulai, pinglin, jiufen, tamshui, all very pleasant day trips.

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Highway 9 goes through the East Rift Valley which is highly underrated. Then again, I’m biased because I live in the East Rift Valley. I’m from Australia, so the coastline here is nothing special for me (it’s actually really rocky and full of ugly development). It depends upon what you want to see. They have just done the rice harvest here (and burnt all the fields :fume: ). When the fields are in full bloom, the East Rift Valley is amazingly beautiful, and it’s far less touristy.

BeachBoy: Yangmingshan Park is good. Obviously, there will probably be more people there, but it’s still not a bad wilderness option right on the doorstep of Taipei. Earlier, I mentioned the Caoling Historic Trail (also spelt Tsaoling). That’s only an hour or so away by train, and the trail is very close to train stations at either end of the trail, so that’s a very viable option. If you do the whole trail (8.5km), there’s a section where you’re walking near some cliffs or a ridge and you can actually see right down to the ocean. When we did the hike, few people were on that (second) half of it. It’s a very nice hike.

I don’t know about the Neidong Forest Recreation Area. I may have been there, but I’m not sure. I don’t think so. I’ve never lived in Taipei, only visited, so I’m not the most comprehensive source of information about Taipei. Fulong Beach, to be honest, I don’t rate. Again, this is probably because I’m Australian and have seen a million better beaches with far fewer people. However, it’s close to the Caoling Historic Trail, so you could combine the two in one day. Other options in terms of beaches would be those at Waiao and Toucheng in Yilan County. Toucheng is the nicer (and larger) beach. The problem you’re going to have with beaches though is that if it’s remotely warm (October shouldn’t be) and on the weekend, they’re going to be absolutely packed. During the week, they’ll be pretty empty (even in summer at times). I used to rent a beach house in Waiao and surf there, including during my summer vacation, so I spent a fair bit of time there. That was a couple of years ago, so it may be a lot busier at all times now. Tourism was really picking up there at the time I stopped going.

As much as I think there is all sorts of cool stuff outside of Taipei, I would suggest keeping it to Taipei and its immediate surrounds for your first trip if you’re worried about losing a lot of time to travelling around. Also, I would concur with the poster who said not to drive solo here. It’s an absolute circus on the roads. In Taipei City, people drive relatively well (but far worse than anything in the West), but there is really heavy traffic. Outside Taipei, literally anything goes as the police do not seem to enforce any road rules. If you’re not used to scooter drivers (who come within a hair’s breadth of your car constantly), it’s going to be a very stressful (and potentially deadly) experience.

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Head Honcho, what do you find to be so special about Jiufen?

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It’s an old mining town with steep winding narrow streets, great views over the ocean, plenty of restaurants, snack and gift shops. You can have a nice hike on the mountains behind the town too.

Some nice teashops too to chill out in. You could consider staying overnight if visiting the North coast. Depends what you are into.

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On my first trip I saw: Keelung, Jiufen (mining town), National Palace Museum, Formosan Aborigines Park, Shung Ye Aboriginal Museum, Zhinshan Gardens, Yangming Shan National Park (where I climbed Qixing Shan), Danshui/Tamsui (Fort San Domingo, other places), Shishanheng Museum of Archaeology, Postal Museum (I visited many nearby stamp dealers), Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, 2-28 Memorial Museum, Longshan Temple, Old City Gates, Confucius Temple (where I saw the sunrise birthday celebration on 9/28), Bao’an Temple, Shilin Night Market, Museum of National History, Botanical Gardens and Taipei 101!

How’s that? Next year I hope to return and see Mazu, Taroko, Sun Moon Lake / Ali Shan,Tainan and a few other places I missed in Taipei: Wulai, Maokong Tea Farms, Fulong Beach, Caoling Trail

Question: Is it “too” hot in April or May?

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[quote=“BeachBoy”]On my first trip I saw: Keelung (Jilong), Jiufen (mining town), National Palace Museum, Formosan Aborigines Park, Shung Ye Aboriginal Museum, Zhinshan Gardens, Yangming Shan National Park (where I climbed Cisingshan), Danshui/Tansui (Fort San Domingo, other places), Shihshanheng Museum of Archaeology, Postal Museum (I visited many nearby stamp dealers), Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, 2-28 Memorial Museum, Longshan Temple, Old City Gates, Confucius Temple (where I saw the sunrise birthday celebration on 9/28), Baoan Temple, Shilin Night Market, Museum of National History, Botanical Gardens and Taipei 101!

How’s that? Next year I hope to return and see Mazu, Taroko, Sun Moon Lake/Alishan,Tainan and a few other places I missed in Taipei: Wulai, Maokong Tea Farms, Fulong Beach, Tsaoling Trail

Question: Is it “too” hot in April or May?[/quote]

No, not too hot at all. The temperature is fantastic. However, there can be a lot of rain. Isn’t that period known as the plum rain season?

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[quote=“BeachBoy”]On my first trip I saw: Keelung (Jilong), Jiufen (mining town), National Palace Museum, Formosan Aborigines Park, Shung Ye Aboriginal Museum, Zhinshan Gardens, Yangming Shan National Park (where I climbed Cisingshan), Danshui/Tansui (Fort San Domingo, other places), Shihshanheng Museum of Archaeology, Postal Museum (I visited many nearby stamp dealers), Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, 2-28 Memorial Museum, Longshan Temple, Old City Gates, Confucius Temple (where I saw the sunrise birthday celebration on 9/28), Baoan Temple, Shilin Night Market, Museum of National History, Botanical Gardens and Taipei 101!

How’s that? Next year I hope to return and see Mazu, Taroko, Sun Moon Lake/Alishan,Tainan and a few other places I missed in Taipei: Wulai, Maokong Tea Farms, Fulong Beach, Tsaoling Trail

Question: Is it “too” hot in April or May?[/quote]

At the end of April the plum rains start. i’m not sure if they cover the whole island but they definitely affect the south. If possible I would try to plan the trip for late March and April. It might still be a little cool in the mountains but overall that should be nice. October and November are other 2 best months to visit Taiwan although there’s always the chance of a late typhoon in October.

In Alishan try not to visit the town itself but stick to the outlying villages that are just as beautiful but don’t have any of the people. Places like Fenichiu, Ruili, Ruifang and Ruitai offer some outstanding hiking.

The Caoling trail is nice but there are better. You should find a way to get up to the Snow Mountain area and Hehuanshan. It’s one of the few areas that I haven’t been yet because it’s almost impossible to get to on a weekend from Kaohsiung unless I spent all weekend driving. The pictures that I’ve seen are amazing.