Around the island in 1 week?

Travel Taiwan Travel
1

I’d like to get some advise and tips on my travel plans. My parents are coming over from Europe for a little more than a week around Christmas and the plan was to rent a car and drive the following route:

  1. day: Taipei, North Coast, Chiufen, Hualian
  2. day: Taroko Gorges
  3. day: Hot Spring in Antung, Taitung
  4. day: Kending, Kaohsiung, Tainan
  5. day: Chiayi, Alishan
  6. day: Sun Moon Lake, Changhua, Taichung
  7. day: back to Taipei

Is that possible at all? We don’t need to stay at all these places too long, just get a little impression of the landscape. And no, my parents do not camp, so we need a nice hotel in Hualian, Taitung, Tainan, Alishan and maybe Taichung.

Thanks for your advise and suggestions

2

[quote=“mesheel”]1. day: Taipei, North Coast, Chiufen, Hualian
2. day: Taroko Gorges
3. day: Hot Spring in Antung, Taidong
4. day: Kending, Kaohsiung (Gaoxiong), Tainan
5. day: Chiayi (Jiayi), Alishan
6. day: Sun Moon Lake, Changhua (Zhanghua), Taichung (Taizhong)
7. day: back to Taipei

Is that possible at all? We don’t need to stay at all these places too long, just get a little impression of the landscape.[/quote]Well, I suppose it’s possible, but you really will be rushing around and will not have much time to relax and see stuff. In particular the 4th and 6th days seem too ambitious.

3

Sounds pretty awful actualy. Every day you’re going to be in a car driving for hours. No one can appreciate that no matter what the scenery.

You won’t run into much traffic that time of year and most places won’t be busy, even Kenting, but you should think about what you want to show them and stick to a smaller area and research it well.

Also you need to think about what you want to show them. Why Kenting? Have they never seen beaches before? Sure the coastline is gorgeous but you don’t need to go that far down.

If you tell us what you want to show or what you think your family will be interested in seeing we can be of more help.

4

Actually, I wanted to see all this. I’m sure my parents will be happy with less…=)

We could skip day 4 and go from Taidong directly to Tainan or to Alishan, but that’s not possible is it? Seems like I have to decide whether to see the east or the west coast?

Or how about this?

  1. day: Taipei, North Coast, Chiufen, Hualian
  2. day: Taroko Gorges
  3. Sun Moon Lake, Alishan
  4. Alishan
  5. Chiayi, Changhua, Taizhong
  6. back to Taipei

Better?

5

[quote=“mesheel”]Actually, I wanted to see all this. I’m sure my parents will be happy with less…=)

We could skip day 4 and go from Taidong directly to Tainan or to Alishan, but that’s not possible is it? Seems like I have to decide whether to see the east or the west coast?

Or how about this?

  1. day: Taipei, North Coast, Chiufen, Hualian
  2. day: Taroko Gorges
  3. Sun Moon Lake, Alishan
  4. Alishan
  5. Chiayi (Jiayi), Changhua (Zhanghua), Taizhong
  6. back to Taipei

Better?[/quote]

First day is okay but the second? You’re going to explore Taroko gorge and then drive to Sun Moon Lake? I assume you’ll be driving up the gorge to Tayuling and down past Hehuanshan, Chingjing farm, Puli, Sun Moon Lake. That’s a lot of hours of driving after a long day driving and exploring in the gorge. Are you going to drive at night? If you do you’ll miss some of the most beautiful mountain scenery around. I would suggest exploring Taroko and then driving as far as Chingjing Farm. Nice high alpine environement. Will make your Swiss family happy.

Day 3: drive to Puli and get a tour of the Chung Tai Chan buddhist temple. It’s an amazing modern structure with some gorgeous artwork. Best of all you can get full tours of the temple in English. The tours explain Buddhist thought, art motifs, historical characters, and some of the amazing modern architectural features of the temple. Well worth a visit and an experience you can’t really get in Europe.

Drive on to Sun Moon lake and spend night.

Day 4: In morning explore lake, maybe go for a boat ride. Lunch at Lalu hotel. Then drive to Snake Kiln in Shuili for cultural experience or drive to Alishan. But that’s a long drive too. You’d probably arrive in Alishan at night.

Day 5: Explore Alishan during morning, see sunrise, walk around on trails, and then go to Yushan National Park. Then drive down to Chiayi and spend the night there, or better, another night in the Alishan.

Day 6: Next day drive down to Chiayi. You could drive out to see the old Matzu Temple in Beigang. Then up to Taichung. Spend night in Taichung though I would suggest driving to Taian for hotsprings (since you mentioned you wanted to take them for hotsprings). Really, what do you want to do in Taichung?

Day 7: then back to Taipei. Drop off at Sanyi to explore the wood carving shops and stroll through the forest. On way past Sansia pay a visit to the magificently restored Zhushi Temple.

See, this is a pretty full itinerary in itself. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the distances look short on a map so it shouldn’t take long to get there. Many of the roads you will be travelling on are not big highways. They are winding mountain roads. And when you go through villages and towns it can take forever stopping at lights.

The new Lonely Planet will be out next month so you can refer to it for hotels and other sights you wish to visit.

6

Got me. Hualian to Sun Moon Lake looks close on the map and I have no idea how long it takes. I was planning to leave Taroko on day 3 and drive to Alishan with some stops in between.
Taizhong is not a must, thought Tainan would be a little too far. So you’re saying one can drive from Tainan back to Taipei in one day? If yes, sure, we’ll do that then.

Well, thanks for your great suggestions and I sure will get your new edition of the Lonely Planet…=)

7

[quote=“mesheel”]Got me. Hualian to Sun Moon Lake looks close on the map and I have no idea how long it takes. I was planning to leave Taroko on day 3 and drive to Alishan with some stops in between.
Taizhong is not a must, thought Tainan would be a little too far. So you’re saying one can drive from Tainan back to Taipei in one day? If yes, sure, we’ll do that then.

Well, thanks for your great suggestions and I sure will get your new edition of the Lonely Planet…=)[/quote]

I said Taian, not Tainan. Taian is in Miaoli County. Just a couple of upscale hot spring hotels down a country road.

Sure you could go to Tainan if you want. It’s a 5 hour drive back to Taipei assuming you don’t hit much traffic.

8

:blush: sorry, not on my map in the old lp :loco:

thanks again! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

9

Mesheel, you need to put a ‘/’ before the ‘b’ and the ‘size’ tags at the end of your signature line: eg [/b] Also, your blog appears to be in German. Is this an oversight on your part?

Finally, and the only bit anyone will really grumble about, you’re not using pinyin. Traitor!

10

[quote=“mesheel”]:oops: sorry, not on my map in the old lp :loco:

thanks again! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:[/quote]Of course you’ll need to get yourself a decent road map if you don’t have one already. You read Chinese, right?

11

[quote=“stragbasher”]Finally, and the only bit anyone will really grumble about, you’re not using pinyin. Traitor![/quote]Mesheel uses pinyin quite a lot actually, as you will see if you scroll down. There’s a useful phrase guide, which even has tone marks. Taizhong and Gaoxiong are in there. The only things that aren’t in pinyin are Taipei and T-a-m-s-h-u-i.

12

I’d bust up the 1st day and only go as far as Suao…

It’s a pretty long haul to Hualien, and by the time you explore Juifen, take in the Northeast coast sights, stop for a coffee or two you are looking at a 12-14 hour day. If you spend the night in Suao (No garden spot admittedly) you can have a leisurely 2 hour drive to the Gorge itself and then spend the day exploring. No need to go into Hualien city in this case. Also, if you haven’t done the Suao-gong lou before, I’d suggest driving it during the day. Not only is it spectacular, it’s safer. If you get up early enough on the second morning, you can watch the sunrise over the Pacific while high up on the cliffs of Dong ao.

Seems a shame to miss out on the beach though…Coming from a cold European autumn Kenting might be nice for them.

As other people have mentioned, don’t be in a rush. Even your modified itinerary is pushing it a bit. One of the great things about traveling in Taiwan is marveling at the scenery along the way. Give the folks enough time to absorb the things you take for granted, and I guarantee you they’ll have a much better time.

13

Stragbasher: I did it according to the explanation on forumosa, but somehow it didn’t work. You caught me while playing with my signature. It’s back to normal again now.

Pinyin: I usually use Pinyin, but for places like Taipei and Tamshui, which are better known in their original spelling.

Blog: Yeah, it’s in German, but I thought you, stragbasher, read German…=) It’s meant for the folks back home, so therefore German. Sorry… but you can have a look at the pics…=)

MJB: Thanks for your advise. I will consider all the advises above and then discuss everything with the parents. Actually they want to spend an other week somewhere else anyways, so Kending is not a must.