I’ve lived in Taipei for 3.5 years now. Work hours and location are flexible. Honeymoon period ended years ago, the subsequent “bitter expat” phase seems to have gone away in the past half year, and I’m slowly reaching an acceptance of things as they are, some sort of more objective viewpoint, or something.
Anyway, with that comes the realization that I don’t really care for Taipei much at all. I am content eating the same thing every day (e.g. 健康便當） as long as it is healthy - actually, I prefer it, so the wide array of foods doesn’t have any draw. I stopped drinking after getting sick of how asocial the social life is here once one ventures away from foreigner circles. For concerts, there are few international acts that come through, and local acts don’t interest me if there are no meaningful social connections to be made with locals, it just feels too fucking sterile. Museums are cool but a one-and-done thing, and I don’t really have interest in the so-called “cultural exhibitions” that come to the city, I guess because I don’t think fetishism of corporate goods that are 「可愛」 is culture.
However, Taipei has excellent public transportation to and from various trails. I can take a bus to get all the way to the north-west OR the north-east coast in just about 2 hours one-way, not to mention the hundred or so trails that can be accessed from downtown Taipei in about an hour or so via combination of bus, MRT, and rail. This makes Taipei hard for me to leave, though I don’t really care for the city itself.
I don’t think any city or metropolitan area will beat Taipei here in variety of accessible trails, but I’m wondering what others come close. I’m a day hiker, so I don’t have that much interest in “back country” or anything like that, just simple trails that can be knocked out in a day. I also know that anywhere else other than Taipei will probably require a scooter, which I can accept.
Looking on Google maps and searching e.g., 步道, I get some ideas:
Chiayi - towards the east are some trails. Not familiar with this area.
Taichung - Dakeng in immediate vicinity, decent choices not to far into the mountains
Hualian - seems like most of the appeal is Taroko, but most of those are closed now? There are some towards the south of the city, but perhaps only a handful
Taidong - has some, but doesn’t seem to be very numerous
Puli - Sun moon lake trails mainly. Not sure where the others are.
You thinking of moving?
If so, Kaohsiung has some nice areas within 1 hour scooter ride. Taichung close to mountains and can take bus to near Puli, Sun Moon Lake, etc. for day trips.
You probably have done this already, but a cartographic map can help you visualise all the trails to get an idea. Although some trails may not appear, others might be destroyed, etc. I use Oruxmaps app. You can download Taiwan maps directly from the app.
As you say, nothing beats Taipei. At least not without a car or a scooter.
I live in Chiayi City and have found there are lots of day hiking options outside of the city if you have a scooter. In the city, there’s a nice trail system by Lantan Lake. I lived in Kaohsiung last year and was often hiking Monkey Mountain but found the trails a bit too congested for my taste. The Lantan trails don’t have that problem.
On certain days and certain trails, yes this is a problem. But if you explore the side trails on weekdays it’s often just you and the monkeys
There is also the little hill by the train station. Again, if you take the main trail to the top on a beautiful Saturday it will be busy, but the side trails on a weekday are usually empty.
Guanyinshan is the third place inside the city, and the main trail there gets very busy on weekends (and around 4pm to sunset every day). Best air quality of the three, though, and the main path is quite flat.
There’s also the lake in the middle of town, and a few spots down around the airport.
And lots of places within an hour. Qishan and Pingtung.
@membrillo is right about using an app, way more trails on my hiking map than google shows
Right now I think I’m looking at living in the south or east parts of Taichung, the thought being that the local hikes and trails there are nice enough, and I can get to a wide variety of places via scooter because I am in the center of the island.
Edge of Hualian county in ~2.5-3 hours
Chiayi and surrounding areas in ~2-2.5 hours
Sun Moon Lake area in ~1-1.5 hours
Xinzhu in ~2 hours
I guess I would buy a scooter more suitable for longer rides, like this SYM MMBCU that seems well-received and move onto a new life full of scooter-provided freedom away from the oppressive clouds (edit: meant crowds, but clouds works too ) of Taipei.
On top of that, the weather is hard to beat compared to the rest of Taiwan. Air quality was something I was worried about a bit, but I think living on the eastern edge makes things a lot better. There does seem to be a pretty big difference between Kaohsiung and Taichung on that front:
Taichung has a ton of great hikes within an hour, give or take, depending where you are in Taichung. If you live far to the east in Dakeng or Taiping area, dakeng is right there. Down to the south a bit, Wufeng area has plenty. A little further out, Guguan, Daxueshan.
Plenty of day hikes a bit further out, lots of short 1-5 hour hikes close nearby. It’s pretty nice.
And as you said, Nantou is pretty accessible, as is Miaoli, both of which have their fair share of nice hikes. Not to mention, great - if overcrowded with scooter idiots - riding road out to Nantou with the 136.
) of Taipei.