I am looking for somewhere on the island I can take my family over Spring Break. The kids have the whole week off school starting April 4th. I only have April 4th and 5th, which I’m told are local holidays.
Is there anywhere you would recommend I take my family for a few days starting, say April 3rd and then returning to Taipei the evening of April 5th? We have a car but speak very limited Chinese.
What are the family interests? Hiking, camping, shopping, culture, beaches, mountains, bike riding, making volcanic tofu?
I’m hoping for some sun and beach time. I’ll take hiking and culture as well. I’d also like to try volcanic tofu. We just really need to get out of Taipei. We have not seen much outside of the city.
For beach time Kending would be the obvious choice, though Penghu has the best beaches in Taiwan but of course you need to fly there (worth it).
For Kenting I would try a place in Jialeshui, such as Summerpoint Jr (it has it’s own thread) which gets rave reviews from Forumosans. Has a nice quiet surfing beach just down the hill, and the weird rocks of Jialeshui right there. Kending will be very busy during the holiday but this is a quieter section as there are only a few B&Bs. In any case if you are used to busy beaches in Australia or Europe it won’t be that bad.
Other than that try Hualien. Liyu Lake is a nice place to stay for families. A couple good B&Bs, the lake and nearby mountains for hiking, some bike-only paths starting right there, and a forest reserve that highlights the logging industry (some cool old train engines if you’ve got a kid who likes that kind of thing). Several beaches around Hualian, though you can only swim in Jiqi.
If you just want to stay in one place, and don’t mind spending money, the resort at Fulong Beach is good. Excellent hiking as well nearby and some fun bikepaths. Not many people swim in April though.