I’m visiting Taiwan next month as part of a wider East Asia trip and I’ll be in Taiwan for over a week in total. I want to visit some places I never got the chance to go to while I lived there. Excluding the outer islands (which I’m not really considering in this discussion), I’ve already done Taipei City, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taichung, Hualien, Nantou, and Tainan. The only other place I can think of that I need to see is Chiayi/Alishan, which I plan on visiting. Is there anywhere else I should consider?
I’m mostly interested in nature and history, so a modern industrial city like Kaohsiung looks boring to me. Kenting is famous for the beach, which I think is the kind of thing that you do with other people, but I will be travelling alone. If my assumptions about these locations are incorrect, feel free to steer me right!
Aside from nature and history, I suppose the only other things that I like when I go travelling alone are good food and the option of being able to socialise with new people in the evenings, but that is more of a bonus.
I like alishan, one of my favorite places to visit when I was a kid. Chiyi isn’t that cool, I wouldn’t go out of your way for it.
Sun moon lake is nice also.
Kenting is overated and ugly. I never liked it since I was a kid. Idk why anyone would go there when you can fly pretty cheap to SE Asian beaches like Vietnam with everything cheaper. Kenting is a tourist trap, all of it.
I’ve already been to Orchid Island and Kinmen and I might visit Matsu while I’m in Taiwan, depending on how much time I have. I know that each of the islands has something special to offer, but I want to make sure that I see everything I can on the mainland, because it’s looking increasingly likely that I’m not going to move back.
Chiayi City was nearly flattened by US bombing in WW II. Whatever its charms may be, they are not “historical.”
If you have not been to Alishan, one place that’s well worth it is Small Swiss Homestay—check it out on TripAdvisor to see what folks think. They can pick you up from Chiayi HSR Station and offer custom tours to show you the best of the region outside the tourist trap of Alishan proper. With great food, great scenery, and great people, it’s a nice glimpse of what life is like up in the high mountains of southern Taiwan.
Some of the backroads up to Alishan are interesting and some have local buses. I think there is a bus that goes up to Meishan on Chiayi county road 166 and then you can get to Fengqihu from there. Some great scenery and challenging hiking trails.
What about taking the local train to the East Coast Rift Valley and stopping at some of the towns along the way?