There are plenty of AirBnb places listed on the East Coast. You may want to check out Chenggong (成功) and Changbin (長濱 ) townships in Taidong. Ruisui (瑞穗 ) township in Hualian is not on the coast but has a train station and there are rural places to stay close to town conveniences.
Most smaller hotels and B&Bs that are not on AirBnb require a deposit by bank transfer (no credit cards).
[quote=“Brianjones, post:20, topic:195843, full:true”].
Higher altitude you have Alishan area/Meishan/Ruili/Ruifang area,(it’s often roughly called Alishan but there actually a much bigger area to explore that is better than Alishan mountain ) you could look for a b and b in some of the newly built aboriginal villages after Typhoon morakot. There you can enjoy the slower pace of life , tea, coffee , aoborinal cultural activities if they are on , visit some forests and waterfalls and go hiking . I was there recently and enjoyed it very much the weather is very pleasant. This is really a world class place and many of the towns have great 4G signal (can check with propietors). Later I went down elevation to Chashan which is another aboriginal town behind zengwen reservoir, very secluded and tropical , where I enjoyed swimming under waterfalls and ob
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Seconded. That general area is amazingly gorgeous. Nice and rainy so everything is green. And cool.
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Yuli is one of my favourite smaller towns in Taiwan, mentioned upthread—but it’s in Hualien and nowhere near that lake. : D
Guy
Sorry Yuchi
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What’s to do around Yuli?
Been past too many times to count, but nothing comes to mind except nice rice paddies and Rift Valley beauty. Probably passed some nice things there.
I personally think folks have been over egging the East coast a bit but under appreciating some of the spot I’ve outlined above, which are far more diverse in what you can do and see. You can’t even swim on most of the East coast safely. At least you can do that along with great snorkeling down in hengchun or the north coast or Penghu.
Probably it’s because it’s easier to train it up or down that the east coast gets a bit more exposure. It does have some very scenic spots , the rift valley and taroko being cool and of course if you hit it when aboriginal festivals are on its more fun. But I would say the central mountains and Nantou, Pingdong (Taiwan’s most tropical county 
) ,Chiayi, Hengchun , Penghu islands and Tainan would have a lot more to do and see personally. Maybe I’m just being contrarian as everybody keeps going on about the East coast this year…
Thanks for the info guys, seems like there’s an overwhelming amount of options! I’ve narrowed it down to Yuli and the Alishan areas that seem like the best fit, at least for now!
For the folks who’ve been there (@Brianjones @Nuit @afterspivak et al) – any recommendations on specific accommodations? Don’t need anything fancy at all, really just decent wifi (not sure if this makes it fancy for some of these regions lol). I guess I can budget up to like $80USD/night but I’m flying solo and staying for up to 10 days so anything more would be pushing it a bit. I was hoping it’d be really cheap, but it might be the opposite since they cater to tourists, but still unsure overall.
There are a handful of Airbnbs in each place but I’m not sure that’s the best platform – is Booking/Agoda generally better? Some other option I’m unaware of?
I could always go in person and try to wing it, but my Mandarin might be way too basic to do that comfortably.
That’s how it is these days maybe Saturday night the minor exception.
Fengqihu
If you consider Yuli, you can use booking.com to find a property you like. There are some spacious rooms in newer buildings right in town.
Guy
The two obvious ones: hike the easy parts of the incredible Walami trail; and bike along the superb Yufu bike path. Ambitious folks can go further afield.
Mostly though I just like the vibe of this town: the layout (utterly unlike the older Han settlements on the west coast), the attitude of the people, the good fruit and ice shops and other basic amenities. Located up in the Rift Valley, Yuli has wonderful views in all directions and better weather (IMHO) than down on the coast.
That’s my take!
Guy
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