North coast beaches

What are the best beaches outside Taipei & how do you get there by bus?

Take the train between 7:00 a.M. and 9:45 A.M to Fulong and turn left at the highway intersection and walk for 3/4 of a kilometer to the campground, having passed by the main entrance to the day-beach park… Once in the campground, bear left and then right along the footpath until you reach the signpost for the suspension bridge and make your way across, keep walking until you come upon the shorter pines and you can find the beach just off the path to the right…

Camping is also great, in the campground or on the beach. There are showers at the fulung campground… Fulung beach is great because you can dare the big waves quite safely, and swim back and forth along the beach; but note that it is safer to swim on the right-hand side of the point at which you join the beach from the campground path, as further to the left and Aoti village, the riptides are stronger and will carry you out… In the middle of the beach, to the left from the campground path, you will find a light-standard and a road into curious Lungmen village… You can reach Lungmen from the bike paths in the campground, too… Wonderful place and so far clean, except for the mid-beach… We really need to organize a cleaning party to do this again… Anybody know how to do this, since nobody in the government here seems to know how to do anything but talk on tv and sit behind desks and the wheels of fat cars?

Other beaches down the coast are Chi-Chi, supposedly popular with surfers, but the surf’s for midgets, really…

Fly to Taitung and you head maybe twenty kilometers north, maybe less and there’s an empty beach there, nice smooth sand, used to be clean…

Twenty-two kilometers south of Hualien is what’s left of the aboriginal village of Shualien, and it has some old aboriginal homes and a pleasant little road snaking out to the wonderful pebble beach made of black and white stones… Certainly this is Taiwan’s prettiest beach and it makes a great escape… Travel beyond Shualien about three or four clicks and you can find a long little trail leading down from the hill all the way to the southern end of the beach, fantastic camp spot among a small meadow there, very private for those of you who like to frolic outdoors… Someone was building some sort of shelter/lodge there just over the rise a couple years ago, don’t know if it’s a hotel or not…
But Shualien beach is fun for strolling… You have to be brave and strong to dare the pebbly breakers, and only do it when the waves look small…

We have to organize a beach-cleaning party for FULUNG beach: required are about two gravel trucks and at least thirty people… Any PR experts out there, please feel free to suggest how to organize this idea into a reality…

You really should check out this website. Even if you are not a surfer it still tells you about most of the decent beaches in Taiwan.
Taiwan surfpage

Get the slow train to Daxi. One or two stops past Fulong and much better. Or get the train to Fulong and hitch.

bri

Right, get to Daxi (大溪 :wink: where it’s a lot less crowded, you’ll need to take the common train (普通車 :wink: early in the morning at 6 from Taipei. IMO, Fulong (福隆 :wink: is a bit crowded and commercialized, unless you swear by certain comfort and amenities.

If you really want nice scenery, go to the southern tip of Taiwan, Kenting National Park (墾丁國家公園 :wink: , this part of Taiwan is what I relish, clean air, ample space, no garbage on the road, once you get close to the entrance to the park, all amenities are there, even McDonald and KFC (I’m paranoid on those now)

Anybody know what the deal is bringing dogs on the slow trains? Could I get away with it? I’d love a day at the beach with the mutt… :sunglasses: :scooby:

Harrrumph! But just LOOK at the way some of those rocks down there are formed! Its just sooo ugly, you’d think they could have made a better job of it, but noooooooo! Typical Taiwanese “cha bu do – just let the wind and waves do it rather than bustin’ our balls.”

Sheesh!

Maoman, if you really want to bring your mutt to the train, try to board the train at smaller stations like Wudu 五堵 or Xizhi 汐止. While I was in Taiwan, I lived in Qidu 七堵, the station conductor could care less what you take onto the train. At Taipei, this would be a problem.

There’re 2 common trains in the morning that go to the east coast (平快 157 and 191), for god sakes, avoid 157, although faster, this is one of the only 2 non-express trains that go to Hualian from Taipei. A lot of times you see merchants loading up produce on the trains and some of the passengers seem pretty filthy, possibly even homeless. Last time I boarded this train, I was on for only 5 min, got off at Badu and waited for 191 (just 20 min apart).

The shore near Daxi is awesome, no crowd, the railroad goes along the shore for about 10 kms.

This article from today’s Taipei Times gives some good information about Tahsi/Daxi and nearby places.

A tale of two townships

This article from today’s Taipei Times says that Fulong beach has more or less been washed away. I was shocked to read this. The article doesn’t mention it but many people believed that the construction of a wharf associated with the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant was causing the beach to wash away. Perhaps this is the cause of it.

Jesus that’s awful. Let’s hope it comes back.

Interestingly it also happened to the beach at Yenliao. I thought it was a lot longer and sandier 5 years ago. :s

The beach will rebuild, it always does…

But for sure the construction project has had some major impact on the moves and grooves of Fulong bay. The beach was not this affected by far larger storms in the mid-90’s (Typhoon Herb for example)or by Typhoon Nari.

Even without the construction, Fulong’s unique underwater topography combined with the river mouth, add up to an ever changing beach-scape. Parts of the beach have come and gone every year I’ve been here.

If you take the MRT out to DanShui, there’s a bus accross the street (in front of the McDonalds), you can take that bus to BaiShiaWan (white sand bay), and JinShan (I think there’s beaches there)…buy your tickets in advance at the wooden shack sitting at the bus-stop.

White sand bay is pretty nice, but it looks like they’re trying to make it too resorty…like everywhere else in Taiwan…so, I’d recommend hurrying up and getting there before it sucks (like Kenting)

What are they doing to Baishawan? Haven’t been there since February but there was nothing there at that time but the office for the North Coast Scenic Area and some changing rooms.