Wondering what you guys think if the following trip is doable by car, somewhere around April:
Start early in the morning in Hualien and drive into Taroko. Lunch at Tienshiang, then continue to Hehuanshan.
Overnight there at the lodge, then drive down to Taizhong via Puli the next day.
Is it too ambitious and should I plan for one more day, e.g. overnight at Tienshiang (or thereabouts), then one more overnight stay on Hehuanshan before heading down the “hill”?
Any recent news / updates on the road conditions (8 -> 14甲 -> 14)? Saw some posts from end of last year that traffic is regulated or limited.
You might want to consider staying at the newly renovated Guanyun CYC hostel about 4km before the Dayuling tunnel. Road conditions were great when I cycled this in October.
Last time I made that trip we went from Taichung to Puli and stayed the night at that Wuling Farm area. Next day we drove on up over Hehuanshan and down to Tienshang. Not too stressful at all. However, the weather was shitty so we didn’t hang around at Hehuanshan. If it had been nice weather I’d have been pissed that I wouldn’t have had enough time up there. There again, we’d have made much better time, as it was VERY foggy – near zero visibility at some points.
I wouldn’t recommend the section up the gorge from Tienshang to Hehuan late in the day, though. You need to be fresh and on your toes or you won’t enjoy it. Its pretty steep and narrow with lots of blind corners.
Will see if I can stretch it to three days and drive straight to Tienshiang instead of Hualien for an overnight stay. Then I could start the climb to Hehuanshan in the morning instead of afternoon and spend some more time up there.
I’ve done that trip (or parts of it) in the opposite direction a few times. Two days is plenty of time, even with lots of stops. I think you’d only need three days if you’re planning to do a fair bit of hiking or something in Taroko or around Hehuanshan.
We once did the trip from Puli to Hualian in just one day (I wouldn’t recommend it); we made a number of stops (some pretty long-ish) and got to the lower part of Taroko just as it was getting dark. The driving time really isn’t THAT long (at least from the perspective of an American)
I also second the Guanyun Hostel recommendation.
I have done this a couple of times, with the car as well as by bike. The road is good, but after TianShiang the road gets boring and it seems like a never ending trip of hairpins and mountains until you reach the summit. I agree you can sleep over at TianShiang, i once got a good deal [70% discount] at the grand Formosa through Asiarooms.com. Get up early, so you have ample time to stop and hike or just to take it easy to reach the top. From Hehuangshan to Taichung is only a 21/2 hour drive. Enjoy!
