So I’ve finally broken and will be heading down to Alishan this weekend and try to steal some beautiful alpine peace and quiet from the hordes of camera toters littering and blocking the view…
Besides the obvious railway ride and sunrise view (Chushan or Tatajia?), any ideas for some good hikes or anything else? Not necessarily restricted to Alishan. Driving down from Taipei Friday night, coming back sunday. :help:
cheers,
Now I understand that PM. 
Are you driving all the way up to Alishan or taking the railway from Chiayi? If you drive take the old highway 159. If you want to do some hiking stop in Fenqihu. You can either hike around the trails on Dadongshan (where people also go to see the sunrise) or on the new wood boardwalk that goes through a cedar forest. If it’s ready it should be about a 10 km walk past the main sites around Fenqihu like caves and cliffs and shrines. The boardwalk starts just to the west of town. If you just follow the tracks a hundred meters or so from the station you’ll see it. There are also hotels in Fenqihu if you want to spend the night.
At Alishan you can walk on a number of trails. Most are short but if you walk up to Chushan and the Duei-Kao Yeuh Trail you can get in a few hours of hiking. There is a good map of Alishan at the tourist office across from the parking lot.
I’ve only seen the sunrise from tatajia so I can’t compare. But if you have your own car I would do the train for the experience and then drive your car to Yushan national park during the day, do some short hikes around the tatajia visitor centre (there are maps available in English) and then stay for the sunset. The sea of clouds phenomenon is best in winter months (as are the sunsets) and is quite beautiful from Tatajia.
Where do you plan to stay? The village is cheaper but flavorless. Alishan is like a big beaufitul park and it’s best to stay somewhere nice to enhance the atmosphere. The Alishan House is an old Japanese era building and while the rooms are small it has a very warm charm to it. Even if you don’t stay there have a meal in the restaurant. Much better than the stalls and crowded pushy places around the parking lot. If you consider it call first as they are building a new complex around the original hotel. It may be noisy if they have started construction already.
For more info check out the extremely comphrehensive www.aliorg.com or the new Lonely Planet. 
That’s www.ali.org.tw/en/
[quote=“Mucha (Muzha) Man”]
For more info check out the extremely comphrehensive www.aliorg.com or the new Lonely Planet. [/quote]
http://www.ali.org.tw works slightly better 
and I’ve already got the beautifully written LP on the desk, good job… ooh and noted the spelling mistake on that url as well .
Alishan House sounds nice, but breaks the bank. Everywhere there seems pricey though, so I think we’ll spend the first night somewhere else, do some touring/hiking, then head to Alishan, or vice versa. Will do the lunch/dinner there though.
Any cool spots outside of Alishan, or north of it, worth an afternoon or so?
Definitely going to take the Alishan train, but haven’t decided what to do with the car, ie ride the train there and back then drive back again to get to Tatajia or errr… seems a bit convoluted/waste of time, hence my headache.
This may be from my complete lack of cloud sea experience, but do both sunrises and sunsets get the phenomenon? Thought it was just sunrises and radiant heating and all that?
one tidbit closer to being omnipotent,
I type waaaay too slow… Well actually was on the phone but no excuses…
Sea of clouds is a sunrise thing. In the evening, however, you get the “white dragon” effect when coils of cloud pour up the valleys and over the ridges looking like, well, white dragons. Also pretty spectacular.
It’s gonna be in the single digits Centrigrade this weekend on top of Old Smoky, so dress very very warm …and bring some bottles of hot sake with you.
The cold weather should mean great foggy panoramas, clear starry skies at night, morning seas of fog and evening white dragons. Just be prepared for the coldest nights you ever spent in Taiwan!
Oh well, there goes my credibility. 
FA, to give yourself more time, take the train up but a bus down. The train leaves around 1:30 which pretty much takes away the chance to see anything else. You’ll get up, see the sunrise, have breakfast, walk around a bit then take the train back to Chiayi and drive to taipei. A very long but not very fulfilling day. I know, this is what I did the first time. Really, unless I had three full days I wouldn’t bother with the train, but since you have you heart set on it I recommend the bus down.
Oh well, there goes my credibility. [/quote]
Qualifier: It’s USUALLY a sunrise thing, but it depends on the weather conditions. One time up on Chilaishan we saw an evening sea of clouds and it was even more fantastic than the morning one, as the setting sun was shining on them, so it looked as if you were staring into a live volcano – reds, pinks, vivid golds – really amazing.
Heeeey now… What’s up with this “must reserve tickets in advance for the Alishan train”, mandarin-only Forestry website I just got sent to by the B&B owner I called… 
Is it absolutely necessary to reserve tickets? No reservation, can’t buy type thing? Sort of crazy they cut sales off TEN days before.
:help:
[quote=“Freakin’ Amazing”]Heeeey now… What’s up with this “must reserve tickets in advance for the Alishan train”, Mandarin-only Forestry website I just got sent to by the B&B owner I called…
Is it absolutely necessary to reserve tickets? No reservation, can’t buy type thing? Sort of crazy they cut sales off TEN days before.
:help:[/quote]
That’s a new one on me. I was up there last year or the year before to see the chamber orchestra that performs there during the sunrise. The place was heaving with people because of the concert but we didn’t need to book a ticket.
Maybe things have changed.
[quote=“Freakin’ Amazing”]So I’ve finally broken and will be heading down to Alishan this weekend and try to steal some beautiful alpine peace and quiet from the hordes of camera toters littering and blocking the view…
Besides the obvious railway ride and sunrise view (Chushan or Tatajia?), any ideas for some good hikes or anything else? Not necessarily restricted to Alishan. Driving down from Taipei Friday night, coming back sunday. :help:
cheers,[/quote]
Too bad I read this too late. I was in Yangmei yesterday which was cold, foggy, and wet. Got damp doing an install for Ironman. Anyways I stayed at a great sauna in Chiayi and soaked in a 42C hot spa bath for an hour before sleeping.
Coming up the mountain today was nice. Chiayi was covered in cloud and drizzle. Once I got up around 1000m and cleared the crap weather I got to see all the sunshine and the clouds rolling down from the peaks. It really is pretty.
No wonder I’ve been living up here for 3 years.
[quote=“Freakin’ Amazing”]Heeeey now… What’s up with this “must reserve tickets in advance for the Alishan train”, Mandarin-only Forestry website I just got sent to by the B&B owner I called…
Is it absolutely necessary to reserve tickets? No reservation, can’t buy type thing? Sort of crazy they cut sales off TEN days before.
:help:[/quote]
That’s a load of horse shit. My roommate went up today. I went to the train station with him. He had no problem buying a ticket one hour in advance.
Hi, thinking of taking the trip myself, can anyone give the name of any b&bs or homestays you’ve come across. thanks john
See the website mentioned above, buried in there somewhere, or the shiny new LP.
Hey Dr Z, do you know if your friend had to stand the entire trip? I finally found someone in the forestry bureau with comprehendable english and got them to admit you can always buy standing-only tickets, but must reserve for a seat. True? Seems to be a mighty large push for ticket reservations for some reason. :loco: Price is the same…
The shiny new LP only mentions the hostel and the more pricey hotels. The budget hotels were cut from the text for some reason (a mistake I’m sure as you can still see them listed on the map). :s
So for cheaper rooms, check the website.
By the way, FA, how was your trip?
See the website mentioned above, buried in there somewhere, or the shiny new LP.
Hey Dr Z, do you know if your friend had to stand the entire trip? I finally found someone in the forestry bureau with comprehendable English and got them to admit you can always buy standing-only tickets, but must reserve for a seat. True? Seems to be a mighty large push for ticket reservations for some reason. :loco: Price is the same…[/quote]
Not true at this time of year. He got a seat with no problem. Perhaps in peak season you will need to reserve.