Hey all–
I just arrived in Taipei two days ago and already I’m longing to get out of the city to run in some fresh air. I was wondering if there are good places to trail run around/near the city. If so, are they hard to get to? How do I get there? Bus? MRT? I’m currently staying in the Da’an district, so any directions you may be able to provide would be appreciated. Thanks!
I should clarify my post. Though I would prefer a place where I could trail run, any place where I could do a long run (2 hours plus) would be great. Thanks!
Lots of places in Muzha. I’ll post more later as I’m on a library computer and my daily hourly usage is about to expire.
When i lived over there I used to run on the road next to the graveyard at Liu Chungli. The run past the cemetery is interesting and then you can take it much farther all the way to Nang Kang. It is an interesting road. I ran it every day for years.
Stay in town.
Your welcome to use the outer perimeter of the inside of
my apartment . There’s quite a bit of dirt (no slipper rule )
and spilt liquids to give a good trail feel. With the air-con,
dehumidefier and air purifier running the air quality is
unquestioned.
Welcome to join me at 6am in the morning to get a
two hour run in before work, I’ll lead.
Okay.
1.Take the brown line MRT to the zoo station. Get off and walk to the gondola station and ride it to the Zhinan Temple station. Get off and turn left and head down the road. You will see a trail off to the left in .5km or so. You can run down this to the end. Then get on the road and turn left. Take the first right very quickly into a dead end (200m from trail to end of road). Continue on the rough dirt road. This is 2km long maybe. At the end there is a small shrine and roads going left and right as well as some trails. For your first time maybe just return.
From the starting point you can also go left up various trails. So this system should be able to give you two hours of running.
From the last gondola station you can also get on a great rolling trail that will take you the spot above (in 1) with the shrine. This would allow a linear run. But the route is a bit tricky. I hike it a lot though so you can join me one day if you like to see how it goes.
BTW, there are map boards outside the gondola stations. There’s also a very good map of the area in the new Lonely Planet for taiwan.
Hey, I hike quite a bit with my friends but I dont think any of them are really up for trail running, especially as hilly as it is around here. I used to trail run regularly back in Portland but havent tried it since I’ve been here. I would love to meet a few trail runners. I think there are a lot of close-in trails in areas such as Beitou, Tianmu, Neihu, Wenshan and as mentioned above Muzha. Anybody up for starting a trail running posse?
A great way to meet people, learn about the numerous trail networks in the Greater Taipei area, and do some trail running is to go to a Hash Run: The China Hash House Harriers are a good group to go with, as there are many English speakers on the club. Check out www.chinahash.com
They go Sunday afternoons, cost 200NT, and there’s lots of beer afterwards.
Saw a group of the Hash Harriers running yesterday at Fuyang Mountain Park -quite close for the OP, entrance right across from Linkuan Station, brown line.
Ah, hate to see them leave… :lovestruck:
Back on topic.
The place has all kinds of surface trails: gravel, chocolate mud, stone stairs, wide wood stairs, flat, hills, … quite a challenge for any runner.
There also the Fairy Footprint ridge area just a 5 minute walk from Jingmei Mrt. You’ll see the signs outside the station. The ridge has a nice climb and then a network of dirt and paved trails. Great views of taipei 101 too.
Thanks for the posts, Mucha Man. I went down to Maokong yesterday and was amazed not by the mountains but by the incredibly long line to get on the gondola. I guess I should go earlier in the morning or on a weekday when the weather isn’t nearly as nice. Is there a trail or series of trails at the bottom by the gondola anywhere that I could take up to Maokong?
I wish I would have logged in earlier this morning because I would have made the effort to meet up with the harriers. Running + beer = my two favorite pastimes.
Would anyone be up for a trail run sometime in the coming week?
I might be interested this weekend. I don’t think it stays light quite late enough yet for me to make it in from Sansia (40 min trek) after work during the week. I should have some free time at some point this weekend. Let me know if you get anything together, my msn msgr is available I believe or pm me.
–Patrick
Hey, I also recommend the road to Nangang. But it is hard to find the first time around (imo) unless you are adventurous. Once on the road it’s no prob… anyways I found a great new website and mapped it for you
mapmyrun.com/run/taiwan/taipei/199223914
It won’t take you two hours unless you’re really slow; usualyl I extend it and run an addtl 4+ miles; I run 2-2.5 from my place to LiuZhangLi and 2 back. Makes it about 2h15 approx.
Alternatively I am going to make another run for you and post it here soon. This site is freakin’ awesome 
PS I totally just realized this but looking at that map online: the road 109 could also prob be added to this route; I biked up it the other day.
[quote=“amandaucsc”]Hey, I also recommend the road to Nangang. But it is hard to find the first time around (imo) unless you are adventurous. Once on the road it’s no prob… anyways I found a great new website and mapped it for you
mapmyrun.com/run/taiwan/Taipei/199223914
It won’t take you two hours unless you’re really slow; usualyl I extend it and run an addtl 4+ miles; I run 2-2.5 from my place to LiuZhangLi and 2 back. Makes it about 2h15 approx.
[/quote]
This is the same road that Fox mentioned on the previous page:
I’ve biked up this road many times (it’s known as the graveyard ride in cycling circles) and it’s great for biking and running. The road is quiet, has little traffic, fresh air, good views of the surrounding hills. However, if your idea of trail running is running on a narrow dirt road in the woods, then that’s not it.
Thanks for the map, amandausc. That’s actually pretty close to my apartment and is easily accessible since I can just step out my door and start running. I’ve actually used mapmyride.com before to map some of my triathlon training rides. Both sites are pretty freakin’ awesome.
I think I may try to get in contact with the harriers for a nice run this weekend. Otherwise, I’ll probably be looking to head for the hills and the fresh air on my own.
If you are willing to run on paved surfaces there’s no shortage or routes many of which get almost no traffic at all.
In any case, if you want to head up to Maokong again take the bus from the zoo station. It should be the small No 10 shuttle bus. Or No 15. Take to Maokong gondola station and follow route back to the red gate. The network of trails up there is great and there are lots of steep farming roads too with no traffic too if you need more.
If you want a long dirt trail head to Wulai. Take mrt to Xindian station. Walk to main road, turn right and want to 7-eleven. Catch wulai bus there (it’s signed in English). You want to get off at Chenggong Village, which is just after the 11.5km marker on the road. So just watch out for the marker and then get off. Take the side road across from a hot spring hotel to the right down about 1km to a big red bridge. Cross and follow road .5km to next bridge. Don’t cross but take trail to the left following the stream. This trail goes on for about 20km (note it’s paved only for 100m or so). It’s uphill for 10 minutes or so then undulating for a long time (2 hours walking). Then a long climb and a long descent. Lovely wooded area and you can swim in the stream on the way back. Also, at Chenggong village there is that hot spring hotel you can use afterwards.
So, have you been out to any trails?
[quote=“Incubus”][quote=“amandaucsc”]Hey, I also recommend the road to Nangang. But it is hard to find the first time around (imo) unless you are adventurous. Once on the road it’s no prob… anyways I found a great new website and mapped it for you
mapmyrun.com/run/taiwan/Taipei/199223914
It won’t take you two hours unless you’re really slow; usualyl I extend it and run an addtl 4+ miles; I run 2-2.5 from my place to LiuZhangLi and 2 back. Makes it about 2h15 approx.
[/quote]
This is the same road that Fox mentioned on the previous page:
I’ve biked up this road many times (it’s known as the graveyard ride in cycling circles) and it’s great for biking and running. The road is quiet, has little traffic, fresh air, good views of the surrounding hills. However, if your idea of trail running is running on a narrow dirt road in the woods, then that’s not it.[/quote]
I tried adding tacking this onto the end of my normal Xiàngshān jog and found it much nicer than I had expected. Chóngdé jiē looks kinda run down in a cool mini-nightmarket kind of way at the beginning, but after getting to the beginning of the cemeteries it becomes really scenic. I really was blown away at how quickly the road lifted me out of all the pollution and traffic below. I didn’t take quite enough water with me, but it was well worth the view. At the fork near the top, I took a left and went down into Nángǎng. Unfortunately, that part of the run wasn’t so nice. After getting past the cemeteries, there were a lot of people’s houses and quite a few of them owned big dogs and let them run freely in the street. As a result, I got barked at or growled at by a threatening looking dog about every 5 minutes and had to stop jogging and in some cases cross the road in order not to provoke them into attacking me. At one point three dogs came out and started growling at me, but fortunately a group of 6 runners passed by the other way and I got by while the dogs were distracted. Have any of you guys that do this route had a problem with the dogs? It’s really convenient for me if I can go down to Nángǎng, because of the much needed 7-11 and also so I can continue the loop back to the Nángǎng MRT or even back to Yǒngchūn where I start the run. That said, I don’t want to be threatened by dogs every time out, either.
Well, going down to the left makes a much longer run than to the right; the right sort of dead-ends a couple places after a bit. The dogs are a problem in terms of growling, although none ever attacked me. That said, I’m terrified of dogs so I usually picked up a big stick to carry past that part of the road. Once I was past it, I dropped the stick and on the return route picked up the same one to go past it again. Never had to use the stick–just made me feel better. I really wish the owners would do something about the dogs, but that’s unlikely given the location and country you’re in…
Also, I would say that aside from the dogs the run isn’t too bad. Maybe not scenic in the same way as the first part of the road, but it’s green and tucked away from the oppressive cityscape of Taipei with little creeks and trees, so I liked it for that. I often turned around when I got to the Nangang technology university.