If you absolutely have to live in taiwan through countless summers, where would you locate yourself?
Someone once told me that taipei, despite its northerly location, is hotter than it should be cos its surrounded by mountains.
Also, a house near the sea is cooler than a house further inland…
What do you think?
The predominant wind direction in summer is from the southeast, and that air is warm and humid. If you want to be at sea level than you will find the relatively lowest temperature away from urban areas and near the beach where the wind comes in.
You want a place close to Taipei? At sea level (not cool but not hot, either), there is the northeast coast north of Toucheng, partly Ilan County, partly Shinbei County.
Places in the hills and mountains are cooler (but the price for that will be fog and clouds at times). But if that is fine with you, then you may want to consider the hills east of Taipei, such as the Pinglin, Pingsi, Shuangsi, and Gongliao Districts.
If you don’t care about being close to Taipei but still prefer to have relatively easy access to some larger urban area, then you will find some suitable cooler places in Nantou County or the eastern part of Chiayi County.
Finally, if isolation is not a problem, you simply go higher up into the central mountain range (there are a few roads that let you do that), and you will find even cooler places. 
Yushan weather station. Coolest place on island, by far.
I live 5 min walk from Hongshulin MRT overlooking the water and get a nice breeze everyday. Open windows and occasionally a fan is all that’s needed to be comfortable during a hot summer day.
Xinbei/New Taipei City. Don’t confuse people with this “Shinbei County”. 
Yeah, I would agree north of Beitou around Hongshulin/Danshui MRT area would also be a nice choice over the summer. Quick(er) to the beach, not nearly as congested. Yilan is great, but it’s just too inconvenient for someone without a scooter.
Blame the government. 
I know that area as “Taipei County”, but i must have gotten confused when i saw the word “Shinbei” written on the map. 
Blame the government. I know that area as “Taipei County”, but I must have gotten confused when I saw the word “Shinbei” written on the map. [/quote]
I’m happy they changed the name, personally. I never remember how to write 縣. 新北市 is easier. 
[quote=“yuli”]The predominant wind direction in summer is from the southeast, and that air is warm and humid. If you want to be at sea level than you will find the relatively lowest temperature away from urban areas and near the beach where the wind comes in.
You want a place close to Taipei? At sea level (not cool but not hot, either), there is the northeast coast north of Toucheng, partly Yilan County, partly Shinbei County.
Places in the hills and mountains are cooler (but the price for that will be fog and clouds at times). But if that is fine with you, then you may want to consider the hills east of Taipei, such as the Pinglin, Pingxi, Shuangsi, and Gongliao Districts.
If you don’t care about being close to Taipei but still prefer to have relatively easy access to some larger urban area, then you will find some suitable cooler places in Nantou County or the eastern part of Jiayi County.
Finally, if isolation is not a problem, you simply go higher up into the central mountain range (there are a few roads that let you do that), and you will find even cooler places. [/quote]
Hey yuli, so if the wind direction in the summer is from the southeast, where do you think I should live then? Away from the southeast area of taiwan?
I was thinking about some remote towns next to the seaside … a town not too big and crowded and yet not too small that there are no eateries…
take for example the guanyin township… it is so deserted that there’s hardly any eateries… 
Yes, the southeast is pretty hot, unless you live at a higher altitude. But let me be more specific: the predominant wind direction in the summer is from the southeast. The north end of the east coast will be slightly cooler, on average, than the south end. In any case, living on the east coast means that you get the wind fresh from the sea, with no added heat from urban areas between where it comes from and yourself (and also carrying less pollution for the same reason). Living in the western flatlands of Taiwan means (generally) that the air will have gotten drier by crossing the mountain range and thus be warmer but less humid (which, depending on how your body likes it may be a net advantage), but it also means, depending on where exactly you live, that heat will be added to the air by the urban sprawl around you. However, living higher up in the mountains means that the air you are exposed to is cooler (this is a neat trick of physics: the air cools down as it rises up the slope and warms up again as it comes down on the other side), so even the areas on the west side of the mountain range that i mentioned will offer you some cooler places.
I would consider these things, in addition to the temperature question:
How close to Taipei or another large city do you have/want to be? (This includes: Does your work require you to live in an urban environment? What kind of services do you want/need?)
What is the cost of living in any of the areas you may find livable?
What kind of natural environment suits you best? (This includes: Is less heat in exchange for more clouds and rain OK? Is less heat in exchange for more elevation OK?)
What kind of cultural environment suits you best? (This includes: Is less heat in exchange for more distance from urban life OK? Is life among people who by and large speak less or no Mandarin than those in Taipei OK?)
Is climate the only part of the equation that you’re interested in? There are some great places to live but they would also have nearly zero social life for a foreigner. I’m a Kaohsiung partisan but I think the Danshui/Beitou recommendation is a good idea. Close to Taipei (MRT line) for social visits, nice area and close to the northeast (a place I would like to visit more).
And I think that you need to accept that anywhere in Taiwan is going to be hot during the summer unless in the mountains. Pick a place that has things that you like doing (surfing, hiking, picking up girls, night marketing, etc…).
I lead an extremely boring lifestyle… don’t go out, don’t drink, don’t party so yeah … “happening place” are out of the question for me…
2)Costs? as cheaply as possible.
where in taiwan would there be less heat in exchange for clouds and fogs anyway?
cultural environment? well i have spent a number of years in the chinese community so i think i would pretty much fit in anywhere I live… i am looking for as much distance away from major urban centers as possible…
i like surfing and swimming especially in the summer but i really detest places with lots of people…
the western coast might be a safer and more convenient bet than the eastern coast… yeah i wanna be far away from the major urban centres but i might have to travel to taipei to do some paperwork every now and then…
i appreciate the time taken in reading and responding to my posts…
First - east coast not west coast. Tommy’s saying is something like ‘the west coast is grime, the east coast is sublime’.
If it’s pictures and ocean that you want then I would recommend somewhere between Haulien and Danshui (for a summer/fall only hermitage). Easy access to a decent sized city with supermarkets. Not too far from Taipei. Close to Taroko and the east coast and rift valley highways (quite amazing).
You could also pick a spot outside Kenting.
I have re-arranged your parameters a bit to get my mind around your perspective.
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[quote=“crystaleye”]I would wanna live as far away from the major urban centers as possible.
i really detest places with lots of people[/quote]
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[quote]i wanna be near the sea… so less heat in exchange for elevation is quite impossible unless there is a hill near the seaside.
i like surfing and swimming especially in the summer[/quote]
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[quote]I write so I would need lots of peace and quietness in my surroundings in order for me to think properly.
I take photographs of the sun-rise and sun-set everyday.[/quote]
To start with, i think there is no place in Taiwan where all your parameters would intersect, and i only see a few regions that reasonbly closely match most of your parameters: the northeast, parts of the middleeast (Hualien), and parts of the southeast. The question is which of your parameters can you sacrifice?
a) Northeast coast: many days when you can’t take sunrise/sunset photos as well as a lot of rain; no swimming during some of the winter months (too cold); access to Taipei by train or bus (quick and cheap)
b) The Hualien coast: reasonably good access to the train to Taipei (not expensive but time consuming) or by train to Hualien City and from there by plane to Taipei (relatively expensive); Hualien City has a large Carrefour (near the airport) and pretty well everything else in town
c) Southeast coast: [strike]no supermart in the area[/strike](edited after Mucha Man’s report) there is a small Carrefour near City Hall; access to Taitung by train or bus and from there to Taipei by plane (relatively expensive)
d) The 2 islands off the southeast coast: no supermart in the area; access to Taitung by small plane and from there to Taipei by plane (relatively expensive)
And, in any case, as has been said already (in different words), unless you live in the mountains, in Taiwan’s summer “cool” can only mean something like “California-like cool” but not “physically cool”.
Let’s see what others have to say about all this…
Lishan is pretty darn cool. Need long sleeves kind of cool. Doesn’t meet the other requirements, but man is it nice up here 
I already mentioned Yushan weather station. Coolest address in Taiwan.
much cooler than Lishan, but the beach is the same.
As pretty as that around Alishan.
And the tea is famous, too! Even if the OP does not want to live in those cool places, there is a good reason to visit the greener areas further down: some of the tea producers there welcome guests who enjoy a relaxed and relaxing sip or two…
[quote=“urodacus”]I already mentioned Yushan weather station. Coolest address in Taiwan.
much cooler than Lishan, but the beach is the same.[/quote]
isn’t yushan weather station high up in the mountains? why would there be any beaches there?
the beach is indeed the same as the beach at Lishan. Viz, there is none.
Very pretty part of the worl if you like snow and ice.
Taitung city has a carrefore now so I think it covers pretty much everything except it is really hot in summer. There is also a cool little art community of taiwanese and westerners just north of taitung in Dulan. Cheap to live here and a beautiful environment. Also a small private beach just down the road and good surfing nearby.
But are you sure you need peace and quiet to write? Most writers I know, including myself, work well in noise. Two of my favorite places are under the No 2 Freeway and laundromats.
You would be the first writer I know who work well in noise… lol…