Taitung City Tourism
This forested area is popular for its many walking and cycling paths offering panoramic views of Taitung. Laws of physics are applied in the world of trains, and the museums’ railway diorama set reproducing the railway landscape of the Tokaido Shinkansen must not be missed as it is the largest one in the whole country. Ghibli’s iconic 1988 film, ‘My Neighbour Totoro’, which was one of the main attractions of the 2005 expo. The other areas are the Mononoke Village and the Valley of Witches which will include the castle from Howl’s Moving Castle. Three of the five areas of the park (the Hill of Youth, Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse and Dondoko Forest) are currently being built and are scheduled to open on November 11th 2022. The park is being built in the Expo Park, the former ground of the 2005 World EXPO, the forested and hilly area to house the Ghibli Park within its 1.94 square kilometre area.
Don't pass up the chance to dig into a plate of niu rou mian or lu rou fan . These classic dishes are highly recommended by the locals. If you can't imagine a holiday that doesn't involve sports, check what events are 台東必買美食 on at Taitung Stadium. It's likely something will be on while you visit. You can find the venue 40 kilometres away in Taitung. My view at Hehuanshan ViewpointReluctantly, we gave up the idea of hiking and drove off.
So never really had to test how well I could get by with just english. Didn't have access to my whirlpool account so this reply is too late to be useful, and also didn't win anything anyway to gauge the redemption and verification process either unfortunately. Wow thanks for the headsup, but reading some of the comments on the taiwan subreddit seems like it's actually much much lower chance than the purported 1 in 5 lol. Will report back on how I go myself after this week.
This tour is a great choice for anyone who wants to visit Taiwan highlights outside of Taipai city that would be challenging to get to on your own. The hotels were all 5 stars, two included hot spring pools on site. The breakfast buffets included in the tour at the hotels all had a great selection of Taiwanese and Western food.
Our end destination was Taichung, which is about a 2 hours drive south of Taoyuan Airport. Along the way, we stopped by a popular local stall (三義三十年豆花) in Sanyi for lunch. This place is known for its Peanut Soya Beancurd, as well as Hakka dishes which seemed to be a common cuisine in this part of Taiwan.
Went there on a couple of school excursions and it was really amazing... I haven't been but all reports are that it's well worth visiting. December, January, and February are the best time for me to visit.
Went to Jiufen, which is a gamble because of the crazy weather and the crowds (always take a rain jacket!). Stayed in a basic guesthouse but probably could have done it as a day drip from Taipei and returned at night. Luckily the cloud cleared at sunset – loved the view from the temple forecourt – but it rained all the next day, that's what's expected in the mountains. Has anyone taken public transport to Yilan for hiking?
When it's time to fly off, allow yourself extra time to get to Kaohsiung International Airport . Sitting 110 kilometres to the southwest from downtown Chishang, this is the closest terminal. Start your night the right way with a splash of a local favourite like golden muscat or shaoxing. Taste for balance, structure and texture, or just have a bottle with friends.
Sky Walk with cloud view throughoutThe walk from the south entrance ended at a touristy food court, located near Green Green Grassland. We ordered some simple Taiwan dishes from one of the aggressive vendors. Luckily, food was not as awful as its online reputation. Breakfast with a view at Hu Yue Lakeview HotelWe checked out of Hu Yue Lakeview Hotel and started our real sightseeing tour of Sun Moon Lake. How many frogs you see that day would determine how high the water level is. While I was collecting the WiFi, my partner was a short distance away, at another counter collecting our prebooked rental car.
Tamshui/Danshuei is a pretty easy day trip using the MRT from Taipei and I recommend a walk along the riverfront as well as a visit to the restaurants on Old Street — the food is cooked using fresh ingredients. There are also a couple of old forts that are worth visiting as tourist attractions. You could also take a boat ride to get a different perspective of the city from the riverfront to Fisherman's Wharf. I believe the boat operators take the easy card but when I was there they preferred if you bought a ticket. My sister's family took this trip in 2019, and provided their recommendation to us. This is a great trip for 1st time visitors to Taiwan - saving time for planning and enjoying the highlight within 5 days short trip.