When it comes to sightseeing in Taiwan, each season has its distinct themes and particular advantages, and summer is no exception. Between May and September, if you can handle sea-level temperatures that often top 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit), you can enjoy the wonderfully vivid outdoors. The skies are bluer, the rivers are fuller,…
Many of Taiwan’s landscapes are deeply inspiring. The country has East Asia’s tallest mountains, its most spectacular gorge, and stretches of dramatic coastline. The unspoiled eastern part of the island has long been a favorite of both domestic and international tourists. The counties of Hualien and Taitung account for more than a fifth of Taiwan’s…
Straddling the Tropic of Cancer, Penghu is less than 50 km west of Taiwan’s main island, yet this stunning archipelago looks completely different. For a start, it’s quite flat, whereas much of Taiwan is ruggedly mountainous. The islands used to be almost treeless, but afforestation programs have changed this. And perhaps most impressively – and…
If you are a fan of sakura – the cherry blossoms that draw legions of adoring sightseers to parks and hillsides throughout Japan – plan your next visit to Taiwan to coincide with the Hakka Tung Blossom Festival. The festival, which takes place in April and May, celebrates the beauty and beneficence of Vernicia fordii,…
If you have never been to a hot spring, the time is surely right for you to take a stress-busting hot-spring vacation in “the Heart of Asia.” Thanks to encouraging news from scientists working on coronavirus vaccines, people are once again daring to hope that international leisure travel can resume within months. When the door…
Taichung is an excellent launchpad for anyone wishing to explore the stunning mountains that crowd Taiwan’s interior. The city encompasses intensively farmed coastal lowlands, mid-elevation landscapes, and expanses of high-altitude wilderness within Shei-Pa National Park. At the same time, Taichung’s thoroughly modern core area, home to over half its 2.8 million residents, has more than…
For centuries, the Central Mountain Range that stretches nearly the length of Taiwan blocked the eastward progress of Han Chinese pioneers settling the western lowlands. As a result, the traditional cultures and lifestyles of the Austronesian indigenous people in the east remained largely intact until the 1895-1945 period of Japanese colonial rule. Some of the…
The story is one that people working in Taiwan’s tourism industry hear again and again. A visitor had stopped to look at a map, take photos, or adjust a bicycle chain when passers-by came over to offer assistance. The end of the story is always: “The people here are incredibly kind and friendly.” You don’t…
There is something about eastern Taiwan that brings out the best in artists. It may be the sheer sense of space and striking scenic beauty that inspires them. The mountainous counties of Hualien and Taitung are thinly populated by comparison with the island’s western lowlands, and life in the East moves at a much slower…
Taiwan’s emergence as a world-class cycling destination is no surprise. The island boasts a fabulous diversity of coastal, lowland, and highland environments. Thanks to the subtropical location, it is possible to go cycling almost every day of the year. The highway network is extensive, and because so many Taiwanese commute by motorcycle or scooter, motorists…
