These twelve days in Taiwan has been our longest family vacation so far, and the kids have endured the constant movement and changing of accommodations very well. I think they’re ready for an even longer trip the next time: assuming if I can get that much time off work again!
We stuck close to our planned itinerary, excepting changes in most of our dining places, inclusion of a few additional places, and dropping one major activity on Day 11. So here’s our usual post summarizing the various places and activities we covered, including also a few places of note that we dined at, over the period with approximate pricing and our recommended period of stay in each place of visitation. The admission prices I’ve noted below are also for each adult.
This will be a super long post, so I’ll split my summary comments into two parts. Do bear with me. Here’s Part 1 that covers Days 1 to 6, with Part 2 that covers Days 7 to 12 in the next post.
Firstly, here’s the actual itinerary we had for the trip.
Day 1 (Taichung)
Travel from Taoyuan International Airport to Taichung (2 hrs): there are numerous ways to get from Taoyuan International Airport to Taichung, and this is one of those rare occasions that taking the train is actually quite a bit slower than just getting a private driver to navigate the roads. Don’t just take my word for it. See for yourself:
What a shocker. I reckon that the almost fourty minute difference despite that the two routes are almost the same distance-wise is in view of the number times you have to hop from one train/bus to the next. And keeping in mind that you will have luggage to carry around, and possibly even kids already a little weary from the flight in, as we did. Long story short. If you’re getting to Taichung immediately like we did, go with a private driver and save yourself both the hassle and time.
Akaoni Steak – Fengjia (1+ hr): Blog Post here. Our flight into Taipei was delayed by more than an hour, and with heavier peak hour traffic, we got to Taichung finally about two hours past the initially projected time. Feng Chia Night Market was a short and easy 7 minute walk from our place of stay in Taichung, and there are numerous street food, eateries and restaurants located in the main night market and also on the peripheral areas. Steak Akaoni is rated #30 of 868 restaurants according to Tripadvisor for the area (we had no idea before we chose this place), is situated at a junction, and offers Japanese-styled steaks and other western-type cuisines. There’s free flow of two soup types, and is also common for many Taiwanese restaurants, simple drink-types too. The food was sumptuous with moderate to high prices to boot (relative to how much we paid per meal in Taiwan), and the place accepted credit card payment.
Overnight in Xitun District apartment (Taichung)
Day 2 (Houli/Miaoli/Dahu)
Houli Strawberry Farm (1 hr): Blog Post here. In our itinerary communications with our Taichung driver, we’d asked for strawberry picking in Dahu. As it turns out there are actually three major areas for fruit-picking at this time of the year: Dahu, Miaoli and Houli. We were brought to one such in Houli that’s basically unmarked on the map. A first look at the farm also wasn’t particularly confidence-assuring: the farm is fairly small, and supported by just a small shack at the corner of the farm that’s adjacent to the main road. But as the wife would say, what matters is how tasty is the plucked fruit – and in this regard, this particular farm’s strawberries not only met the wife’s already high standards of fruits, it exceeded even. She had a lot of queries from the FB group she’s on – Urban Farmers – after raving about the picked strawberries from this farm, that I had to do some work to fig out the exact location of this Farm and pass it along to her to help other interested persons also heading to Taiwan this period.
Shengxing Station (1 hr): Blog Post here. The first of the rather tacky and crowded places we checked out. The old rail station tracks are indeed interesting to look at, and there’s a uniqueness walking along along an old rail track – for all of five minutes that is, before you get bored. There are also lots of people propping themselves in all manner of poses on the rail tracks for their Instagrams. Finally, there’s a train ride option into the tunnel, and many of the busloaded tourists were getting on it. We skipped it.
Love Story Hall (NTD100, 2 hrs): Blog Post here. This place is practically next-door to Shengxing Station, but from what we saw, isn’t a stopover for mass tourism. The hall is dense with interesting visual old-time artifacts, props and objects – but there’s finally nothing here and the place can easily be skipped if you’re not coming here for lunch. And to be clear too, the lunch is just about average. The only reason why we stayed so long is because the place is very quiet, laid back, has a piano (!), and a decent staff photographer using a Canon DSLR with a 70-200mm f2.8 L lens haha. Great place to chill only if you have the time and are intent on having a meal. Admission ticket can be used as food vouchers too.
Zhongshe Flower Market (NTD90, 2 hrs): Blog Post here. Tourist-y place aside, the Flower Market is undeniably pretty and a must visit if you adore flora. Don’t cram the entrance area to take pictures once you get in, like what a lot of tourists were doing. The place is large, and the further in you move, the less crowded it’ll get. There is also more than one piano prop, so if you see one getting choked with guests all wanting their beauty shots on the piano, just move to the other one.
Gaomei Wetlands (2 hrs): Blog Post here. In what’s becoming a pattern, also another crowded place. But the sights i.e. towering wind turbines and sheer physical experience i.e. wind gales blasting at you will make it up. The experience is just unique and free for the most part too, excepting any parking charges you incur. Lots of people will be around to take sunset pictures, some of whom will step right out to the beach. So either accept that your pictures will likely have other humans in them, Photoshop them out, or go at a time other than sunset.
Feng Chia Night Market (1 hr+): Blog Post here. The second biggest but claims to be the baddest night market… in Taichung. Ling mused though that once you’ve seen one night market in Taiwan, you might surmise that the others really look samey-samey. There are differences of course: size of the market itself, and also any possible emphasis on cuisine types. But they all offer street food, and no trip to Taiwan is complete without a visit to one at least. Though if one is all the time you can spare, then we recommend you check out Dongdamen instead (see below) if you’re in Hualien.
Overnight in Xitun District apartment (Taichung)
Day 3 (Taichung)
Rainbow Village (1 hr): Blog Post here. A fairly small village that comprises a few tiny houses which are painted wall to wall everywhere. Admission is free, and boy, is the place crowded! There’s a fun and meticulously clean sand playground for children beside it, and also a super cool street performer in an Iron-Man costume who will take cute photos with you. Just go for it, and listen to his instructions on what to do and pose, and donate to his performance at the end of it too.
Carton King (NTD200, 1.5 hrs): Blog Post here. Lots of interesting paper-type miniatures all densely packed into a pretty small area. There’s a short children’s tram that will take them along the perimeter of the place. Place was also a little congested, but at least the staff didn’t seem to mind persons gawking at and not buying their products, or photographers who were paparazing their exhibits. Admission was a pricey NTD200, and Peter couldn’t enter for free. So, skip if you don’t have the time as this really isn’t a must-visit – even if you have kids.
Master of Mushroom (2 hrs): Blog Post here. Restaurant that serves mushroom-type hotpots. The food is delicious and the soup stock thick and flavorful. But the table you get might be airy and presenting a view of foliage beyond, or dark, dank and smelling of the kitchen. Not sure whether it’s common practice in Taiwan for dining patrons to choose their own tables, but we were assigned a nice table. Lunch time sees a lot of people, and we had to wait for a long while before we got food. There’s a shop that sells pricey souvenir mushroom products too. Tourist trap, much? So, skip this restaurant unless it’s already along the way, and also if you are having an early, or a late lunch. There are other places to get your hot pot fix.
Grape-picking (0.5 hrs): Blog Post here. Like the Strawberry-picking, you pay only for what you pick. The picking is also less physically strenuous than for strawberries, and the grapes themselves are also easily accessible. We spent just 0.5 hrs here and walked away with more fruit than we could finish (we gave the rest away to our driver).
Miyahara Ice Cream (0.5 hrs): Blog Post here. The ice-cream is pretty good, but you have to queue up for it! To move things along a little quicker, you’d be given an order sheet while queuing for you to decide what you want, then pass it to the counter staff when it’s your turn. It’s about a 5 minute wait after that before your queue number is called. There’s a lovely park just opposite the Miyahara, so you can do what most locals seem to do – enjoy their ice-cream there.
Overnight in Xitun District apartment (Taichung)
Day 4 (Xitou/Sun Moon Lake)
Xitou Nature Education Center (4+ hrs): Blog Post here. We made a mistake in our itinerary planning here: we allocated just over 2 hours only here when we need at least four to do at least part of one trail – this one trail offering the sights that many will come here for. The certain level of fitness is required as well if you intend to do the trail, though the slopes are fairly gentle. The park sees plenty of local retirees in hiking gear and with backpacks, many of them in pairs, small groups and female – and clucking away like aunties out to the morning wet market. If all you have is an hour or two, then you might want to skip this place. The entrance area isn’t particularly unusual i.e. tall trees, some landscaping, and all the interesting bits are far in.
Sun Moon Lake (4+ hrs): Blog Post here. Well, you’ve been warned: this is a highly commercialized tourist spot, with all the consequences of it being one. The place felt congested, and whether you get shoved at or see behavior e.g. spitting that might want you to reach out and choke that someone depends on the hordes of the day. The quieter spots I think gravitate towards the perimeter of the lake – e.g. you rent bicycles and explore on bikes – while the mass of day trippers will take the more obvious and common routes, i.e. via the ferry and on that three station loop-around. Yet alternatively, spend more time in this area i.e. an entire day, and don’t rush it. Hang back and let the crowds jostle and trample themselves to death ahead. And if money is of no concern, you could also always pay $$$ to rent one of those pricey accommodations, like this one, for a more exclusive experience.
Old England Manor (0.5 hrs/?): Blog Post here. You’ve got two choices here. Cough up the $$$ so that you can enter into the premises of this Tudor-styled building and Instagram your heart out, or hang around on the outside, gawk and make do with wide-angle shots, like I did haha. The front of the mansion that runs along the road is quite pretty, so make sure you check out that spot as well. The rear offers a pretty enough view of the mountains surrounding Cingjing, but there are far better spots for photography in Cingjing
Spring Ground Hot Pot (1.5 hrs): Blog Post here. Pretty good hot pot served here, made the even better for us as we were visiting in winter and nothing warms your bones better than dining on hot pot. The hot pot meals are quite pricey though, but are also very filling. Be mindful if you have young kids and don’t over-order. Be sure to try out all the sauces, especially the seafood sauce.
Overnight in The Cotswold Villa (Hualien)
Day 5 (Cingjing)
Sunrise @ Cingjing: Blog Post here. There was a cloudy sky that night, so I missed out an opportunity for astro-photography. But the sunrise shoot was one of the best parts of our Cingjing stay for me – the kids and Ling missed all of it as they were still Zzzzing that morning. I saw a single lit star that glowed so brightly in the still dark dawn, and also the fiery red cloud layer as the sun slowly rose. If you’re spending a night in Hualien, make sure that your place of stay guarantees an uninterrupted view of the mountain range, and is also of the correct facing too. It’s worth it!
Mt. Hehuan (3 hrs+): Blog Post here. A number of visitors will do the sunrise shoot at Mt Hehuan, while others will do a day-time trip up. Both present their opportunities and challenges you’ll need to work around or at least be mindful of. We went with the mid-morning ascent, and have no regrets of it: the sun was out, the sky was clear, and I got some beautiful pictures from the morning we spent there and wished we could have stayed for longer. Make sure to get to the 3158 Cafe spot, then put on some good hiking shoes and climb up to Jian Feng peak. When done, mind your climb down. The terrain down slope offers good grip for the soles of hiking shoes, and there are solid steps – but it’s still pretty steep.
Ianko Valley View Restaurant (1.5 hrs+): Blog Post here. Delicious roast chicken in a restaurant with a pretty view – if you get a table that faces the valley. Portions are hearty and pricing is reasonable. Meals are served very quickly too.
Cingjing Farm (2 hrs) (NTD160): Blog Post here. Our kids liked this place, though as they are already fairly experienced animal-feeding children from last year’s trip to Western Australia, the novelty seemed to have slightly worn off at this point. How long you stay here really depends on whether you’re catching the animal performance and husbandry shows that many will come here for. The place wasn’t too crowded on the TUES afternoon we were there, but from photos, the place will get really congested on weekends. Buy all the animal food packs you want at first opportunity, as there’s no guarantee that they’ll get replenished timely enough if you’re in a hurry. We were lucky that Day 5 saw beautifully sunny weather, so came out with some really pretty shots with deep blue skies.
Overnight in Xitun District apartment (Taichung)
Day 6 (Hualien)
Travel from Taichung to Hualien via Taipei (4.5 hrs): this one was a really hard choice – whether to cut directly across the central mountain range, or make the trip with the slower route via Taipei. In terms of traveling time, it’s roughly in the same ballpark, with the direct route across mountains also shorter. There are challenges involved either way you choose to go:
Direct route by car: assuming that the mountain passages have not closed because of winter, make sure you leave no later than noon. Can’t stress this enough! The mountain road isn’t lit, and depending on visibility (e.g. winter = mountain fog = bad), the drive can be downright dangerous at night, even for local drivers experienced in the route. King Kong, our Taichung driver, had driven the route multiple times, and while the day time journey is doable, he clearly did not relish the night-time version of it. In fact, he said it was probably even more scary for his passengers that one time when his group insisted on leaving Cingjing only in the mid-afternoon, resulting in a night drive. You also need to be mindful that the curving, winding roads might be particularly hard for persons who’re susceptible to vertigo. The plus side? You get some really gorgeous scenery. We saw some amazing photos that King Kong took when he made the journey a month before our trip, and parts of the drive took past just above a low cloud layer.
By train: that’s the route we took. Keep in mind that you might need to camp for train tickets both legs of the journey, as the seats on the best timings can get sold out really fast. We were lucky enough to get a sweet spot with minimal transfer time in Taipei: we took the HSR departing Taichung at 8:04AM, reached Taipei at 9:13AM, then the Puyuma Express that left Taipei at 10:25AM and arrived in Hualien at 12:38PM. It’s also a comfortable journey even if not as scenic as the direct route by car. You have all the leg room you’ll need, toilets if you have to go, and you can travel any time of the day just so long as the trains are still running.
Chisingtan Scenic Area (1 hr): Blog Post here. It was about mid-afternoon by the time we’d checked in to our Hualien minsu and a cozy lunch after that. We had a few hours to kill, and had to really dig to find a non-food place in Hualien to check-out. Yep, there really isn’t much in Hualien (besides food – which is like everywhere in Taiwan). We agreed to stick to the original plan: Chisingtan Scenic Area. Be warned: the setting off of beach-side fireworks @ evening we read about in other blogs might not be permitted anymore, and we didn’t see any vendors selling them anyway. We did cycle around the area – rental is NTD150 per bike – and the cycling track is in good condition, level, and you can stop to take a break anytime you need to. Hualien Airport is also beside this spot, though we saw more fighter jets taking off than passenger airplanes.
Dongdamen Night Market (2+ hrs): Blog Post here. We didn’t visit all the night markets in each region this visit during our trip, but the one market that we really liked is this one in Hualien. The food range isn’t different from the other night markets, but Dongdamen has wide spaces for us to walk through, and is relatively less crowded. Day trippers do not normally spend a night in Hualien, so it’s mostly locals only patronizing this market in the evening onwards. And there are sufficient common seating areas too, even if some tables will be reserved for stall patrons only.
Earthquake in Hualien (8 seconds): Blog Post here. This was an unplanned itinerary item that caught us by surprise. And depending on who you’re asking: Ling, Peter, Hannah, or myself, the response on whether we had fun on this one will be quite varied! No admission charges either haha.
Overnight in Hualien
Days 7 to 12 continued in the next post!
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