Taiwan: Taroko National Park - A Gorgeous Gorge

I first got to know about the existence of Taroko from Jamie's album when she & Steve went there last year. And when I knew I was going to Taiwan 2 months ago, Taroko was top on the list of places that I MUST visit! Thanks to Jamie, too, for the the tips & info about the place.

Taroko National Park is situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan and was established on 28 Nov 1986. It covers more than 92,000 hectares in the northern section of the Central Mountain Range. This park features picturesque scenery of varied spectacular mountain peaks, numerous beautiful waterfalls, crystal clear rivers & lakes, diverse plant forms and animal life, together with indigenous Taroko aborigines.

There are many scenic sites within the national park, which would require at least a few days to explore all of them. However, they have listed 8 main trails that you can start off with as a new visitor. Unfortunately, as we were only there for a day trip, we only managed to do 4. Anyway, here are the 8 main trails (in order of magnificence - if you must choose only a few to do in a day):

a. Baiyang Trail (round trek 4km / 2 hours)

The trail exhibits a splendid combination of geology and morphology of the marble gorge. The main highlight of the trail is the marvellous Baiyang Waterfall. Unfortunately, when we were there, the trail was closed due to landslide, much to our disappointment.

b. Shakadang Trail (round trek 4.5km / 5 hours)

It's a narrow path that begins at the descending steps from the Shakadang Bridge, and winds over the marble precipice. The hike to 3D Cabin takes approximately 2.5 hours one-way (total of 5 hours round trip). Therefore be prepared to spend more than half a day to do this trail. The waters of the Shakadang River remain clear greenish the whole year round, and the beauty of the waters and the rocks are especially matchless. The Shakadang Trail used to be the life center of the Taroko tribes, and thus is the best place to visit to explore Taroko life & culture. We only managed to cover the first half hour of the trail, as we didn't have time to explore it until the end. This trail gives you more reasons to stay overnight at the park or nearby towns.

c. Swallow Grotto

At Yanzihkou (Swallow Grotto), one can enjoy the sights of the potholes on the cliff faces, the springs sprinkled along the lower parts of the walls, as well as the famous rock formation "Chieftain's profile rock". The Jinheng Bridge can also be seen afar from here that adds to another scenic spot on this trail.

d. Tunnel of the Nine Turns Trail (round trek 1.9km / 40 mins)

Along the trail, one can enjoy the marble gorges, rivers, cliffs, tunnels and the ecosystem of the vegetation growing amidst the rocky terrain. One can also observe the phenomenon of ascending air current at certain time of the day (7am-9am). There is one spot where one can find a Fish Leaping Across the Golden Gate. It's basically a long rock that looks like a fish swimming upstream. Quite interesting indeed.

e. Lyushui-Holiu Trail (2km / 1 hour trek to Holiu)

The trail includes passing through a small suspension bridge followed by a narrow tunnel, an old road, steep cliffs and the ecosystem of the vegetation on the rocky ground. The trail leads to the side of the highway, giving one an awesome view of the river & mountains across the highway.

f. Eternal Spring Shrine Trail (round trek 1.9km / 4o mins)

This is the nearest trail to the national park entrance if you want to skip the Shakadang Trail for the next day. One will have to go through the Central Cross-Island Highway bridge and the Kuanyin Cave that leads to a shrine, that subsequently leads to a small Zen monastery (Chan Guang Temple) at the far end. We didn't go until the end, as it didn't seem very spectacular to be visiting shrines in a national park.

g. Huitouwan-Lianhua Pond (round trek 3.7km / 2 hours)

Huitouwan is a 180-degree turn in the highway about 5km up the road from Tiansiang. The trail starts behind the bus stop at Huitowan. About 20 mins up the beautiful ravine is the Jhumei suspension bridge spanning the Taosai River. Cross the suspension bridge and continue for another 1.5 hours to the Lianhua Pond. We didn't manage to touch this trail at all this time around.

h. Chongde Trail (round trek 640m / 20 mins)

Sights to be seen include the coastal plants, pebble shoreline, the Chingshui Cliff and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. From here, one can go north along the coastal highway for more beautiful scenic spots. This requires a totally different trip, as it leads to a totally different direction from the other trails above. Obviously, we didn't do this one either.

g. Old Trail

There is another trail, they call it the Old Trail, that needs to be pre-booked for a guide. The trail is not for the faint hearted & it's a REAL adventure trek, across long suspension bridges, extremely narrow cliffs without railings & other exciting stuff. Someday, I hope I will be able to do this trail.

Getting There

All in all, Taroko is one place you shouldn't miss when visiting Taiwan. To go there, you can easily take a train to Xincheng (nearest station). The train only takes 2.5 hours from Taipei & costs around NTD330+ per way. It is advisable to get the tickets a day before you intend to travel so that you can plan ahead the time schedule. The one we took started off at 7.20am from Taipei and reached Xincheng around 9.45am, which was just nice.

From Xincheng train station, you can either take a taxi or bus to Taroko. However the bus is quite irregular, therefore a taxi is more viable & it only takes 10 mins & NTD200 per taxi to the national park. The taxis at Xincheng will probe you to take the day tour with them. You can do so because you will need a taxi to take you from one trail to another anyway, as it's just too huge to walk. However make sure that the taxi doesn't impose a time limit on your trails. They usually take off at 6pm, though, which is fine because it starts to get dark by then anyway. A day-tour should costs around NTD2500 per taxi. Anyway, if the taxis at the train station can't satisfy your requirements, just go to the Tourist Information Centre (closed on Mondays) in Taroko National Park and book a taxi from there. That was what we did and we got the same driver who drove us to the national park & had offered the tour to us initially at the train station, but with different deals! Haha!

Day Trip vs Overnight

I would recommend staying overnight instead of a day trip because you simply can't explore the whole place within a day. Imagine, even the Shakadang Trail itself already takes 5 hours. We missed it and now regretted for not staying overnight there. The other trails are much shorter (approx 1 hour or so) but you would also want to take your time to see the beautiful mountains & valleys &  rivers & lakes. You can either stay at the park itself (at Tiansiang), Xincheng or Hualien. Xincheng is a very small town and there is virtually nothing to do at night, so I think staying in Hualien is a better option, although it's about 40 mins drive to the national park. Hualien has a night market to keep you busy after the sun sets. ;)

All in all, Taroko National Park is a natural wonder & definitely worth visiting for the nature lovers. For more info, you may visit some of these sites:

• Taroko National Park Official Website
• Taroko Gorge Travel Guide - Wikitravel
• Hualien Official Tourist Website

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Will go back again? Simply because I haven't explored it all yet.