From Taoyuan International Airport to Fenqihu (Alishan)

27 March 2024

One of the key attractions we wanted to visit in this trip is the Alishan National Scenic Area, frequently known as Alishan (阿里山). A trip to Alishan is not complete without a visit to Fenqihu (奮起湖) as well. Fenqihu is small settlement that was once a refuel middle stop for the old Alishan forest trains.  The place that we are visiting on our first day back in Taiwan is Fenqihu.

We took a red-eye flight from Singapore to Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport arriving as scheduled at dawn. We cleared immigration and picked up our luggage pretty fast as there were not many flights arriving at this time of day.

From Taoyuan Airport to Chiayi

The fastest transportation in the western part of Taiwan is none other than the Taiwan High Speed Rail (HSR). In our previous trips to Taiwan, we had to take a bus from the airport to the Taoyuan HSR station. This time, we could use the MRT.

Note:   Taoyuan MRT (commonly known as Airport MRT) and the Taipei Metro (MRT) runs on the same tracks. The Airport MRT is an express service and is slighter faster. Fares for Airport MRT express or normal MRT commuter train are the same. Easy cards can be used. The appearance of express train is purple and that of commuter train is blue for easy identification. The express trains will depart from Taoyuan Airport every 15 minutes from 05:55, with the last train departing at 22:58.

We followed the signs in the arrival hall and took about a 10 minutes walk to the MRT Station (A12) located at Terminal 1.  Taoyuan Airport has 2 terminals. There is also a MRT Station (A13) serving passengers arriving at Terminal 2.

We topped up our Easycard (IC card used in Taiwan) at the MRT Station before boarding the MRT train. I could not remember which train we took (blue or purple). The journey by MRT to the HSR Station (A18) took about 20 minutes.            

There was a Go2Taiwan Buy One, Get One Free promotion on High-Speed Rail tickets on Klook for International Visitors. In addition, Klook offers a 20% discount! The only downside is that we had to pre-book our tickets and things will get messy if our flight is delayed and we are not in time to collect our HSR tickets (at least 30 minutes before departure time).  However, this was too good a deal to miss, so I had to carefully plan and allocate enough risk buffer when booking our ride to Chiayi.

Things went as planned and we had ample time to collect our pre-booked tickets from the ticket office at the Taoyuan HSR Station and catch the 7.34 AM train to Chia Yi.

Journey to Chiayi would take about 80 minutes by High Speed Rail.

We even had time to buy some drinks, snacks and tea eggs for a light breakfast from the 7-11 store inside the station before boarding.

7-eleven store inside the Taoyuan HSR Station. We took the MRT from the airport to this station. Approximately 20 minutes journey.

Delicious tea soaked egg that is sold in almost all 7-eleven store.

Taiwan’s High Speed Rail’s bullet train. It could reach speeds of 220 km/hr.

From Chiayi to Fenqihu

The traditional way to get to Fenqihu is by the popular Forest Railway from Chiayi Train Station that runs only once a day (twice on weekends). The journey on the narrow gauge historic train takes about 2 hours and is often fully booked out. This option is not practical for us since we are arriving from the airport to the HSR Station and it will take another 30 minutes to get to the TRA Station by shuttle bus or taxi.

A slightly faster way is by taking one of infrequent public buses from the TRA or HSR train stations in Chiayi.

The fastest way is by car. Since we did not rent a car, we took the next best option which was to charter a taxi using Tripool that took us from the Chiayi High Speed Rail (HSR) Station to Fenqihu. I decided to splurge a little and take the taxi instead of the infrequent public bus because there is a great risk that we may not be able to get a seat on the bus due to the peak Cherry Blossom season in Alishan. 

Our pre-booked taxi, a white Toyota SUV, was waiting for us as planned when we took the exit 3 at the HSR Station.

Note: There are actually quite a few taxi drivers offering rides to Alishan at the train station. So, pre-booking a taxi may not be necessary. I think the fares are quite competitive.

The journey by taxi was definitely faster and more comfortable compared to the public bus. So, money well spent!

En-route, we made a short stop at the Siang Ting B&B, located amongst the tea plantations in Shizhuo. This is to drop off our luggage as it was too early for check in.

We arrived at Fenqihu slightly before 11 AM. Just in time to eat Fenqihu lunchbox from the original famous spot, Fenqihu Hotel before the crowds from the Forest Railway train arrives.