In this spring trip to Taiwan from 27 March to 2 April 2024 to Taiwan, we spent three days exploring the scenic areas around Alishan in central Taiwan and then three days to explore Kaohsiung and Tainan, located in the southern part of the island.
The Alishan (阿里山) National Forest Recreation Area in Chiayi County, Central Taiwan is renowned for its misty forests, sunrises over a sea of clouds, views of mountain ranges, the historic Alishan Forest Railway, and cherry blossoms viewing in spring. The area around Alishan, especially around the town of Shizhuo (石棹), is also known for the tea plantations. This is where Taiwan’s most famous tea is grown, plus hiking through tea plantations, bamboo and cedar forests.
View of the tea plantations around Shizhuo.
It was after booking the flights and planning the itinerary to Alishan that I realised our time in Taiwan coincided with the cherry blossoms season in Alishan. This is both good news and bad news. Good news as in we could potentially experience the flower season in Alishan. Bad news as in there would be higher than usual visitors numbers and getting to Alishan via public transport could be a nightmare.
Where we stayed
Alishan is known for the 5 scenic wonders – sunrise, sea of clouds, railway, forest and sunset.
To view the famous sunrise at the peak of Alishan, one would have to stay at a hotel within the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, get up at around 4 AM to take a train to the sunrise observation deck. Hotels in the park are limited and are way overpriced.
We decided to give this sunrise experience a miss and stayed at Siang Ting B&B (頂石桌湘庭民宿) located in Shizhuo instead. Shizhuo is a tea growing area located along the Alishan Highway 18, the main highway leading to Alishan National Forest Recreation Area. Every public bus going to Alishan would pass by Shizhuo.
Siang Ting B&B is a tea farm that offers homestay. We stayed three nights in this fantastic B&B with wonderful hosts.
On the mountainside above Shizhuo, there are some incredible hikes through tea farms and bamboo forests. So for us who likes hiking and nature, Shizhuo is an ideal place.
On the Sunset Trail near our B&B.
Gorgeous sunsets and sunrises with seas of clouds and fresh cool air could be enjoyed (weather permitting) from observation points near Shizhuo as well.
Shizhuo is a short distance away from Fenqihu, a historic railway village that should be included in any Alishan itinerary.
Trip report: Our stay at the Siang Ting B&B (頂石桌湘庭民宿), in Shizhuo.
My plan was to visit both Tainan and Kaohsiung after 3 days in the Alishan area. To minimise hotel transfer, we stayed all 3 nights in Kaohsiung and make a day trip to Tainan from Kaohsiung. Tainan is less than an hour by local trains from Kaohsiung.
My hotel in Kaohsiung City was the H2O Hotel. We really enjoyed our stay in the excellent, value for money hotel located close to the ZuoYing HSR Station in Kaohsiung.
The following is our itinerary for this trip.
Day 1 (27 March 2024) – Travel to Shizhuo and explore Fenqihu
We spent our first day back in Taiwan exploring the small village of Fenchihu or Fenqihu (奮起湖) that was once a refuel middle stop for the old Alishan forest trains. The town is best known for 3 things – a mountainous town surrounded by bamboo and cedar forest, the old shopping street and the historic Alishan forest railway.
To get to Fenqihu, we must first get to Chiayi. We travelled by MRT from the airport to the Taoyuan HSR Station (20 minutes), took an 80 minutes ride on the Taiwan High Speed Rail to Chiayi and then took a pre-booked taxi to Fenqihu.
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.
Trip report: From Taoyuan International Airport to Fenqihu (Alishan)
We spent the day exploring the old shopping street of Fenqihu, the historic Alishan forest railway and the hiking trails around the town.
Things to eat/buy at the Old Street include the Aiyu jelly drink, wasabi stuff, donuts. We took pictures of the famous Alishan Forest Railway trains at the train station. There is also a small train museum but it was closed during our visit.
We took the last bus scheduled at 5.00 PM from Fenqihu to Shizhuo. Our B&B in Shizhuo only provided breakfast. We had dinner in the 石桌佳味熱炒 restaurant at Shizhuo. Most of the restaurants in Shizhuo close at 7 PM.
Trip report: Exploring Fenqihu (奮起湖) and evening in Shizhuo (石棹)
Day 2 (28 March 2024) – Day trip to Alishan from Shizhuo
Breakfast with views of the mountains and tea farms below.
The plan for the day after breakfast was to do a day trip to the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area – the “Alishan” that draws the tourists.
Our hosts had the entire bus schedule from Shizhuo to Alishan and gave us a ride to the bus stop in Shizhuo. From there, we took a 45 minutes bus ride to Alishan.
We spent most of the day exploring Alishan. Alishan was like what we expected – interesting forests with giant trees, cherry blossoms (not at their best), historic railways and crowds.
The weather was unusually warm this year, so we missed the peak of the cherry blossoms which came a few weeks earlier than usual.
We took the 3 PM bus back to Shizhuo and had an early dinner. Following dinner, we took a short walk to see the sunset at the Dingshizhuo Observation Deck which is located a short distance from our B&B.
Unfortunately, clouds rolled in on the western horizon as the sun went down. So, we did not get to see a nice sunset.
From there, we took a short walk back to our B&B.
Day 3 (29 March 2024) – Hiking at the Shizhuo Trails System
It was another beautiful morning at Siang Ting B&B, just like Day 2.
Typical breakfast at Siang Ting B&B.
The plan for the day was to explore the hiking trails at Shizhuo. This is one of the reasons why we chose to stay at Shizhuo.
There are 5 incredible hikes in the hilly area near to our B&B:
- Mist Trail 霧之道 (880 meters)
- Tea Trail 茶之道 (1,030 meters)
- Cloud Trail 雲之道 (670 meters)
- Sunset Trail 霞之道 (530 meters)
- Sakura Trail 櫻之道 (990 meters).
The trails are all unique in their own way. Some are built next to the tea plantations, some through cedar forest and some are surrounded by lush bamboo forests.
We managed to cover all the above trails at a leisurely pace. During the hike, we had an awesome lunch at the 豊合豐禾 景觀餐廳 restaurant, located near the top of the Sunset Trail.
We ended the day with a delicious hotpot dinner at a neighbouring B&B.
Trip report: Hiking the Shizhuo Trails System (石棹步道群)
Day 4 (30 March 2024) – Travel from Shizhuo to Kaohsiung. Explore Lotus Pond Scenic Area and evening at Ruifeng Night Market
This is the day where we would travel from Shizhuo to Kaohsiung. I had booked a taxi to take us from Shizhuo to the Chiayi HSR Station.
This was also our lucky day. We managed to see the sea of clouds from our B&B on our final morning in Shizhuo. This is one of the highlight of a visit to the Alishan area.
One last look at the gorgeous Shizhuo scenery.
The taxi came promptly at 9.30 AM and we arrived at the HSR Station in 70 minutes.
I was contemplating if we should try the popular HSR Bento lunch set but decided otherwise. There would be better lunch options at Kaohsiung.
We had ample time to collect our train tickets and took the 30 minutes ride into Kaohsiung’s Zuoying HSR Station as planned. We arrived at Kaohsiung slightly after noon. The representative from the H2O Hotel was on the HSR train platform to meet us and drove us to the H2O hotel in style.
As our room was not ready, we left our luggage with the hotel and took a short walk to the Hanshin Arena for lunch.
Trip report: Our Travel from Shizhuo to Kaohsiung and lunch at the Hanshin Arena.
After lunch, we took a taxi to the Lotus Pond Scenic Area.
We had an afternoon for sightseeing at the Lotus Pond scenic area. Actually afternoon is the best time to visit, getting there at around 3 PM. The sun will start to go down making it a bit cooler and we plan to see the sunset over the lake. At night the temples are illuminated, creating multi-coloured reflections in the water.
Trip report: Exploring the scenic Lotus Pond (蓮池潭) in the Zuoying district, Kaohsiung.
After visiting Lotus Pond, we took a taxi to one of Kaohsiung’s very popular night markets, the Ruifeng Night Market for dinner. There are several night markets in Kaohsiung, this was the closest and it is also within walking distance to our hotel. Ruifeng Night Market’s opening hours are from 6:00 pm to midnight and it is closed on Monday and Wednesday!Trip report: Ruifeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市) in Kaohsiung.
Day 5 (1 April 2024) - Day trip to Tainan
Instead of staying a day in Tainan, we decided to make a day trip to Tainan from Kaohsiung.
Our plan for the morning was to explore the Anping area with sights such as the Anping Tianhou Temple, Anping Old Fort and Anping Tree House.
Anping Old Street is a good place for some shopping and lunch.
In the afternoon, there are some interesting places to see at West Central District such as the Tainan Confucius Temple, Hayashi Dept Store, Snail Alley, Guan Yu temple, Grand Mazu temple, Chikan Tower and Shennong Street.
The original plan was to have dinner at Shennong Street but there was no restaurants to our liking. So we went back to have dinner at Kaohsiung, followed by drinks at the rooftop bar of our hotel.
Trip report: Day Trip to Tainan from Kaohsiung.
Day 6 ( 2 April 2024) – explore Pier 2 Art Center and Cijin island in Kaohsiung
My original plan was to take the ferry to Cijin Island in the morning. We could rent bikes to explore sights on island. After a seafood lunch at the island, we could take the ferry back to mainland and explore the nearby Pier 2 Art Center in the afternoon.
We could then spend the evening exploring the Glory Pier and Love River Area.
On the way back to our hotel, we could stop by Formosa MRT Station to see the Dome of Light and visit the Liuhe Night Market from Formosa Station. Time permitting, we could even do a quick visit to Sanfeng Temple to snap some photos of the lights.
How things changed when we were actually in Kaohsiung.
In the morning as we were enjoying our breakfast at the H2O Hotel, we decided to go to Pier 2 Art Center in the morning, followed by Cijin Island in the evening when it would be cooler and we get to see the sunset at the Cijin Beach.
Sunset at Cijin Island.
On hindsight, I think the original plan may be better although we did enjoy our visits to the Pier 2 Art Center and Cijin Island.
Trip report: Kaohsiung Pier 2 Art Center.
Trip report: Cijin (旗津 ) Island in Kaohsiung.
Day 7 ( 3 April 2024) – free and easy in Kaohsiung and travel back to Taoyuan Airport
Our flight home was scheduled at 9.45 PM, which means we had to be at the Taoyuan Airport by 7:45 PM. Travel to Taoyuan airport by High Speed Rail (HSR) from Kaohsiung, followed by a MRT ride from the Taoyuan HSR Station to the airport would take about 3 hours.
We had some free and easy time in the morning to see more of Kaohsiung. My original plan was to go see the street art at WAIIRIORS but once again, the plan was changed on the fly.
We decided to spend some time to explore the shopping areas in Kaohsiung and buy some local products instead.
One of our must try for this trip is the famous Taiwan Railway Bento sets.
Taiwan Railway Bento set.
Our 2-hour ride on the HSR from Kaohsiung to Taoyuan gave us the perfect opportunity to try them.
Trip report: Free and easy in Kaohsiung and trying the Taiwan Railway bento set.
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