Taroko National Park is located near the Hualien City. It used to be under the Empire of Japan and after the World War II China took over. The word “taroko” means magnificent or beautiful and “gorge" means narrow valley between the mountains. The national park is a 19-km long canyon and there are so many beautiful spots to see on every side of these mountains. Taroko Gorge can be explored in one to two days. It is best to visit during the dry or summer season to avoid the falling rocks and landslides.
Taroko Gorge has several attraction spots. These are:
Tunnel of Nine Turns (closed as of March 2017)
Eternal Spring Shrine
Yentzihkou or Swallow Grotto (燕子口)
Chinheng Kungyuan, Park (靳珩公園)
Tsihmuchiao, The Bridge of the Kind Mother (慈母橋)
Tienhsyang (zh)
Chueilu Tuanyah Precipice (錐麓斷崖)
Lioufang Chiao Bridge (流芳橋)
Hill of Tayuling the Great (大禹嶺)
Puloh Wan (布洛灣)
Qingshui Cliffs
Shakadang Trail
Changuang Temple
Baiyang Waterfalls Trail
We decided to choose the following places for our Taroko Gorge tour.
Qixingtan Beach
Half-moon shaped shore with a beautiful view of the ocean. The shore is made of pebble rocks not sand. The shore has a beautiful landscape ideal for walking, biking and picnic.
Qingshui Cliff
The viewing deck is 800 meters above sea level. This is a scenic place and considered as the highest coastal cliff in Taiwan. Cars are not permitted to enter the viewing deck and you may not be allowed to linger in the place too long because of the falling rocks. The other side of the cliff is the view of the mountains of taroko and the other is the ocean view.
Shakadang Trail
This is known as the mysterious valley trail. The narrow lane was built to protect people from falling rocks and for them to enjoy observing and walking along the trail. It is a 4.1 km trail and along the way you will see beautiful trees, rocks and body of water which is now prohibited for swimming.
Yentzihkou or Swallow Grotto
These are potholes on the cliff and it is advisable to wear safety helmet while walking around the tunnel and the caves. There are frequent landslides in this area so there were safety nets made around the place. Walking from Buluowan cave to Jinheng bridge is approximately 30 minutes and you will get to see the cliff with crystal clear water of the river at the bottom and potholes on the side of the cliff next to it.
Eternal Spring Shrine
This is an ancestral shrine and is very famous because the tunnels and caves were built by their ancestors with bare hands and they have created a tunnels, cave, beautiful shrine in the cliff above Changchun waterfall.
How to access Taroko Gorge
You can either go for a tour from Taipei Main Station or from Hualien City. The tour coming from Taipei Main Station is really expensive that is why most tourists would book a tour from Hualien. You can also navigate away from having a tour and rent a car or a scooter from Hualien instead and it is cheaper.
First, you can reach Hualien by train or bus. People prefer the train because train rides would only take about 2-3 hours one way. Busses could take you 5-11 hours but you can opt in to this option if you have plenty of time to spend in Taiwan. We preferred to take the train from Taipei Main Station to Hualien Station and book a private charter or car that will take us around Taroko Gorge National Park. There is also a hop on hop off bus but the challenge here is the time to spend in every attraction will be limited so we decided to book our own car.
Reserve your train booking from this link: http://163.29.3.92/twrail/EN_QuickSearch.aspx
It was really challenging to book from this website so I am providing this guide to book your TRA
From:
Area/Subline: Taipei/Keelung
Station: Taipei
To:
Area/Subline: Hualien
Station Hualien
Train Types: All Types
Date: Pick your date
Time: 00:00 to 23:59
Hit Search. In the Search Results page take note of the:
Train number
Departure time
Arrival time
Booking fare
Estimated time (duration of the travel)
Choose the one which is most convenient according to your itinerary. Click the icon near the booking fare if you want to book the trip. Do the same for your return ticket. There is an option to book round trip but this is usually hard because the system is first come and first served basis and it is easier to book one way per trip. You will need your passport number to reserve the seats. Choose either the Puyuma train type or Tze-Chiang Limited Express because they have shorter travel duration (2-3 hours).
As soon as you have chosen your trips from Taipei to Hualien and Hualien to Taipei, you can reserve them in the Order Tickets section. Choose the round trip booking using the Train number or the one way tickets booking. From my experience it is easier to book from the one way tickets booking link for each trip. You can pay online and collect the ticket at any convenience store in Taiwan.
Below is what the ticket looks like. We collected this from 7-11.
From Hualien Station you have options to go for a group tour, hop on hop off bus or a private charter tour. We preferred the private charter tour because it saves time, it is more convenient, you can create your own stops/itinerary, and it is cheaper if you are in a group of 4-5.
We booked our private charter from KLOOK because it is the cheapest compared to others. Here is the link, book it here.
Budget:
Train Taipei to Hualien: 440 NTD per person
Train Hualien to Taipei: 440 NTD per person
Private Car Klook (1-4 seater): 4430 PHP or 2470 NTD, 617.50 NTD per head
Total expenses: 1,497.50 NTD per head (not including food)
