Central Taiwan Region Guide

Central Taiwan is the island’s mountain heart, and it holds the highest ground in north-east Asia outside the Himalayas.

Sun Moon Lake is the region’s emblem: a large lake at 750 metres ringed by wooded hills, with a cycle path around part of its shore that regularly appears on lists of the world’s best.

Behind it rises Yushan, Jade Mountain, at 3,952 metres the highest peak in Taiwan and higher than anything in Japan or Korea. Alishan offers the more accessible version — a narrow-gauge forest railway climbing through cedar and cypress to a sea of cloud at sunrise.

Taichung, the region’s city, is spacious and relaxed compared with Taipei, with a serious cafe and bubble-tea culture — the drink was invented here — and the Rainbow Village painted by one man in his nineties.

And this is tea country: the high-mountain oolong grown here is among the most prized in the world.

Sun Moon Lake

Cycle the western shore path, take the boat between the three piers, ride the ropeway up to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, and climb to Ci’en Pagoda for the view. The Thao community at Ita Thao is the smallest indigenous group in Taiwan.

Alishan

The forest railway, narrow gauge and built by the Japanese to bring out cypress, climbs through three climate zones with switchbacks and spirals. Stay overnight to catch the dawn train to Zhushan for the sea of cloud, and walk the giant tree trails among cypresses over a thousand years old.

Yushan

Jade Mountain at 3,952 metres is a two-day climb with a night at Paiyun Lodge, non-technical in summer but requiring a permit won by ballot months ahead. The Batongguan historic trail is the longer alternative.

Taichung

The National Taichung Theater by Toyo Ito, the Rainbow Village, Gaomei wetlands at sunset, and Fengjia night market, the largest in Taiwan. Taichung is also where bubble tea was invented in the 1980s, and both claimant tea houses are still open.

Tea and old streets

The tea farms of Lugu and Shanlinxi, Lukang’s Qing-era merchant town with its temples and narrow lanes, and the Checheng logging village.

Central Taiwan is where the island’s indigenous cultures, its Han settlement history and its mountain economy meet.

Indigenous peoples

The mountains are the homeland of the Bunun, Tsou, Atayal and the Thao, the last of whom number only a few hundred and live at Sun Moon Lake. Bunun polyphonic singing — an eight-part harmony used in the millet-sowing ritual — astonished ethnomusicologists when it was first recorded, because the theory of the time held that such harmony developed late. These are living communities with land claims and language revival programmes, not heritage displays.

Lukang and the Qing merchants

Lukang was the island’s second city in the eighteenth century, a port trading with Fujian, and it kept its temples, guild halls and alleys when the harbour silted up and the trade moved on.

Mazu country

The sea goddess Mazu is venerated intensely here, and the Dajia Jenn Lann Temple organises the largest pilgrimage in Taiwan.

Tea and mountains

High-mountain oolong is a serious regional industry with its own competitions and price hierarchies, and the tea farmers are a distinct part of the social landscape.

Taichung’s ease

The city has a reputation within Taiwan for being relaxed, spacious and slightly indulgent, with the best weather on the island.

The high mountains are fragile and permitted. Climbing Yushan requires a park permit issued by ballot, and the numbers are capped for good reason. Apply properly and in advance rather than looking for a way around it.

Indigenous communities are more present here than anywhere else in Taiwan — Thao at Sun Moon Lake, Bunun and Tsou in the mountains. Buy crafts and food directly, use indigenous-run guides and homestays, and avoid the staged performances at some lake resorts.

Tea bought at a mountain farm rather than a city shop pays the grower, and the farms welcome visitors. Be aware that high-mountain tea planting has driven forest clearance on steep slopes and contributes to landslides, which is a genuine local argument.

Landslide country. Typhoon damage in the mountains is severe and recurring; roads close and rebuilding is constant. Respect closures absolutely.

Take your rubbish out of the mountains, and use the trains and buses, which reach most of what matters.

October to April is the best general window in the mountains: drier, clearer, and with the sea of cloud at Alishan most reliable. Winter is cool rather than cold at lake level and genuinely cold above 2,000 metres.

March and April bring the cherry blossom at Alishan and Wuling, and the Alishan forest railway is at its most popular then.

May to June is the plum rain season — grey, humid and persistent. July to September is hot in the lowlands, pleasant at altitude, and the peak of typhoon season, when mountain roads close and hiking permits are suspended.

Yushan is climbed year round but winter ascents need ice equipment; the main season is October to May.

The Mazu pilgrimage from Dajia in the third lunar month, usually March or April, is the largest religious event in Taiwan and passes through this region over nine days.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Relative cost across the region

Taichung is noticeably cheaper than Taipei for accommodation. The mountain resorts are the exception and carry a substantial weekend premium.