How to do an East Coast Ride (for beginners and visitors to Taiwan)

The community over on Forumosa has helped a visiting cyclist from Japan put together a three-day ride on the East Coast, which is where Rank recommends that new riders in Taiwan do their first multi-day ride.

This is not just a route. The thread also has detailed advice on how to take trains and ship your bike back to Taipei as well as inside information on great, inexpensive places to stay.

This ride has it all. Swimming in mountain rivers, hot springs, the ocean, a few climbs (nothing major), lovely scenery of the Rift Valley, and lots of indigenous villages. Enjoy.

I think the thread does a good job of pointing our visitor in the right direction and helping him avoid making newbie errors such as riding on the west coast, Highway 9, and through Hualien City (he looks like he's going to ignore us on that one though).

Great Taipei Rides V: Bitan Loop

This is an easier variant of the Xindian Loop. Instead of turning right on Pingguang Rd. turn left and continue on around to the Xiaguishan Bridge (下龜山). Head back on 9 briefly until you reach Kangyalun Rd (康雅崙). This will take you through some pleasant little hills ( a few steep parts but not bad at all) and then around until you cross the Siyuan Bridge (思源) back to Xintan Rd (新潭).

You might want to avoid this route on Sunday afternoons since the traffic back from Wulai gets pretty bad on 9. Otherwise, this is a good second ride for a beginner.

Yangmingshan Riding Notes

I have never been a big fan of biking in the Yangmingshan area. Sure, it's beautiful. But there is too much car traffic on weekends and so many cyclists speeding around on road bikes that it can be dangerous. Still, since a Shilin-based rider took me up Fengguizui last summer, I've been hooked on the Xiwan Rd. ( 汐萬) that connects Waishuangxi with Wanli.

The problem with just riding up to Fengguizui is that it is too short. But if you ride over to Wanli, you are stuck on a hot, unpleasant coastal highway with a long ride to Danshui or a shorter one to Keelung. Neither of these are very exciting.

Today we tried to ride from Daping (大坪) in Wanli over to Kuangshan (礦山) in Jinshan. The idea was to rejoin the Yangjin Highway (楊金) and then take the Balaka Access Road down to Danshui from Zhuzihu.

We succeeded but may not repeat this route for some time. While the first section off the Daping Access Rd. is a very rideable single track, it later became steep and the bikes had to be carried for about 30 minutes. More skilled offroad riders will be able to ride more of this road, especially if they went in the opposite direction from Kuangshan to Wanli. The problem with doing it in reverse though would be the steep climb up the unpaved and rocky Kuangshan Access Rd. The three-way fork in the trail is on a ridge. Somehow we came out not in the parking lot but rather above the patch of geothermal activity. This forced us to descend down a steep trail and then pick our way through the geothermal activity. This Chinese-language site give s full account with some pictures--scroll down to the post by mosaico.

We left Shiling station around 7:30AM and were in Danshui by 4pm. We rode down to Danshui from Zhuzihu on the Balaka Access Road. This is a beautiful descent from around 1000 meters and has stunnning views of the ocean and the mountains. It's definitely the nicest downhill in the Taipei area.

Great Taiwan Bike Rides X: Wushe-Lishan-Luodong

Here are some pictures of the road from Wushe to Lishan.

Friday 6:30PM Arrive at HSR station and disassemble bikes. Here we made a logistics mistake. We bought tickets online figuring the HSR might be sold out at this popular time. Unfortunately, picking up the tickets took about 20 minutes and we missed the 7:00PM train and our planned connection to Nantou City. I'd been meaning to ride the Lixing Access Road for some time, so the planned changed accordingly.

7:06 PM High Speed Rail Taipei.

8:06 Taichung HSR Station. Catch bus downstairs to Puli.

9:30PM Puli. Stayed at a small hotel just off Zhongzheng Rd. NT$1000 for three. Rank usually stays at the funky Sun Wang Hotel nearby which is about the same price for a double. These hotels are a block or so away from the bus stop, which is critical when you are lugging bikes and panniers around.

8:00AM Saturday After a quick breakfast, we caught the bus up to Wushe (霧社). The Nantou bus station in Puli is at the corner of Zhongzheng and Donghua (東華). This is a local bus with no storage, so we just brought the bikes on board.　

9:30AM. Arrive in Wushe, a picturesque Atayal town perched at 1200 meters above a large reservoir. We saw some other cyclists along the way, but there is too much traffic on this busy two-lane road for Rank's taste. Stock up on water on Wushe.

10:00 AM. We cycle out of Wushe, turning left onto Highway 14A (14甲) at the end of town. Here is a map of the area. Climb up about 200 meters over five km. or so and turn left off of 14A onto the Lixing Access Road 力行產業道路. This is a gorgeous one lane road with no traffic that winds through the mountains. Taiwan cycling at its best. The network of roads back here looks more confusing than it really is. You want to turn right onto the Fushou Road 福壽路 and head down into Lishan 梨山. The first 20km or so stay at about 1500 meters, but there is a brutal climb up to about 2200 meters just before Lishan through some high altitude farming country. There are a couple of villages along the way, but don't expect anything more than a bowl of instant noodles.

8:00PM Arrive in Lishan (2000 meters) tired, hungry, and cold. Stayed at the cheapest of this tourist trap overpriced hotels. NT$2500 for three. We did find a ramshackle Taiwanese-style mutton hotpot (羊肉盧) at the end of town that helped kill the chill.

6:00AM Sunday We hit the road early heading down out of town on Highway 7A (7甲) toward Yilan/Luodong. It was pear season, and although expensive, the snow pears 雪梨 were some of the best I've ever had. Someone also gave us some beautiful fragrant local apples, the best I've had in Taiwan by far. Descend to about 1600 meters.

9:00AM Wuling Farm entrance 2000 meters

11:00AM Cross the pass into Yilan at 2200 meters.

12:00PM Nanshan 1200 meters. The beef noodle place on the left as you come into town is fantastic--huge bowls of hearty soup and noodles that they make themselves here.

2:00PM Junction of 7A and forestry road (map) to Taipingshan (400 meters). If you have enough time (c 2.5 hours) you can turn right, cross the bridge, and take the Datong Access Road (大同產業道路 and 7C (7丙) back to Luodong. No traffic on this route. Otherwise stay on 7A and cross at the Taiya Bridge (泰雅大橋) into Sanxing (三星) and head back to Luodong on 7C. This is the faster route and is a good 10km shorter with fewer climbs. The roads up to the Taiya Bridge on this side have too much fast traffic on weekends including plenty of trucks. It's not horrible, but nothing like the idyllic ride on the other side of the river.

5:00PM Luodong. To find the train station (map), just stay on 7C , which is the local Zhongshan Rd. (中山路), crossing Highway 9 and Zhongzheng Rd. until you hit the railway tracks. Turn left and you are at the station. The baggage room is on the right if you are facing the station.

Great Taiwan Bike Rides VI: The Northern Cross
Taipei-Sanxia-Baling-Yilan



We did this ride of medium difficulty at a leisurely pace by leaving Taipei on Friday evening. If you are an experienced rider in reasonable shape, you can do this ride in two days if you leave Taipei by 10am. Leave earlier in the summer to beat the heat.

We started off from Taipei at about 6pm on a gorgeous early May evening. We crossed the Zhongzheng Bridge 中正橋 over to the Taipei County side and rode on the bike paths out to Tucheng 土城 along the Xindian and Dahan 大漢 Rivers.

From Tucheng, there is a nasty 5 km or so along Highway 3. I'd recommend spending the night in Sanxia if you are on a budget. We headed up 7B (7乙 aka 北橫公路) over to Chajiao 插角 on the opposite side of the Dabao River 大豹溪, but the few B&Bs up there are quite expensive (c. NT$2,000/night) although nice. We stayed at Green Light about 2km up the road from the school and big hotel.

The next morning we were on the road by 7am. After getting back on Highway 7, we had breakfast in Sanmin 三民. Sanxia to Sanmin doesn't have too much traffic, but Sanmin to Fusing has a bit more than one would like. This section can be a real mess with traffic heading back to Taoyuan on Sunday afternoons. Sanmin to Fusing is a long steady climb with a 2km downhill just before Sanmin.

If you are coming straight from Taipei, one pleasant lunch option just before Fusing is the Swiss Village --nice views and (not bad) Taiwanese-style western food.

The traffic thins out on the long downhill to the Luofu Bridge 羅浮橋. You begin the real ride after Luofu. We stopped mid-morning for some overpriced coffee in the garden at Star of the Northern Cross (北橫之星 Beiheng zhi xing). A bit later we lunched on down home Atayal food at a pleasant semi-outdoor roadside cafe in Gaopo 高波. Good food, friendly people. We narrowly averted being drawn into what undoubtedly would have turned into an afternoon-long drinking session with an extended family visiting relatives in the village. This place is right on corner as you cross the river that plunges down the mountain and through the village.

After resting for a few hours in the afternoon heat, we slowly cycled our way up the vast river canyon that forms the headwaters of Fusing Reservoir. There is a coffee truck about 10km out of Baling at Ronghua 榮華 with excellent coffees. You may want to ask them not to add sugar. Great views of the dam below.

As usual, we stayed at the Beiheng Hot Spring Hotel (北橫溫泉山莊), which is about NT$1,500 for a double. We had originally planned to cycle up to the Galahe (嘎拉賀) hot springs about 10km up the road in Xinxing (新興) village. This is an undeveloped hot spring in a beautiful gorge, but it involves about a 500 meter climb up from Baling and a steep hike down into the gorge so we passed this time.

Galahe (嘎拉賀) hot springs

The next morning we cycled 20 glorious kilometers between Baling and Mingchi 明池. This is one of the prettiest sections of road you will see in Taiwan. The climb up to Siling 四陵 takes you up about 600 meters from Baling over 10 km or so. It's a bit of a slog but so beautiful you may not notice. There is another undeveloped hot spring in the river below Siling.

If you can make it to Mingchi by 9:30am, you can score a buffet breakfast in the cafe until 9:30am for NT$150 including brewed coffee. Make sure you bring enough food and water for the 20km between Baling and Mingchi. There is nothing but glorious nature on this section of the road.

There is a gentle climb of 2 or 3 km after Mingchi followed by a long downhill into Cilan 棲蘭 where you join the Yilan branch of the Central Cross Highway. It's about 25 km mostly downhill and flat after a few riverside rolling hills into Luodong 羅東. We put the bikes on the train at Luodong and caught the train back to the city.

Great Taiwan Bike Rides Part III: Chiayi to Pingtung

This ride is best done in three days although we did it in 2 very long days (>100km both days). This is a classic ride through some of Taiwan's most beautiful back country.

[Update 2010-4-2]: Here's a Google map of the route using 159A instead of Route 18. 159A is a one lane beauty of a road with far less traffic. Note that Namaxia area was seriously damaged by Typhoon Morokat last August followed by the earthquake in early March. According to this blog post from a few weeks ago, the roads are passable. Please report road conditions in the comments.]

Friday evening

Fly to Chiayi with bikes. Stay at one of the cheap hotels near the train station. Don't try riding out of town to look for a hotel. We ended up sleeping outside in Chukou because there was nowhere to stay.

Saturday

This is the toughest day with two grueling climbs if you make it all the way to Sanmin.

Take Route 18 east toward Alishan. You will begin to climb at Chukou. Stay on Route 18 until you reach Longmei. Stop here for a well-deserved break and don't miss the handmade baozi at the first shop on the left-hand side of the road.

At Longmei, turn right onto Jiayi Route 129. This is also known as the Shanmei Access Road (??????). Enjoy the long downhill. Take a dip in the Puyanu Creek near the Chashan suspension bridge or trace the creek east up to the waterfalls. When you get to Chashan, stay left on 129-1. The roads are not very clearly marked here. There may be some guest houses at Chashan. This would be a good spot to stop for the night. Otherwise you will need to push on over the mountain to Sanmin. Make sure you have enough water. Country store are far apart here.

Sunday

129-1 is not well maintained. It eventually turns into the Chashan Access Rd. and eventually connects up with Route 21. There is accommodation in Sanmin and a couple of noodle shops that close at dusk. Head southwest on Route 21 for a lovely wide out to Jiaxian. Ride over the Neiyingshan Mountains on Route 20 (the Southern Cross) east and drop down into Laonong. At Laonong ride south on Route 27 until you reach the turnoff for Kaohsiung Rt. 113. Ride up 113 a few kilometers north and stay at one of the many hot spring hotels. Alternatively, go all the the way up to Baolai, turn right at the school and climb up to the Shidong Hot Springs ????. This secluded spot is one of my favorite hot springs in Taiwan, but call first because accommodation is limited.

Monday

This day will be long but mostly flat unless you do a side trip up to Maolin. Coming off 113, turn right back onto Route 27. Backtrack about .5 km and turn left onto Kaohsiung Route 131. Take 131 down to Liugui, cross the Liugui Bridge, and get back onto Route 27 heading south. Ride down the east bank of the Laonong River on a lovely road through some of Taiwan's prettiest countryside. Notice the distinctive Hakka farmhouses along the way.

If you are making good time, turn left at Dajin and ride up into Maolin. Eat some barbecue at Duona and soak in the hot springs.

From Dajin, ride south on 185, otherwise known as the Mountainside Highway ????. Stay on 185 all the way to Sandimen and then take Route 24 into Pingtung where you can stash your bikes on train and then fly or take the train back.