Typhoonpilot

For Taipei long layovers here is a list of day trips accessible by train or bus. The train time table in English is easy to access here.

Most of the good day trips are on the Taipei/Keelung line. The train is a slow commuter train, although for a longer trip to Hualien there are faster options. You can buy individual tickets for these trips or just use the Taiwan Easy Card. I highly recommend getting an Easy Card if you come to Taiwan, it just makes life simple for riding the bus, MRT, and trains.

Fulong: A Fulong day trip takes about 6-8 hours. It is about 1:40 one way on the slow train (cost NTD83 one way). Fulong is actually a beach (there really aren't nice beaches in Taiwan, but this is about the best one in the north of the island). The activity here is a 27km bike trail that goes along the coast in a big loop. Bicycle rentals are right outside of the train station. The trail is well sign posted and fairly flat for riding. The bike rentals shops have reasonable 15-21 speed Giant hybrid bikes for NTD100/day. Take the road towards the 2km old train tunnel to start, that gets you out to the coast. On weekends there will be some small cafes and shops open along the way. Weekdays is a bit more hit and miss so better to take enough water with you for the entire trip. One offshoot of the ride is up to the lighthouse along the coast. You'll pass the steps up where the bike route says to turn right. If you stay on the highway at that point you'll see the road up to the lighthouse a few hundred meters down on the left side.

Sandiaoling: This is on the exact same train line and a little closer to Taipei. It is around 1:10 on the train from Taipei station (NTD59 one way). This is a hike of around 2-3 hours depending how far you want to go up the mountain (bring water with you from Taipei or go over the river to the small town to stock up before proceeding up the trail). From the small train station keep walking along the tracks away from Taipei. You'll come to a very small group of building on the right side before the bridge over the river. This is the trailhead. On the weekend they'll will be a fair amount of people, weekdays far fewer. This trail is fairly easy and generally well maintained. It has some rope bridges and even metal stairs on one steep section. There are 3 waterfalls along this trail. I've only ever gone up to the third waterfall and then back down. On the weekend there are some restaurants in the village over the river that serve a reasonable Chinese style lunch. If you did keep going after the third waterfall it is possible to go over the top and down the other side to another town and train station for a ride back to Taipei.

Jiufen - Jiufen is accessed via the Ruifang stop along the same rail line as the two above. It is a few stops short of Sandiaoling. This is more of a touristy stop that Flight Attendants would like It's known for the narrow alleyways of its old town, packed with teahouses, street-food shacks and souvenir shops. It can get quite packed on the weekends with tourist busses. To get up to Jiufen from Ruifang there is a taxi stand outside of the train station. There is also a bus that goes up to the old town. Either way works.

Yangmingshan National Park - This is the little mountain north of Taipei city. There are dozens of hiking trails on the mountain. To get to the top of the highest mountain take a bus or taxi up to the National Park HQ. There are some smaller buses that do a loop of the scenic sites, but this is more about hiking. From the National Park HQ continue up the road about 100 meters to the trailhead for the Qixing Shan. Good guide here. This is a moderately difficult hike but is paved most of the way up. There are no facilities beyond the trailhead so take plenty of water/food with you. From the top of Qixing Shan on a clear day there are great views of Taipei and also to the north coast. There are two other trails down from the top, one towards Lengshuikeng and another towards Xiaoyoukeng. I prefer the former as there are more options for getting back down the mountain and it's a little bit more scenic. From Lengshuikeng visitor center there are two buses that go back toward the Yangmingshan bus terminal where you can change buses back down to Taipei or grab a taxi back to the city.

There are many more day trips, but this list is a good start.

Elevation

This is awesome! Did you make it out to check out any of the small towns on the eastern shore? There is some cool anthropology on the island left over from when Han Chinese people settled the island and ed indigenous cultures. I am changing fleets and will be spending a lot more time in Taiwan.

Also, if I want to get out and hike in the mountains to the east of Taipei, do you have any recommendations?

Typhoonpilot

Sorry, just saw this reply.

I live in Taipei now. My ex is from the east coast of Taiwan so I have spent a lot of time over there. It's really nice, but not really practical for day trips from Taipei. It is possible to do a day trip to Taroko Gorge, but you'd really only be scratching the surface if done from Taipei: https://www.taroko.gov.tw/en

The places I have written about in the first post are mostly east of Taipei, but I am guessing you mean the higher mountains more to the southeast. To be honest the easiest way to get in that direction is to rent a car. The new Freeway 5 or the old highway 9 cross from Taipei to the east coast. Since highway 9 is older there are more established scenic spots off of it:


https://gdaytaiwan.wordpress.com/tag/highway-9/

Shoot me a PM when you come, if I'm around and the weather is cooperating it's always good to get out for a hike.

shroomwell

Definite second on Yangmingshan. I had a lot of good times walking/hiking there. I also really liked the Xinbeitou area with the hot springs and etc.

Wbren10

Hey Taiwan pilots I have a question about the pilot medical examination in Taiwan, can I PM one of you guys with a question?