March 25th, 2026
We left our hotel in Taipei before 8:30, walked to the Main train station and all on our own, we found the platform and track we needed to be at for our train trip to Hualien.
It’s about a 2.5 hour trip and it made 4 stops. About a third of the journey was through the mountains with fifteen tunnels, another third along the coast; we didn’t have seats on that side of the train but our car was nearly empty, so we just moved over😉. So in the end there was no need to reserve as there was plenty of room onboard. It’s not a high speed rail train (they only have those on the west coast) but once in a while the LED screen read the speed and the highest we saw was 125 kmph / 78 mph.
After disembarking in Hualien we found a Visitor’s Info Centre after a bit of confusion and inquired about the Taroko Gorge Road as that was the direction we’ll be heading in two days. There was a major earthquake in 2024 which closed the road here passing through the national park inland and it only began opening in the latter part of last year. This is a shame for us as we had hoped to spend some time doing some hiking trails in the park but at least the road is open with limited time openings. Very few trails/sights are open to walk/visit. We wanted to be sure we knew what the earliest we could get on the road was and she confirmed it was from 7 to 8 am. It was nice that she spoke such good English and she also provided us with a park map and a map and info about Hualien and surrounds.
The weather here is about the same as Taipei, the sun peeked out a bit on the ride down but upon arrival it was pretty overcast and a light rain began about 5 minutes before we reached the hotel. It was a 3 km / 2 mi walk from the train station but it was nice to stretch our legs after sitting on the train. Luckily, upon arrival at the Hiinn B&B just off the beach just after 1pm, we were able to get in our room and get settled. All the check in times on the hotels we’ve booked have been 3pm and check outs, 11am.
We got a double room with private bath and a little balcony for $103 for two nights and it includes breakfast. The building is situated between two buildings that are right on the boardwalk so get this view from our room:
They have a washing machine that is for guests and although it’s only been 5 days since we left home, we thought we’d take advantage of “free” and start fresh when we leave here. Fran got the load going and then we went out to check out the beach. It’s no tropical beach but it’s long and has a nice boardwalk along it. It was a bit windy and when we reached our end of the boardwalk and turned around it began to rain again so we went back to our room.
There is no dryer so we had to hang the clothes on drying lines in covered area just down the hall from our fifth floor room. By bed time almost everything was dry. We brought in the damp stuff to let in dry in our air conditioned room.
We have arranged a rental car for the rest of our time in Taiwan and the pick up time was 4pm. Doug first went out to a store to grab us some lunch snacks and then walked over to get the car.
We got a Toyota Vois:
Around six, we headed over to the market which was maybe only 2/3 open – probably due to the rain.
We found a resto bar in the market after browsing (again we ended up back at the entrance!) where we ordered prawns to share and both got fried rice and beer. Somehow the order got mixed up because we never got the prawns but in the end the dish of rice was filling enough!
Thursday, we awoke to continued grey skies but it never actually rained. We had the hotel breakfast (okay) and headed out to explore the scenic coastline of the eastern part of Taiwan – this is the mountainous side.
We first drove north bound out the city to the viewpoint to see the Qingchui cliffs. We hit road construction and were delayed a couple of times. Upon turning off the highway, we discovered the short road to the actual viewpoint was closed. Luckily we had stopped earlier at a pullout before a tunnel and saw the cliffs. So we turned around and went back there for more views and photos.
Most of the sights were along the coast south of the city with only a couple inland so we decided to head south inland first so we could drive north back to Hualien so that the water was on our side of the road.
The first possible spot was to see historic tobacco barns from the days of Japanese rule but it turned out to be rather expensive so we passed.
The next inland spot was the Saoba Stone Pillars. The stone pillars are artifacts from Beinan culture, dating to around 2,000-3,000 years ago during the Neolithic period. The site consists of two adjacent stone pillars, one standing 5.75 m / 18’ 10” tall and the other 3.99 m / 13’ 1”. It is located in an oval area 600 m / 2,000’ long and 400 m / 1,300’ wide.
There was also a nice lookout across the road looking over the valley:
We proceeded eastbound and got to the coastal road on a twisty road with hardly any one on it to the small city of Ruisui. We were surprised on how good of a condition that minor road was in.
First stop on the scenic Hwy 11 was the Tropic of Cancer monument which we arrived at just before a huge tour bus group so we didn’t hang around:
Further north we stopped to see Mochi Cave nicknamed March Cave so called because they claim it’s in the shape of a Nissan March car (the North American equivalent is the Nissan Versa).
You walk along a boardwalk to a stone staircase and then you’re on the beach where you scramble over rocks to the cave. It actually has three openings, one on top and then on two sides.
The Xinshe rice terraces were a bit disappointing because there is no viewpoint to see the entire location. It’s a headland covered in terraces reaching out to the sea.
This is a photo from online of a view from the water:
There were some curious bamboo art pieces on display.
The final spot that interested us based on the information we had, was the Baqi lookout. It probably looks awesome on a sunny day but the coastline was beautiful. The “gazebo” is complete with restrooms and a small shop.
Then it was back to city at the suburb of Ji’an to see Qingxui temple. It is a Japanese temple built in 1917 during the Japanese colonial period and used to be a religious center. It was very peaceful feeling.
Previously named the “Shingon Buddhism Jiye Temple,” the Jian Qingxiu Temple was the religious location of the Jiye immigrant village in the Japanese colonial period. It is currently the most complete Japanese style temple in eastern Taiwan. In the Japanese colonial period, most Japanese immigrants were unable to adapt to the climate and living environment of Taiwan. To seek inner peace and religious beliefs, the Japanese man Kawabata Mitsuji raised funds to build the Shingon Buddhism Temple, which is the origin and predecessor of the present Qingxiu Temple. It is said that the 88 stone buddha statues currently in the Temple were acquired by Kawabata Mitsuji who obeyed the rules left by Master Kukai and traveled to 88 temples on Shikoku (an island in Japan) in person for these statues so that the immigrants could worship nearby and seek spiritual sustenance. Historical relics such as the statue of Master Kukai and Acala along with the The Hyakudo Stone still remain in the Temple.
Before returning to our hotel, we picked up some food/drinks for tomorrow’s drive. We had dinner at the market once again. Fran tried a scallion pancake which is a flatbread with scallions in it, that is fried in oil, and at the same time, an egg is also fried. Both are taken out of the oil, the egg is placed on the tortilla part and it gets folded over and placed in a paper sleeve to eat. While it was tasty, it was quite greasy.
She had one a few days later and it was grilled instead of fried and was actually much better.
Today we passed through eight tunnels and ten rock decks.
