As you were informed in our main article on Chiayi City, its younger generation is busy as beavers taking old residences and shops, renovating them, and launching attractive cultural-creative adventures. Here we visit two spots to overnight that enjoy top online...
Old Chiayi City is a little place sitting in the middle of the southwest plains that meanders at a pleasingly relaxed pace through its days. It is filled with nuggets awaiting the history spelunker, more and more of its architectural nuggets...
Constructed over a century ago, this heritage narrow-gauge railway branch line, today plied by tourist trains, is one of just three steep-gradient alpine railways on the globe. The others are, no surprise, also located in exotic locations off the beaten tracks:...
The magnificent big-mountain Alishan National Scenic Area, producer of iconic Taiwan sunrise, narrow-gauge alpine railway, and “seas of clouds” images, is divided into three main corridors, north, central, and south. Here we spend time in perhaps the quietest of the three,...
Here is an overview of things to do and places to visit in Chiayi County in southwest Taiwan with links to articles we have published in the past. The two main areas of interest are Chiayi City and the Alishan National...
The Alishan National Scenic Area, located in south Taiwan’s Chiayi County, is one of the best-known tourist destinations on the island. If you head to its northern section, chances are that you’ll pass through scenic Meishan Township. As the gateway to...
The Chianan (Jianan) Plain in southwest Taiwan is one of the island’s key agricultural regions. So named because it is divided between Chiayi County, Chiayi City, and Tainan City, the plain is dotted with small towns, between which there are fields...
Let’s Go on a Walk through Dalin, in Chiayi County! Text: Han Cheung; Photos: Maggie Song A small town in rural southern Taiwan, Dalin is a travel destination about which you most likely have never heard. This obscurity may soon be a...
Chiayi — The Easy-Paced Southwest Region Text: Rick Charette; Photos: Vision The Taiwan Lantern Festival, one of Taiwan’s major annual celebrations, is held in a different location each year. The 2018 edition is being staged February 2 to 11 in the southwest’s...
Let’s go on a day-tour walkabout taking in old places around Chiayi Railway Station that have been dynamized with new cultural-creative pizzazz. For tourists, the sleepy city was long considered not a destination itself worth spending much time in, but a...
Minxiong, the Home of Pineapples Minxiong is in the center of Chiayi County, in the middle of the Jianan Plain, and has an elevation of only 25 meters, with simple, flat terrain. Apart from where the land rises and falls in...
If you ever happen to venture into the deep mountains of Alishan and come to the village of Laiji, make sure to stop by the Village Kitchen and enjoy a great lunch! This place is ensconced in a fabulous location, up alone...
The complex is a little bit of Europe in Taiwan’s high mountains – at its center is a pitched-roof wood cottage, to one side is a tall chalet-style building, and on the other is a cluster of wood cabin-style rooms and...
A few days spent exploring Siraya National Scenic Area, one of Taiwan’s newest NSA creations, matched with a day in the quiet, history-rich city of Chiayi, is time wisely spent. Text: Rick Charette; Photos: Chen Cheng-Kuo (published in Travel in Taiwan, November 2012) re...
Scenic Trails, Indigenous Culture, Tea Plantations, Waterfalls and Much More Wild boars and alpine-train rails plus heritage trails – that’s what Alishan’s north region is made of. And indigenous arts and crafts and evening feasts and DIY experiences. And slow-paced small...
Old Villages, Breathtaking Sunsets, Traditional Culture, and Friendly People Pack your bags! We’re taking you on a multi-day excursion to a region of oyster farms, fish farms, old temples and old-time religion, and distinctive ecology. The plan: a leisurely “drive of...