As well as being the arrival gateways to eastern Taiwan for many visitors, the cities of Hualien and Taitung are also focal points of local indigenous culture. So before you set off to explore the wilds of the east, it’s worth...
Exploring the indigenous art scene in eastern Taiwan is a pleasure in itself, but is also a great way to start to decipher the region’s tribal cultures, and to gain a deeper understanding of the customs, stories, and sustainable living practices...
The once remote East Coast is one of Taiwan’s last great tribal strongholds. Traveling here, it’s hard to miss the myriad roadside indigenous totems, murals, arches, and statues, but to get any real understanding of tribal Taiwan you need to delve...
Su Huai is a man on a mission. A licensed dive instructor and lauded underwater photographer based on Taiwan’s tourist-hot Xiao Liuqiu Island, he runs a popular eco-focused dive-excursion enterprise, an eco-themed bookstore, and an ever-expanding sea turtle census. His mission:...
You’re spoilt for choice if planning to overnight around Sun Moon Lake. There is such a wide range of attractive hotels and inn-style homestays – enticing in styling and scenic setting – that you might consider choosing more than one if...
The city of Taichung’s coastal area, long of only limited interest to the international traveler, is now firmly on the Taiwan travel map. What travel-adventurer excitements await you? We spotlight one of this island’s key religious centers, important heritage and archeological...
The bright-painted trains of the short Jiji Line are like buses on a convenient local route delivering tourists and locals between old settlements along the Zhuoshui River, from the edge of the western plains to the foot of the mighty central...
Miaoli’s Sanyi Township – indeed most of Miaoli County – has long been woefully overlooked by travelers planning their Taiwan itineraries, but things are gradually changing. A new wave of serenity-seeking sightseers are waking up to the delights of this region’s...
The soybean is featured at local tables at almost every meal, presented in myriad forms, used to make everything from cooking oil and soy sauce to edamame to silky soft tofu pudding and creamy soybean milk to famously sense-organ-challenging stinky tofu...
Much ink has been spilled on the subject of Taiwan’s manifold natural delights, yet the trails and peaks here remain largely unknown in the international adventure community. To get a sense of what’s out there, I spoke to Edgar “Alpinist” Chang,...
So you’ve stuffed yourself on some of Taipei’s best braised pork rice or beef noodle soup, but now what to do for dessert? Perhaps you crave something familiar, but also feel like you shouldn’t miss out on trying some more of...
Though an extremely busy tourist town, Lukang is not a place of big, or many, hotels. We take you on visits to two of its most popular places to overnight, a theme inn and a snug and homey renovated heritage residence....
A great 1,000-hectare swath of flat, quiet Tianwei Township in Changhua County is a vast country garden, home to a dense bloom of decorative flower, plant, and tree nurseries. What is called the Tianwei Highway Garden has become a prominent tourist...
The core of Lukang (Hanyu Pinyin spelling: Lugang), located just off Taiwan’s central-west coast, is perhaps Taiwan’s best imperial-days living museum, a repository of heritage architecture even more concentrated than that found in the acclaimed core of Tainan City to the...
After a slow start, the eco-conscious, plant-based food trend has finally taken firm root in Taiwan. The past two years in particular have seen a diverse scene blossom, with options to suit everyone from the flexitarian to the committed lentil fanatic....