In Taiwan there’s a phrase: Yilan is Taipei’s backyard. However, please never say this to a Yilanese! Yilan is an isolated paradise an hour away from Taipei City in the eastern Taiwan, connecting Taipei and Hualien County. With so much too show, Yilan is not just “backyard” to any city. Facing Pacific Ocean, Yilan has lush landscapes: stages of mountains, alleys, alluvial plains, lowlands, swamps, sand hills and finally coastline.

The name Yilan name derives from the indigenous Kavalan people. (Read more: All You Need to Know About Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples) Indigenous tribes have settled in Yilan since early ages, such as Kavalan people and Atayal people. Some Kavalans are forced to leave their hometown and migrated southwards to Hualien and Taitung at the end of the 18th century, while the Han people started settling in Yilan.

Last time we have introduced you a Taiwan tour – The Matcha Mountain and Guishan Island, which are also located in Yilan. Today we are recommending different routes for your Taiwan family trip – Yilan Day Tour, Let’s get started!

Linmei Shipan Trail

Linmei Shipan Trail is a one-way loop trail that you won’t need to go back and forth. Before arriving the entrance, you will see a “pre-entrance” with bunch of fruits vendors. As you can find in the map that there are approximately 250 meters’ path to enter the loop.

Map of Linmei Shipan Trail
The pre-entrance of Linmei Shipan Trail
Path to the entrance

We encountered a cute little grasshopper during our hike, it rested on my friend’s Go Pro for a while to accompany us 🙂 Taiwan is a subtropical country, you will easily get amazed by the lovely creatures everywhere!

Grasshopper on Go Pro

After a short hike, you can see this view below which is the entrance of the Linmei Shipan Trail. There are to path: entry is on the right and exit is on the left.

The square in front of the entrance
The entrance of Linmei Shipan Trail

It takes us about 2 hours to finish the trail (in a super relax speed). Linmei Shipan Trail is a great place to relax and de-stress, the gentle slope of this wide forest trail is suitable for visitors of all ages. This is the perfect spots for Taiwan family trip! Definitely a good itinerary to put in your Taiwan tour packages.

Jianqing Huaigu Trail

The entrance of Jianqing Huaigu Trail

Our second stop during this Yilan day tour is Jianqing Huaigu Trail. Jianqing Huaigu Trail is a 1.8 kilometer back and forth trail located in Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area in Yilan. The Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area was established in 1989 and from July until the end of this year (2020), you can visit it for free (you can choose only one National Forest Recreation Area)!

Jianqing Huaigu Trail is built on the old logging railway – Jiancing Line, which used to be major logging area during Japanese occupation. The original length of the trail was 2.35km but due to the typhoon hit in 2013, only 0.9km is remaining and accessible to visitors today. The trail is super family-friendly, it’s a perfect choice for your Taiwan family trip as well.

Since those logging railways are super old and mossy, be aware of the signs that says “Stay Off”! Please choose another alternative route that is walkable. Overall, this is still an easy hiking trail and suitable for all ages, it took us an hour to go back and forth (but it took us an hour and half by car to arrive here from our B&B in Jiaoxi).

The “Stay Off” sign and the mossy railway

Hanging bridge is one of the most kids-attractive part in this trail, they are narrow but exciting! There total two hanging bridges in this trail, the second one is close to the end point. You and your kids can both enjoy and satisfied in this Taiwan family trip.

Hanging Bridge
Hanging Bridge
The end of the trail

Jiuzhize Hot Spring

On the halfway to reach Jianqing Huaigu Trail, you can stop by this interesting spot – Jiuzhize Hot Spring. This is not the hot spring for you to relax, it is for food to be cooked! The temperature of the hot springs are approximately 90 degrees, which is definitely too high for human body. (There are other hot springs for human in this area but we didn’t go.)

The hot spring
The temperature of the hot spring

You can rent the bamboo basket for NTD.20 (with deposit NTD.200) from the vendor. If you forget to bring any food, buying eggs and corns is also available. We boiled eggs, corns and sweet potatoes by the hot springs, which came out really delicious! Taiwan is definitely a food paradise; you can always have a Taiwan food tour!

Bamboo basket
Hot spring egg

最後修改日期: 12 月 7, 2020

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