Taiwan, Yilan - Tai Ping Shan

Just a short 50 minutes drive from Taipei city. Its little wonder this is a highly popular hot spring place for local and tourists like. 

Tai Ping Shan

We encountered wet weather during our time at Tai Ping Shan. But i still considered ourselves quite fortunate as it began to snow a few days later. We had no experience driving in snowy conditions, it would have been quite a disaster if we were caught in the snow. 

There are suitable activities for everyone. For those who wants to soak in the natural hot springs, and for the more adventurous, hiking. 

Finding the attractions were easy as there is only one route. So if you are travelling from the foot of the mountain you will passed by the following attractions:  Jiuzhizhe Hot Spring -> Bai Ling Tree -> Jiancing old trail. After the Jian cing old trail, the road split into two. One will lead you to Cuifeng Lake and the other will lead you to the motel and also the Bong Bong train station. 

For us, the first day is spent driving around the area. Our first stop was the largest alpine lake on the island - Cuifeng Lake. Do note that the route to Cuifeng Lake is long and winding. It took us at least an hour to get to Cuifeng. But the views at the Lake was fabulous although foggy.

If time permits, you can also do the nature hiking trail. It was cold and wet so we stuck to admiring the views of cui feng lake.

Next up was the Jian cing historic trail walk. The trail itself was a very short walk but the walk from the parking lot to the beginning of the trail was longer than the trail itself. It was late afternoon when we reach the beginning of the walk and we were the only ones left. So it was quite a mad rush for us. 

Due to the wet and cold conditions, the area reminded me of a mossy forest. While time was tight for us, at the very least i did a short walk through the suspension bridge. The suspensionwas why i wanted to do the trail walk in the first place. 

Pro tip: for the ease of other companions, the driver should drop the other hikers at the beginning of the trial before heading to the car park if that is an option. 

The second day was primarily to take the Bong Bong train ride. We did book in advance our Bong Bong train and the redemption process was a breeze. Since we were early, we were able to have a cuppa at the cloud sea cafe. 

It was quite an experience to see the Bong bong train and see how the train managed to detached itself from the rest of the train body and made a u-turn. Timings for the return train was an hour away and you can spend the rest of the hour hiking around the area.