Taroko Gorge

Taroko is Taiwan's most famous national park and the gorge is the main attraction. Taroko means 'magnificent' and the landscape here really is.
There is a bus which goes from Hualien, where we were staying, into the park and stops at different hiking trails and scenic spots so you can hop on and hop off. We started with the Tunnel of Nine Turns where we could walk along a path on the side of the gorge and look down to the river at the bottom. This part of the park was quite busy, we had arrived at the same time as a couple of tour buses, but the views were amazing and we were impressed with how well the Taiwanese look after their national parks. The information is really good and the trails are all really well maintained, quite different to some of the ones we visited in Europe.
Next we went to Tianxiang to start a longer trail which wound around the mountain. Along the way we came across some pretty terrifying bridges, huuuuge waterfalls, long dark tunnels and a few cheeky monkeys stealing food from tourists. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any of the venemous snakes which the signs were warning about!Read more