- Baiyang Trail 白楊步道 (Báiyáng bùdào)
- Swallow Grotto 燕子口 (Yàn zǐ kou)
- Eternal Spring Shrine 長春祠 (Chǎngchūn cí)
- Cimu Bridge 慈母橋 (Címǔ qiáo)
- Qingshui Cliff 清水斷崖 (Qīngshuǐ duàn yá)
I found this site to be very helpful when researching the attractions.
Before you head out, check the road conditions and trail conditions. We learned that there is often road construction going on in the park, especially during and after typhoon season.
Ok, prepare for neverending picspam.
Review: Private Taxi Driver
Our minsu hosts arranged am English-speaking private driver/guide for our first day into Taroko Gorge. CJ picked us up bright and early from our minsu at 8:00am and took us into Taroko National Park. He helped arrange our day’s itinerary based on my list above, and provided commentary in Chinese and English. He was extremely friendly, but not overly chatty, and made us feel very comfortable. He was also extremely knowledgeable about the various sights and knew exactly what was closed, what was opened, where we should enter and exit, etc. He also provided flash lights and ponchos for our excursion on the Baiyang Trail to see the waterfall and Water Curtain.
His taxi is in great condition: comfortable seats and AWESOME air conditioning. Also, his decals “Relax I Drive” on the vehicle made it easy to identify which taxi was ours amongst all the others at the various tourist attractions.
He was a good driver, especially by Western standards (defensive driving), which really put us at ease. He did not smoke or chew anything gross!
He gave us three options for lunch, all within the Gorge. However, I would strongly recommend picking up some food at a 7/11 or Family Mart instead, as the food within the Gorge is truly disgusting. I wanted to buy a packed lunch from Wu-tao lunchbox (which I read about on another blog), but couldn’t find their posted hours (I expect they open closer to 10am than 8 am).
The cost of his service was 3500NT for 8 hours as of Fall 2014 (though we only used 6 hours as we got tired of the heat). As tourism continues to develop in the region, I expect the cost of private day tours to increase.
Bottom Line: Highly recommended guide, but BYO lunch to Taroko Gorge.
Taroko National Park
So, they say you are supposed to wear these safety helmets within the park, and have free rentals near the entrance. Our driver grabbed two for us, and we wore them for the first area we looked at (Swallow Grotto). They are a bit flimsy, and actually didn't wear them for the rest of the day... I'm assuming if a rock was going to fall down on my head, that helmet isn't going to save me. Anyway.
Swallow Grotto
Super popular amongst the tour buses, just a short 15 minute walk through the main area with pretty breathtaking views of the gorge. I'd recommend doing this at the beginning of the day before it gets too busy!
This extremely FLAT and easy to walk trail was the highlight of my day! It's about 90 minutes roundtrip. Our driver provided us with flashlights and ponchos, but the flashlights are optional, IMO.
Xiangde Temple and Tianfeng Pagoda
I hope these are the right names; they were not on my short list, but our driver said we should take a look.
Other pictures from the day
Qingshui Cliff
It was only around 2PM at this point, but we were exhausted from the heat and humidity, so we asked our driver to take us to a convenience store so we could load up on more bottled water for our next day. Then we went back to our B&B to shower before heading out for our dinner reservation (using the same driver!). That deserves a separate post, though :D
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