during my trip end of april it rains. few days. only 1 day is quite heavy. prepare raining gears
u can check weather forecast online
happy halidays!

if rain use the disposable raincoat. easy to roam around if compare with using umbrella. but still depend on individual preference

can i know what time u will arrive sml? from where? taipei? or?

keelung, pingxi, shifen, yehliu, jiufen is very pack. many suggest yehliu and jiufen together but i prefer to split as its a different location.

just to share with u what i've done during my last visit.

i visit hualien. board train from taipei to hualien. spend a night in hualien. during this day, morning i am in taipei. i go to yehliu. then i board afternoon train to reach hualien. spend evening in chisingtang beach and go to tzechiang night market. the food in tzechiang is nice! the best food i ever try among all nightmarket i've been to. (1day)

the next day i go to taroko park. before taroko, i go to chingsui first. lunch at taroko. then up hehuanshan. reach cingjing already evening. spend a night in cingjing. (1day)

morning visit some place in cingjing. then head down to sun moon lake. didnt visit much in sun moon lake due to raining on the way to sml, i drop by puli. (1day)

the next day again, from sun moon lake go to formosan village. use the cable car. reach back sml, i buy bus ticket to go taichung. late evening reach taichung. go to the famous feng jia night market. (1day)

the following day, after breakfast i went to board hsr back to taipei. reach taipei only i visit jiufen & jinguashi. suppose to visit shifen and pingxi but weather not good so we wasted some time in taipei/jiufen/jinguashi


from hualien straight to sml will be whole day car journey. will be super tiring and boring. maybe u can reconsider to change ur itinerary

using bus?

i use cab few times.
1. going to yehliu from ximending due to time constrain. pay higher cost to save time to catch train going to hualien after that which i have already book.
2. going to tzechiang night market from my hotel at chisingtang in hualien and also back hotel
3. going back to hotel at taipei at taipei city hall area. it was after midnight and no more public transport available. i was out till late for some drinks
4. going back to taoyuan airport from taipei. i didnt take public transport due to many luggages

i book driver for 2 days
1. hualien: chingsui cliff - taroko park - hehuanshan - cingjing (1 whole day)
2. cingjing: cingjing - puli - sun moon lake (1 whole day - not a perfect one due to raining )

the remaining is using bus, mrt, tra, hsr. mrt the most

did anyone of u visiting the latest barbie themed restaurant? or any themed restaurant? i didnt manage to visit any themed restaurant due to time constrain.

where is this dog cat cafe?

rm3000, i assume around NT$30,000 for 6 days. Each day is NT$5,000. That is the standard price if:-
1. you are travelling outside of taipei and ur driver is from taipei
2. you get taipei driver to travel within taipei itself price range from NT$2,500 - 3,500 per day depending on location/duration
3. you are travelling within taipei and ur driver is not from taipei

if u have a group of 4, its best to travel with driver. u save time. and travel in comfort. dont have to worry about luggages.

8 days trip. same like me
u can visit many places in 8 days time. plan accordingly.
u can use my itinerary as ur reference. still depends on what is ur priority visiting taiwan

that is over price already
i got quote for whole day jiufen/jinguahsi/shifen/pingxi/ if have time can end in keelung night market and back to taipei itself. max is 3000-3500 depend on what time u start and end. price can range from 2500-3500 max. 4000 is a bit high??

there are so many taxi around ximending and taipei area. simply pick the one u like. and price is there

i use bus and train for my jiufen trip. only manage to jiufen and jinguashi in half day time.
my quote is pick up from taipei area.

at ruifang station u can see many taxi also. i think from there shd be cheaper

if u travelling in a group of 4 or more i will recommend to use driver
1. cheaper after divide equally among all
2. save time
3. can travel more places
4. dont need to bring luggage along

if u travel in 2 pax like me and my wife, recommend to use public transport cheaper. very convenient. and its adventurous

but some place u still need to get a driver. coz no public transport available. im referring to a more outskirt area.

taipei itself also many place u can go. 4-5 shd be able to cover main attraction or less or more depends on what place u wanna go.

i visit the following places in hualien
1. arrive train station and hotel pickup
2. stay at hotel at chisingtang. visit the chisingtang beach
3. night time went to tzechiang night market. very tasty food!
4. went to chingsui cliff. beautiful place.
5. went to taroko park & hehuanshan

1/8 will be very rush depending what time u travel from taipei to taichung with the hsr. take 1 or 1.5 hr i kinda forgot assumiing the ninge region culture village is the formosan aboriginal cultural village. this place is near sun moon lake. taichung to sun moon lake takes quite a distance. sun moon lake to this village also quite a distance. assuming u stay at sun moon lake? next day going one piece theme park which is the same village again?


april should be a good month for shopping. no more winter clothing specially end of april
another month will be oct if i remember correctly