based on my research
on the 28apr u can use HSR from airport to taichung. save time and convenient
on the 29apr recommended u spend a night in sun moon lake. u can spend half day in sun moon lake and another half day at the formosan aborigin culture village. if dont want spend night in sun moon lake straight go cingjing and spend night in cingjing.
30apr. check out from cingjing. tour around. move to taroko. and end up in hualien. spend a night in hualien
1 may. u can tour around hualien and by afternoon take TRA back to taipei. reach taipei can start ur taipei free and easy.
for jiufen area u can cover jinguashi and shifen area.
in taipei u can stay at one place and move around coz very convenient.
hotspring will be at beitou. but i cannot recommend which one coz i dont know which one to go as well
FYI my trip is from 22-30apr

whats ur review on this hotel?

in SML u can visit wenwu temple, ci-en pagoda, peacock farm, tour around the lake (boatride), cable car to formosan aborigin culture village. the theme park is there itself. i think can spend at least half day there and back sun moon lake.

formosan aborigin culture village is a different thing compare with cingjing farm. i cant say which is better. i will be covering both places during my trip. so i cant comment now

if i stay in sun moon lake (shuei she area) can i manage to cover these places:-

wenwu temple
peacock garden
ci-en pagoda
boat tour for the lake
cable car to formosan aborigin culture village

i will arrive after or evening on sun moon lake. spend a night there. the next day only take cable car to facv and return back sun moon lake. then go to taichung and spend a night there.
how should i arrange schedule to cover the above tourist spots?

when is ur visiting?

yeah im interested in more information for the HSR tickets buying in advance as well

advance booking can only be made 14days before the departure date right? or there is no time frame to book in advance?

what is ur main purpose to visit taiwan? u plan to visit taipei & upper part only? or explore all of taiwan?

if taipei alone. i think u can finish in 3-4days or 4-5days.
if u include taichung/gaoshiung/hua lien/sun moon lake/cingjing need longer time as all these place recommended to spend at least a day.

i will be going end of month. 8 days.

day 1 - arrive taoyuan - taipei
day 2 - taipei - hualien
day 3 - hualien - cingjing
day 4 - cingjing - sun moon lake
day 5 - sun moon lake - tai chung
day 6 - tai chung - taipei
day 7 - taipei
day 8 - taipei
day 9 - back msia

theme park u can try the formosan aborigin culture village in sun moon lake. no comment yet as im going there only end of month

i will put this for my next taiwan trip if possible.
too many places to cover in a short duration

if pay by credit card i think the latest is u can collect 30mins prior to departure.

anyone got more information on the beitou hotspring?
i need to book hotel/accommodation in order to use the hotspring facilities?

can someone comment if my timing will be tight or not? this is what i have detail out:-

day 1
taoyuan - taipei. i stay in ximending. i will arrive taoyuan airport by 10am. i estimate only afternoon time will reach taipei.
basically this 1st day i will just go around ximending, might drop to chiang kai shek memorial, and by evening go to shihlin nightmarket

day 2
morning i use cab to go to yehliu geopark. i target to reach back the taipei main station by afternoon or latest by 1pm. i try avoid public transport/bus coz i wanna save more time as i plan to use TRA to hualien on 2.30pm. this train is "labelled taroko" and it takes only 2hrs ++ instead of the 3hrs train. will reach hualien by 4.30. check in hotel & stay in chisingtang. will go around the beach/sea side. then night go to the tzechiang night market food hunting. might drop by nanbin nightmarket as well if there is time and not tired

day 3 - i use driver to tour on this day
hualien - chingsui cliff - taroko - hehuanshan - cingjing. im not sure how long will it takes to spend time in taroko. and around what time i will reach cingjing. spend a night in cingjing

day 4 - i use driver to tour on this day
cingjing - puli (wine brewery & chocolate factory) - sun moon lake (wenwu temple, peacock farm, ci-en pagoda) stay a night in sun moon lake
dont know if have time to take the boat tour. if not leave it for the next day

day 5
sun moon lake - FACV (at least half day spend here??) - taichung (visit the happy buddha temple if have time) - fengjia nightmarket. stay a night in taichung.

on day 6
by morning i will take HSR back to taipei. i target to arrive taipei before 12 or earlier. after that i will hired a cab to jiufen.
i wanna ask if half day is sufficient for me to cover jiufen/jinguashi/shifen/keelung/miaokou? what time will i arrive back to taipei? by 6 or 7 can make it?
this is a saturday night. i plan to go for a fine dining and have some drinks. might drop by to some pubs/bars/clubs

on day 7
beitou hotspring/danshui/wufenpu/raohe
can i go to hotspring if i drink on my day 6 night? plan to go bars/clubs

on day 8
shopping - taipei101/shin kong mitsukoshi/sogo/hello kitty restaurant/shida nightmarket

on day 9
my flight back msia is 10am
what time should i leave taipei? i will use cab coz i forseen many luggages

1. take taxi
2. take bus
3. take HSR reach taoyuan HSR station. from the HSR station u need shuttle bus to reach airport

fastest and easiest way to get to formosan is use the cable car i guess. not sure also. i will be using the cable car

can someone advise/comments pls..

taipei hsr station to taichung hsr station

taipei main station is the main hub for bus/mrt/tra/hsr

walk under the rain. LOL