Morning guys. I am thinking of visiting Taiwan during the Chinese New Year. Here is my itenieary. Is that too cramped? We have our own private mini bus.

Day 1: Reach Ximending morning. Stay overnight at Rainbow Hotel.
Day 2: Leave for Taroko Gorge. Stay overnight at Bridge Rainbow Hotel (or something)
Day 3: Leave for Sun Moon Lake. Still hunting for accommodation.
Day 4: Leave for Alishan. Staying overnight at Tea Cloud Plantation.
Day 5 - 7: Back to XMD

First question. The distance between each location is a 5 hour bus ride through the mountains. Granted it will be pretty but is it worth visiting places like Alishan on the 4th day of Chinese New Year? I heard it will be crawling with Chinese tourists, especially the tram ride up the mountain to view the sunrise. Are there anything else worth visiting at Alishan?

Second question. Is it worth staying at accommodations overlooking the lake at Sun Moon Lake? I got quoted around 500RM per twin room for pretty much most of the accommodations at around that time which is kinda expensive.

Thanks guys.

hallo sifus...bro stimix can u elaborate more on the taroko gorge pls.....at taipei rail station take train to hualian and from there take cab to taroko and chin sui cliff from ur lowyat link i read...but what if i want to take picture from place A to Z....the cab will stop at the place for 15mins then move on to B then continuous like the 5hours as u describe in ur link....issit like this....xD scare later lost in taroko ==

This post has been edited by Bkboy: Nov 4 2011, 11:58 AM

The cab is actually your personal day- driver-lah. U book the cab for whole journey. Depending on how yu nego, I managed to get NT$1800 to Taroko and added another NT$200 to Chin Sui Cliff..but I ended up giving him NT200 xtra bcos he insiste NT$2000 too low haha..Well, I gave bcos kesian that unker.

So wth your personal driver, you go down as & when you want & how long you want to stop up to you bcos you are hiring him for the whole day (Well 1/2 day-lah ~ 5 hrs)

oic thx alot bro for the super fast reply == ......btw bro do u have any idea how things work at yangmingshan....i google liao macam walk 1 scenry spot to other spot takes 40min -1h...wah can die liao....is there any transport alight from 1 spot and to other spot like mini bus from time interval ...thx bro


p/s: imma travel place list xD

longshan temple
chiang kai shek memorial hall
sun yat-sen memorial hall
taipei 101
ximending
shilin night market
taroko gorge
yangmingshan
kaohsiung(if got time)

This post has been edited by Bkboy: Nov 4 2011, 12:17 PM

I din goto Beitou & Yang Min shan as these 2 places required abit of tracking and my old parent can't walk much. even walking 1 km to Yehliu Geopark from the bus stop took ages liao haha.

Longshan temple - do not limit yourselve only to the temple bcos nothing much inside this temple. It's the surrounding old town, old buildings & old market that is interesting & not the temple haha

Ximending, Wufenpu & Shihlin nite market you can do it every nit after your day trip .so no need to waste lotsa time

k.noted missed yehliu geopark....night only do research....go class 1st thx bro

i went for 10 days.

previous trip u went where d?

i din get to go to taroko gorge, but i feel taroko has more thing to see.
in sun moon lake, got cable car.. or rent a boat to go round the lake. so i feel nothing much in sun moon lake. plus the journey super far from any public transport.

i go for 10days, taoyuan(leofoo theme park, the doraemon thingy) - taipei(yehliu,jiufen,jinggushi,beitou) - taichung (sun moon lake, fengjia nite market) - kaoshiung (british consulate to see sunset, love river, dream mall, the dragon tiger temple, some sugar refinery museum)

although go for 10 days, but din get to go to hualien area and alishan!

there is mini bus from one spot to another at yangmingshan, no need to walk, it will stop at certain tourist spot, but i can't remember the exact place d, i only remember they do stop at xiao you keng where u can see d volcano?

tat time i went to taichung (feng jia night market,sun moon lake,puli,chingjing) n taipei...
but that time sun moon lake still dun have cable car, n i din went to d jiuzu theme park
taipei i went to jiufen, beitou, yangmingshan, dansui, 101, miramar

yalo, i was thinking of going to taroko gorge, but then my parents din go to sun moon lake b4, so i dunno old ppl should go sun moon lake for a peaceful surrounding or how haha

[quote=jean,Nov 4 2011, 06:23 PM]
there is mini bus from one spot to another at yangmingshan, no need to walk, it will stop at certain tourist spot, but i can't remember the exact place d, i only remember they do stop at xiao you keng where u can see d volcano?


oic....thx for the infomation

edited...sry for the silly question zzzzzz

This post has been edited by Bkboy: Nov 4 2011, 09:12 PM

Try to go shida night market all leng loi there! For foods I prefer raohe night market! The beef noddle there at one of the restaurant there is super nice!

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Added on November 4, 2011, 10:10 pmTry to go shida night market all leng loi there! For foods I prefer raohe night market! The beef noddle there at one of the restaurant there is super nice!

This post has been edited by cy97: Nov 4 2011, 10:10 PM

i think u should stay at least 2D1N at alishan coz the journey there is very long and might be tiring.

i din go to SML but IMHO it's just a lake. unless u planning to rent bicycle to go around.

there is a mini bus from YMS main station that goes 1 round YMS. every time u hop on hop off you can use the easycard to pay like our touch and go. every time charge NTD15. there's also unlimited hop on hop off which cost you NTD60. if you planning to visit more than 4 places then it's worth to get the unlimited ticket. can get from the YMS main station.

according to the station staff, normally ppl will stop at 二子坪， 小油坑， 冷水坑. some of the stops are entrance to hiking trails. if you can read chinese just follow the signboards.

wah thx alot aiyume...now cleared 2 doubt...thx all sifus

This post has been edited by Bkboy: Nov 5 2011, 10:34 AM

Looking for budget hotels in this area: 台北市八德路四段
Any nice, decent, cheap hotel suggestion? Need to stay there about 3 or 4 nights next year Jan 2012. Not sure whether its a gud time to visit taiwan anot?!

how much is your budget / night?
Early Jan will be a very cold at Taiwan.. not really recommended unless you have to

This post has been edited by storm88: Nov 7 2011, 08:27 PM

Budget less than RM150 per night!
I check temperature in d past around Jan would be +/- 17'C. Correct me if wrong!? Starting feb would be rainy season i guess...
I email BestHotel, no reply since last week. Wonder any other hotel would you suggest for 2 pax?

there are pretty many choices for a RM150 budget nearby Zhongshan Airport area.
u can take a look:
http://www.hoteltraveltaiwan.com/
http://hotel.network.com.tw/

quite alot information you can get there.

for the temperature wise, i think it'll getting even colder, if rain even FAR colder. Prepare some cloth to keep yourself warm

I'm going there on the 4 th.i wonder how cold can it get. One thin long sleeve and a jacket sufficient?

Any hotel suggestion? Or any of you had try some nearby? I've been through many site of the information regarding the hotels but due to limited pictures, it cause me bit hard to decide which one is better?!

Well, yes it was cold. The temperature shows around 17'C, roughly like Genting Highlands at night. But if the wind consistently blow at u at lower temp, soon or later its may freeze u up... So i m guess a jacket, long sleeve, scarf, socks, glove shud be sufficient ...

How long you heading there?

check out this hotel http://garden.hotel.com.tw/eng/, it's located at 八德路

Wa..need scarf n gloves too? Didn't intend to get that cuz i'm a person who can stand cold but then again, its possible to buy it there right if i do need. Going there for 6 nights