This 16-day private journey with personal drivers and guide trip covers Taiwan’s scenic and cultural highlights, starting in Taipei and preceding in a clockwise direction…
View more
This trip around Taiwan showcases the best the island has to offer, with a vast range of scenic and cultural attractions. Take in the frenetic city of Taipei and explore the spectacular Sun Moon Lake before continuing to Tainan, the oldest city in Taiwan. Visit Fo Guang Shan monastery, one of the largest in the region. Explore Kenting, Taiwan’s oldest national park, and soak in the hot springs of Zhiben before proceeding to the picturesque Taroko Gorge. Return to Taipei for two nights before you travel home.
This tour is operated by our partners in Taiwan, who have many years of experience. The group size may vary from 2 people to 25 or more.
Highlights
• Mesmerising beauty of Sun Moon Lake
• Tainan – the oldest city in Taiwan
• Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastery
• Spectacular landscape of Kenting National Park
• Breathtaking scenery of Taroko Gorge
Cultural Holidays
You will be met on arrival at Taipei airport and transferred to Regent Taipei, Palais de Chine, or a similar hotel for two night’s stay.
On the northern side of the island, Taiwan’s high-rise capital is a pulsating, modern metropolis of 2.7 million, but one still very much in touch with its natural and spiritual hinterland. Ridges of green mountains surround the city, providing a ready escape from the hubbub of downtown, as well as some of the finest skyline views in Asia. It was founded around 300 years ago, but only really got into its stride during the Japanese occupation, which began in 1895 and came to an end after World War II, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang made the city their capital. Today, Taipei ranks among Asia’s economic powerhouses, and one of the most visited cities in the Far East – in no small part due to the capital’s fabulous museum.
Take an orientation tour of Taipei, exploring historic landmarks like the Presidential Office Building and Grand Hotel Taipei. Visit Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, National Palace Museum and Martyr’s Shrine. The afternoon is at leisure.
The treasures of the National Palace Museum, most of which originated in Beijing’s ‘Forbidden City’, are widely regarded as the finest single collection of Chinese art in the world.
The items, which include ceramics, paintings, sculpture, and ancient bronze pieces, formerly belonged to the Qing Emperors. They were brought here for safekeeping during the Chinese Civil War and have remained in Taiwan ever since.
The museum has to be the only one in Asia whose prize exhibits are both representations of food items: one a cabbage, and the other a piece of boiled pork. The ‘Jadeite Cabbage’ is exquisitely fashioned from a chunk of green and white jade, while the ‘Meat-shaped Stone’ was carved from a single piece of banded jasper.
Drive to Sun Moon Lake, home to the indigenous Thao people. Stay overnight at Fleur De Chine or a similar hotel. Afternoon visit It Thao – the indigenous village to learn the history of the Thao tribe. Later visit Ci’en Pagoda, Xuanzang Temple and Wanwu Temple.
Numerous hiking and biking trails thread through around the forested shoreline of Sun Moon Lake, where hotels, restaurants, temples and shrines vie with each other for the best views of the mountains. Tiny Lalu Island, in the centre of the lake, holds a solitary shrine belonging to the Shao aboriginal people whose traditional land this is. The lake’s name derives from the fact its eastern shore resembles a sun, while its western edge is believed to look like a moon.
Drive to Tainan – the oldest city in Taiwan with a plethora of historic buildings. Visit Fort Zeelandia – a Dutch Fortress destroyed by the British Army and rebuilt by the Japanese. Drive on to Kaohsiung for an overnight stay at Grand Hi Lai or a similar hotel. Afternoon visit Fo Guang Shan – the biggest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan, housing one of the tallest Buddha statues in the world.
A huge assemblage of ornately decorated prayer halls, gardens and shrines interconnected by bougainvillea-lined walkways, Fo Guang Shan was founded in the time of the Tang Dynasty, although most of what you see today dates from the 20th century. Its focal point is a towering, 36-metre-tall golden Buddha – one of the great man-made spectacles of Taiwan.
Drive to Kenting National Park, renowned for extraordinary geological formations, scenic landscapes, and rich marine biodiversity. Drive on to Taitung for an overnight stay at Royal Chihpen or a similar hotel. The Zhiben region in Taitung is renowned for its hot springs, which have rejuvenating properties.
Encircled on three sides by the ocean, Kenting National Park occupies the windswept Hengchun Peninsula in Taiwan’s far south – a promontory famous, above all, for its wonderful golden sand beaches and clear, coral-fringed seas.
Drive around the twisting coast road for a taste of the area’s varied marine landscapes.
This morning’s drive to Hualilen visits some of the most scenic places in Taiwan including Xiaoyehliu, Sanxientai, Shitiping and Fanshuliao. Stay overnight at Silks Place Taroko or similar hotel.
Expect towering cliffs, turquoise bays and a succession of geological oddities today, as you head up Highway 11, one of the most fabulous drives in coastal Asia.
This morning drive to Taroko National Park, renowned for its dramatic gorges, diverse wildlife, unique geological formations, and, particularly, its towering marble cliffs, which can reach heights of up to 1,100 meters. Explore some of the park’s most famous attractions, including Cimu Bridge, the Tunnel of Nine Turns, Buluowan Suspension Bridge, Eternal Spring Shrine (Changchun Temple), Swallow Grotto Trail, and Qingshui Cliff. Drive on to Taipei and stay for two nights at Regent, Taipei, Palais de Chine or a similar hotel.
A deep trench between snow-capped mountains, the Taroko Gorge will come as a big surprise to anyone who comes to Taiwan expecting wall-to-wall skyscrapers. You can drive up it via a route carved along the foot of the mighty marble crags by the Japanese army at the end of World War II, but to make the most of the abundant local wildlife, trekking along one of the many waymarked trails in the area is the way to go. Dense vegetation and clumps of hanging forest tumble down the cliffs, which shelter an estimated half of all the species of animals, birds, insects and plants present in Taiwan.
Day at leisure.
With its rows of brightly lit shops, stalls and packed restaurants, the Raohe Night Market is a great place to immerse yourself in the authentic atmosphere of Taiwan. It’s also a Mecca for local foodies. Among the old-established favourites is Fuzhou Pork Pepper Buns, at the entrance to the market, whose eponymous speciality (known as ‘hujiao bing’ in Mandarin), prepared and cooked in front of you, attracts long lines of hungry fans. Stinky tofu, ‘big sausage wrapped around little sausage’ and grilled squid, served with a brush of teriyaki and chilli powder, are other enduring staples.
Transfer to Taipei airport for your onward flight.
✓ 8 nights accommodation in comfortable hotels
✓ Arrival and departure transfers
✓ Internal travel by shared coach
✓ English-speaking escorts and guides
✓ Bed and Breakfast
✓ Entrance fees to sites listed in itinerary
DEPARTURE DATE | PRICE PER PERSON | SINGLE ROOM supplement | AVAILABILITY | |
Sat 26 Oct 2024 | £1265 | £875 | Please call us | |
Sat 09 Nov 2024 | £1265 | £875 | Please call us | |
Sat 30 Nov 2024 | £1265 | £875 | Please call us | |
Sat 21 Dec 2024 | £1265 | £875 | Few spaces | |
Sat 18 Jan 2025 | £1265 | £875 | Good | |
Sat 01 Feb 2025 | £1265 | £875 | Good | |
Sat 15 Feb 2025 | £1265 | £875 | Good | |
Sat 01 Mar 2025 | £1265 | £875 | Good | |
Sat 15 Mar 2025 | £1265 | £875 | Good | |
Sat 29 Mar 2025 | £1265 | £875 | Good |
With the Summer almost upon us, now is the time to begin planning your next summer adventures in Asia. Our Travel Specialists are ready to take your call and discuss the adventure you have been dreaming of.
Or call us on 0208 566 3739