Most visitors know Taiwan for night markets and bubble tea, yet two thirds of the island is mountain terrain, and its surrounding waters hide small islands that feel like different countries. You can summit a peak higher than Mount Fuji on a Saturday and snorkel beside green sea turtles on Sunday. This guide covers the essential high mountains and the five islands most worth the ferry ride.
The Roof of Taiwan: Yushan and Syueshan
Yushan, or Jade Mountain, rises to 3952 metres, making it the highest point of Taiwan and taller than Japan's Mount Fuji at 3776. The classic two-day route climbs through hemlock forest to Paiyun Lodge, then finishes with a pre-dawn scramble to the summit for sunrise above a sea of clouds. Demand vastly exceeds capacity: places in Paiyun Lodge are distributed by lottery, and together with the national park entry permit you should start planning months ahead. Foreign hikers can apply online, and a small quota is reserved for international applicants.
Syueshan, also spelled Xueshan, is Taiwan's second summit at 3886 metres and many hikers' favourite. The trail through the Black Forest of Taiwan fir and the glacial cirque below the top are spectacular, permits are considerably easier to obtain, and the two mountain huts make the two-day itinerary comfortable.
A Hiking Nation: 260 Peaks Above 3000 Metres
In total Taiwan counts more than 260 peaks above 3000 metres, a density few places on Earth can match. Local hikers pursue the list of the so-called Baiyue, the 100 classic summits, the way climbers elsewhere chase the Alps. For a first taste without a lottery, day hikes such as Hehuanshan near Wuling Pass, reachable by road at over 3000 metres, deliver alpine views for the price of a bus ticket. Whatever you climb, register your permits online in advance, pack for four seasons in one day and respect afternoon thunderstorms in summer.
Kenting: Beaches at the Southern Tip
At the island's southern extremity, Kenting National Park wraps around a peninsula of coral cliffs, banyan forest and white sand. Baisha Bay starred in the film Life of Pi and remains the prettiest swimming beach; South Bay draws surfers and jet skis. After dark the crowd migrates to Kenting Street, a night market that takes over the main road with grilled squid, fried milk and cocktail stands. At the very tip stands the Eluanbi lighthouse, a white tower from 1883 that marks where the Pacific meets the Taiwan Strait and the Bashi Channel.
Green Island: Dark History, Bright Water
Green Island, or Ludao, 33 kilometres off Taitung, packs a heavy past into eleven scooter-friendly kilometres of ring road: you can circle it in about an hour. During the martial law era known as the White Terror, political prisoners were held here; the former prison complex is now a national human rights museum and one of the most moving sites in Taiwan. The water around the island offers some of the country's best diving, with visibility often exceeding 30 metres, and the Zhaori saltwater hot spring lets you soak in the ocean at sunrise.
Penghu: Basalt Columns and Twin Hearts
Halfway across the Taiwan Strait, the Penghu archipelago scatters about 90 low islands ringed by beaches and hexagonal basalt cliffs, the finest at Daguoye, where columns rise straight from the sea. The famous Twin Hearts stone weir on Qimei island is not a romantic sculpture but a centuries-old fish trap, built from coral and basalt so that fish swim in at high tide and stay. From April to June the Penghu Fireworks Festival lights the harbour of Magong twice a week. Come in warm months: winter brings a relentless northeast monsoon wind that locals joke can blow scooters over.
Lanyu and Xiaoliuqiu
Orchid Island, or Lanyu, is the homeland of the Tao people, also called Yami, Taiwan's only oceanic indigenous culture. Their hand-built tatala boats, painted white, red and black, rest on pebble beaches, and between March and June the flying fish season structures village life and its rituals. Tourism here demands respect: ask before photographing people or boats. Snorkeling in the clear volcanic water is superb.
Xiaoliuqiu, a coral island only 20 minutes by ferry from Donggang, is the easiest island escape in Taiwan and the surest place in the country to meet green sea turtles: they graze in the shallows, and an encounter while snorkeling is close to guaranteed. Stay overnight and circle the island after the day-trippers leave.
Getting There, Permits and Seasons
- Mountain permits: apply online through the national park systems; Yushan uses a lottery for Paiyun Lodge, Syueshan is easier. Plan Yushan several months ahead.
- Ferries: Donggang to Xiaoliuqiu about 20 minutes; Taitung Fugang harbour to Green Island around 50 minutes and to Lanyu about 2 to 2.5 hours, weather permitting.
- Flights: small propeller planes serve Penghu, Green Island and Lanyu; book early in summer.
- Scooter rental on the islands costs roughly 400 to 500 NT$ per day; an international or local licence is increasingly checked.
- Best seasons: April to June and September to November for islands; October to December for high mountains; avoid typhoon peaks in August and September.