Taiwan trip planning need some help


ech123

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Hello!
Im currently planning a 11 days taiwan trip with a group of 6 friends. Needed some help from people who are quite familiar with travelling around taiwan.
Below is roughly the itinery.

1. Cing Jing Farm Stay. – He Huan Shan / Cing Jing Nong Cang / Swiss Garden / Firefly tour. (Day 1 Day 2 Day3 )

>pass by sun moon lake?
2. Hua Lien – Taroko Gorge/ Qi Xing Tan Beach / South Coast Night Market( Day 3 Day 4)

3. KeeLung – Jiu Fen / Shi Fen / Pin Xi ( Day4 Day 5 Day 6)

4. Taipei – Taipei 101 / Ximending / Shi Lin Night Market. ( Day 6 Day 7 )

5. Taipei – Yehliu Geo Park/ Beitou Hotspring / Fisherman Wharf / Dan shui street ( Day 8 )

6. Taipei – Shopping ( Day 9/10 )


Some Questions here.

Anyone has any idea where to stay in CingJing Farm? and how are we able to book it. Googled some page alot of them required email to contact
( the way that seems more feasible here ) and may require deposit. How do we complete these procedures?

Also anyone knows if we should hire driver for our 3d2n in cingjing and 2d1n in hualien then drop us off at Jiufen? will hiring a driver for so many days be expensive? or just 1day mainly from Cingjing to hualien would suffice? does cingjing farm stay provide pick up from taoyuan or taichung station?
And how do we hire or book drivers? Would be good if anyone had experience and could advice on the cost too.

Is 2D1N enough for Hualien. Heard that Hualien is a nice place for scenic spots but other than Taroko any other worth a visit?
Is a 5d4n stay in Taipei way too long?

Lastly, anymore recommendations on where we should head on to for our long 11 days trip. And hopefully someone could recommend me some budget stays in the few places im heading to. googled alot of accomodations options just hope to receive some recommendations


I know theres alot of questions, its my first time planning trip around Taiwan and kind of got quite lost with googling and traditional chinese websites. Thanks for reading! and Thanks in advance for any help/advices given. Appreciated much. :D
 

For booking of minsu, you can try travelmob.com, airbnb.com, eastbnb.com, agoda.com and okgo.tw

Cingjing - The famous villa will be Starry Villa. Need advance booking of 3 to 6 months. I booked Misty Villa for my end of year trip. Stay 2 to 3 nights is fine.

Keelung - Unless you want to explore the whole area, there is not much to go. To be frank, Jiufen/Shifen area is very tourist oriented. At best stay 1 night. If you travel from Hualien in the morning (say reach Rueifang station by 11am), you can go to Jingguashi for the mining area with museum. This will take you about 2-3 hours unless you want to explore the coastal area for photo taking. Afternoon can go to Jiufen old street and walk for 2 to 3 hours (more if you are on photo taking journey?). In the evening you can take a bus to Keelung Night Market for food. Check out the last bus. Stay overnight here.

On the following day you can go to the Pingxi line and stop at a few stations, for Pingxi and Shifen you can release lantern. You can also go to the Shifen waterfall. There is also a cat station. By evening you can go to Raohe night market for supper before checking into Taipei hotel. However, minsu normally do not keep your luggage until evening. Moreover, the "luggage storage" in Rueifang station is quite small and suitable for backpack size from what I remembered. For this, I suggest you to stay one more night in Jiufen minsu and checkout the next day to go Yehliu via taxi. Cost wise will be more, 2 taxis we are talking. You can try to ask your minsu to arrange for you.

Taipei - Shopping wise, I think only Wufenpu will be cheaper for youngsters fashionable outfit. Again, I am an "uncle" style so it does not fit me. More for girls stuff also.
 

Hi theITguy, thanks for the advices.

For cingjing, do they provide pick up from taichung train station?

Was thinking if i check out from cingjing in the morning and hire a driver to tour from cingjing to hualien. Will i have enough time to cover taroko gorge and Hualien East Coast scenic park? Will give sun moon lake a miss if this is the case.

Other wise maybe thinking of visiting East coast and sun moon lake when i check out from cingjing. Then the next day after i check out from hualien then visit taroko before heading to Jiu fen. however. will hiring a driver for 2 days be much more expensive? than hiring a driver for 1 day and cover as much as we can?

As for jiu fen. im not very sure how to travel around jiu fen shi fen and keelung. any idea what are the best cost efficient way?

Thanks again for helping:D
 

Just call the minsu of your choice. Most minsu and some hotel accept verbal reservation. Cheaper room rates this way too. You can try Ming Qing minsu. They are supposed to have the most number of rooms. They also provide ferry service from Taichung HSR during lull seasons. Need to confirm in advance though. They will provide free transport to Cing Jing farm and Little Switzerland. Book He Huan Shan morning trip with the minsu.

About Qingjing-Qingjing Farm
清境民宿|清境農場|清境住宿-明琴清境山莊官方網站

Sun Moon lake will require 2 days 1 night. Take the HSR and train to Hualien will be much cheaper and fast. HSR takes 30 minutes from Taichung to Taipei, 3 hours train ride from Taipei to Hualien.

Hualien would be more comfortable as a 3 day 2 night trip. Just get your chosen minsu in Hualien to get a driver for day trip. Taroko requires 1 day. Mountain valley + Coastline tour another.

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Jiufen and Shifen can be easily reached via train and bus. Just a day trip will do. Very cheap and easy to get to these 2 places. Keelung and Yehliu can be reached by train and bus too.
 

Hi ech123,

Please consider your group of 6 on how they wishes to travel around.

To Cingjing, there are 3 ways to get to your minsu. (1) Taxi, (2) Nantou Bus, (3) E-Go Bus or Kuoguang Bus. If you are taking the 1am flight on Jetstar/Flyscoot (e.g. landing in Taoyuan Airport at 5.30am++), then you may like to get to Cingjing from Taoyuan? Alternatively, you can go to Taichung via HSR and take Taxi/Nantou/E-Go bus. There are information in Hardwarezone and Tripadvisor for more details.

Travel around Cingjing is by E-Go bus or taxi. Not sure the going rate.

For Hualien, I have no information to provide you.


I think Sun Moon Lake is southwest of Cingjing. I am also going to Cingjing this month end so I may go for a day visiting (Taxi from Taichung->Sun Moon Lake (plus one more place I forget)->Cingjing Check-in). When I was in Taiwan wathcing their news, they were saying that the high number of visitors causes the water pressure to go so low that the shower cannot make it. They were building something back then to cope with the water supply, not sure if it is ready already.


Jiufen easy. Take train to Rueifang station, change to bus from Rueifang to Jiufen. Shifen is along Pingxi Railway line. Again going there is from Rueifang station via rail. Keelung can go direct from Jiufen. Basically

Jiufen: Hualien (train)->Rueifang (bus)->Jiufen old Street
Shifen: Hualien (train)->Rueifang (change train)->Pingxi Line (runs along Shifen, Pingxi station etc etc many things to see and take photos)
Jingguashi: Hualien (train)->Rueifang (bus)->Jiufen (do not stop here)->Jingguashi (pass by Jiufen)
Keelung Night Market: Hualien (train)->Rueifang (bus)->Keelung or Jiufen (bus)->Keelung

If you want a day trip to Jiufen, skip Jingguashi. Go to Jiufen by 11am (most shops will open by then), walk 2-3 hours with lunch, then go to Shifen/Pingxi to do your photo taking and last to release lantern.

Taiwan - www.hardwarezone.com.sg
 

Hi Timwongek, Thanks so much for the links. will read up more about the villa. a friend recommended me starry villa which has a relative cheaper rates. Just sent a booking application from their website not sure if it would be considered confirmed.
Btw which part of Hualien would u recommend if i only have a day in Hualien? staying 2D1N and will head to Jiufen from Hualien in the morning.

Hi theITguy, Thanks for the info especially for Jiufen definitely will help alot. We are still deciding if we should slowly explore jiufen with 2d1n or 3d2n. If we travel to Jiufen from Hualien, and stay over 1N would it be enough to cover most of jiufen shifen and pinxi? am i right that only shifen and pinxi is along pinxi line while for jiufen i need to bus from rueifang?

Also thanks for the hardwarezone link! I managed to found jetstar 1 for 1 promo from there and got the deal! For anyone interested, its still on. :D!

Btw anywhere else would be recommended for the trip? some of us is thinking if we should travel to Kaoshiung as well, is it worth a visit there? for a day trip perhaps?
 

hi! I feel that both Taroko n the mountain valley + coastline tours is a must. If only 1 day n going in winter, go for the latter, less cold n wet. Personally, I would rather spend one more day in Hualien than Kaoshiung. You will take away more from a visit to Tainan or Lugang in Zhanghua (historical n foodie sites)than Kaoshiung. sunset photography of e salt plains in Qigu in Tainan is highly recommended. Google n witness for yourself

Min Qing is at a higher altitude (my apologies, think Ming Qing is lower altitude). e Yun Hai sight in e morning overlooks e reservoir is fantastic. sunset is as good. u see if can balance ur budget for it.
 

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If we travel to Jiufen from Hualien, and stay over 1N would it be enough to cover most of jiufen shifen and pinxi? am i right that only shifen and pinxi is along pinxi line while for jiufen i need to bus from rueifang?

Shifen and Pingxi is on Pingxi line. Jiufen is a bus from Rueifang. 1N is more than enough. If you are going only Jiufen/Shifen/Pingxi plus 1 or 2 other interesting stations on Pingxi line, my suggestion is not to stay in Jiufen. Because going from Hualien to Rueifang you wasted time and probably you do not want to bring your luggage along the Pingxi line to visit. If you go to Jiufen first, then time is wasted taking the bus. The sun set quite early (6pm all dark back in April when I went), so even if you checkin by 1pm, you have barely 4 hours to travel on rail 2 ways plus taking photos and do stupid things with friends.

So Hualien to Taipei, checkin and do whatever shopping you need to on this day. Jiufen/Shifen/Pingxi can be done in a day trip on rail and bus. Key is to go light on luggage (small backpack will do). Morning travel rough 1 hour from Taipei main station to Rueifang on rail, get to Jiufen by 10.30am, walk 2 hours and lunch, spend the next 4-5 hours do all your exploration along the line and set lantern at Pingxi/shifen if you want. Then go Keelung night market. Think got bus back to Taipei. This area must travel light. Dun say I no warn you. The minsu some must climb steps hor. I book my Lao She minsu that time, climb without luggage I tired and sian liao.You with lugagge go here and there. *Faint*
 

For accommodation in Cingjing, you can call the minsu or email them. Most of the them will allow you to book without deposit especially if it is a non peak season.

For Sun Moon Lake, you can either stay in Cingjing and do a day trip or you can stay in Sun Moon Lake also. The lake looks awesome early in the morning and late at night when there are less tourist.

If you opt to stay in Cingjing, you need to travel downhill to Puli and from there go towards Sun Moon Lake. If you are taking public transport, it is quite rush because the last bus back to Cingjing ends quite early. For a group of 6, it may be more feasible for you to book a taxi.

For the Keelung part, it is not necessary to stay in Keelung... You can stay in Taipei and go to Jiufen, Shifen (Pinxi) in two separate days. Most people will do a day trip to Yeliu and Jiufen (and Jingguashi) and another day trip to Yangminshan and Danshui. The Fisherman wharf (lover bridge) is a good place to stay for sunset and the atmosphere is very different between weekend and weekday.

Its a good thing that you trip is not very packed, I am sure you will have a lot of fun, enjoy!
 

Hi all thanks for all info,

Timwongek, I heard about qigu salt mountain and would love to visit it. however im unsure of how i could add tainan and Qigu in such that transport would not be a problem. Do u recommend a day trip from taipei - tainan - salt mountain - taipei? or cingjing to tainan before to hualien? I have emailed a driver that could bring a day trip from cingjing to hualien including Hehuanshan and Taroko for NT6000. I hope that is a reasonable price considered that i dont really know the route from cingjing to hualien. If time permits will hire her for another half day the next morning to the east coast that last for 5 hours then train to taipei. Is it necessary to buy train tickets early? or possible to get it when i reach Hualien?

theITguy, thanks for sharing your experience that really makes alot of sense by travelling to jiufen shifen in another trip from taipei. Initially wanted to stay in Jiufen to enjoy the atmosphere as some of my friends and i like our trip to jiufen the last time. however my previous trip to jiufen only lasted 1 hour by package tour and i do missed out alot with the heavy downpour in that 1 hour. If we dont get enough Jiufen and shifen we'll plan 2 day trip without staying over since i suppose nothing much there after dark.
Btw any idea if Yehliu is near jiufen and i should include yehliu together with jiufen shifen and pinxi? i would skip jinguashi if time is too tight.

Hi Yewkwang! Thanks for the advices too. I had emailed starry villa have yet to receive any reply from them yet. maybe i should try enquiring a few as i heard the nicer and cheaper villa is booked very early. As for accomodation it seems easier to plan now since we will be staying most of our nights in Taipei, anyone has recommendation to any budget accomodation in Taipei? Will staying in minsu be better in taipei?
 

Hi! Let me just give my view on how many days each location takes and maybe you can see which you would like to fit into your trip.

Cing Jing - 2 days 1 night

1. assuming you reach minsu by mid afternoon, first day (depend on your flight time). get minsu to ferry you to Little Swiss. That's all you will have time for.
2. 2nd morning go up to Hehuan Shan, return to minsu late morning, check out but leave your luggage in minsu's care, ask minsu to ferry you to Green Green Grassland
and spend afternoon there (Green Green Grassland will take time as there are quite a few hiking paths in addition to the Grassland itself)
3. In the evening, you need to decide if you are going to Sun Moon Lake or Tainan.
4. Tainan HSR - is very near to Taichung and Kaoshiung HSR. Around than 30 minutes travel.
5. Sun Moon - as Yewkwang mentioned, you will need to go Puli and take a bus. Best is to stay another night, charter a taxi and take a day trip all the way to Sun
Moon. You can visit the Paper Church, Puli Wine Distillery and some spots at Sun Moon. Will be dark by the time you reach Sun Moon Minsu.


Sun Moon Lake - 2 days 1 night (I spent 3 days 2 nights there, still not enough)

Depending on how and when you arrive,

1. go for the lake cruise. will take half a day at least. Ita Thao is inclusive. (try the Ah Por tea leaves eggs which made ah por a very rich old woman)
2. there are quite a few tourist spots which you can find on the Sun Moon Lake Official website. Choose wisely, can't do them all. Ci'en Pagoda, Wen wu temple are
the norm Sun Moon Lake Scenic Area
3. A nice minsu About Laurel Villa Laurel Villa and a hotel if you fail to get any minsu because of peak period
台灣.日月潭 碼頭休閒大飯店 Harbor Resort Hotel


Tainan - I spent 3 days 2 nights there, not enough

Official Website - 台南觀光(官網)-首頁

1. Try to stay in An Ping (安平老街). This is within walking distance to the Tree House, the Dutch Fort 安平古堡, etc. (see this page from the recommended
minsu in An Ping. ¾Fªñ´ºÂI-¥x«n¥Á±J­·~¦w¥­º©¨B¥X¯²®M©Ð~¦w¥­¥Á±J­·~). You can take a round city bus to 赤崁樓.
2. 2nd day, get the minsu to get their recommended taxi driver cum part time magician to bring you on a day tour. tell him that you want to end the day watching
the sunset at the salt plains, he knows a village which has less tourists. a lot of places (+a boat ride to see oyster farming and flying fish) to visit which I will not
elaborate.
3. Tainan is the hub some of the best street food in Taiwan. you can see all the recommendations in the website. Pick up one of the foodie map at the tourist centre
or minsu.


Hualien - Been there 4 times, 3 days 2 nights each time and still not enough time. Scenery can stretch all the way to Taitung and Yilan

Official website for 花东纵谷 or East Rift Valley National Park (you won't be able to manage to visit most of these places). http://www.erv-nsa.gov.tw/user/main.aspx?Lang=2&SNo=


1. Cheapest way to get here from the west is to take the HSR back to Taipei Main Station, then take the normal train from the Main station to Hualien. The minsu boss
will usually fetch you to and from town centre/train station anytime of the day. You can charter a vehicle which will cut through the central mountain range from
Cing Jing. But the route will be difficult, take a long time and expensive especially in winter.
2. Depending the number of days you can manage to squeeze, choose your day tour destination as mentioned previously.
3. Just ask the minsu owner to help you book and collect your train tickets back to Taipei in advance upon reaching. Taiwanese can book tickets online.


Taipei Hotel

Åwªï¥úÁ{ªø­i¤j¶º©±

Try this one. right smack in the centre of Ximending and a short walk to the camera street. Can take 1 station to see the Long Shan Temple and Manga (gangster street).

Metro Route Map - TAIPEI RAPID TRANSIT CORPORATION ─ Route Map



Airport Transfer

Btw, you can take a 15 min bus ride from Tao Yuan International Airport to Taoyuan HSR which will take you to Taipei Main Station (same route in reverse when you leave). Less than S$10 per person. Don't waste money on taxi. Can get local SIM card at the airport which will allow you to communicate with Minsu, drivers, among yourselves and even surf the internet.
 

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Double post due to lag
 

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Thanks timongek :) I'll take sometime to google the informations . But I have a question with train in Taiwan. As for hsr the website provide a good information regarding cost and traveling time. However I'm confused with the other questions.
I'm looking at mainly the few routes by train. Cost and duration.
Taipei to hualien. Or is there train from taichung to hualien. Or Tainan to hualien. Also I have not managed to find information of train from hualien to Taipei too. Is there any website that I could refer to to obtain price and duration info? Also for trains in Taiwan we r not able to book online beforehand right? So we can only book when we arrive in Taiwan?
 

Typo. Other trains*
 

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Anyone has any idea where to stay in CingJing Farm? and how are we able to book it. Googled some page alot of them required email to contact
( the way that seems more feasible here ) and may require deposit. How do we complete these procedures?

Also anyone knows if we should hire driver for our 3d2n in cingjing and 2d1n in hualien then drop us off at Jiufen? will hiring a driver for so many days be expensive? or just 1day mainly from Cingjing to hualien would suffice? does cingjing farm stay provide pick up from taoyuan or taichung station?
And how do we hire or book drivers? Would be good if anyone had experience and could advice on the cost too.

Is 2D1N enough for Hualien. Heard that Hualien is a nice place for scenic spots but other than Taroko any other worth a visit?
Is a 5d4n stay in Taipei way too long?

My family & I made the trip to Cingjing several weeks ago and we had a memorable stay at Misty Villa (清境民宿_清境雲濛仙境民宿). It was easy corresponding with the owner via email (misty.villa@livemail.tw) and we made room reservations about a month before the trip. The room tariff includes breakfast and sumptuous/homely 6-course dinner and after breakfast the minsu provided free one-way transport to the Green Green Grassland for all minsu guests. Tickets are required to enter the Green Green Grassland; you can purchase discounted adult tickets with the minsu beforehand. At the Green Green Grassland it's a scenic and leisure downhill walk back to Misty Villa. I presume your group does not include seniors who may find the trek a little stressful to the knees (there is a 499-step stairs segment).

If you do the Green Green Grassland visit in the morning you would probably return to Misty Villa around 1 to 2 pm (your 'mileage' may vary). From Misty Villa it is a 5-minute leisure walk to the Little Swiss Garden and Carton King. If you choose to have lunch at Carton King, every NT$300 spent entitles you to a free ticket into the Little Swiss Garden. There's also 7-Eleven, Starbucks and various other restaurants at the Cingjing Visitors' Center which is just across the street. There are other excursion options in and around Cingjing, including Sun Moon Lake; just check with the minsu owner and allocate time & budget for those. That said, IMHO it is more leisure if you can stay 2N at Cingjing and play by ear - if some group members feel tired you guys could opt to do less, relax at the minsu and enjoy the mountain air/scenery. Alternatively, as Timwongek has suggested you might want to stay 2D1N at SML before or after the Cingjing stay. We did not make the trip (due to uncertain weather) so I can't help with the SML recommendations. Anyway I suspect rain and fog are common fare in Cinging and in the adjacent mountain regions, so it helps to plan some unfavorable weather programme. Do bring a torchlight with you in case you guys hang out late into the night as certain portions of the walk back to the minsu may not be well lit.

If you are either travelling from Cingjing to Hualien or the other way you will pass by He Huan Shan and Taroko Gouge, so it may not be necessary to do the He Huan Shan sunrise excursion from Cingjing, depending on your itinerary. The suggestions we were given was to start the trip at 0930 (from Cingjing) and as advised we reached Hualien at around 1700hrs. Part of this segment is mountainous road peaking over 3200m and we had to endure motion sickness, however the scenery at Taroko Gouge was worth it. Let the most vulnerable group member take the front seat (next to the driver) and take medicinal & diet precautions for the rest.

For a group of 6 it might be worth hiring a driver for the day. While in Taiwan we realized this is actually competitive trade, where taxi drivers in Taichung and Taipei will readily offer their services either for a day trip or for your entire Taiwan itinerary. The standard offering is 9 to 10 hours for a whole day booking, and within this time the driver will literally do your bidding and send you to where you want to go. Your group will likely need a maxi-cab because 6 pax + luggage will probably not fit comfortably into a Toyota Wish 7-seater.

For our journey from Taichung to Cingjing we engaged the services of Mr Liu from UTaxi (Taiwan Taxi). Although he drives a Toyota Wish, you can still contact him for help to get a maxi cab from fellow team mates. From Cingjing to Hualien we asked the Misty minsu owner for help to book a cab in advance (the standard going rate for a Toyota Wish should be between NT$5000 to NT$5500 for the Cingjing-Hualien segment). Around Taipei and the north-east regions you may try to contact Mr Gao (mobile: 0952-002-417) who drives a maxi-cab.

Other than Taroko Gorge, Hualien is about (lots of) food. You could also do the whale/dolphin cruise and the night market thingy. Young kids or the young-at-heart will most likely enjoy the Farglory Ocean Park. Otherwise plan for a relaxing minsu stay next to the beach.

If you plan to travel on the TRA between Hualien and Taipei you can take the Taroko Express (Zhiqiang train) which covers the journey in under 2.5 hours. True to the experiences reported by other travellers, the online train tickets sell out fast - try log on to the TRA online booking web site exactly two weeks before the date of travel when the online service starts operation at 6am and reserve the tickets fast (then pay online via credit card subsequently).

Good luck with the trip planning and have fun :)
 

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For more information and accommodation at Cingjing, you can try here www.cingjing.com.tw. Some minsu has online booking system too.
You may want to consider Dreamtown (Nantouhsien, Taiwan - Hotel | Facebook).
For Taipei, it will be good to stay in Ximending area. There is this Wonstar hotel which is quite popular and offer reasonable rate.
Just curious, when is your trip?


Hi all thanks for all info,

Hi Yewkwang! Thanks for the advices too. I had emailed starry villa have yet to receive any reply from them yet. maybe i should try enquiring a few as i heard the nicer and cheaper villa is booked very early. As for accomodation it seems easier to plan now since we will be staying most of our nights in Taipei, anyone has recommendation to any budget accomodation in Taipei? Will staying in minsu be better in taipei?
 

Hi ech123,


Your thread has got me learning new info from other people as well.

I have not go to yehliu before so can't advise you on yehliu/jiufen/shifen. My guess is it would be a bit rush, need taxi and reach yehliu at 8.30am.

For Taipei minsu or apartment, I got a two double bed apartment for about $125 a night, 3 stops from Taipei main station. Booked through airbnb.com

There is also travelmob.com and eastbnb.com okgo.tw to book minsu. Former 2 can book direct online. Last one depends on minsu owner and likely to need mandarin speaking or typing to engage their services.
 

Hi! Here's direction for public transport to Yehliu.

Yehliu Geopark

ITguy is right. Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu can't be done in 1 done unless you only touch and go. Jiufen itself will take more than half a day if you go climb the hills to see the Yin Yang Hai along the Northeast Coast Scenic Area. Will also be able to see the entire mountain of lalang (Mang Chao) in winter.
 

Hi terabyte! Thanks for sharing your experiences.
May i know if misty villa requires deposit when booking? and if im not wrong misty villa is not high up in the mountain, is it still a good place for star gazing at night? I had emailed some drivers and the itinerary includes he huan shan. but it all starts at 9am which means i will miss the sunrise view in hehuanshan. Are there any good views of sunrise besides Hehuanshan?

As for motion sickness, i myself is the most vulnerable members already. guess i need to prepare motion sickness pills. My group of friends would prefer a trip from cingjing to taipei and just spend one night so this would most probably be my plan instead of train from taipei.
btw What are the other ways to travel from hualien to Taipei? im a little worried that we might not be able to get the train tickets. Would be good if we have alternative plans.
Im deciding between starry villa and other minsu around since starry villa has not replied to my booking form i submitted from their webpage. We wanted a minsu with nice clouds view , stars view and sunrise sunset hopefully. Budget wise its on the lower side. Having some trouble to find the best of all options. As for minsu in Hualien, had not done enough research on the place yet. Whether should we get one near night markets or beach. or is there one that is near both. Will need to google more for this. our trip is reduced to 5pax. so i assume a 7seater wish will fit nicely ? i hope.
Do you know the cost of hiring a cab for taipei ? some of us were thinking if we should hire a day trip for jiufen shifen pinxi if it could be more convenient with not much more cost.

Hi yewkwang, my trip is in May. i know it seems too early to start planning and booking, hopefully the taiwan minsu and driver would not think this way too. Personally prefer to get it done earlier since its my only period of holiday and right after my exam will be flying off. First time planning free n easy trip too a little at a loss. haha


Hi theITguy and timwongek! Thanks for the links Will go check it out. :D. and theITguy, im glad u learn something too! :D
Any idea what i could do with the remaining day if i were to visit yehliu in the morning?
im planning Beitou hotspring and danshui and catching sunset there my guess is that i would spend one whole day like this and not able to include yehliu in? Or are these 3 not far and possible to cover all 3?