Taiwan Family Travel Guide: A Complete 26-Day Itinerary

Our 26-Day Taiwan Destination and Accommodation Guide for Families

This is our 26-day family gap-year travel itinerary, with driving from Taiwan.

Taipei (3 nights) → Toucheng (2 nights/3 days) and the Toucheng Leisure Farm→ Hualien and the Taroko Gorge (3 nights) → Yuli (2 nights) → Tatung (1 night) → Kenting (1 night/2days → Maolin Recreational Area (2 nights) → Guanziling and the Dongshan Coffee Road (1 night) → Sun Moon Lake (3 nights) → Taipei (5 days)

1. Taipei – 1 week total (2 nights at the beginning and five nights in the end)

Wifi: Excellent

Taipei 101, bicycle trails, cheap food, friendly locals and a wonderful night market make Taipei one of my favorite cities in the world.

2.  Toucheng Leisure Farm (2 nights)

Wifi: Excellent

Toucheng Leisure Farm: Less than 1 hour outside of Taipei by bus, the Toucheng Leisure Farm is a very good farm stay option for families, and it came highly recommended to us by other families as well. We chose a 3-day, 2-night package that was too expensive and a bit disorganized, but a real highlight for the kids. On the farm, there is fishing, farm animals, a wonderful little lake, hiking trails, dogs, and an international experience. It is best to book this by phone when you call, ask for Tina.

3.  Hualien and the Taroko Gorge (3 nights)

Hualien is eastern Taiwan’s second-largest city and one of the more pleasant small towns in Taiwan. We used it as a base camp to visit the Taroko Gorge, as the range of food and accommodation is greater. Budget travelers will find everything they need near the train station, including a host of budget car rental centers.

Wifi: Excellent

Taroko National Park

Just 15km north of Hualien sits Taroko National Park, Taiwan’s top tourist destination. With its marble-walled canyons, lush vegetation, and mountainous landscape, Taroko puts the Formosa (beautiful) in Ilha Formosa. The park covers 1200 sq km and rises from sea level in the east to over 3700m further west. In fact, Taroko is 90% mountainous, with 27 peaks over 3,000 m. Almost all the biogeographical zones in Taiwan are represented here, providing a sanctuary for half the island’s plant and animal species. The blue-green Liwu River cuts through the center, forging deep slotted valleys and ravines before emptying into the sea. In one stretch, it forms Taroko Gorge, an 18km marble-walled canyon that many consider one of Asia’s scenic wonders.

Hikes for Kids in the Taroko Gorge

Baiyang Waterfall: This 2.1km trail to Baiyang Waterfall is one of the most popular short walks in the park, so be sure to get on it early. Just before the falls, the trail splits to Water Curtain Cave (Shuǐ Lián Dòng). Don’t miss this section of the human-made tunnel where water rushes out from faults in the ceiling in nice showers. The trailhead for the falls is 700m up the main road from Tienhsiang. Look for the entrance, a narrow 380m-long tunnel carved into the side of the mountain, just before the end of the car tunnel. Bring a torch as this, and other tunnels are quite dark inside.

Swallow Grotto:  Along this half-kilometer slice of the old highway (starting at Km178), the gorge twists and towers in one of its most colorful and narrow sections. It’s a superb location for taking pictures. It’s best to visit here before noon, as tour buses fill the entire stretch later in the day. If you are driving

Eternal Spring Shrine: Not far from the park administration center, overlooking the Liwu River from a cliffside perch, sits this haunting shrine, dedicated to the 450 workers who lost their lives building the highway.

4. Yulin (2 nights)

Wifi: Excellent

4. Kenting National Park (3 nights)

Kenting National Park occupies the Hengchun Peninsula (the entire southern tip of Taiwan) and draws flocks of visitors who come to swim, surf, snorkel, and dive, visit museums, hike, and enjoy a little nightlife – all year round. The average January temperature is 21 ° C, and it’s usually warm enough for you to swim. In July, it can reach a scorching 38 °C. Low mountains and hilly terraces prevail across much of the park, along with rugged high cliffs and sandy deserts. The swimming beaches with yellow sands and turquoise waters are wonderfully suited to recreation, and sightseeing on a scooter or bicycle is highly enjoyable. The park is a sanctuary for wildlife, including the reintroduced sika deer. In autumn, migratory raptors can be spotted overhead in the tens of thousands, and these are just a few of the 310 bird species recorded in the park. The national park covers 180 sq km. At the time of writing, only the area of Eluanbi charged an entrance fee.

While you are in Taiwan, make sure you get your surf on Jialeshui:

The waters around Jialeshui and the nuclear power plant at Nanwan have the best surfing waves. Jialeshui is by far the more laid-back and less crowded of the two. You can rent surfboards (NT$800 per day) almost everywhere.

Rarely overcrowded like many famous surf beaches throughout the world tend to be, Jialeshui is a fantastic place to learn how to surf. Several surf shack hostels in the area provide lessons, board rentals, and transportation to and from the beach. As surfing is relatively new in Taiwan and Jialeshui is well off the beaten path, the locals’ attitude is extremely relaxed. Here, it’s extremely rare to find veterans barking at you to steer clear of their area. With small numbers of bodies and boards in the water, there are more than enough waves to satisfy everyone. For more seasoned boarders, Jialeshui can produce some sizable swell and even small barrels at times. Normally, the biggest swells occur from June to August; however, this is just a general rule, as waves are usually consistent year-round, and large waves can be generated by violent off-coast storms in the Pacific at almost any time.

For those who aren’t interested in lessons or transportation, Jialeshui is easy to reach by scooter (approximately $5-10 USD per day) from anywhere in the Kenting area, and a small surf shack just a short ride down the road from the beach offers board (beginner foam, long and short) and vest rentals at a reasonable price – usually in the neighbourhood of 300-500 New Taiwanese Dollars (NTD) for the day (approx. $10-17 USD). Across the road from the board shop, a small snack shop and restaurant provides food, refreshments, and respite from the sun when you’re in need of a break.

5. Maolin Recreational Area (2 nights)

The drawcard of this mountainous recreation area (www.maolin-nsa.gov.tw) is the Purple Butterfly Valley, one of 15 overwintering sites that stretch across southern Taiwan from Maolin to Dawu in Taitung. But even if you are there in the off-season, Maolin will not disappoint with its pristine mountain landscapes, vertiginously high suspension bridges, waterfalls, natural swimming pools, and strong Rukai aboriginal culture in this remote yet beautiful valley.

Wifi: There is surprisingly excellent WiFi in the central dining area and cafe.

The kids had a blast playing with the locals. It was a great experience.

6. Sun Moon Lake (3 nights)

Although this is a tourist hot spot, Sun Moon Lake is the perfect place to get your family on rental bikes in a safe environment where they won’t be made into pancakes by unruly motorists. There are nice nature trails, beautiful temples, and great places for picnic lunches.

7. Taipei (5 nights)

We finished our trip with several nights in Taipei, enjoying the city, visiting Taipei 101, and taking some morning rides along the Taipei biking trails.

Next Stop Japan