Alishan, Taiwan

February 2023

Alishan 阿里山 is a resort town in the middle of Taiwan, renowned for its mountain scenery, ancient cypress and cedar forests shrouded in mists, a collection of peaks averaging about 8000 ft elevation. Even in the depths of winter at this elevation, the temperature is a comfortable 60F. We happened to visit on a day with clear blue skies, so missed the mystical sea-of-clouds scenes. The cherry blossoms were blooming though, and there was hardly anyone here mid-week. It was quiet and peaceful, a Taiwan that I’d never experienced before.

The trek via public transportation to get to Alishan is complicated, 2 hours of narrow serpiginous roads winding from the gateway city of Chiayi, with multiple transfers to contend with. The Japanese originally built the Alishan Forest Railway in the early 1900s for logging. Sections of the train tracks were damaged by a typhoon in 2009 and not yet rebuilt, so the train will only get you part way to Alishan. From there, most people take a bus. There are many expat blogs with excellent information for Alishan and how to get there. It is not an easy drive for those of us who experience motion sickness, and fair warning, the bus drivers do not stop, so you are advised to bring a puke bag. For the sake of simplicity and efficiency, we ended up hiring a private taxi to drive us to and from Chiayi. Still not great for motion sickness, but better than being on a crowded bus. Thanks to modern pharmacological fortification (scopolamine patches, zofran, and ibuprofen), I made it there and back without using the puke bag.

This area is known for its high mountain oolong teas. For tea tourism, there are little towns en route to Alishan, such as Shizhuo 石倬, where the actual tea farms are located. We didn’t have time to explore the tea villages. As with most visitors, we headed straight for the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area.

Alishan National Forest is very much worth the trek. A half day plus a morning were plenty of time to explore the walking trails (all paved with stone), see the gargantuan cypress trees, experience both sunset and sunrise, and even spot a family of monkeys at dusk. Even though these trails are what we would call “walks” rather than backcountry hikes in the Pacific Northwest USA, they still require stamina and good fitness. The endless steps and rapid elevation gain are a serious cardiovascular workout. So imagine my amusement when an elderly couple overtook me on the uphill, barefooted and singing in Taiwanese.

We stayed at the Alishan House, which is one of two hotels inside the park (the other hotels are in the tourist village at the entrance of the park). It is luxurious in the sense that Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone is luxurious: historic properties but dated, mediocre but pricey food, and full of rustic charms like creaking floorboards and low water pressure. In exchange, you are in close proximity to the scenic spots and trail heads. It was lovely to have the park essentially to ourselves, when all the other tourists left.

February 25, 2023