Taiwan Railway Online booking can be a great help to secure your train tickets earlier. Train options are seamless and affordable in Taiwan.
Before we proceed further, do drop by our 4D3N Hualien Taitung itinerary and summary at this link.
Summary of our journey:
-6D5N trip
-Fly to Taoyuan, train to Hualien. Rest one day then cycle
-4d3n cycle Hualien to Taitung, slow and easy
-Each day cover 50 to 80km (20 to 30kmh)
-Taitung train to Kaohsiung then fly home
It was logical for us to book our train to Hualien. Fortunately, friends warned us that Hualien tickets always sold out.
You need to book your ideal tickets online, 2 weeks beforehand.
This blog post will share how you can purchase your train tickets online. We are only sharing the Taipei-Hualien track 🙂
The first question:
– 1a) Are you taking the train direct from 桃園 Taoyuan to 花蓮 Hualien?
– 1b) or Taoyuan to 台北 Taipei (main) then Hualien?
Google search seems to flavour 1b)
Maybe Taipei station has more train (and bus combo) options?
2. From Figure 1, shortlist your time slots first. Indicate your Schedule date and time, Departure and Arrival station.
All train services would be listed. Identify your preferred slots.
Take into consideration:
-2a) MRT from Taoyuan International Airport to Taipei Main (purple line) is 90 minutes. Frequency every 15 minutes, and ticket NTD 450 (SGD 20).
(Do cater extra time for luggage and customs too)
-2b) You need to collect your Hualien train tickets 30 minutes beforehand
*Make use of Google Map “Schedule Explorer” to find out train frequency
-2c) Train timing =Departure time. This means train will ARRIVE at station maybe 5 minutes beforehand. Do not be LATE as trains are seldom late :p
-2d) Kids under 150cm 50% discount
-2e) Image below. You can actually roll your bikes into selected cabins
3. Hualien train tickets are available for online booking 2 weeks beforehand. Refer Figure 1 again, but click on bottom-left “Booking Service” to book your tickets.
Once fields updated, click on “Inquiry“.
3a)At this point, we only need the passport for one person ( I need not key in the passport details for the boys).
Taiwan Railway Online booking
3b)Choose your tickets and quantity, and proceed to book.
Example, adult and child tickets are NTD 440 (SGD 20) and NTD 220 respectively (for the fastest train).
3c)Take note we cannot choose our seats. But you should ensure seats are in same Car (ie cabin).
3d)Payment by credit card. Train tickets are only collected once you reach Taiwan.
4. You can also book through Taiwan railway mobile app. This app will send notification if train is late.
5. The fastest way from Taoyuan to Hualien is actually taking bus/train combo. Your bus will drop you at 羅東 Luodong or 宜蘭 Yilan, where you connect via a train.
Be punctual and arrive early.
Taipei main station is huge! After checkin, try to find the toilets haha.
(there are toilets on the trains)
Confirm your train platform and just wait for train, stand at the designated “Car”.
Time 0920, Train 278.
Time to catchup on our beauty rest. It will be a 2 hours ride.
宜兰 Yilan is always beautiful. All the paddy ponds reflections, and of course hot springs.
Do take note different trains will stop at different stations. Express trains will have lesser stations, thus faster.
Endless mountain ranges.
Reached Hualien before lunch.
Lunch and snacks before we checkin to our hotel.
出外人 – 平價牛排 & 日式小火鍋 (rated 3.75/5)
Decent hotplates and meals at affordable price.
花蓮99黃金奶油酥條-後站門市 (rated 4/5)
Kids love this milk snack. Quite addictive.
tourism office Hualien
If you have tourists questions or need maps, drop by 花蓮縣旅遊服務中心.
We would love to cover more of Taiwan on trains 🙂
It feels so nostalgic and romantic.
Train travel allow me to relax and catchup on my books or movies.
The long period on the train is where I really relax, and worry less about the kids :0
We just came back from our Taiwan East Coast cycling adventure in mid October 2019. We cycled from 花蓮 Hualien to 台東 Taitung, also known affectionately as 花東.
Cycling gave us an opportunity to admire Taiwan up close.
Verdict: 台湾真漂亮!
We will be sharing the links to other blog posts at the end of page (eg Train and bikes booking).
Video: Cycling Hualian to Ruisui
This was our first multi-day cycling trip, catch our 花東 IG story too.
Before Taiwan, our most adventurous ride was NZ Old Coach Road (3hour), Bangkok city tour (slow 4 hour) and 台中 Taichung (2hour) . There are more biking adventures at this link.
Sharing some statistics below.
-6D5N trip, but 4D3N actual cycling
-We cycled 250km from Hualien to Taitung (detours inclusive). If strictly no detour, 180km possible.
Kids are impressive!
-Day 1- 80km Hualien to Ruisui
-Day 2- 55 km Ruisui to Yuli to Antong
-Day 3- 70km Antong to Dulan
-Day 4- 40km Dulan to Taitung
-Every night a new 民宿 minsu, we quickly learn how to efficiently unload/pack our luggage.
All these dreams were spark by Hualien Taitung map below. Encouraging both Taiwanese and tourists to cycle more, see more.
Below map (Credit Hualien Adventures) gave a good overview and has plenty of riding suggestions, pit stops. It was a Great tool for me to plan either highway 9 or 11 🙂
You can cover Taiwan East Coast cycling in 3D2N, or take your own sweet time to enjoy the detours. We took 4D3N to complete our journey but 5D4N best 🙂
Highway 9 runs along the train line. There is a parallel route 193 ( also known as 花東縱谷) as you will cycle in the valleys, flank by green or yellow paddy fields! Highway 11 is winding coastal road, with the roaring Pacific Ocean next to you all the way South!
Do visit their Hualien Adventures bike links for research and tips.
Those who are seeking more thrill can try KOM, cycle up 3000m+ 合歡山 HeHuan Shan! The round island 900km 10Days ride is pretty popular too (start at 松山Songshan).
You can download Taiwan Tourism’s bike manual and tips (pdf) here.
Some folks will even WALK around Taiwan 徙步漫遊台灣 Gosh!
0KM Hualien city
Hualien city is a good base to explore North (hint Tarako Gorge). We will visit this famous gorge next time 🙂
You will need minimum one day to appreciate nature’s masterpiece. If you prefer hiking and river-tracing, cater for 1/2 day more. Besides, there are plenty of nice street food!
Best food Hualien
Our biking start point would be Giant Hualien. Google will share multiple train routes from Taipei to Hualien.
But friends told us that Hualien train tickets always sold out! Do book Online 2 weeks in advance!
If you are worried about renting a bike for multi-day cycling, start with Giant. Their professional rental service will allow you to just enjoy the ride and worry less about logistics.
You can also ask about joining a group, whereby a service/safety van will tag along.
Bike rental link is on their Facebook Message (Hualien <-> Taitung). Just reserve your bikes and pick up on actual day. the shop is just 5min walk from Hualien station.
3-days rental for Road-bike (racers) and MTB (mountain Bike) are NTD 1500 and NTD 1200 respectively.
Warmup ride with our new bikes. Hualien’s famous 七星潭 Qi Xin beach, and we could hear multiple F16s launching from Hualien airport.
There are only pebbles at this beach, no sands here!
Hualien Qi Xin Tan
四八高地 (Four-Eight Highland) offers a panoramic view of the coast and hugging mountain lines! We can find many such spots along highway 11.
Taiwan East Coast cycling
We only cycle 20km for warmup, and visited 花蓮東大門國際觀光夜市 Dongdamen Night Market for our dinner.
Brought the kids here to enjoy some local snacks before we start our tour the next day.
Hualien night market
You must visit 蔣家官財板 for the best toast! (do take note there are three coffin snacks in the same market!)
*(A) Our custom Google Map
You may checkout some of the popular Hualien attractions of food on our custom Google Map.
If you know your average speed, you can then estimate your distance and preferred rest locations. Our average speed was a comfortable 20 to 30km on flat road.
Panniers packing
Packing for Taiwan East Coast cycling
-Only bring the essentials
-Ensure easy access for critical stuff, eg first aid, batteries or powerbanks -Balance left and right bags
-Pack essentials on top, for easy access
–Waterproof!
-Might not need to pack extra drinks and food as convenience stalls everywhere
Over the next few nights, we got very efficient with packing and unloading.
Each touring bike, be it racers or MTB, will have two side bags (panniers). Racers bags are much bigger and waterproof, I do not understand why MTB bikes are 10l only, and not waterproof?
Photo below. Three fully loaded bikes, fortunately we got extra haversacks to load our stuff. The bikes (and maybe the riders) look very serious haha 🙂
Family Cycling Taiwan
We plan our rest points along scenic spots, ideally with shade, drinks and food.
For longer distance, you might need to pack own meals and for the adventurous, own camping tents! Our journey was slow and easy, and we stop whenever we see queues or we are hungry.
In any adventure, the journey is more important than the end points. Do look out for interesting murals on the walls (especially for schools).
43km Spotted this delicious (super discreet) bento stall in 鳳林 (Fenglin town).
You will actually see a lot of beef noodle stalls in this town.
Many bento associate themselves with 池上 Chisang (Taitung).
Some claim the rice in 池上is the best in Taiwan!
Anyway, 悟饕池上飯包. Yummy! (GPS 23.749060, 121.449821)
Regulars keep popping by for the bentos.
Convenience stalls
Taiwan has PLENTY of convenience stores.
Aircon, water, snacks and toilet 🙂
Thank you Family Mart and 7-11 stores.
Taiwan Family Mart
Highway 9 definitely has more 7-11 and Family Marts than Highway 11.
Just park our bikes outside and choose the window seats.
(another advantage of highway 9 is tired cyclists can just hop onto a bike-friendly train cabin and skip one or two towns.)
Simple meals. We only had this twice during our trip, too much MSG.
Pocari to recharge! Aircon to enjoy some Pokemon gym.
Their favourite snacks at 7-11. They can have two servings per day!
Taiwan 7-11
Indulgence. We can justify the calories as we really cycle hard (at Yuli’s 85°C Bakery Cafe) . This is Taiwan’s Starbucks, with 1000 outlets globally.
The only stall which has wider franchise coverage, 檳榔 Bing1 Lang2 :p
Cycling along route 193, and this Heavenly patch of openness was too inviting!
玉里天堂路
Photo below. 感恩, felt so touch by Taiwanese hospitality.
This was somewhere along route 193. One of our targeted cake shops was permanently closed, but a neighbor Auntie came out to serve us persimmon (?)
So sweet and crunchy!
Route 193 actually runs parallel to Highway 9. But this is a trunk road, with fewer cars. Many folks recommend the Southward track between 瑞穗 Ruisui and 玉里 Yuli, also known as 花東縱谷.
I could never get enough of the vast green fields!
Carry on for 25km South and you will reach Taiwan’s most beautiful bikeway.
Although only 5km from Antong hotel to tunnel (GPS 23.268348, 121.360666 ), this steep route force me and Yee (no 3) to walk. Only Boon Wee (no1) could cycle all the way 🙂
Google Map showing brutal elevation. This only applies to casual cyclists like us (tourists). As road can be narrow at some sections, walk if you feel unsafe. There is no shame 🙂
Those hardcore cyclists attempting KOM (登山王 King of Mountain) will treat Antong as warmup.
For comparison sake, notice the “Flat” terrain around Ruisui and Yuli, perfect for cycling. There will always be small slopes to climb, plenty after Cheng Gong (Highway 11).
At the highest point, there is a tunnel, intersecting Hualien and Taitung.
The tunnel ride was refreshing, remember to stop for photo at the exit (Taitung side). You can see the cloud, Pacific Ocean over the horizon.
Ocean views from here onwards all the way to 台東 Taitung (Highway 11).
You can actually cycle north from Taitung to Hualien too, but will encounter strong headwinds.
Returning our trusty bikes. Feeling Happy that we complete our Journey and also Sad that our epic adventure has come to an end 🙂
*Updated 2023Feb. Take note Taitung Giant Bike shop (GPS 22.760609, 121.145335) has shifted South. It is no longer near to Train station. (Please confirm with Giant)
Was really grateful for all the HELP and TIPS we got along the way. Thanks Douglas (he just toured Incheon to Busan ride) and Uncle Soon.
I had a fall near the end of our journey. A blessing in disguise, as we were at the end point, and there was no fracture. This was the only incident we had over our cycling journey. We did not encounter any rain (so lucky!)
I will gladly attempt another Taiwan cycling trip with the kids!
At Sengkang Hospital
After returning our bikes, we collected our luggage and pick up the train tickets from Taitung to Kaohsiung.
Non-hassle, very easy for tourists.
Do take note Taitung Train station is 6km from Taitung center.
Taxis are readily available, metered rate should be between NTD200 to NTD 300.
More good FOOD 台東 Taitung !
Taitung famous food
If you have time for only one food in Taitung, go for 藍蜻蜓 Blue Dragonfly.
I might not eat KFC anymore after Dragonfly :p
Yummy 哈拉麵 🙂
Super friendly host and nice ambiance.
Ramen taitung
More food options are captured in our Google Sheet itinerary.
Checkout our Taitung Eat See Play custom Google Map.
The yellow icons are our cycling path.
I am one PROUD Dad!
Our Taiwan East Coast cycling 花東 took us out of our comfort zone.
We literally had to stretch ourselves, and look out for each other.
I hope the experience will make our family bond stronger.
The kids might not know it, but 250KM is a BIG DEAL.
Hope our Taiwan Cycling experience will leave a big imprint for their future explorations! Go out and explore the WORLD.
This blog post is only a summary of our compressed 4D3N Taiwan East Coast cycling. We will be sharing more photos and stories of our trip.
*Use our Google Sheet Itinerary and GPS for your planning reference (Link).
We hope our experience will encourage more folks to cycle in Taiwan!
*(C) Tips for Taiwan East Coast cycling:
1)No1 tip- Send your luggage from Hualien to Taitung. We only pack minimum for our 4D3N road trip, pack everything else for Taitung pickup
2) Safety
2a) Bike handling Relatively safe for families to explore Taiwan on wheels. Just ensure kids are confident on bikes (gears, brake, balance). Kids need to be comfortable with speeds maybe up to 40kmh, especially when going downhill.
Reflexes are harder to train(eg to be more steady). No 3 will instinctively swerve-hard inwards when cars horn. This might cause him to lose balance.
2b) General Safety It would be good if one knows how to fix bicycle chains, or patch a tyre (or change a tube). Some roads can stretch for a few kilometres without bicycle shops or even convenience stores (especially Highway 11). In worse case, broken bike can cab to the next meeting point.
Kids like to cycle near the kerbs, which is not advisable. This is the area where most pebbles and broken glass gather, risking punctures. Besides, you will have less “allowance” to evade or maneuver during an emergency.
I notice the barriers along some bridges are maybe only 1m in height. A fall would be drastic!
No3 Boon Yee was in the center most of the time, as his bike was the smallest and least visible.
*Kids should know which emergency number to dial, in case the adult is hurt. Bring your first aid kit along and know your basic first aid skills.
3) The best time to cycle might be in October and November, with temperatures between 25 to 28 degrees in the day (summer Jun-Aug can reach 30+ degrees). Minimum Typhoon, and paddy harvesting means fields are turning Gold.
4) Appreciate warm Taiwanese hospitality and cycling culture. Bicycle lanes are wide and available on 90% of our route. Cars generally give a wide berth. Singapore has a lot to learn!
We felt safe on the road and passer-bys will SHOUT 加油! We wave to riders on the other side 🙂
5)Use Google Map “Driving” icon to navigate instead of “Walking”.
Walking might bring you to shortcuts, which can be hard to navigate or sometimes non-passable for wheels (especially in the mountains)
I am just curious why Taiwan Google Map does not have Cycling options (unlike New Zealand Mountain-to-Ocean track). Secondly, “Walking” mode cannot go through Tunnel (which is weird).
I need “walking” mode to estimate the elevations and plan my rest points.
6) Ensure your accommodation (minsu) allow you to keep your bikes indoors. It is relatively safe in Taiwan, but we just need to be vigilant and prevent theft
.
7) Scooters and Cyclists cannot turn left at main junctions. We have to go into the small box, and wait for green light. (YouTube explanation)
8)We could not cover all the scenic spots during this trip. We will cover them in our next trip:
–清水斷崖
–太魯閣 Taroko Gorge (need one full day to enjoy)
–池上伯朗大道 (Mr Brown, 金城武 and EVA ad wah!)
–關山環鎮自行車道
–太麻里站
–知本溫泉 (hot spring)
*9)Do pop by the following links and resources too:
-Taiwan Tourism cycling manual eBook
–https://taiwaneverything.cc (my resource kit)
–WhyWendyWrites (hot air balloon, 綠島 Green and 蘭嶼 Orchid islands)
-Many more blogs 1 , 2 , 3(round island!) , 4 (IG), 5(ideas!) , 6 (tips), 7
I suspect the best blogs are those in Mandarin (but I struggle to read)
–TwoWheelCruise 2 parts (heavy rain and nice commentary)
-Another nice video (novice too)
-Additional tips and stories (Cycle Taiwan)
-If in season, fruits picking might be fun too (link)
IG Beautiful corners in Taitung! Follow @tintinghi
One of the best videos (credit @MyTaiwanTour), so cinematic 🙂
10) Essentials. Get the reliable wifi router from Klook. Ensure you have enough powerbanks, batteries and MicroSDs for your journey. I brought a notebook along to backup our daily photos and videos. WATERPROOF everything as rain is frequent.
11)Read up on earthquake and Typhoon precautions. Hualien and Taitung has regular earthquakes!
12) If you are attempting the same route, these two links will answer 30% of your questions, be confident. We are not super fit, nor do we cycle regularly. But if you can cover 30 40km every 3 or 4 hours, you should be ok.
Do cover more grounds (maybe 60/40%) before noon as weather will be hotter in the afternoon.
13)If you are not cycling, you can still self-drive and enjoy the sightings. Scooter rental can be under NTD1000 per day! E-bike rentals are available at many places but will need to recharge every 50km.
