Taitung top attractions for families

Taitung top attractions, we list some of our favourite things to do in Taitung 台東, and of course food.

This is also the last blog post from our Taiwan Cycling trip 🙂
You may read our adventures (blog and YouTube) at the end of page.

Mention Taitung and many will ask, where? Most folks are familiar with the West Coast (Kaohsiung and Taichung) , and North/East Taipei and Hualien.

Taitung is not a small county, but most of the activities are conveniently located in the “small” town area.

Located near the South East corner of Taiwan, Taitung is a little bit out of the way. East Coast comprise of only three counties Yilan, Hualien and Taitung (宜蘭,花蓮,台東)

But when you mention the hot air balloon, seawater hot spring (Green Island) or Mr Brown avenue ( 池上 Chisang), Taitung will ring a bell (Top 10 Taitung attractions).

We continue with our cycling journey covering 250km from Hualien to Taitung (Blog itinerary). And this is the last stretch for 4D3N.

23+ km more to Taitung. We are going to cycle Southwards along the coast. You should read our newbie surfing experience in Dulan Donghe too, kids love the waves!

Not many families will consider surfing as one of Taitung top attractions, but backpackers claim Taitung has one of the most happening surf scenes.

Our Relive video, checkout the coastal views.

 

Youtube (clip), cycling Highway 30,11 Yuli to Taitung

Sample Itinerary and GPS from our Taiwan itinerary (G drive link). Do take note Column E distance is relative to Norden Ruder (our stay).

加路蘭海岸 Jialulan, one of the best spot to see stars and milky way in Eastern Taiwan! It is also popular with visitors during the day.

Pose with the art decorations, enjoy the coastal view and breeze.

As we cycle from Highway 11, we will reach 台東森林公園活水湖 in Taitung. This is a scenic park with a lake, popular with joggers and pet dogs.

If you are cycling from Highway 9, you will return the bikes before exploring the rest of Taitung.

There are two Giant outlets in Taitung, you should return the bike to new Taitung train station.

Do take note Taitung Center is around the old Taitung train station, and this is 6 km from the new train station. Taitung center is where all the happening stuff and good food are bunched together.

So ensure you book your accommodation at the right spot 🙂
You will notice all the good food are bunched together and within walking distance.

Refer to our custom Google Map above. Once we entered Taitung, we cycled 20km clockwise to eat and shop before returning our bikes (follow the yellow bicycle icons).

Due to lack of time, we had to skip a few.

We were hunting for 琵琶湖觀景臺 (Pipahu Lookout), but it seems like the whole piece of land was blocked! We could only cycle the circumference.

Taitung is one of the most bike friendly cities in Taiwan. We witnessed many folk (not only tourists) exploring the city on two wheels.

The sea view route was both windy and packed with family activities, some buskings too.

Taitung top attractions
Taitung top attractions

Landmarks, example 台東生命之樹 and 台東濱海公園大相框 Photo frame.

黄记葱油饼 (Taitung spring onion pancake). I felt bad about missing this, but kids absolutely hate spring onion :p

Besides, I was nursing a swollen elbow due to an earlier fall.We had to skip a few other points along the way.

Image credit Google

楊記家傳地瓜 Yang Potatoes is a popular souvenir from Taitung. Take note of the opening hours, the chips are sold exclusively at shop (not airport).

客來吃樂 大腸蚵仔麵 (Taitung Chang oyster noodle), delicious bowl of goodness. Some say better than 西門町 Xi Men Ding’s Ah Zhong Mee Sua.:)

Enjoy the last 10km ride. This route is built over old railway tracks, and is part of the 21km “Taitung Mountain/Ocean Bicycle Trail”.

More biking trails here -> Taitung Link

Feels just like our park connector, but slightly more scenic and well maintained. No PMD menace here.

And the end point, 捷安特 台東站 Giant Taitung 🙂

Take note return time must be before 1600, otherwise billing for one more day. There are two Giant outlets in Taitung, do not return to the wrong outlet!

Map below will indicate the trains from Hualien to Taitung, running along Highway 9 (Left) or Highway 11 (Right)

While the kids were de-kitting our bikes,  I walked 300m to Taitung train station for our luggage and Taitung-Kaohsiung train tickets.

You may read about our train tickets booking and collection tips on this blog post. In Taiwan, you can drop your luggage in one train station, have it delivered to your destination. This is cool! (Tips and cost shared at
Hualien post)

After dropping our bike and picking up our luggage, we headed to 路得行旅  Norden Ruder for the night.

Taitung hostel recommendation
Taitung hostel recommendation

Boutique hostel which looks modern and yet contemporary. Love the center area with lush greenery and view of the “open” roof.

The breakfast is filling but not happening 🙂

Totally casual. After all the cycling , we just want to be in our most comfortable attire. Image wise, Taiwanese are well-dressed, even when they visit night market 🙂

哈拉麵. This was actually our second visit. Shop was closed when we visited in the afternoon. You will be surprised at the variety of Japanese food in Taitung. (I had highlighted only 4 in my Itinerary.)

Taitung best ramen
Taitung best ramen

Friendly boss, superb Ramen. We asked whether flip-flops customers are welcomed haha, the friendly boss quickly found a table for us 🙂

Our No1 recommendation is Blue Dragonfly. Everyone in Taitung know 藍蜻蜓! Crispy and juicy, I will choose Blue Dragonfly over KFC any other day!

Yummy Blue Dragonfly chicken!
Yummy Blue Dragonfly chicken!

It is popular with locals and tourists, but serving is fast.

Nightlife in Taitung. Streets are still abuzz with cars and scooters late into the night.

海山寺 temple (bak bai). We needed to say a prayer, and thank you to our guardian for keeping us safe all the way from Hualien to Taitung.

台東夜市
台東夜市

There are at least 3 night markets in Taitung. And they are open on different days!  Example 台東觀光夜市 and 四維夜市.

After one night in Taitung, we are ready to take the train to Kaohsiung for our flight home.

Our cab from hostel to Taitung Train station pass by a popular baseball stadium too. Baseball is popular with Taiwanese.

Although you can get a train from Zhiben (知本站) or Kangle station (康樂站), we would recommend first timers to stick to Taitung Station. Unless you intend to stay one night at Zhiben. (Besides, most train might not stop at Kangle station)

Train journey from Taitung to Kaohsiung would be 3 to 4 hours easily.
Take a nap or just relax 🙂

Did last round of shopping, souvenirs and sports gear, before we took the transit to airport. We have listed more shop and eat options in itinerary but we did not have time to explore.

Kaohsiung Train station
Kaohsiung Train station

Our trip was short and memorable, and we will definitely re-visit the South with family again. Kaohsiung, Tainan, Kenting and Taitung wait for us 🙂

Meanwhile, you can get more Taitung updates via their website
->https://tour.taitung.gov.tw

Stay tune for more adventures and photos.
Do follow our IG Story too #sengkangbabiesTaiwan #SengkangBabies花東

You may reference our Taiwan cycling posts at this tag SengkangBabies花東 : *Google Sheet itinerary (GPS inclusive)

*4D3N Cycling itinerary and summary
-Day 1a-Hualien-Taiwan Railway Online booking
-Day 1b-Hualien-Taiwan Giant bicycle rental and Hualien attractions
-Day 2-Cycling Hualien to Ruisui (Google Map GPX)
-Day 3-Cycling Ruisui to Yuli, route 193 is SO beautiful! (Google Map GPX)
-Day 4-Antong to Donghe (Attractions along Highway 11) (Google Map GPX)
-Day 4/5 – Surfing at Dulan
-Day 5 – Taitung top attractions, Kaohsiung, Home

ps.. Do follow our Cycling adventures on Instagram hashtag #Cycling

Video: Cycling Hualian to Ruisui

Video: Cycling Ruisui to Yuli (so pretty!)

 

 

Day 4 Attractions along Highway 11 Taiwan

Day 4 brought us to attractions along Highway 11. Of course, the coastal views and breeze are a magnificent sight too.

(we had cycled from Ruisui to Yuli to Antong the day before)

..but first, we had to crawl 5 km uphill from Antong! This is Route 30 cutting across the mountain. You will meet many cycling enthusiasts who are here to challenge the slopes.

We can cycle up slowly, but no3 (Yee)  would be wobbling. It would be safer for us to push.

We will be cycling from Hualien to Taitung (tunnel), then through ChangBin, ChengGong, and finally Donghe Dulan (長濱,成功,東河). Estimated distance is 70km.

We have blog about Dulan 都蘭 surfing earlier (blog post).

Discover other interesting venues (and GPS) and attractions along Highway 11 in our Taiwan cycling Itinerary (refer Google Sheet link)

Taiwan cycling itinerary
Taiwan cycling itinerary

*Do take note Google Map might recommend shortcuts along the way, but we would recommend newbies to stick to main highway. Some of the shortcut paths are narrow and covered with thick bushes

Not forgetting to enjoy the scenic mountainous views even when we are catching our breaths.

0920 reached tunnel and posed for photos.

Good luck when you see this tunnel, we had conquered the hardest part of our cycling journey (4D3N cycling Itinerary from Hualien to Taitung).

Tunnel was 2.7km long and super cooling. Shout and hear our own laughter echo down the tunnel.

Tunnel was a downward gradient for us, good compensation for the initial uphill struggles.

At the tunnel exit, do pose at this decoration “東部海岸國家風景區遼望台“. The tunnel starts at Hualien 花蓮 but ends at Taitung 台東, we can see the blue sky and ocean merged over the horizon.

Enjoy the landscape views.

385m elevation, no wonder. We had underestimated the slope.
Nevertheless, Highway 30 is still the shortest (and maybe easiest) way to cut across the mountains.

Thank you Hualien Adventures for the route recommendations!

Do take note the downward speed can easily reach 50kmh, and has multiple bands.  Even a crash at 30kmh will be awful, kids should be mindful. Thankfully, cars will give you a wide berth when overtaking.

At the leg of Highway 30, another popular Instagram spot. The road seems to dive into the sea!

If time permits, turn left at this junction for 14km and you will reach King Kong Avenue 金剛大道. No giant apes here, but an open expanse with a famous road flank by green fields. Expect optical illusion of road heading into the sea.

We gave it a miss and headed South :p

You may visit our Taiwan Custom Google map for an idea of our cycling route, and nearby attractions. (“Black icon” means skipped)

Relive video:

The Pacific Ocean will accompany us all the way to Taitung 🙂

Waves all around, and super windy. Fortunately not head-wind, but tough luck for those cycling in the opposite direction.

Temperature was still a warm 27 degrees.

Had a lull period at 烏石鼻, we did not cycle all the way to the end as it was a steep slope. We were already contented with the coastal view from this hut.

Some say Taitung is like mini Hawaii.

Do take note that there are quite a few slopes along Highway 11, especially after ChengGong stretch.

Go slow and easy, we are near the last segment of our cycling journey. What goes up must come down.

The next stop was out of curiosity. While researching for stops, this male genital 男人石 next to 石雨傘風景區 caught my attention.

A good distraction for our ride haha, but locals worship the penis deity.

Literally “Stone umbrella”, 石雨傘 showcase the strong wind and waves. The wind will actually pick up small black pebbles and pelt visitors! (we are not exaggerating)

We can admire how the force of nature is shaping the rock formation.

Although we are cycling along the coast, the mountain range are never far away.

三仙台 SanXianTai Bridge is one of the famous icon along highway 11. We had stopped nearer to 比西里岸部落 Pisirian, hoping to capture some wooden animal decorations.

Image credit IG HowSayLove

..but the wooden deer was no longer available. Are they remove permanently?

We only got a closeup look of these giant concrete structures (photo below), which are used to prevent coastal erosion.

三仙台跨海步橋 Sanxiantai Arch Bridge is one of the famous icons along Highway 11. Those interested can spend 3 to 4 hours hiking to and fro to the island.

The arching bridge looks like a dragon.

Attractions along Highway 11
Attractions along Highway 11

This spot is nice for a siesta moment, enjoy the strong breeze.

Reached 成功豆花 around 1100. This was our halfway point. Cold or hot sweet dessert before we proceed.

Shopping for water and Pocari at local supermarket.

Had wanted to visit “交通部觀光局東部海岸國家風景區“. The “peak”offers a panoramic sea view, but it demands a 100m steep climb. No thanks.

Reach famous 東河包子 for late snack.

You might spot biker gangs too, like these Harleys.

Cross the road for another round of snacks. 7-11 should pay us for all the advertisements :p

We are only 14km away from our hostel WaGaLiGong (in Dulan).

You will spot similar vans from Donghe onwards. Surfers can just place their surfboards on top or motorcycle sidecars.

Reach Dulan around 4pm, you may read about our cool surfing experience in this post 🙂Surfing at Dulan

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andy Lee (@sengkangbabies) on

Stay tune for more adventures and photos.
Do follow our IG Story too #sengkangbabiesTaiwan #SengkangBabies花東

You may reference our Taiwan cycling posts at this tag SengkangBabies花東 : *Google Sheet itinerary (GPS inclusive)

*4D3N Cycling itinerary and summary
-Day 1a-Hualien-Taiwan Railway Online booking
-Day 1b-Hualien-Taiwan Giant bicycle rental and Hualien attractions
-Day 2-Cycling Hualien to Ruisui (Google Map GPX)
-Day 3-Cycling Ruisui to Yuli, route 193 is SO beautiful! (Google Map GPX)
-Day 4-Antong to Donghe (Attractions along Highway 11) (Google Map GPX)
-Day 4/5 – Surfing at Dulan
-Day 5 – Taitung top attractions, Kaohsiung, Home

Video: Cycling Hualian to Ruisui

Video: Cycling Ruisui to Yuli (so pretty!)

Cycling Highway 30,11 Yuli to Taitung

ps.. Do follow our Cycling adventures on Instagram hashtag #Cycling