Eastern Taiwan Region Guide

Eastern Taiwan is the side of the island most Taiwanese will tell you to go to, and the one that looks least like anywhere else in Asia.

Taroko Gorge is the headline: a marble canyon where the Liwu river has cut more than a kilometre down through rock that is still being pushed up, with roads and walkways tunnelled into the cliff faces. It is among the most dramatic landscapes in the region.

Beyond it, the coast is a single long road between mountains and the Pacific with almost nothing built on it, and the parallel East Rift Valley runs between two ranges through rice terraces and hot springs.

This is also the heart of indigenous Taiwan. The Amis, Truku, Bunun, Puyuma and Kavalan peoples are a far larger share of the population here, and their festivals, food and music are part of ordinary life rather than a display.

And it is empty: two counties, a fraction of the island’s people, and no motorway.

Taroko Gorge

Marble walls, the Swallow Grotto and Tunnel of Nine Turns, the Eternal Spring Shrine, and the Zhuilu Old Road cut into a cliff five hundred metres above the river, which needs a permit. Check current access first — much of the park has been closed or restricted since the 2024 earthquake.

The coast road

Highway 11 runs the length of the east coast between the Pacific and the Coastal Range, with almost no development: Qingshui Cliffs dropping straight into the sea, Shitiping’s stepped rock terraces, Baxiandong caves, and the Tropic of Cancer marker.

The East Rift Valley

Highway 9 and the railway run the parallel inland route through rice country: Chishang and Brown Avenue, Luye’s tea plateau, the hot springs at Ruisui and Antong, and Liushidan Mountain covered in orange daylilies in August.

On and in the water

Whale and dolphin watching from Hualien and Shitiping is reliable in summer, with spinner dolphins and, with luck, sperm whales. River rafting on the Xiuguluan, and surfing at Dulan and Jinzun.

Green Island and Orchid Island

Ferries from Taitung to Green Island, with a saltwater hot spring and a former political prison, and Orchid Island, home of the Tao people and their flying-fish culture.

Eastern Taiwan is where indigenous culture is strongest and most visible, and where the pace of the island slows noticeably.

Indigenous Taiwan

Around a quarter of Hualien and Taitung’s population is indigenous, several times the national share. The Amis are the largest group in Taiwan and are concentrated here; the Truku live around Taroko, the Bunun in the mountains, the Puyuma around Taitung, and the Kavalan on the coast. The Tao of Orchid Island are distinct again, culturally closer to the Philippines than to Taiwan.

Austronesian origins

Linguists broadly agree that Taiwan is the homeland of the Austronesian language family, from which speakers spread across the Pacific and Indian Oceans to Hawaii, New Zealand and Madagascar. The deepest branches of the family are all found on this island, and mostly in the east.

A different pace

The mountains cut the east off from the rest of Taiwan until tunnels and the railway arrived, and the region industrialised very little. People describe it as the island’s slow side and mean it approvingly.

Migration and return

Young people have long left for the west coast, and a counter-movement of returnees and settlers has built a small creative economy around Dulan and Hualien.

This is indigenous land. Eastern Taiwan has the island’s highest concentration of indigenous population, and the best way to travel here is through community-run homestays, guides and workshops — several villages have organised exactly this. Ask before photographing people or ceremonies, and understand that some rituals are not open to outsiders.

Taroko is fragile and hazardous in equal measure. Stay on the marked trails and behind the barriers, wear the helmets provided at the rockfall-prone sections, and respect closures — the gorge shuts regularly after earthquakes and typhoons, and the 2024 earthquake caused major damage and fatalities.

The coast has fringing reef and nesting turtles. Use reef-safe sunscreen and keep off the coral.

Take the train and cycle. The rift valley is one of the best cycling routes in Asia and the railway serves it well; a car is convenient but not necessary.

Buy local: Amis wild vegetables, rift-valley rice, Hualien mochi and indigenous crafts all support small producers directly.

October to April is the best window: drier, clearer, and comfortable for walking, with the east coast escaping much of the north-east monsoon rain that soaks Yilan.

April and May bring the rice at its greenest in the rift valley, and the Brown Avenue at Chishang is at its most photogenic.

July and August are hot and are the peak of typhoon season, which matters more here than anywhere in Taiwan — the east coast takes storms arriving from the Pacific first, and the coastal highway and Taroko close.

July is also when the Amis harvest festivals take place across the villages, which are the region’s great cultural events.

The Taitung hot-air balloon festival runs from late June to August on the Luye plateau.

Check whether Taroko is open before planning a trip around it; access has been repeatedly restricted since the April 2024 earthquake.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Relative cost across the region

The east is inexpensive and its homestay network is excellent value, often including two home-cooked meals. The main constraint is that there is simply less accommodation than demand at peak times.