Tours are fun, tours show you everything you need to know and tours start really early. So for day 4 of our Taiwan itinerary, we woke up early again for our day tour to Hualien Taroko Gorge.

Travel HANter

13 Sep 17

Taiwan Itinerary Day 4: Hualien Taroko Gorge

This morning, we had our breakfast at the cafe in our hotel. The spread was adequate and the food was quite tasty. They even served the apparently famous Donghe bao zi – their meat and lotus bun, which was pretty delicious. After which, our tour guide picked us up from our hotel.

The Journey to Hualien Taroko Gorge

A 40 mins ride brought us to the Ch’ing-shui Cliff where we alighted to take photos of the gorgeous blue ocean and cliff. There were lots of tourists which was understandable as the view was simply stunning, despite being a cloudy day.

Hualien Taroko Gorge

Another 20 mins drive took us to the entrance of Taroko National Park where we all alighted to take proofs that we have been here.

It’s really incredible how they managed to build a tunnel through the Gorge. The tour guide told us that they used to manually dug through the rocks but modern day technology has allowed mankind to drill through nature with the use of huge drills.

Entrance to Taroko National Park

Following which, we had our toilet and morning coffee break at Chang Chun Ci where we had simple coffee and kuehs.

After our energy boost, we were driven to start our Swallow Grotto Trail and Tunnel of Nine Turns Tunnel (tunnel-ception!). The whole trail was about 4 km and our bus and tour guide were waiting at the end of the trail.

“Sights along the trail include the Indian Chieftain’s Profile Rock (印第安酋長石), potholes (壺穴) along the cliff face, swallows darting in, out, and around the caves, ultimately leading up to the Jinheng Park (靳恆公園) and Jinheng Bridge (靳恆橋). Walking from the Buluowan-Swallow Grove Trail to the Jinheng Bridge takes around 20 minutes. Due to frequent landslides and falling rocks, it is advised to wear a safety helmet, available for free from the park.” -information from guidetotaipei–

HAN-dy tip: Keep walking, because the views are worth it.

Lunch at Hualien Taroko Gorge

Okay! Beautiful sceneries filled our eyes and memory card but not our stomachs! Finally, we went to Taroko Tianxiang Village for lunch but the food was meh.

We were also given time to WALK AGAIN to Xiangde temple but we were not capable trekkers so we just looked from afar and roamed around the small village.

Klook.com

Shakadang Trail

Last place for the tour! More trail, so, off we go to Shakadang Trail! The view we saw were like the picture below, but minus the running blue stream and aerial view. We were just mainly focused on the tiring walk and path so we forgot to take any photos.

Coming to the end of our Hualien Taroko Gorge tour, our tour guide cum driver kindly sent the guests to places they wanted to go next, provided it’s on the way. Hence, we told him to drop us at Qi Xing Tan(七星潭）Beach.

Qi Xing Tan(七星潭）Beach

MY KIND OF PLACE. NO WALKING. Just the sea and the breeze.

The whole beach was filled with beautiful pebbles!

Dinner in Hualien

Easily spent 2 hours at the beach and it was time for dinner! Googled and went to Open Sesame Japanese Restaurant. The food was sumptuous. Just like what we read in the reviews, there were lots of locals dining in there. The sashimi was fresh and the cooked food was nicely cooked too. The meal cost about NT300 per set dinner with free flow of green tea!

With our bellies satisfied, we ended day 4 of our Taiwan itinerary.

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