The Ultimate Guide to Alishan National Recreational Forest and The Famous Sunrise

High up in the mountains of Taiwan is a forest filled with old world charm and mystic atmosphere.  Featuring sacred trees, zen spaces, green valleys, world-class sunrises, Japanese-built trains, and seas of cloud hugging high-altitude peaks, the Alishan National Scenic Area is a must-visit destination when planning your trip around this island nation.

As a top tourist draw since the 1920s, hoards of Chinese tourists come here virtually everyday but you’re in for a treat if you decide to come up to Alishan on your own.  The truth is though, planning a trip to this recreational forest isn’t necessarily the easiest.  Part of it is because of the lack of English information and the other part is that there are simply many methods and steps to get to the top.  That’s why I’ve put together this Alishan travel guide in Taiwan to help you out.

Visiting Alishan on your own doesn’t have to be hard.  It just requires a bit of homework.

What I want to show you is that it doesn’t have to be as complicated as it sounds and venturing to Alishan on your own doesn’t have to be hard.  There’s a lot of information packed here so I’m including a Table of Contents to make it easier to navigate.

How did it all start…

Alishan was just one part of our 12 day epic journey around the island of Formosa.  For those interested in watching how it unfolded, watch the first episode from this nifty player.  You can also head straight to the full YouTube series.

The Alishan Travel Guide Basics

First of all, there are a lot of names that are thrown around.  There’s just “Alishan” but there’s also “Alishan National Recreational Forest” and there’s “Alishan National Scenic Area”.  All of them reference the same place but give you a bit of a clue about why it’s not as simple as being one mountain.  Inside this scenic area are the 5 wonders but we’ll get to that a little bit later on!

So how did this area develop?  During the Japanese occupation period of Taiwan, there was a massive logging operation here and in order to transport the wood down the mountain, they managed to build an impressive narrow-gauge train and along the way grew many small towns.

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Planning a Trip to Alishan (阿里山)

When you’re putting together a trip to Alishan, there are a few things you need to ask yourself first:

• How many days do you have?
• Do you want to do the sunrise?
• Do you want to take the Alishan Forest Railway?

These are all important to think about because the nature of the logistics will dictate how your itinerary looks like. Why?

[Fact 1] If you’re doing Alishan on your own, it would be very challenging to do Alishan in one day.  Even if you tried, you’d be throwing the sunrise out the door and you’d only have enough time to do the forest trails.  There are a day trips that run from Taipei but I’d imagine it would be the same problem.

[Fact 2] If the sunrise is important to you, you’ll need to stay overnight.  With that, you’ll need to think about buying your sunrise tickets beforehand and figure out transportation to the Alishan train station.

[Fact 3] Is it an absolute must to take the Alishan Forest Railway?  If so, this will dramatically change your schedule as the train only runs once a day on most days.

Now stow these away because that’s where all this information below comes into play.

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GETTING TO ALISHAN FROM CHIAYI (嘉義)

There are several ways up to Alishan but these are the most common and preferred methods.

1. Alishan Forest Railway Train
2. Tourist Shuttle Bus
3. Local Drivers

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OPTION 1:  ALISHAN FOREST RAILWAY TRAIN

Aside from the sunrise, this is the most popular and preferred option to get up to Alishan.  As quite the feat of engineering in 1912 for the purposes of logging, it is a major attraction due to its history, authenticity, and scenery as it winds its way up.

Once upon a time, this railway went all the way from Chiayi to Alishan however due to the typhoons of 2014, the section between Fenqihu (also spelled Fenchihu) to Alishan were damaged beyond repair and have since been left that way.  That is why the Alishan Forest Train only goes up to Fenqihu station.

Key Facts:

• Duration – 2 hours 20 minutes
• Schedule – Only makes 1 trip up a day at 9AM on weekdays.  On weekends and holidays, there are two trips that run (9AM and 10AM) [Official schedule]
• Capacity – 180
• Booking – Sells out fast so book as soon as it becomes available (online booking only available 15 days in advance).  [Book online]
• Cost – Full fare is NT $384

Booking Tickets Online:

As of October 1, 2019, they transitioned to a brand new website for booking the Alishan Forest Railway train.  I have yet to translate and re-do the screenshots for the new website but hopefully you can take what I did with the old system.

Remember, you can book 15 days in advance so that is why only a small block of dates are selectable.

Step 1: Homepage

Head to the homepage, and go to the top right corner and change the language to English (yes they finally have it natively built in!)

Step 2:  Select General Booking

Next, you’ll want to go into the “General Booking” section of the page through the “Online booking” dropdown.

Step 3: Enter booking details

They’ve finally simplified this process and eliminated the confusion around having to pick the right station.  They’ve done this by providing 4 primary routes that most visitors are going to care about.

• ChiaYi-Shitzulu – This is the Alishan Forest Railway train or what they dub as the “Alishan Express”.  This is the new last station on the line because of recent earthquakes.  The full line to Alishan has not been repaired.
• Chushan – This is where you go for the Alishan sunrise.  Yes you can now book this online ahead of time which is great.
• Sacred Tree – A useful route to take is to save some energy and either go from Sacred Tree back to Alishan station or start your hiking by beginning at Sacred Tree and making the loop around.
• Zhaoping – This is the halfway stop towards Chushan.

If you’re eligible for 1/2 price tickets, select the Child ticket option.

What if you want to do something like Chiayi to Fenqihu? Yes you can still do this by using the From and To dropdowns under Itinerary.  You can also do things like start in Beimen instead if you’re looking for something much more custom.

Note that there is a bit of a glitch when you pick one of the Chushan/Sacred Tree/Zhaoping routes and switch back to ChaiYi-Shitzulu as the dropdowns don’t convert back.

Once you’re ready, enter the verification Captcha code and hit the “Inquiry” button.

Step 4:  Train Selection

In this step, if there is availability, you’ll see available trains to select from.  If not, it’ll tell you right away on the form.

Select the train you want using the radio button and then hit the “Confirm the train number” button.

Step 5:  Price and Final Details

This step will show you the price of the booking.

You’ll also need to put your citizenship and contact information here.  If you can, try to put in a local Taiwan number there but it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t know it at the time of booking.

In the past, the passport number had to be 8 digits but I didn’t seem to have any issues with this on the new system.  That said, you’ll see that there is a note on paying attention to the warning messages if your passport number ends in a character.

Step 6:  Confirmation Page

This is the page that confirms that you’ve made the booking but haven’t paid yet.

You’ll receive an e-mail in Chinese that says you’ve booked but there’s nothing useful there.  What you need to do next is click on “Online payment”.

Step 7:  Select Type of Payment

This page all of a sudden switches back to Chinese but it’s pretty self-explanatory.  You’ll be wanting to pay with Visa or MasterCard so the default selection is fine.

Click on the button that’s on the bottom right.

If you end up doing this credit card payment step at a later time, you can always retrieve your booking using your passport number and reservation number.

Step 8:  Pay By Credit Card

This is the part where you enter your credit card information in to complete the transaction and finalize your booking.

Now if you’d like someone to do this for you, I recommend you reach out to an English tour operator like MyTaiwanTour and they can get you sorted out end to end.

What You Need To Know:

Coming from Taipei – If you haven’t realized it yet, if you’re determined to take the Forest Railway, you’ll need to wake up very early.  There are number of trains that run through Chiayi in the morning so make sure you book accordingly.  Use these nifty train schedule search pages in English for the high speed train or standard railway so you can book your train tickets online.

There are multiple stations in Chiayi – There’s the Chiayi THSR station which is for the high speed rail.  However, the Alishan Forest Railway Train departs from Chiayi Railway Station (TRA) .  There’s a shuttle that goes back and forth (7211 or 7212) and takes 30 minutes.  This bus is part of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system and is located on the rear side of the station so you need to take the pedestrian bridge to cross to the other side.  The schedule is subject to change but they start running at 6:05AM and is every 20 minutes.   In a pinch, you can also hail a cab (approx NT $400-$500 per person so that’s ~NT$2000 for max capacity of 4).

Stay in Chiayi – For a drama-free morning, I would recommend staying in Chiayi which also puts you near the railway station.

Only to Shitzulu – I’d like to reiterate the fact that this train only takes you up to Shitzulu where you’ll need to catch a complimentary shuttle to the National Recreational Forest.

How about from Fenqihu? – Read how to get to Alishan from Fenqihu.

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OPTION 2:  TAIWAN TOURIST SHUTTLE BUS

As much as I would have loved to have done the Forest Railway Train, we just didn’t feel like waking up that early and rush to make a 9AM train.

If you’re in the same position as us, the lucky news for you is that there are still a number of options available thanks to Taiwan’s Tourist Shuttle Busses which were specifically created to make it easier for Westerners.  It’s not perfect but they’re definitely trying to put more English signs.  That said, their websites are a mess because their impossible navigate and there’s no one hub that has all the information.  That’s where I come along :)

Okay let’s jump into the two different lines that they’ve created up to Alishan and what’s the difference?

Line A – Tourist Shuttle Bus from Chiayi THSR (Bus 7329) 

Line A is essentially the bus to Alishan from the high speed rail station.  This is going to make the most sense for anyone coming in from say Taipei, Kaohsiung, or Taichung.

Key Facts:

• Duration – Roughly 2.5 hours
• Frequency – 4x daily (9:30AM, 10:10AM, 11:00AM, 1:10AM)
• Cost -Full fare is NT $271
• Payment – You can pay with cash, EasyCard, or iPASS

What You Need To Know:

• Exact change only if paying by cash as no change is provided.
• iCash2.0 is not accepted.
• The only bus that stops in Fenqihu is the 11AM one.
• There was quite a bit of construction at the THSR station and the stop is hidden behind a temporary construction wall.  We just asked the info desk where it was and they were able to direct us.

Line B – Tourist Shuttle Bus from Chiayi TRA Railway Station (Bus 7322)

Line B is an alternative bus that leaves from train station that’s in downtown Chiayi.  This option only makes sense if you’re staying in the city or for some reason you missed the Forest Railway Train.  This bus is also more frequent than Line A and faster.

Key Facts:

• Duration – Roughly 2 hours (slightly faster than Line A)
• Frequency – 10x daily (hourly starting from 6:05AM to 2:05PM)
• Cost -Full fare is NT $230
• Payment – You can pay with cash, EasyCard, or iPASS

What You Need To Know:

• Exact change only if paying by cash as no change is provided.
• iCash2.0 is not accepted.
• The only buses that stops in Fenqihu are at 9:35AM and 12:05PM.

Extra Chiayi TRA Railway Station Bus to Fenqihu (Bus 7302)

There’s also a limited 7302 bus that goes up to Fenqihu from the railway station in Chiayi.  It only runs twice a day (7:05AM and 3:05PM) but could be an option if Line A or B don’t work out for you.  There’s unfortunately not a lot of information on it but I presume the bus works like the other lines.

What you need to consider with the 3:05PM bus is that if you take it, you will not make the connecting bus up to Alishan so only take it if you plan on staying in Fenqihu overnight or you’re going to take an alternative form of transportation once you’re there.

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OPTION 3:  LOCAL DRIVERS

This is a take-at-your-own risk option as I don’t have experience with these but when we were waiting for our bus at the THSR station, there were random cars that drove by offering direct car rides up to Alishan.  One guy offered to take us for NT $300.

TIPS:  Brace yourself for a very windy and nausea-inducing bus ride.  I would suggest taking something for motion-sickness if you get it easily.

TIPS:  If you’re travelling with a lot of luggage and you don’t need all of it in Alishan, think about leaving some of it behind at the storage lockers in the Chiayi THSR station.

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GETTING TO ALISHAN FROM FENQIHU (奮起湖)

If your schedule allows, I recommend spending some time in Fenqihu even if it’s only to have lunch at the bento box restaurant.  In Fenqihu, you’ll also find the Forest Railway Museum which chronicles the history of the trains and equipment that have been used over the past century, and also an old street which is great for snacks, similar to Jiufen.

From Fenqihu, there are two busses that you can take to finally get up to Alishan.

OPTION 1:  SHUTTLE BUS PART OF LINE A/B

This is essentially the connecting busses as part of Line A or B (Bus 7329/7322).  Located near the entrance to the Forest Railway Museum, you can buy a ticket when you board the bus.  This bus will drop you off at the bus terminal of Alishan which is just outside the park.

Key Facts:

• Duration – Roughly 1 hour
• Frequency – 3x daily (11:30AM, 12:50PM, and 2:00PM)
• Cost – Full fare is NT $96
• Payment – You can pay with cash, EasyCard, or iPASS

OPTION 2:  HIGH FREQUENCY BUSES TO SHIZHAO (石棹)

I don’t have too much information about this but from my research it looks like there are high frequency buses that go from Fenqihu to the town of Shizhao.

The bus ride to Shizhao is 15 minutes and from Shizhao it’s another 45 minutes to Alishan.

Key Facts:

• Duration – 15 minutes + 45 minutes
• Frequency – Unknown
• Cost – Unknown
• Payment – To pre-purchase tickets in Shizhao, look for the Hi Life convenient store and in the noodle shop next door, you can use your EasyCard to pay.

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RECOMMENDED ROUTE TO ALISHAN

Taking the Alishan Forest Railway from Taipei

If you manage to get tickets for the Alishan Forest Railway, this is what your trip will look like.

1. Hop on a trip to Chiayi from Taipei (i.e. THSR Train 0203 6:30AM to 7:45AM)
2. Catch the shuttle bus from the Chiayi THSR to TRA station at roughly 8:05AM
3. Take 9AM Alishan Forest Railway train
4. Arrive in Fenqihu at 11:20AM
5. Take 12:50 bus from Fenqihu to Alishan
6. Arrive in Alishan at 2PM

Taking a Bus to Alishan from Taipei

The following chronicles the exact steps that we followed.

1. Hop on a train to Chiayi from Taipei (i.e. THSR Train 1307 9:01AM to 10:29AM)
2. From the THSR station take Tourist Shuttle Bus 7329 (Line A) at 11AM
3. Get off at Fenqihu to explore and have a bento box lunch
4. Catch the last bus up from Fenqihu to Alishan Station (Bus 7322) at 2PM
5. Arrive in Alishan at 3PM
6. National Park Entrance – Walk to the entrance gate and pay the fee – $300 TWD per person.
7. Walk to Alishan train station – I would recommend coming here to buy your sunrise train tickets which are only sold between 1PM – 4:30PM.  If you know that your hotel sells sunrise tickets as well, you can skip this step.
8. Transit to your hotel – This is specific to Alishan House but we had to ask locals where we could get a shuttle ride to the hotel.  We learned that pick up was by the visitor centre and got there just in time for the 3:50PM shuttle.

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WHERE TO STAY IN ALISHAN

There are a number of accommodation options in Alishan.  Each is tailored for different budgets and has their pros and cons.  Here are 4 different options that you can choose from.

My recommendation would be to stay inside the park if you can afford it as it saves you the hassle in the morning for sunrise as the shuttle ride is included and so you don’t have to wake up that early in the morning.

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THINGS TO DO IN ALISHAN

Now that you’ve gotten to Alishan, how do you plan your time here?

When I first started planning my trip here, I had the impression that the park would be massive and that I would be forced to pick maybe one or two trails to do.  I think it has to do with me coming from Canada and being used to the kind of national parks where you have to drive from place to place to see.

The truth is, the Alishan National Recreational Forest is very manageable as far as a park is concerned and also quite do-able to do close to the entire thing in a day.

Now let’s get into the details.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO ONCE YOU GET INTO THE PARK

Once you get dropped off the Alishan bus station, there are a couple of things you’ll need to do.

Since the bus station is outside of the park, the first thing you’ll need to do enter the park by walking to the large entrance gate and pay the fee which is NT $150 per person.

From there, you’ll need to walk around 200 meters to get to the Alishan Station.  I would recommend coming here to buy your sunrise train tickets which are only sold between 1PM – 4:30PM.  If you know that your hotel sells sunrise tickets as well, you can skip this step.

The last step is to get to your hotel to drop off all of your stuff.  Find out where your hotel’s shuttle pick up service is.  For us, Alishan House specifically did pickups from the visitor center.

THE 5 WONDERS OF ALISHAN

Remember the 5 wonders of Alishan I mentioned?  So what are they?

1. Sunrise
2. Alishan Forest Railway
3. Sunset
4. Sea Cloud
5. Forest Trails

These will be your guideline to how you end up planning your time here but how exactly does that look like?

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HOW TO DO ALISHAN?

That’s great and all but what is the best way to see the entire scenic area?  If you have two days in Alishan like we did, here’s what I recommend you doing.

Day 1

If you take a look at our 12 day itinerary through Taiwan, you will find out that the fog was really heavy when we first arrived in Alishan.  While we had thoughts about starting one of the trails, we were also advised by our hotel receptionist at Alishan House, that it wasn’t worth it to head out and that we should just use the rest of the day to settle in and take advantage of the observation deck of the hotel to catch a glimpse of the sunset.

The observation deck didn’t disappoint and you’ll see from Episode 2 of the 12 Days in Taiwan Series that I got a chance to watch the sea cloud flow in and up through the mountain valley as if it were soup filling up a bowl.

I also liked the idea of not rushing things as we had an early start ahead of us.

Day 2

The second day in Alishan is when everything happens.  There’s the sunrise but then also there’s the rest of the forest trails to explore.  The big question for me and I am sure for you is, “how the heck do I plan my day?”  Again, Alishan House reception was able to set us straight and recommended an optimal route.

Here’s what that optimal route looks like broken into 3 distinct parts.  This should also give you a sense of why we saved so much time by staying at Alishan House.

1. Sunrise and Breakfast
   • Start the early morning the shuttle ride to the Alishan train station and then the train up to Chusan
   • Return back to Alishan train station after sunrise and catch a shuttle back to the hotel
   • Have the included breakfast buffet
   • Go back to the room to pack your bags
   • Check out of your room
   • Drop your bags off with reception
2. Hike the loop to Sister Pond via Zhaoping Station
   • This is a distinct loop because at the time of our visit, the Pond-shore Boardwalk (including Magnolia Garden) was closed
   • Come back to Alishan Hotel (perfect timing to use the facilities)
   • This loop can be done in as quickly as an hour.  At our slow pace, we took 1.5 hours including photo and video taking
3. Hike the loop to the Giant Trees Boardwalk and come back through Sacred Tree Station and the Cihyun Temple
   • Alternatively, we could have hopped on the train from Sacred Tree Station back to Alishan Station but it didn’t make too much sense
   • This loop can be done in as quickly as 50 minutes but at our pace, it was just over an hour.

I will say that this was all quite do-able in just over half a day.  This came as a surprise to me because on the map it looked so expansive.  I am proof that you can do the sunrise, walk both loops, and still be ready to catch the bus back down at 2:20PM.

Alternative Routes

It’s worth noting that this itinerary works perfectly for Alishan House but if you’re staying near Alishan Station or outside of the park, you may want to do things differently.

If you watch Episode 2, you’ll see that I talk about the “Alishan Triangle” and the recommended route according to the park.  This means that you have to purchase train tickets from Alishan Station to Zhaoping, followed by Loop #1 and Loop #2 as labelled in the map (these will have to be two separate loops as long as the Pond-shore Boardwalk is closed) and then take the train back to Alishan Station from the Sacred Tree.

This seems to be the most popular route for visitors.  The trains are also frequent enough where you should be able to catch them as you’re hiking through.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SUNRISE

As one of the top wonders of Alishan, this is kind of a big deal and to miss it would be a bit of a shame.  That said, there’s no guarantee that you’ll see it but it’s still worth the attempt if not for taking the old forest train and watching the mountains and clouds come alive.

Purchasing tickets is the first step.  This can be done by either going to the Alishan train station first thing when you arrive as I recommend or buying it at your hotel if they offer it (Alishan House does).  If purchasing at the station, keep in mind that they only sell tickets the day before and you have to do it between the hours of 1PM and 4:30PM.  This is also when they announce the sunrise time which should allow you to plan your transportation opens if your hotel doesn’t provide a shuttle.

While your experience will likely be a little different depending on the time of the year, here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of exactly how our sunrise went down.

1. The previous night, the hotel confirms sunrise times as determined by the park and also a shuttle bus departure time.  Ours was set to 5:10AM
2. Shuttle will drop you right at the entrance to the train station
3. Take the stairs to the second floor of the station and start lining up
4. You will have your tickets checked after which you’ll find a train car to queue in front of
5. Promptly at the stated time, the train will load and start heading up the mountain.  For us, this was at 5:40AM
6. There’s a train stop at Zhaoping (also spelled Chaoping) but don’t get off here
7. When you get to the final Chusan stop, follow the crowd and take the stairs up to the viewing point
8. If you want a prime position along the fence, try to get up as quickly as you can
9. Pay attention to the giant sign by the stairs as this will give you information about when the sunrise is and when the last train is to head back down.
10. Wait for the sunrise and when you’re done head back down to catch your train.  For a 6:50AM sunrise, our two trains down were at 7:05AM and 7:25AM
11. When you return back to Alishan station, there should be a hotel shuttle waiting for you

TIPS:  When the hotel tells you that the sunrise shuttle rides start at 5:10AM, it actually means that they start running 15 minutes prior.  When we showed up promptly at the posted time, there was already a long line and it clearly looked like they had already started ferrying people over.  As a result, we were pretty much the last ones out of the hotel.

TIPS:  The location of the sunrise depends on the time of the year.  During the winter time, sunrise is more towards the right side of the viewing area and in the summer, it’s towards the left.  To find the best place to stand, look for the Taiwanese guy sitting on a stool yelling to the crowd.  We weren’t sure if he was a park ranger or just some local crazy guy but he points out where the best viewing angles are.

TIPS:  For photography, however, I did find it challenging to shoot the mountains from the platform because smack in the middle is a tree.  You have to make a call whether you want to include the tree in the composition or frame it in a way that takes it out.  I did find that the left side of the viewing area is less obstructed but since we didn’t get a sunrise, it’s hard to say for certain whether that’s the best place to stand or not.

TIPS:  Worried you’ll get hungry while watching the sunrise?  Don’t worry, there are food stalls along the left side of the viewing area including things like hot soup and fish balls.

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GETTING BACK DOWN TO CHIAYI FROM ALISHAN

Just as with the ride up to Alishan, you have to pay careful attention to the bus schedule and plan your time in the park accordingly.

There are the same 3 options to go back down as there are to go up so let me break it down.

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OPTION 1:  ALISHAN FOREST RAILWAY TRAIN

I’ve heard that taking the train downhill is the lesser of the two directions for the train because it is less scenic.  That said, if you missed taking the train up, going back down by the Forest Railway may be something you want to look into.

Key Facts:

• Duration – 2 hours 20 minutes
• Schedule – Only makes 1 trip down a day at 2PM on weekdays.  On weekends and holidays, there are two trips that run (2PM and 3PM) [Official schedule]
• Capacity – 180
• Booking – As with uphill, downhill books out just as fast especially during high season.  Refer to booking instructions earlier in the article.
• Cost – Full fare is NT $384

Remember, this train starts from Fenqihu so you still need to get from Alishan back down.  What makes taking the train a challenge is that only one tourist shuttle bus can get you to Fenqihu before 2PM and that’s the 10:10AM Line A bus.  This means that you are cutting your Alishan exploration extremely short.

Alternatively, you could look into taking a cab to try to maximize your time.

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OPTION 2: TAIWAN TOURIST SHUTTLE BUS

Similar to going up, Line A and B work the same way going back down.

Line A will take you back to the Chiayi THSR (high speed rail) station and Line B will take you back to the Chiayi TRA (regular railway) station.  Refer to the photo I took of the schedule earlier for the exact timing.

For us, since we had pre-booked a train to Kaohsiung for 4:55PM, the only shuttle bus that made sense for us was the 2:20PM one that arrives at Chiayi THSR station at 5:10PM.

Regarding the bus, the steps are slightly different when it comes to reserving and paying so pay attention.

Bus station – To get to the bus stop, remember you have to get out of the park and to the station you arrived at.  The shuttle bus driver at Alishan House was nice enough to drop us right at the station but if that isn’t possible, walk towards the entrance gate and from there it’s only a 5 minute walk away.

Buying and reserving bus tickets – Once you get to the station, go inside to the waiting area and adjoining 7-11.  Look for the special cashier counter for bus tickets.  Whether you’re using EasyCard or cash, you have to go through this step.  With cash, you pay and you get a paper ticket.  If you’re using EasyCard, you tap and you get a slip of paper that says you’ve already prepaid.  This is especially critical during high season because there are limited seats on the bus.  It wasn’t much of an issue for us since our bus was less than half full but I can see there being confusion here if nobody tells you what’s going on.

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OPTION 3: LOCAL DRIVERS

We didn’t see too many hustlers while were in Alishan but I’m sure if you go to the Visitor Center, you’ll be able to find these drivers or cabs to take you back down to Chiayi or Fenqihu.

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So there you have it, an uber guide on Alishan.  It honestly sounds more complicated than it is but I can totally see it being a bit messy especially if you don’t speak Mandarin or can’t read Chinese.  If you have any questions as you’re planning your trip, don’t hesitate to drop a comment or reach out personally.  Always happy to help!

This trip wouldn’t have been possible without the Taiwan Tourism Bureau so hats off to them for coordinating a lot of the behind-the-scenes logistics and recommending spots like Alishan for us to explore.  All opinions here are my own of course!