The Great Taiwan Loop: The Ultimate Round-the-Island Road Trip – by Emese Balla
Highlighting our magical 2-week tour around Taiwan in Oct 2025
Many travelers want to do a full circle tour around the island – and I can only recommend it!
It’s an amazing adventure, and for us it truly was the road trip of a lifetime ❤️ I had high expectations based on previous visits to various parts of the island – but these two weeks were even better than we had imagined!
There are almost endless ways to plan your loop tour:
🔃 Clockwise or counterclockwise,
🚘🚂 By rental car the whole way, by train and public buses only, or a mix – renting a car for harder-to-reach spots like Alishan and the East Coast while using public transportation along the West Coast.
🏨 By choosing 3-4 “home bases” and taking lots of day trips from there – or staying on the move and spending each night somewhere new.
Whichever way you decide to go about it, and whichever sights you choose to include or skip – as long as you do some research in advance and organize the itinerary and logistics in a way that best fits your family’s travel style and idea of fun – you’ll have an amazing time!
Helpful tips for your planning:
📅 Trip length: Unless you’re lucky enough to have limitless free time, start by deciding how many days you can dedicate to this tour. Two weeks is the absolute minimum in my opinion. Three weeks lets you see most of the top sights without feeling rushed – but in a dream world, four weeks would be perfect to truly soak in the highlights at a relaxed pace. Personally, my dream is to have a full month for this one day 😇
☀️ Best time of the year for touring the entire island: Spring (March–April) and Fall (October–November).
One of many fun facts I learned on my first trip is that this small island is blessed with two distinct climates: subtropical in the north and central parts, and tropical in the south! The dividing line roughly follows the Tropic of Cancer, which crosses central Taiwan — and you can actually spot monuments marking it on both the east and west coasts in dedicated parks.
Because of this, the north is quite cool, damp, and rainy in winter – with something close to four actual seasons. The south (like Tainan, Kaohsiung, Kenting, and Taitung) has a wet, super humid and hot summer, and a dry, balmy winter. The high mountains are always much cooler than the rest of the island, temps can drop to freezing between December and March.
That’s why spring and fall offer the best of both worlds – although I guarantee you will somehow still experience all four seasons… sometimes in a single day 😂
I’m sharing the exact itinerary of our version of this road trip, including our accommodations and some logistical details.
Our focus was: Scenic drives & mountain views, some easy hikes and coastal fun by rental car. This entire tour can be also done by public transportation all the way – it just requires a bit more time and planning. We are a slower-traveling couple who like to take our time at each place, take in the scenery, enjoy food and conversation with locals at a leisurely pace. This is not an ‘Amazing Race’ type itinerary where we maximized every minute of the day to move somewhere new – instead we embraced the beauty of each scenic view, each interaction and delicious meal. If you prefer moving faster – it’s certainly possible to see and do more!
(for more activities and sights to cover, but still with a realistic and enjoyable pace – see this sample itinerary.)
Day 1-Day 2: Taipei weekend with spectacular, surprise fireworks for ‘Double 10th Day’ at Taipei 101 and exploring Tamsui with its fun river promenade, historic buildings, seafood-galore and Fisherman’s Wharf sunset.
D3: Rental car pick-up nearby Songshan Airport (for easy highway access – we really wanted to minimize driving in Taipei 🤣
Start of the East Coast drive! Scenic stops at Jiaoxi, Nan-fang-ao Fishing Harbor: Fresh fish from the market can be cooked for 100 NT 😂). Suao Township. Rest stop at Starbucks Xiulin, a beautiful Indigenous-style Starbucks location. Qingshui Cliffs (21 kms long dramatic sea-cliff) – Qixingtan pebble Beach – arriving to Hualien City for our overnight stay.
D4-D5: Continued to drive south from Hualien with scenic stops on Coastal Route 11 and also Road 9 inland. Spent 2 nights in Chishang, overlooking stunning Rice Fields, biking around on ‘Mr Brown Avenue’, visited pineapple farms and explored the beautiful East Rift Valley.
D6: Did the long drive from Chishang rice fields to Kaohsiung – from the East Coast to West with scenic stops at: Luye Highland, Taitung, Duoliang Railway Station, Shuangliu Waterfall, rest stop at Fangliao beach, arrival to Kaohsiung just in time for a dreamy harbour sunset. 🌇
D7-D9: Kaohsiung home base for 3 nights. Fantastic adventures on super hot days visiting Cijin Island, the huge and historic Aviation Museum, Fo Guangshan Buddha Museum and Monastery, sunset biking around Pier 2 Art District, the Harbour & Love river, Lotus Pond (with the famous Dragon & Tiger Pagodas). 🐉🐅
D9: Easy day-trip by a 20 minute ferry ride to super-cute Lambay Island (Xiaoliuqiu) to swim with sea turtles and ride around the tiny island on convenient e-bikes! 🐢 Such a cute and beautiful island – highly recommended for water activities – for adults and kids alike!
D10-D12: 3 nights in a lovely Shizhuo guesthouse on a high mountain tea farm, with truly breath-taking sunset views 🌄 One day walking the trails of stunning Alishan National Park, another exploring serene bamboo and tea trails (and many stairs!!) in Shizuo and sampling delicious food in Fenqihu, last one driving all around the mountains enjoying stunning scenery and tasting high mountain oolong tea.
D13-D15: Drove to Taipei with brief Taichung & Hsinchu stops, then dropped-off rental car by Songshan Airport. Stayed 2 nights in Taipei, visiting: Martyr’s Shrine for Change of the Guards ceremony, Grand Hotel for high tea, Ningxia Nightmarket, souvenir and dried-fruit shopping at Dihua Old Street and YongKang streets, delicious hotpot dinner with friends, Pride Parade!
Logistics & Fun Trip Stats:
🚗 Drove a total of 1,350 km
Rental car was $45 USD/day (paid in advance via Klook) from GoodCars Rental
🛏 15 nights – 6 accommodations
Average cost of one night in spacious double rooms: 2,000 NTD
Lowest/highest price: 1,200 NTD – Kaohsiung & Hualien, 4,000 NTD – Shizhuo
Best value for money: Kaohsiung & Chishang
💸 Paid upon car return: 4,600 NTD (mileage fee, gas, and highway tolls)
🍲 Average price of delicious meals: 250 NTD/person
🌡 Temps: super hot & humid on the East Coast & South; mild and pleasant up in the mountains; humid & cloudy in Taipei
🐒 Number of monkeys spotted en route: dozens 🙈
🌅 Scenic views, photos taken & wonderful memories collected: about a million 😍
Accommodations we enjoyed:
We stayed in B&Bs, guesthouses, and homestays, and each of them exceeded our expectations in service, location, & comfort! All of these have double and also 1 or 2 family rooms, with multiple comfy beds.
☆ Hualien: Happiness is My Home 花蓮幸福是我家民宿 (B&B)
☆ Chishang: Good Harvest B&B 台東池上民宿-莊稼熟了1館
☆ Kaohsiung: GoHome B&B 回家民宿
☆ Shizhuo: Green Incense Homestay 綠香茶園民宿
☆ Taipei: Our favorite Airbnb in Zhongshan
Loved every minute of this trip! 🤩
Ending my guest blog series with this final episode – I hope you enjoyed reading and found inspiration and helpful tips to plan your own epic Taiwan journey!
If my blogs sparked even one future adventure or added a stop to your Taiwan bucket list, then mission accomplished ✨
Happy travel planning, safe take-offs and landings, and may we all enjoy many more Taiwan adventures 🇹🇼💙
Xoxo,
