Of course, Hualien is a city, but it’s additionally a place where – if you’re able to travel the bigger county – mother nature can rob the show. In fact, it’s here that you’ll find one of Taiwan‘s most beautiful National Parks, Taroko. Indeed, numerous site visitors decide to skip town altogether and disappear to the countryside. Yet this relaxed seaside city provides plenty of destinations to make for the remarkable remain. Therefore the next time you discover youself to be on Taiwan‘s East Coast, chill in Hualien City for quite a while, making use of our guide to help you take full advantage of your stay. Get more information about 【花蓮包車】
Stroll around Hualien Railway Customs Park
There is an amazing history to train travel in Taiwan: in 1887, little more than decade after the first commercial train launched in Shanghai, mainland China, its first tracks were in business, created within the watch of Qing Dynasty governor Liu Ming-Chuan. The portion reaching Hualien was done underneath the Japanese rule from the island, in 1911. What is awesome about the Train Culture Park, apart from your chance to discover the entire story, is the inclusion of preserved Japanese vapor locomotives, such as a hulking Nishia, produced in 1936.
Drink tea at Miao Kou Red Tea
Renowned for its hearty snacks and brass pipes – through which piping hot cups of tea are fallen from the first-floor kitchen – Miao Kou is open one day and try to attracts a crowd of enthusiasts. Expect to line and don’t count on delicate Chinese makes – this is certainly as close as Hualien actually gets to a greasy place, but it’s an unmissable Taiwan experience. Your brew will likely be made available to you over a paper cup in the mean time, irresistibly kitsch flowery-routine crockery is utilized for serving the omelette snacks, peanut broth and Taiwanese macarons, a shop favourite by using a gooey marshmallow centre.
Sample street food at Dongdamen Night Market
Taiwan’s diversity of road food is dizzying: you’ll encounter delicious flavours and mixtures you probably won’t have ever tasted before: there’s peanut ice-lotion roll syrup-smothered (potato-like) taro balls jet-black garlic cloves and chilli iron eggs (challenging-boiled, in soy marinade) and chicken stew-stuffed ‘coffin bread’ (hollowed loaf). Over 400 stalls sizzle with woks and bubble with broths at Dongdamen Night Market, in the outdated Hualien train station on the eastern fringe of town. It could just be the very best spot in the region to fill your face.
Check out local art at Fogstand
This joint Taiwanese and American art gallery and studio (having an artist-in-residence programme) exhibits modern day work by rising creatives, goes training courses and promotes international art exchange. There are two exhibits – in Hualien and then in Hamline-Midway in St. Paul, Minnesota. Reveals have provided conceptual pieces by Aberdeen artist John Nicol and Singapore artist Kaifeng Chun and films dedicated to memory space and place by Taiwanese artist Jin Da Lin. It is really a believed-provoking and unique place for anyone enthusiastic about thoughts of identity and that belongs.
Visit the Martyrs Shrine
Here utilized to stand up a Shinto temple, built-in 1915 by order of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa, ruler of Japanese Taiwan. It was demolished in 1981 and substituted for the current Taoist building, which recalls local martyrs who passed away resisting intrusion. Among them: Koxinga, a Ming loyalist who fought from the 17th Century Qing conquest along with the Dutch attack of Taiwan also Liu Yongfu, who resisted the first Japanese and became president of the simple-existed Republic of Formosa. Try to devote an hour or so roughly with this meditative, tranquil place.
Relax at Pine Garden
Set inside a lawned garden looking over the city along with the Mei Lun Stream, this ivy-festooned mansion is the ideal-preserved Japanese armed forces building in Taiwan. Built in 1942, it served as the national headquarters in the Japanese Navy. Kamikaze aviators were blessed on this page with cherry wine, sent especially by their Emperor, well before starting suicide missions. In 1945 it became a holiday resort for holidaying US troops and also in 2000 it launched in its existing location being a historic destination. Go to enjoy the swoony Pacific Ocean views.
Move the previous railway outlines
This simple stretch of Hualien’s abandoned old railway is repurposed as being a hipster shopping road. You may still view the monitors in the cobbles, disregarded by modern clothing shops and cafes. The area can be a honeypot for adolescent and twentysomething Taiwanese revellers who collect in the cafes of your night time. Mingle along with them while they exchange stories over barista-prepared cappuccinos and make certain to move the road just before moving for food at close by Dongdamen Night Market.
Surf the Hualien County Stone Sculpture Gallery
In a natural way shaped stones have been venerated in China since olden days and were actually classified as outlined by their beauty dating back to the 7th century, in the Tang dynasty’s reign. It’s still common to discover Gong Shi or “scholars rocks” outside temples and smaller sized gemstones in family shrines, frequently on a bespoke-carved rosewood pedestal. This modern art gallery and garden are devoted to Gong Shi and also to artificially carved stone, such as hardstone carving (which happens to be one of China’s most ancient arts) and modern day work.
Chill at Nanbin Park
Featuring its oceanside location, its jogging path along with its cycleway, central Nanbin Park is really a godsend for natives searching for leisurely downtime. Best tip: it’s at its best early in the morning, once the direct sun light goes up golden within the sea. The park, dotted with sculptures showing every day life and sea animals, is bordered from a long grey seashore, with coarse sands ideal for ambling coupled, making those leg muscle tissue work. To get more sunbather-ideal sands brain north of town, near the Qingshui Cliffs.
Head over to Taroko Gorge for river trekking
The Taroko Gorge is a canyon calculating 3km (2mi) deeply, forged through the foaming Liwu stream with the mountain ranges west of Hualien. Speckled with shrines and temples, it is a beautiful place for a push-by visit or possibly a much more exciting river-bed hike. It is an enjoyable obstacle, clambering over boulders, wading through small channels, swimming in icy pools and hot springs and disappearing into the beauty in the landscape. Best tip: arrive without possessions, as you’ll get damp. In the winter months months, it pays off to overpack hot clothes, as things will get chilly right here.