Alishan – Tashan (塔山) Trail

To truly appreciate the beauty of Taiwan, one needs to venture outside the cities. There are a few places around Taipei but the real beauty is in the central part of the island where the mountain ranges course through. At 7,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, Alishan (阿里山) isn’t the highest mountain in Taiwan. That prize goes to Yushan (玉山), which tops out at 13,000 feet, about where the lower peaks of the Sierra Nevada sit around.

Alishan National Park is a popular destination for local tourists to view sunrises, sunsets, sea of clouds, cypresses, and ride the Alishan train. Peak seasons are around cherry blossoms seasons in March and April. January is relatively quiet – perfect for solitary hikes.

The area is famed for the Formosa Cypress, which can live for thousands of years, and are prized for their scent, beautiful grains and quality as building materials. During Japanese occupation of Taiwan between 1895-1945, the Japanese built the Alishan Forest Railway in 1906 to facilitate transport of timber down the mountains to then be shipped to Japan. Luckily, owing to the rugged terrain, the area was spared from total deforestation.

The old railway now runs 3 short train routes shuttling visitors between stations within the park.

First, let’s talk about logistics on how to get to Alishan from Taipei if you don’t want to drive. Alishan is located in Chiayi county, so you’ll have to find your way to Chiayi first.

There are 2 rail options – TRA (台鐵) and HSR (高鐵). TRA has local and express trains, so depending on which one you take, the trip can range between 2.5-5.5 hours. The HSR will get you there in a little over 1.5 hours.

We opted for the TRA express train since the TRA train station is centrally located in Chiayi, with more bus transfer options.

The buses for Alishan are located right outside the station next to the cute station mascot.

This is the 7322 bus schedule from AliShan to Chiayi, which gives you an idea as to how frequently the buses run (approximately one per hour). The last bus from the train station to Alishan is at about 2-3pm, so definitely try to catch the morning bus.

As for lodging, if you’re short on time, stay within the Alishan Park area. The old hotels in the park leave a bit more to be desired. Since we had all the time in the world, we opted to stay at the Hotel Indigo Alishan which is located an hour’s drive from the park.

Opened in early 2023, Hotel Indigo is conveniently located right at the 7322 Long Touping (巃頭坪) bus stop.

Pointer : if you’re interested in staying at the Hotel Indigo, you can cut down on the cost by booking award stays. First open up an IHG account and either 1. buy points when IHG runs their 100% bonus points promotions or 2. apply for the Chase IHG premiere card and get 140k welcome bonus, which can cover 2-3 nights at this property.

The best part of this hotel is that it offers free shuttle bus services to and from Alishan Park, so you’re not at the mercy of the somewhat unreliable bus schedule.

Entry fee into the park is $200NT per person. If you plan to visit 2 days in a row (which I highly recommend), make sure to get the ticket stamped upon exiting the park so that you can enter the park using the same ticket within the next 24 hours.

For our first day, we hiked the 5-mile Tashan Trail. This is the longest hike within the park, but the short distance is easily made up for by the unrelenting uphill climb in the second half of the trail. When they say it takes 4 hours to complete the round trip, they mean it. The trailhead begins near the Zhaoping station, which you can get to by either a 25-minute walk or a 7-minute train ride from the Alishan station.

We opted for the short train ride for the experience.

Once past the halfway point, it’s nonstop ascent.

This isn’t the top, but it marks the spot where I think offers the best view along the trail.

Actually, I wouldn’t know if the top offers an even better view because we stopped 100 meters prematurely from the top as I had mistaken a “do not enter” sign as the end of the trail, not realizing that the trail veers off to the side. The top supposedly offers a view of the Yushan peak. Just another reason for me to go back.