Cycling in Taiwan is kind of a thing. Giant Bicycles and Merida among others are headquartered and manufactured in Taiwan! In fact there are some 900 bike related companies here! Manufacturing of top brands like Cerevelo, Specialized, Trek to name a few also happen in Taiwan. (bike industry Taiwan) If you hadn´t heard about Taiwan as a cycling destination, just know you have been missing out….many cyclist come to Taiwan to take a spin around the whole island cycling Route 1 (about 2 weeks is common). Some bring their own bikes but this cycling heaven has bike rentals easily accessible for travelers to use for the day, a week or longer! Mainly found in Taipei (the capital) but also in many other cities around the island.

This easily makes Taiwan a natural cycling mecca!

In fact my main adventure in Taiwan was a 6 day bike ride along the East Coast of the island nation. Originally I was going to do less cycling and more hiking as there are also lots of hiking options in Taiwan. I´ll be back for sure to hike as there are some 165 mountains alone above 3000m…aka nearly 10,000ft to explore (the highest peak is at 3,952m/12,966ft)…but for this trip I decided to make it purely a cycling adventure!

In December I decided to cycle the East Coast of Taiwan only…I had 6 days and choose it for its beauty, diverse landscapes, fewer big cities and it just appealed to me more. Many start heading South from Taipei and cycle the opposite direction. I heard the path South is so well done but that you go through too many cities that it doesn´t flow as quickly…expect many stop lights, road crossings, etc and that after 2 days you are kind of over cycling through big cities. So although I have no clue how it actually is to cycle on the West side of the island, I am very happy I picked the opposite coast, especially for the time I had available.

Giant has bike shops with rentals in many locations…though you cannot rent at one shop and return to another but each location has separate rentals available. This is great if you decide to mix transit options and still cycle some awesome routes but not the whole island…for instance, I did this on a day trip to Sun Moon Lake (more info at end of blog) to ride around the lake which is a very popular ride. Besides Giant, you will find other rental options in Taipei…for instance I used Mathewbikes (near Shilin Station on the MRT). I went through them, coordinated over email before I arrived and was happily met with a well maintained sturdy bike with all the necessary things (lights, lock, puncture stuff, panier bags, etc) and they are professional and friendly. For a 6 day rental it was less than $200US. In fact, I ran into many others cycling who were also using their services! Book in advance, as they sell out!

Infrastructure for cycling is pretty well put together in Taiwan overall, especially where the main cycling route passes…Route 1. In Taipei there are tons of bike paths and bike lanes throughout the city which is so nice to find in such a large city but this does vary in other cities. Big cities also often offered commuter bike rentals via ubike…similar to many cities worldwide these day. In Taichung, for instance, I didn´t see as many bike lanes but know the Route 1 does go near Taichung so I would assume there is a connection but I did find it odd that in the city with cycling giants (companies) headquartered here that bike lanes felt for sure lacking. I know there are well known bike paths and challenging routes nearby but the city center itself did not convey to me that it was focused on cyclists (disappointing). Though you would think more locals would ride bikes, the grand majority use motor bikes or cars in Taiwan…Taiwan is quite mountainous in general so do expect plenty of tunnels which are hit or miss for cyclists, the longer ones seemed to have a bike lane but the shorter ones, you were lucky if it even had a shoulder. There are also some touristy tunnels without cars which were part of old railway lines and they were fun. Lastly, in all honesty, Route 1 even with a bike lane, separated path or shoulder was noisy, dusty, too close to cars/trucks and so boring in my opinion that I ended up avoiding it as much as I could (aka Route 1 But Don´t).

Taiwan is a foodie place so you will never be short on good food options anywhere you go (definitely a highlight in Taiwan) but for cycling it is very common to end up at 7-11 and Family Mart for treats to get you far…they are literally everywhere and you should expect to enter many on your journey. Breakfast in Taiwan was all the rage, there were shops everywhere with tons of options…do not miss out on getting breakfast in Taiwan! Night time, many cities and town had a night market going and if they do you should always check it out and grab something…often regional foods are found here. As for water, it´s a no go for tap water…you should either do the filtered water found almost everywhere including the train stations and hotels, or buy bottled water. I used mainly filtered water along my journey but realize, how you manage water might be a tad different if you cycle when it´s hotter in Taiwan (like maybe it´s boba tea to cool down lol – originates in Taiwan).

As for places to stay, I usually reserved same day on booking.com or I would look up a hotel on booking.com and show up. I am generally not certain where I will stop so I take a guess where I might stop and check for hotel options. Costs ranged from $20 to $60 and I generally hoped to find a place for about $30 so when I looked on the website sometimes that determined where I might try to reach and stay for the night. Hostels were at $20, rooms in a guesthouse were $30-40 and the higher options were $60. I sometimes also stayed in hostels, for instance along the coast or in the bigger cities this was an option…when I biked Taiwan in December I often had the whole home to myself, let alone the room. Exception: Weekends in the major cities (Taipei, Taichung) during the Winter are considered high season and hotel rates are very high for lodging so try to stay during the weekday if possible.

Along the entire coast of Taiwan is a train line and bikes can be brought aboard (some trains, not all). I used the train a few times…my plan was to take a train South from Taipei along the East Coast to Taitung and cycle back North to Taipei. Songshan Train Station is where you must go to get tickets and to use the train with a bike (look for signage, there is a specific spot to board – usually at front or end of train…ticket also specifies). When I arrived to Taiwan I tried to buy tickets at the Taipei Train Station and it wasn´t possible…it was hard enough to even get schedule information (and not due to language). I later learned about the Taiwan Railways ebooking app (look it up as such on the app store) where you can get schedule information and even reserve trains, although I was never able to actually reserve on the app, it at least showed how many spots were available on each train which helps a lot! Trains were nice to have around as a fall back plus they came with views, saved time, helped tired legs, gave a break from cars and tunnels and more. The ticket from Taipei to Hualien cost was $20 max plus the bike fee ($2US?) and I think speed trains were around $30 max depending on distance – Taipei to Taichung was $20.

THE EAST COAST BIKE TOUR

Highlights from Hualien to Taitung and up to Keelung:🇹🇼🚴🏽‍♀️

I left Taipei Sunday morning with my purple Frog-ing Touring bike I rented from Mathewbikes (I picked it up the day before). To reach the Songshan Train station and catch a train out of Taipei I took some roads with shoulders, went through a tunnel and connected to the Keelung River path to arrive which is so awesome – endless trail basically until the Songshan Train Station and beyond. I was trying to catch a 9 am train to Taitung…what I learned is that to get to Taitung there is no direct train for bikes and that you needed to first get to Hualien and then transfer to another train to reach Taitung. I also learned that the train schedule I had received was not correct and that even arriving 30 minutes prior to departure bike spots were sold out for the train I needed if I wanted to catch the second train. Wish I had known this in advance but adapting to change is just a part of traveling…so no hard feelings or much stress (I am quite accustomed to adapting while traveling)…so I changed my plans!

I would now take the next train to Hualien and start biking South from there…the following train to Taitung was in the evening so I didn´t want to waste hours I could be cycling so there it was…plans changed! The train from Taipei to Hualien took slightly over 3 hours…if I had connected I would have another 2-3 hours on train. Taiwan does have fast trains but with a bike you take the local train or limited express trains (unless you dismantle the bike and put it in a case). Pay attention on the train as the views can be quite good!

Taking the later train got me to Hualien just after 1 pm and after organizing myself, filling water and taking a bathroom break I was headed South to begin my cycling portion of the adventure. From the station I headed to the river to catch the bike path to the ocean. I didn´t spend much time in Hualien City and as far as I could tell it seemed fine but in 2024 it had quite a big earthquake and sustained some damage. Many come here to visit the Dondamen night market and to go to Taroko National Park, a beautiful Gorge, that was very much affected by the earthquake…bummer…would have liked to hike there. I later met a guy cycling who was in Hualien during the earthquake the year before and he said it was very scary, that his hotel almost toppled over (he showed me a photo of it leaning into the road – it has since been torn down) and that it took a couple of days to get trains running again.

Along the river there was the Martyr Shrine to visit (I skipped it…oops) and along the coast there were some cool wooden sculptures and wonderful views. Being a Sunday there was a lot of activity at the coastal parks, food vendors, families, many walking and cycling and maybe even a craft market! Once past the park I crossed a bridge and jumped on a road that kind of felt like a peninsula…a bit hilly but completely closed off to traffic so I enjoyed it a ton. Plus looking down at the rivers here was insane…I assumed what I saw was from typhoon damage from earlier in 2025…not certain but the river path was very wide…and I did later cycle through some towns that clearly had been affected by the typhoon. Halfway up I found the road closed because there was some construction…landslide probably from the typhoon…when I approached the site they told me I wouldn´t be let through until 5 pm. I was like…what? No way! There was clearly a way I could walk around, so I negotiated…and after a few back and forth negotiation and speaking with the people operating the machinery…I was allowed to pass…walking around in the mud following the lady I had been negotiating with lol. Shoes were quite muddy but we made it and I was quite happy I was allowed to continue 😀 Besides the views, this route was also quite curvy so it was excellent on the bike…and every now and then I spotted some monkeys (they always ran away)!

I ended day 1 in Fenglin around 5 pm, just as the sun was dimming. I showed up to the hotel, showered then made my way to find dinner. Between the am cycling to the train and the afternoon route I made just over 30 miles.

Day Two

What they don´t tell you about cycling the Route 1 is how much fun is lacking following it…most of it is along the highway…yes there are separate bike paths often or bike lanes so it´s fairly safe to cycle but it is very noisy, dusty, boring and it´s just not super fun to ride next to semi trucks and many cars. It is direct and quick though so if speed is what you are after it might be fine but after Day 1 of using the paths along the highway I was quite over it and began Day Two seeking any road I could find off the main Route 1. Hence the title of this blog…Cycle Taiwan – Route 1 BUT DON´T…not to say don´t cycle in Taiwan, DO…just don´t come here and follow Route 1 as it is not that great…the many side roads are fabulous through rice fields, small towns and sometimes views of islands! This required some logistics….I was using 3 apps to figure out my route in order to avoid Route 1. I had Komoot, Google Maps and Maps.me…each had information I could use but to really get off the road and connect Maps.me and Google Maps started to become the norm…not to set the route…Komoot did that and then I would look at the other maps and see if there were any connecting side roads. Bike paths I found off the main route were generally awesome…many towns had them but I didn´t see why they weren´t listed somewhere and offered as a better connected route…because any time I could escape the highway I did!

As soon as I left town I started my 56 mile journey to the next stop, Fuli, trying to avoid Route 1. There were two bridges to cross rivers on this route and the second bridge had been taken out by the typhoon. Towns today were full of dried mud among the plants, obvious signs of buildings missing and also this bridge. In order to cross the river we went into an elevated platform on the river bed and it was muddy as can be…I was trying to go fast across it since there were plenty of trucks behind me on this 1 lane temporary crossing…I ended up just as muddy as the first day´s walk through the landslide clean up…

After all the typhoon destruction areas I headed up some hill. It was the best part of ride…up there I crossed the Tropic of Cancer (little monument there) and entered one of the tea plantation areas of Taiwan! Besides admiring the tea flowers on all the plants I also stopped for a tea tasting. Oolong tea is well known from Taiwan so I made sure to try it!

I was the only tourist at this tea shop and shortly after arriving two local men joined me. Not much English was used but we all understood each other with a bit of translator app help. I stayed an hour and we all bonded. I tried several black teas, green teas and oolong tea…still not a green tea person! The shop (Minghaur Tea) had a tea that won a prize (Honey Flavor Black Tea) and I made sure to buy some of that as it was pretty good (they hand packed in front of me too). I was so glad I stopped, they were super friendly, even gave me fruit from their trees that they brought in to share, we took photos and I showed them my bike before I continued my adventure. I had an excellent tea experience for sure, my Taiwanese friends later commented that it looked very traditional especially after I explained how they washed each glass.

The other line I crossed was a fault line over a bridge…the Philippine Sea and Eurasian Plate. It was set up super touristy so I took photos but I got out of there quite quick…I am actually super freaked out by earthquakes so I couldn´t even believe I stopped for photos. Imagine that to cap off this day I got to experience an actual earthquake in Taiwan. It was the craziest earthquake too. I had reached my destination for the night, a guesthouse somewhat up in the mountains, no one was around but I got ahold of the owners and they let me in and set me up. After dinner and a shower I was resting in my room when I got this alert on my phone advising me of an earthquake…hum I thought….and sure enough it came rolling through a moment later…so weird to have the information in advance, yet no knowledge of the magnitude…and like shit where is it even safe here…? It was a 5.7 magnitude quake which is basically nothing in Taiwan but it was felt pretty darn well….The place I stayed was a concrete and bamboo built structure…yeah, probably not the safest…and the door to the room said Safe and Sound…yeah whatever…somehow though, after all of that I slept through the night. My friend further South said he felt nothing…crazy!

Day Three

Another cyclist suggested I hit up a mountain pass on my way to the coast so I was happy to detour and be off the main Route 1 highway for the day. It was this scenic pass (route 23) with hardly any cars, plenty of interesting animals and creature sightings and of course another construction spot ha…this time I couldn´t negotiate and I had to wait until 12 pm for them to go on lunch and let me through. While waiting I called my parents lol…yeah, middle of a mountain pass just chilling on the side of the road…ha ha…it felt like a great way to pass the time and the hour worked out well for both time zones. I was trying to meet up with a my travel buddy, Tyler, who also happened to be touring Taiwan´s East Coast at the same time but by bus…I was hoping even with the delay I would still catch him but until they let me through it was uncertain. Luckily the crew decided to go to lunch early and me and another 2 cars waiting were let through…btw, I have never seen a construction crew peace out to lunch so quick…as soon as we were waved on, they jumped in their vehicle and bolted…ha ha

Down the mountain pass I went and it was such a great ride down. Once down the pass I still had a ways to go before hitting the coast. The last part of the ride was along a river with some nice views that I couldn´t help but stop a couple of times and enjoy. I was able to cross paths with Tyler and we grabbed lunch before we continued our separate ways. Right before he left all the sun disappeared and rain came…bummer, as it kept the good ocean views away and kept me unmotivated to go far (some 40 miles today)…but I guess I had already sort of decided to only go up the way a bit to the surf town, Dulan. Tyler was coming from there and stay at The Moment Hostel which he recommended…a super nice hostel, right up from the beach and yet again the whole place to myself for the lowest price of my trip! Another recommended lodging was the Dulan Star Guesthouse which was up the hill a bit more. I slowly made my way to Dulan in between rain clouds, stopping at a cool fishing village along the way and checking out the tourist trap called Water Running Upward…lol nothing to see there!

Dulan is a very popular tourist stop, in fact, it´s the only place I stopped where I saw tourists everywhere on the street, so it was weird to me.

Day Four

I was very happy I waited to cycle to Taitung today so I could see the ocean in the sun and see what the coast actually looks like…it kind of felt like Hawaii at times.

Today I was headed to catch the train, several actually…My Southern portion of the tour would end and I planned to jump on the train and head back to Hualien to finish cycling North to Taipei. Dulan is close to Taitung but I somewhat miss calculated the time needed to reach the train station which is deep inland…I arrived to Taitung on time but I then found myself low on time to catch the train and had to sprint to the station….luckily there is a huge bike path that runs along the park on Mahengheng Blvd so I could skip nearly all the lights. Somehow I reached the station with enough time to even grab some snacks. The ride to Hualien was 3 hours or so and snacks would be needed especially since I managed to skip breakfast (I was trying to be efficient and go to the last breakfast shop in town but they ended up being closed…so I only managed a protein bar and banana at a viewpoint). This first segment was 16 miles.

Once in Hualien I planned to reach the coast again (a new part of the city I had not seen) and cycle until about 4 pm then catch another train to my destination…I would run out of time if I cycled the whole way plus the last part was full of traffic and tunnels. I was willing to do some of them though so I could see some of the beautiful coastline so I cycled 25 miles North of Hualien.

Hualien´s coastline is indeed stunning! It was by far my favorite part of the cycling adventure. Not necessarily the actual route but the views. In fact just reaching the coast North of Hualien City was spectacular! The route North from Hualien was fine until I passed Xincheng Old Street – by the way, this is super cute little town you should check out! After Xincheng Old Street the road becomes narrow, curvy and interspersed with tunnels or bridges. Some tunnels are short but there is not always space and again it´s Route 1 so its the highway with trucks and traffic…

The tunnels were hit or miss…some had great bike lanes and weren’t bad but others had no shoulder and sucked. Generally the longer tunnels (4km) were nice but shorter ones often didn´t have a shoulder at all and cross your fingers for no cars while you go through. I had a mix of it all but in general they sucked with or without cars because I was always stressed if there were going to be cars or not. The 4km tunnel sucked because you basically sucked up fumes (no fans were running…or maybe that is a good thing?)…but it did have this awesome bike lane where I likely hit 20 mph just trying to exit as fast as I could. I was lucky and only had cars behind me in one of the shortest tunnels..I was so thankful it was short…I think I did at least 4 tunnels in this section…one tunnel I did was kind of long but with windows to the sea and I pulled over because it was wow…and there was space for a vehicle…still a stressful tunnel but with bursts of beauty to distract so I kind of forgot.

By the time I reached Heping train station I was so happy to be off the road….glad I planned it out that way but gesh…not a huge fan of that part of the highway!

The last train of the day´s adventure would be 1 hour before I´d reach Su´ao (Southern part of Yilan). The station I choose was basically for workers of the cement plant right there…and I couldn´t get a ticket before boarding but I communicated that and was able to pay directly to the attendant on the train…pretty sure you normally need a ticket beforehand. Looking out the window, the route I would have taken seemed to be more bridges and tunnels so I made the right call.

I got to the Su´ao station and I still had some riding to do…guess it is not a real bike tour until you get some night riding…ha. I had a bit of light at sunset start out but about 7 miles to ride to the hotel I booked near the beach. It was actually a lovely ride once I left the traffic of the station, nice bike path and then a wide road. To close out the day I found this excellent cute noodle place (丰盛小館)…so happy!

Day Five

The day started with a lovely run around town. It had been a week and a half since the Shanghai Marathon and I was excited to run again. The route was fascinating, it started along the ocean on this bike path which was almost crowded with some very green plants (screwpine or kewra) providing needed shade on the very sunny day…it was like running in a cool green wall by the sea with views every now and then of a distant island (Guishan Island)…the route continued over a levy and onto another path along a river where other runners were, people were fishing and where some people were on the water practicing crew (rowing)…it felt like such an athletic place in Taiwan. I eventually crossed the river onto a path that dead ended and I tried to short cut across some rice irrigation fields only to fail and have to backtrack. The final portion was among the many fishing farm pools. Overall very cool route.

The entire morning and into early afternoon was a very leisurely ride spent along bike paths looking at the same island in the distance. The entire ride today was my favorite and I took my time to enjoy it. I enjoyed every bike path I could, even the ones that were likely just for walkers lol, Route 1 was being avoided completely. By doing so I was able to see some great little surf towns, take a nice little break with a beer and popsicle (Super George Surf Shop) while looking over at eye catching Guishan Island with some beginner surfers in the foreground having fun in the tiny waves that day. Shortly after I stopped for lunch, making sure to eat some seafood (red eel and a clam soup?).

At some point I had to join Route 1 but it had a very nice bike lane most of the way until I hopped off to check out my first tourist tunnel! I was excited to check out this preserved old railway tunnel they converted into a cycle route (like it was a tourist destination where you can rent a bike and ride through it or walk lol)….kind of short but I rather enjoyed the Old Caoling Tunnel Bikeway.

Once out of the touristy area on the opposite side it was a ride on a pretty solitary country road into Keelung. Flatness disappeared after awhile and it was all climbs and some tunnels until basically the outskirts of Keelung…which maybe would have been better to arrive before rush hour and sunset but it was all part of the experience of cycling into a big city and I actually enjoyed the challenge. This route also took me past a popular lantern lighting town (Shifen) at dusk…meaning I got to see all the lanterns go up in the air which was cool but this meant there were many tourist buses in this area. All the buses held up traffic on the downhill which sucked and I got stuck behind them too so sometimes I stopped and waited for a group of vehicle to pass so I could actually enjoy the downhill without holding brakes behind cars.

Arriving to Keelung in traffic was fun for me…so many motor bikes everywhere and my route eventually left the main traffic roads so that helped too. I really loved this port city for some reason, maybe it was all the lights set up for the holidays or something because my Taiwanese friends were surprised when I said I really liked Keelung. Maybe I just like dirty port cities….I dunno…I enjoyed exploring the streets and the night market was pretty great even after 56 miles on the bike that day.

Day Six

The final cycling day…

I would reach Taipei in about 20 miles…in the rain…I guess one day of rain was fine…it was the shortest day on the bike and I could basically take paths all the way into Taipei.

Since it was raining I tried to use Google Maps to direct me where to go…which didn´t really help. The path leaving Keelung and on the way to Taipei was not easy to follow but had bursts of paths that allowed me to not pay attention. It was funny once I reached Taipei I had kind of made it out of the rain storm…with the exception that if I stopped…it seemed to catch up every time…ha ha. Once in Taipei I had 7 miles or so to go to return the bike…

I was on a bit of a time crunch trying to catch a train to Taichung to see a friend on a Friday…without reservation…It all ended up working out, the bike shop opened early so that helped and I was able to grab a seat on the 1 hour speed train last minute. I now know not to stress as there is always the option to get an economy seat…aka potentially standing room only.

SIDE TRIP

Cycling Sun Moon Lake

Outside of Taichung you can reach Sun Moon Lake by bus (Nantou Bus – Gangcheng Station) and rent a bike for the day. There are tons of cheap bikes or you can get a more expensive Giant bike (2 hour rental about $40US) and really get in a workout. I choose the cheaper whole day rental ($10US max) and just slowly explored. The path out of town is quite crowded with walkers, families and groups of cyclists but once you reach where it ends (past the Xiangshan Visitors Center) you kind of have it all to yourself. Some of the route you will be on the road and sometimes using the path though you might wish you were on the road…some steep inclines, dead ends, hike a bike (pushing the bike). I took the path as much as I could simply to keep the views next to me. When I did run into the hike a bike areas, it was well set up with a bike gutter or runnel which helped.

My favorite stop on the Sun Moon Lake loop was the Ci´en Pagoda…it boasted impressive views of huge mountains up close, the colorful lake below and the pagoda structure itself was fascinating! The best time on the lake for me was sunset time for sure…though many get up for sunrise here which I tried the next day but it was a dud sunrise with all the fog…still a worthwhile run though!

The total mileage was 21.5 miles with 1500 ft of gain and it took 3 hours to do leisurely.

****A more challenging route from Taichung that you could do is the Wuling Cycling Route…some 1000m of gain and to the top of a mountain pass (highest paved road in Taiwan – 3275m).

****A flatter Taichung option near the city is the Dongfeng Bicycle Green Way which is 13km (can add on the Houfeng Bikeway for 6km more) has plenty of rentals and is continuous bike path that includes bridges and tourist tunnels as it was a former railway.

Cycling Taiwan Tips:

Bike Rental Options: MathewBikes, Giant, BikeExpress and plenty others!

Taiwan Railways ebooking app to check spaces for bike on train (can reserve if you have a local number)

YouBike Inner city commuter Bike Rental App (More Info) – multiple cities have these bikes

Train station to use in Taipei if you decide to take a bike is Songshan Train Station!

Water: you shouldn’t drink out the tap, and no one does. You will find filtered water everywhere though so you can refill bottles instead of buying bottled water. Filtered water is almost everywhere, lodging, train stations, etc

Bike Security: Taiwan is very safe for bikes, I generally locked it at night but otherwise it was safe unlocked…even in the big cities, as long as you locked it to go inside you are probably fine.

Warmshowers (similar to coachsurfing but for cyclists) works here, there are not tons of hosts but they do exist.

In high season (winter) try to avoid Taipei (other major cities) on the weekend, lodging rates can be very high!

Transit card – get an Easycard if plan to use, subway (MRT), buses, shuttles, etc in Taiwan a lot. Cost is high for card but it will save you lots and make everything easier! I used cash as I only took transit a handful of times. More Info

Potentially Helpful Links:

More Cycling Taiwan Route Info

Bus to Sun Moon Lake bus schedule

Bikes on Trains info

Downloadable Route Maps (I did not find these useful but maybe they are for you?)