Sunday, January 17, 2016

What’s in Yangmingshan (Yangming Mountain) National Park? Top 5 reasons you should visit Yangmingshan, Taipei, Taiwan







Compared to most of the peaks in the Central Mountain Range, Yangming Mountain is just a hill.  Why is it on our list of top 10 things to do in Taipei? Why, despite of so many fun things to do in the Taipei city, you should spend a day in Yangmingshan? Here are the top 5 reasons you should visit Yangmingshan. And you could probably experience it all in a day, if you plan it right. By the way, “shan” means mountain in Mandarin, if anyone gets confused.

·         The hot springs

Taiwan Taipei travel information: Yangmingshan national park hot springs
Huanyi Chun hot springs. photo: Taiwan Hot Spring Directory
Yangmingshan is dotted with hot spring resorts. With the tallest dormant volcano in the national park, Yangmingshan offers great hot spring bathes in quality and variety. 

You can often find hot spring bathes with views of mountains and greens in Yangmingshan, which is rare to see in the hot spring resorts in Beitou.   However Beitou is conveniently located on a MRT line.  


Taiwan Taipei travel information: Yangmingshan national park hot springs
hot springs in the ditch
Huanyi Chun (Floral Manger) hot spring is one of our favorites. The hot spring quality is great. PH 2-4 volcanic hot springs. You can smell and see the hot spring flowing in the ditch nearby. The outdoor nude public bath offers fantastic view and volcanic mud for the most natural skin care.  The price is friendly… $5usd per person for the public bath. The only drawback about this place is their restaurant area. Food was just ok but it gets crowded and noisy.  It’s convenient to eat there after a hot spring bath.  You could also choose one of many healthy restaurants in the national park.


·         The fog

Taiwan Taipei travel information: Yangmingshan national park things to do
Dreamy foggy view. Photo: aki blog
In my opinion, the best time to visit Yangmingshan is not a sunny day or a blossom day. It is actually… a rainy or cloudy day!! 

In a sunny day, you can enjoy the mountain under the blue sky and bright light. Yet in a rainy or cloudy day, the fog often surrounds the mountain. It offers a surreal experience doing things in the fog, driving, walking, cycling or taking a hot spring bath... and the best part is… you and your party could totally own the place!! 

Yes you read that right… Taipei is a highly populated city. Yangmingshan is the “garden” of Taipeiers. People love to come here to relax and decompress.  The best time to avoid the crowd is on a rainy or cloudy day! We were lucky enough to enjoy a public bath by ourselves for as long as 3 hours on one of the rainy weekends in the winter.

·         The wild veggie (not vegetarian)

Taiwan Taipei travel information: Yangmingshan national park eat
A small wild veggie restaurant in yangmingshan
Since Yangmingshan is one of Taipei people' favorite get-away places, many restaurants offer healthy cuisines. Among those, the “wild veggie” cuisine is probably the most signature one for the area. 

These types of “restaurants” are usually hidden in the woods or in the mountain somewhere with very simple ambiance. It could be just a few tables and chairs under the trees… or in a hut. 

You may miss it but it’s not too hard to find them, just follow the parked cars. ^^ The wild veggie cuisine is not vegetarian. It offers all kinds of meat too. They make the dishes with your choice of wildly grown vegetables. 

Taiwan Taipei travel information: Yangmingshan national park food
shansu, chanchi, bitter melon and drunk chicken
One of these restaurants locates at the entrance of a road to a high-end resort, TienLai hot springs. It is close to Huanyi Chun hot spring house as well.

It’s just a little hut owned by a lovely couple. You pick the wild veggies you like from the baskets. Tell them to steam or stir-fry it… (no salad so far).  You can order other dishes from the menu or make a-la-carte order. 


Taiwan Taipei travel information: Yangmingshan national park eat
The fresh free-roaming eggs
We recommend their free-roaming drunk chicken, assorted wild veggies, the wild bitter melon with free-roaming eggs and black rice. All fresh and delicious. See the yolk of their free-roaming eggs.



·         The little mountain village

Taiwan Taipei travel information: Yangmingshan national park bayien
Boulders in the Bayien village. Photo: Ba-Yien Village
This little mountain village is probably the quietest village you can find in the Taipei city. 

Terraced paddy fields reflect the surrounding mountains and clouds. Boulders oddly scattered in the fields. You may forget that you are in a big city… until the next crowd of tourists brings you back to the reality. : )  This little town is popular among photography enthusiasts and Taipei locals looking for a convenient farming, country-like scene. Please do your best to not disturb the villagers.

·         The night view

Taiwan Taipei travel information: Yangmingshan national park night view
The night view from Zest 35 cafe. Photo: ET News
There are many places to see the Taipei city at night, such as Taipei 101. 

Yangmingshan definitely offers the most nature ambiance to enjoy the night view of Taipei city. 

You can view it in the car, in a restaurant or in a resort up in Yangmingshan. Public transportation to the mountains stops at sunset. You would need a taxi or car to get around the area at night.


To get around the Yangmingshan national park, you could hike, bike, drive, take a bus or taxi in. Just like every national park, there are many well developed trails with great scenery (such as waterfalls) if you are feeling like hiking. The season of blossom could be a great time to visit the mountain. The scenery is insane, so is crowd. Avoid weekend if you would like to avoid crowd. People watching could be interesting too if you can’t avoid the crowd after all.



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