Hiking in Taiwan: how 2 popular trails, in Taipei and Guguan, highlight the variety of options on offer
- A growing number of hikers have been heading to Taiwan, lured by its vast nature reserves, forested mountains and hot springs towns
- Our correspondent hikes up Elephant Mountain in the capital, then heads to the hot springs town of Guguan, whose surroundings are home to an indigenous group
From the observatory of Taiwan’s tallest building – the 101-storey Taipei 101 tower, in the heart of the capital – it’s possible to watch hikers make their way along the footpaths that weave up the forested slopes of Xiangshan, or Elephant Mountain.
Green spaces are never far away when you’re in Taipei, whether it’s Yangmingshan National Park, home to the world’s first “urban quiet park” – a scheme created to highlight places with minimal noise pollution – or, 13km (8 miles) from the city, the Beitou Hot Spring Park, where clusters of hibiscus trees wilt over steaming hot springs.
Elephant Mountain’s trails start near Xiangshan Park, in which fellow hikers are performing some pre-hike tai chi, thick forest to one side of us, skyscrapers on the other.
One of the park’s underpasses is decorated with a mosaic depicting squirrels scrambling up tree trunks – and signs warning visitors to keep a lookout for cobras and bees.
The mountain is thickly blanketed with giant taro and yellow-stem fig trees, as well as fragrant scarlet begonia plants. At points along the trails, signs encourage visitors to make the most of the view by clambering onto huge sandstone boulders – chunks of the sedimentary strata that shaped the mountain 18 million years ago.
