The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
Updated 4 November 2015 Itinerary Overview ☼ Summer in Taiwan ☼ From Taoyuan Airport to Hualien City Day 2: Hualien (Taroko National Park 太魯閣) It’s our day 2 on the grounds of Taiwan! Though I’ve been to Taroko Gorge some years back, it’s never boring to …
Updated 4 November 2015 Itinerary Overview ☼ Summer in Taiwan ☼ From Taoyuan Airport to Hualien City Day 2: Hualien (Taroko National Park 太魯閣) It’s our day 2 on the grounds of Taiwan! Though I’ve been to Taroko Gorge some years back, it’s never boring to …
(Updated: 11 Apr 17) It’s been years since I’ve been back to Taiwan. This time round, I planned to tour Hualien before Taipei City. So it’s about 5 full days in Taiwan. Let’s go! We reached Taoyuan international Airport on a Monday afternoon and decided to travel straight to Hualien instead of staying for a night in Taipei. Anyhow, we still have to make our way from the airport to Taipei City, so as to catch the train to Hualien.
At Taoyuan Airport, we got out of the gates and turned left, walked all the way till the end and took an escalator down. And there is a row of ticket booths. So we went straight to Kuo Kuang “國光客運“ booth and bought tickets to Taipei Main Station (Bus 1819).
Alternatives
There is more information of buses from the airport to Songshan airport, Nangang Exhibition Center and other buses to Taipei City at: www.taoyuan-airport.com/english/Buses
We didn’t advance buy our train tickets from Taipei to Hualien because we weren’t sure what time we will be reaching Taipei Main Station from the airport – because we were not staying a night in Taipei to leave the next morning; and there might just be a flight delay.
Tickets can be purchased from the TRA counter at Taipei Main Station (also at Breeze Centre). When we reached TPE Main Station, there was a super long queue for the counters but so much fewer people at the Tickets Vending Machines just next to the counters. We couldn’t fathom why, but just headed straight to the machines.
(Later we realized, sometimes sold out tickets at the machines can still be bought at the counters. Also, it’s probably for people to buy combination tickets, see below.)
Can start to book only 2 weeks in advance. Check the schedule of trains and buy tickets at TRA website.
If you see a Shulin → Hualien, etc, don’t fret. It just means Shulin and Hualien are the beginning and end stops of a train route, travelling from Shulin to Hualien and passing by Taipei as one of the stops. i.e. Shulin -> Taipei -> Hualien.
Fares: NT340 to NT440
Duration: About 2 to 3.5 hours, depending on the train you take.
Alternative: Apparently you can go on a 50% cheaper route – with a combo of bus and train. Refer to this post for more information on the combination ticket. Instead of Xincheng Train Station mentioned in post, you can choose Hualien Train Station.
Tips:
We were a bit delayed from our unexpected long train ride, and thought we missed the hotel shuttle. But thank God for the guy who waited about half an hour for us in the summer heat, wearing his suit. So pampered to be chauffeured in a nice car, all to ourselves.
Itinerary Overview ☼ Summer in Taiwan ☼ (Click links for travel information or photo journal) Day 1: Taipei – Hualien Travel from Taoyuan Airport to Hualien Dinner at Hualien City Review: Accommodation at Hualien City Day 2: Hualien (Taroko) Travelling from Hualien to and around Taroko National Park 太魯閣 …
▲ Photo Journal | ▲ Hong Kong, Lamma Island I just went to Hong Kong in January 2014. So it never crossed my mind to go to Hong Kong again for my mid-year holiday trip. But! My Cathay Pacific flight to Taiwan allows me to have 1 …
Price? S$95/~A$80 per night
Accommodation Type: Airbnb Room, Private Toilet (airbnb.com.sg/rooms/913192)
When? 2 nights in October 2013
Our experience? We were flying in from Melbourne and our friend drove us from the airport to the airbnb place. And by the time we reached the place, it was already dark. We couldn’t find the house initially, because it was right at the end of the road, and secluded – there weren’t lights around the house and street lights were dim. Kinda scary. But when John and Margit came to the door, they lit up the doorway and we heaved a sigh of relief. We placed our luggage in the room and headed out for dinner straightaway. Our friend gave us a ride to nearby eating places because they couldn’t join us. So after dinner, we had to walk back to the airbnb place – across a large field – took us about 10 to 15 minutes to walk.
On our last day, we needed to leave for the airport. So John gave us a ride to the nearest train station for us to get to the city to take a bus to the airport.
What say us?
✔ Helpful Host: John made sure that we were able to locate his place and even offered to drive us to and from the train station.
✔ Awesome Place: The home was very clean and comfortable. John has a lovely garden at the back of his house and it’s worth checking it out!
✔ Strong wifi signal
✔ Kitchen: We could help ourselves to the food in the kitchen for breakfast, tea and coffee – quite a good selection they have!
✘ Location: The place would be more accessible with a car.
✘ Toilet: The bathroom is not attached to the room. But it is next to the room and we had exclusive use of it.
✘ Heating and air-conditioning: Do note that it’s central heating and air conditioning. So we couldn’t adjust the temperature in our room to meet our needs.
Recommended? Will go back to stay only if we have a rented car to travel around in. Do consider if you have a car, because It’s quite affordable, comparing to the accommodation prices in Perth. :)
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Price? ~S$115/A$99 per night Accommodation Type: Airbnb Room, Ensuite Toilet (airbnb.com.sg/rooms/990963) When? 4 nights in October 2013 Our experience? We missed our flight to reach Melbourne at night, so we caught another midnight flight and reached the place very early in the morning. And even though, we had to trouble Wendy (the host) to …
Updated 5 July 2016 Finally Fitzroy! People don’t normally go to Fitzroy on their first Melbourne visit (Here are 11 places for first timers to explore in Melbourne (Part1), (Part 2)). However, I wanted to go to the Haji Lane of Melbourne, except Fitzroy was much bigger than expected. …