Full SELF DRIVE itinerary: EVERYTHING WE DID

Pretty sure most of you is familiar when it comes to travelling in Taiwan and most people have already travelled to Taipei & Kaohsiung so….

This ITINERARY is for you if:

1. You intend to travel out of Taipei!

2. You intend to drive yourself!

3. You want to do more exploring and go to places only driving brings you 😉 

4. This is an 80% exploration & a relaxing 20% shopping trip! (We rather splurge more on good experiences)

We have taken down notes for

1. How to go about renting your car here & What to take note + tips!

2. Timeline recommendations

3. Food places we like!

4. What to do at the places we went!

5. Petrol Breaks (not to worry as Taiwan has many petrol stations all over the country, we thought it will be hard but it was pretty easy)

SOOOO, let’s go 🚘

1️⃣ D1: ARRIVE IN TAIPEI

We always take the midnight flight from SIN → TPE and will reach about 0545. And within Taipei we’ll travel around with the EasyCard and only started driving outside of Taipei.

8AM breakfast @ Fuhang Beancurd & Soybean (Shandong Temple Station)

11AM We took train to check into our hotel: Caesar Metro Taipei ($122/night)

2PM We have lunch @ Ah Zong Mianxian (Ximending Station)

We walked around Digital Gadget Plaza as my husband was looking for chargers & gears

6PM We dinner at The Top (Need to reserve in advance)

8:30PM We collected our car which is very new from Chailease at Taipei Main Station (Car Renting Guide coming soon!)

9PM We went to Ningxia Night Market

11PM Back to Hotel

2️⃣ D2 TAIPEI → TAICHUNG → ALISHAN

9AM We had breakfast at a nearby place which is pretty affordable and good even though we have hotel breakfast available… we spent about $160NT

10AM We picked up our car at the hotel carpark and started our journey!! We dropped by Taichung Taroko Mall for lunch + shopping for winterwear as Alishan gets cold and is about 2 degrees at night ❄️

12PM We went to Miyahara Ice Cream right next to Taichung Taroko Mall (MUST VISIT IN TAICHUNG HOR)

1PM Start to drive towards Alishan Scenic Area with tons of sharp turns and I was busy being a passenger princess 🙂 (2HRS DRIVE)

We skipped stopping by Fengqihu for their bento set (this is a stop for most people travelling to Alishan with the train)

And when we reach Alishan its getting dark already (Taipei sunsets about 6pm during spring), so we quickly went to the highest altitude 7-11 in Taiwan to grab some quick snacks and we went night walking around the park and gazed at the stars at the top of the hotel but gotta sleep early to wake up at 4am for the sunrise OMGGG

3️⃣ D3 ALISHAN → SUN MOON LAKE

4AM We took the bus up to the Zhushan Train Station instead of taking the Train as it will be super packed and the cut off time for ticketing is rather early (Pro-Tip: We took the bus because its faster and we will reach the top earlier than the rest so we can get the best spots for the sun rise and if you are extra like my husband he has a $30 app that shows and directs him to where the sun rises from)

5:10AM We reached the top of Alishan, there’s mainly 2 sunrise spots to view we chose to go up which takes another 15mins walk at **Xiaoliyuanshan Lookout.

Sun rose up at 5:49am and we couldnt catch it :( it was foggy…. my husband is sad and he didn’t want to leave…. until he sees the sun lol.**

7AM We hiked down all the way back to our hotel and at the same time exploring for 2 places

1. Trail Loop 1

2. Trail Loop 2

10AM we had our hotel breakfast and was preparing to check out of the hotel.

We left our bags at the hotel and continued to walk around the park to catch the spring blossoms which we are pleasantly surprised 🙂 

3PM we left Alishan and drove downhill towards Sun Moon Lake Hotel (The drive is very scenic and beautiful by the way, 2HRS DRIVE)

It’s much nicer and scenic driving down from Alishan as compared to when we’re driving up!

7PM We wanted to go for dinner at Ita Thao Market and we realised we were late to the party… shops were closing lol…. I realised its a weekday night and they usually close by 8pm lol. We were lucky to find a shop that sells some food and we had a quick dinner if not we be starving…

4️⃣ D4 SUN MOON LAKE

9AM We had breakfast in our hotel @ Sun Moon Lake Hotel which was honestly pretty good

10AM We didn’t rent a bike and instead took the free bikes from the hotel and it was a joke. (Thanks to my stupid suggesting thinking it’s wasted if we take an electric bike and not cycle there….) we thought it will be fun and ride around the lake yes. it was. until we are riding along the roads and its uphill and uphill…. its not small hills its like damn steep. AND THAT’S WHEN I REALLY REGRET LA

1PM we made it to Wenwu Temple after 40mins of cycling uphill wtf….. we prayed and 40mins ride again downhill now :)

Ok and we decided to U-turn back to our hotel and just take the car to drive to the spots we want to go which is all within a 15-20mins DRIVE

3PM XuanZhang Temple, we look at the real bones of the “Journey to the west” Monk….

4PM Ci En Pagoda Temple (at this moment we realised hiking in Taiwan requires torchlights lol, as the sky gets really dark pretty early and the hiking trails don’t have lights at all)

5PM Settled our late lunch and eaely dinner at Ita Thao market and this time it was so lively!

We had the chicken thigh which was amazing and also the milk tea here is by far the BEST we’ve drank in the whole of taiwan (must have)

5️⃣ D5 SUN MOON LAKE → QINGJING

9AM We ate breakfast at the hotel

11AM We were driving towards Qingjing and we saw this fancy teahouse 喝喝茶(红茶蛋，红玉冰淇淋). its about 20mins drive from sun moon lake towards QingJing so we stopped by for tea & tea leaf eggs. Recommended stop! (2HRS DRIVE)

1PM we stayed at this hotel which is in my opinion the 2nd best place to stay for the vibes especially in the cold ass weather: Hanging Garden Resort @ Qing Jing

2PM We walked to Sakura Trail and had a hotpot lunch in one the restaurants that gave the Little Swiss Garden Tickets for FREE

5PM We had dinner at 美凤姐的店 which is hand pulled chicken. We did a night walk around Qingjing and its quite happening along the road with food stalls.

8PM Oh yes our hotel has amazing supper with free noodles and snacks

Ok that’s all for NOW…

Follow me & stay tuned for part 2 ok hehe 🤍

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