ALISHAN SERIES: 5 THINGS I WISH I KNEW BEFORE GOING TO ALISHAN, TAIWAN! (PART 4/4)
My post on Everything You Need to Know About Alishan has done unexpectedly very well…. which means that besides myself, there are a lot of other travellers looking for the information on the Internet. As such, I have decided to extend the Alishan series in time for the next Cherry Blossom season so you can have more information about Alishan to better plan.
Without further ado, let’s get started on the 5 things I wish I knew before planning my trip to Alishan.
ONE. KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES.
There are only a few must do’s in Alishan. Riding the Alishan Forest Train and watching the sunrise are the 2 BIG must do’s. That being said, increasing your chances of acquiring those 2 items are of utmost importance to you. The Alishan Forest Train runs both ways – up and down the mountain; however, I personally think it’s more exciting to ride the train up the mountain versus down (it’s also faster going up then down). Unfortunately, the Alishan Forest Train only goes up to Alishan ONCE a day (M-F @ 9am; Weekends & holidays @ 10am).
ALISHAN FOREST TRAIN:
Make sure you book your ticket in advance to secure a seat. If you’re really desperate, you can try checking the counter in the morning when you arrive to the Chiayi Train Station. It’s the ticket office directly outside the station to your left – they may have space for you for a standing seat, but it’s 3 hours standing on your feet… For those wondering, I have been told that the right side going up is more scenic and vice versa, the left side coming down. There is an English commentary that runs through the entire train ride and is quite good. If you’re looking for all the forms of transportation and how to get to Alishan, check out our post here.
WATCHING THE SUNRISE:
Our morning call was at 3:30am…
They announce the next morning’s sunrise time at early evening each day; therefore the time for the morning Sunrise Viewing Train, which is also the Chushan Line Train, might change slightly… Everybody on the Alishan mountain will want a ticket to go on the Sunrise Viewing Train to go see the sunrise; hence, you need to go get tickets in advance. So we were actually quite confused because we thought Alishan was the mountain where you watch the sunrise, but you actually have to take the Sunrise Viewing Train to Chushan (another mountain) within Alishan to view the sunrise… The tickets are sold the afternoon of the previous day – check to see if your hotel will sell you tickets because Alishan Hotel (the hotel we stayed at) sold the Sunrise Train tickets directly to their guests.
ACCOMMODATIONS:
Alishan Hotel is the most convenient & extravagant, but also the most expensive…
This is where it gets confusing… I see a lot of hotels advertise themselves as Alishan xxxxxxx Hotel; however, there is a difference between the Alishan Forest Recreational Area and towns elsewhere in Chiayi. I would recommend you to stay within the Alishan Forest Recreational area, which is the main area of Alishan and is within the area that is close enough that you can catch the Chushan Sunrise Viewing Train to see the sunrise in the morning. There aren’t a lot of accommodations to choose from within the specified area; therefore, please do book ahead of time. There is actually an alternative place/route that doesn’t require you to get to the main area of Alishan and that is to stay at Fenqihu. We have a post on “Where You Should Stay in Alishan” that illustrates the two options.
That being said, your priorities really are: 1) Getting the Alishan Forest Train tickets in advance 2) Booking your accommodations in advance and when you arrive into Alishan, 3) Get your Sunrise Viewing Train tickets.
TWO. HOPE FOR THE BEST, BUT SEEING THE SUNRISE IS NOT A GIVEN.
Everybody talks about the sunrise at Alishan, and that literally was the reason why we went to Alishan, but I don’t think the sunrise is as common as they say it is. (We also have a post as part of our Alishan Series on “The Top Things to do in Alishan“.) Morning call was something insane like 3:30am; in order to catch the hotel shuttle to get us to the Alishan Train Station so we could take the Sunrise Viewing Train to get to Chushan. At Chushan, we waited for about 1 hour for Mr. Golden Sun to come out in relatively cold weather considering it was a cold March day; but it was too foggy that day and we never got to see the sunrise sadly… Eventually, after 30 mins had passed from the actual “sunrise time” and the sky was already lit, we left Chushan disappointed…
Here’s the sunrise we saw:
It’s the experience that matters right?
This uncle gave us a Mandarin commentary for the entire 1.5 hours during when we were waiting for the sun to raise. He was very loud… >.<
THREE. THERE ISN’T A LOT OF ENGLISH THERE.
There is a tourist information centre where the parking lot is, but there isn’t a lot of English and there aren’t a lot of signs. The trouble we ran into was that we had tickets for the Alishan Forest Train, but we needed to catch it from Fenqihu, and the morning buses that passed by Fenqihu were few in between and it was chaotic trying to find out where to buy tickets and where to line up. And we could speak Mandarin… The 7/11 in the convenience store sells tickets and most of the buses we saw depart in front of that 7/11. It would make sense for you to sort out which bus you need to take the day before with the Tourist Centre to ensure you can buy the right ticket. Our bus for example, we were only allowed to purchase tickets on the morning of… Also, there is a difference between Chiayi Station and Chiayi Railway Station so don’t get that mixed up. If possible, try to get as much planning and research done before heading to Alishan, and print out any confirmations you may need as well. I would recommend having Internet data so you can Google anything you may need.
In addition, the English phonetics for the different places in Alishan are sometimes slightly different. For example Fenqihu can also be spelled as Fenchihu and similarily, you may see Zhushan or Chushan and they mean the same place.
FOUR. IF YOU’RE GOING FOR THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS OR AUTUMN FOLIAGE, PLAN SOME BUFFER TIME.
Blossoming cherry blossoms
We went March 2016 in the first week that the official Alishan website stated that the cherry blossoms would be in bloom at Alishan… Unfortunately, it was a cold year, and when we arrived, there were a few trees with cherry blossoms, but it would have been a lot nicer if we had gone a week or two later when the majority of the trees would be in full bloom… Try to aim for the middle of the period that they give to avoid disappointment. This also means you should plan in advance, book accommodations & train tickets in advance as well because Alishan is a very popular place for the viewing of cherry blossoms and autumn foliage.
FIVE. AFTER ALISHAN, YOU MAY WANT TO GO TO SUN MOON LAKE (日月潭).
There are buses that will depart for Sun Moon Lake, which is the largest body of water in Taiwan and is about a 2.5 hour drive north from Alishan. It’s called Sun Moon Lake because the east side of the lake looks like the sun, and the west side of the lake resembles that of a moon. Sun Moon Lake is also located in 1 of the 13 designated National Scenic Areas in Taiwan, and is said to be a very beautiful lake so if you’re into great scenery, you may want to consider heading to Sun Moon Lake directly after Alishan instead of heading back to Taipei/Kaoshiung. Side note: lots of people get their wedding photos taken here, or even have destination weddings here, if that’s something you’re considering as well. Here’s a very pretty photo of Sun Moon Lake:
Photo Credits:sunmoonlake.gov.tw
Have you been to Alishan and is there anything else that you would like to add to the list? Leave a comment below and let me know. Check out our super popular post on how to get to Alishan here. We even have a whole graph that lists out all the transportation options for you to get to Alishan with ease.
Hello! Very informative blog !! Appreciate the other relevant blog posts regarding Alishan. Feeling more prepared than before. Thank you!
Just a thing to clarify:
So the Alishan Forest Train runs only 9am daily at Chiayi Station, right?
You mentioned in this post that one can take the Alishan Forest train from Chiayi to Alishan for 3 hours (Means we will reach Alishan around 12pm?)
But in another post I read that the forest train only travels up to FenChiHu (probably not 3hrs long?). Subsequently we have to take coach/bus transport to Alishan.
I may have interpreted it wrongly. Kindly help me clarify about this! Thank you!
Hi Su,
Thanks for your comment – take a look at the infographic and then the paragraphs after that for more clarification. The Alishan Forest Train only runs to Fen Chi Hu (and back) – from there, you’ve gotta connect onto another form of transport (illustrated in the infographic if that’s easier). The Alishan Forest Train #1 runs from Chiayi Station at 9am, but there is an extra train #3 that goes on the weekends – once again, please click on the links under “The Alishan Forest Train” section and you’ll be directed to the schedule. Thanks.
Dear Virginia
I will be going to Alishan next week (the week of the 27th) and I will be staying at Alishan Hotel too. I went there before and stayed at the same hotel. We went around the forest area but as far as I remember the area was not that big. Is there more to the forest recreational area than that? I remember going to the other direction is already the area where buses make their stops and restaurants are all around.
I am going to go there again and just hope I can make the most of it for my 2nd visit to Alishan!
Hi Ariena,
Sorry for the delayed response – grab a map from the Customer Service Centre and yes it’s not that big but should be bigger than what you mentioned – there are a lot of trails for you to explore and it took us the whole afternoon to explore all the trails & we didn’t even do everything…
I would recommend you to check out my other posts on the must dos in Alishan because I think you should leave the forest recreational area as well to explore the tea plantations as they this be your second visit to Alishan & the tea plantation looks so much fun!
Virginia
Besides taking the train up to view the sunrise, I saw on your picture with the sign that said “Zhushan Sunrise Viewing Trail – 240M”. Does it mean we can hike up the trail? If yes, any light during the early morning or we hike in the dark with a flashlight?
btw: thank you for your post. It is so informative and helpful
Hi Debbie,
I only thing I know for sure is that there is a hiking trail. I think it takes about 1 hour and I would assume you hike in the dark so you probably would want to bring a head lamp/ flashlight. I haven’t done it so the last two points were educated guesses from what I’ve read on TripAdvisor reviews if I recall them correctly. Cheers and thanks for the love!
Virginia
Very informative blog! My friends and I are interested to continue with our trip to Sun Moon Lake after Alishan. You mentioned that there are buses in Alishan already. So we need not go back to Chiayi to hail the bus going to Sun Moon Lake? Would you know where is it exactly located in Alishan and how much the fare would be? Looking forward to your reply! Thank you.
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for your message. I don’t know the full details to this as I only briefly researched this route but abandoned it after we decided we didn’t want to go. There are definitely buses that go directly from Alishan, but I don’t remember the times, etc. I do recall it not being very frequent though, but I could be wrong as it was quite a while ago and I didn’t research it extensively.
I just googled this & they say there is one at 1pm from Alishan: http://www.sunmoonlake.gov.tw/TaiwanTripEnglish/TaiwanTripTimeEng/TaiwanTripTimeEng06.htm
Hope that helps!
Virginia
Oh to add to that, if you were to catch any bus in Alishan, there is only really one place, and it’s where the big parking lot is. Either near the Tourist centre or in front of 7/11 – you can’t miss it, and this will make a lot more sense to you once you get there, but yeah, there literally is only one place to catch the buses. Cheers.
Superbly precise and comprehensive. I did have one question: are there special considerations if one visits Christmas/New Year’s? Specifically, this period will be quite cold for Taiwan, but is it likely to be clear for sunrise/sunset?
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your message =) To your question, I’m not sure because I didn’t go during that period. I did find on Wikitravels that: Due to its elevation, Alishan is considerably cooler than the coast, with daytime highs averaging 14-24°C in summer and 5-16°C in winter. Even for a mountain, Alishan’s weather is extraordinarily rapidly changing: an average day starts with a cloudless morning, theatrically dense clouds of rolling mist by noon and ends with a lightning storm and torrents of rain before repeating all over the next day. Humidity is always very high, and indeed most surfaces in the park seem to be covered with a layer of luxuriant green moss.
I would say that it’s a gamble, you may be lucky and get there on a nice sunny day; I reckon the chances to see sunrise will be much lower but not impossible?
Sorry I can’t be of more help but if you do find out, let me know so I can add it to the site!
Virginia
Hello!
This blog post definitely helped a lot in my planning 🙂 thanks for clarifying the confusion that Alishan is not a mountain on its own!! haha Anyways, I am aware from your previous posts that Fenqihu has its own sunrise (sea of clouds) but I would like to catch the sunrise at Zhushan too. However, I will be staying at Fenqihu and if I stay at Fenqihu, is it still possible to catch the sunrise at Zhushan?
Thank you!
Hi arielle,
Thanks for the message. I think it is possible; however, you would probably need to get a private driver to drive you to the Alishan Train Station to get the Zhushan train (if you want to ride the train) or get dropped where the trail starts (if you want to hike it) OR get dropped off at Zhushan (I’m not sure about this option, but I would assume it’s possible). This would be around 3-4am, depending when sunrise is.
If you look up the times for the sunrise, just remember people will be on the platform about 45 minutes to an hour prior to that, so make sure you allot enough time so you get a good spot.
The best thing you can do is either message your hotel/hostel or ask them when you first check in. They’ll probably be able to arrange something for you, be it private car or taxi, but in terms of public bus, I’m not sure they would run that late?
If you’re really desperate and on a tight budget (& the weather is warm), perhaps you can get to Alishan during the afternoon/evening time, have dinner, and just bum around until the Zhushan train at 3/4am? I wouldn’t recommend this (I’m too old for this sh*t) but it’s an option. >.< Hope that was helpful =) Virginia
Hi,I’m debating to rent a car. Do you know if there’s parking at the Sunrise viewing area? From google street view, it looks like it’s possible, but I’m not entirely sure if you’re allowed to park there. And if it’s charged? And if it will fill up quick? Thanks.
Hi A,
Sorry, I do not know as I took the train, went straight to the viewing platform, and then back on the train. Never got to explore the Zhushan area at all. Best of luck in your research and if you find out, you could let me know and I will add it in.
Virginia