Hiking Zhuilu Old Trail

Half-Day trip in Tarokko National Park

February 15, 2023

Here, I want to share my experience hiking the Zhuilu Old Trail (錐麓古道), which is located in Taroko National Park relatively near the Gorge entrance. I feel that there is some online information that gives the impression of a high degree of difficulty in hiking it or even getting the necessary permission to go there, which is not the case. With some minor preparation, it’s possible to have an amazing half-day or day trip for less than 15 USD.

I took the train from Hualien early in the morning to Xincheng station, bringing my bicycle with me. From there, it takes about 20 minutes to reach the Taroko Gorge National Park headquarters. From the headquarters, it’s another 30-minute bicycle ride to the starting point of the trail, which is called Swallow Grotto (Yanzikou).

The entrance to the trail is locked, and it is necessary to check in with the Park Entry Permit. Foreigners need to apply for a permit at least 35 days in advance, and the window opens four months before the desired date. It is possible for one person to go without joining a group. The application can conveniently be made online at this link where you can also apply for drone flying permits.In my case, I received notification of the permit approval but could not download and print the permit itself. This was not a problem as I only needed to show a screenshot of the email and present my passport at the entry booth, which is open from 07:00 am to 10:00 am.

It is not possible to enter the trail later than 10:00 am, and the entry fee is 200 TWD, which needs to be paid in cash. Some sources and also the signs in the park itself state that a Police permit is also required to enter the trail. This was not the case.

The trail is not particularly hard to hike for someone in normal health, and the cliff is not as scary as some YouTubers make it out to be. The narrow sections along the cliff, which are about 700m high, all have ropes on the rock face side to hold on to, and there are many railings. All in all, it is a pleasant walk that can be taken slowly if needed. The route leads from Swallow Grotto to Cliff Police Station.

Sign post showing Swallow Grotto and Cliff Police Station.

Currently, only half of the original trail is open for visitors, which makes the trail only 3.1 km long - a total of 6.2 km forth and back. It took me about 4 hours in total. At the end of the hike, directly after the most scenic view along the narrow path along the cliff, there is a nice area to have lunch. On a sunny day with about 24 degrees Celsius and no clouds, it’s definitely not necessary to wear much more than shorts and a shirt. I had another layer and a jacket with me as backup.

Some small snacks should also be enough, and I would definitely refrain from making any kind of fire in the park, which is almost certainly not allowed. I recommend bringing at least a liter of water for the hike as there is no place to fill up bottles. About 1 km in, there are modern toilet facilities and mountain water from the tap that is probably not fully safe to drink.

Narrow passage next to the rock face and cliff.

For Taroko Gorge in general, I would always recommend arriving from Xincheng Train Station by your own or rented bicycle. There are buses, but their frequency is relatively low, making hopping from attraction to attraction quite tedious - unless you plan to hitchhike (which is easy and perfectly fine in Taiwan in general).

View of beautiful river at the trail entrance.