Hualian's attractions

February 20, 2024

I have lived in Hualian for about three months now. Hualian is great for that as its a small city that offers a very comfortable environment for - enjoying life! And there is lots of nature to discover too.

I have been wanting to write a short article about the common question "You have lived here for some time, so what would you recommend we visit?"

I have met many backpackers who just came over to Taiwan from Thailand and Vietnam and weight Hualian's scenic areas against places they recently visitied like Railay beach in Thailand, or Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Such comparisions are of course natural, but somewhat out of place when you have similar expectations about Hualian.

The real beauty of Hualian does not exist in fancy instagram photos against - quite often - half artificial backgrounds. It is of a more subtle kind, close to the nature and also entagled with the rich history of the Taiwanese aboriginies, the Japanese occupation period of fifty years and then the unbelievably advanced civil society of today's Taiwan.

Qixingtan beach in Hualian City

For me it is interesting to understand how strongly the forces of nature influence day to day life here. Taiwans East coast is often hit by typhoones and Hualian is the seismic most active region of the island. A light to almost medium earthquake is not really even worth a topic of discussion to locals.

Hualian is a small city with regular people that gets overflooded with tourists in summer, hence the huge overcapacity of hotels and homestays you can see during the other three seasons.

So without much more ado, here are the places that I found to be the best for a visit in Hualian.

I will add more details to the places later.