Hualien
Starting Location
Lunch Included
Food
Moderate
Physicality
7/10
Adventure Factor
8 Hours
Duration
Our fun filled Better Taroko Gorge tour takes you to many of Taroko’s best sites, from the Swallow Grotto to the Baiyang Waterfalls and everywhere in between. We’ll spend as little time in the vehicle as possible, our groups never get bigger than 8 people, our guides all speak English and your lunch and a Hualien City hotel pick up is always included! But that’s just the start.
Why Our Better Taroko Gorge Tour Is Actually the Best
Early Start = Less Traffic, More Places & Better Weather
Our tours start early to stay ahead of tour bus traffic and the afternoon rains. While others are just arriving mid day, we’ve already explored half the park. With open roads and fewer crowds you can see more amazing places in the sunshine! Taroko Gorge, the Island Life Way!
More Time on the Nature Trails
While other operators can waste hours taking you to high pressure gift shops and crowded tourist traps outside the park, we’ll take you walking along blue rivers, hiking to incredible waterfalls and immersing you completely in the beauty of Taroko National Park! There’s really no comparison.
Less Crowds = More Wildlife
Each day, we’re among the first to numerous scenic nature trails, giving you a better chance of spotting wildlife such as butterflies, birds and yes…monkeys!
Lunch Included
Unlike the other guys, lunch is included, so you wont have to worry about paying an extra NT$200-$450 to eat. That’s value.
Trip Highlights
- Be some of the first to the famous slot canyon of Swallow Grotto in the morning
- Take a walk on not one, but TWO suspension bridges during your day
- Take a nature walk through the “Mysterious Valley” on the Shakadang Trail
- Walk through seven tunnels to the towering Baiyang Waterfalls
- Prepare to get wet in the Water Curtain Cave! We’ve got waterproof flashlights!
- See the epic Eternal Spring Shrine and learn about the deadly history of the Cross-Mountain Highway.
- Relax by a turquoise river and sample tasty homemade aboriginal treats
- Get a new perspective on Taroko from the beautiful Qixingtan Beach
- So, so much more
Itinerary
At Island Life, we promise to show you as much of the best of Taroko in one day as we can. In order to have a fun and flexible day, the exact itinerary for our tour can vary. This tour departs from Hualien City.
Some possible stops include:
- Swallow Grotto
- Baiyang Waterfalls Trail
- Water Curtain Cave
- Luishui Trail
- Shakadang Trail
- Cimu Bridge
- Tianxiang
- Eternal Springs Shrine
- Changuang Temple
- Yuewang Suspension Bridge
- Qingshui Cliffs
- Qixingtan Beach
- And other secret spots!
We will adjust our tour based on time and trail closures. Please let us know if there is something specific you’d like to see.
Details
| DEPARTURE/RETURN LOCATION | Free pick up at Hualien City hostel or hotel | ||||
| DEPARTURE TIME | 7:30-8 AM. We know our tour leaves earlier than the rest, but trust us, we do it to stay ahead of the tour buses and afternoon cloud cover. Very much worth it. | ||||
| RETURN TIME | Approximately 3:30 – 4PM. | ||||
| WEAR/BRING | A camera, comfortable walking clothing, a hat, sunscreen, a raincoat (for the Water Curtain Cave), some money for snacks drinks or souvenirs, an optional swimsuit in case there is time for a river swim (weather/river conditions permitting). | ||||
| INCLUDED |
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| NOT INCLUDED |
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New Taroko ATV Add On Now Available!
With this add on to our Taroko Gorge Tour or our Zhuilu Old Trail Tour, you can add a fun filled hour of ATV’ing on the beach out to the mesmerizing Qingshui Cliffs!
An Island Life Taiwan Exclusive!
Tour Gallery
Click Images to Enlarge
We look forward to you joining us!!
Have a Question or Ready to Book?
We’re Here to Help!
1
7:30AM-8AM: Hotel Pickup
We know our tour leaves much earlier than other companies, but it’s to stay ahead of the tour buses and afternoon cloud cover. Trust us, it’s worth it!
2
Taroko Tour
We will spend the day visiting many of Tarokos best sites and walking on some spectacular trails. In order to have a fun and flexible day, the exact itinerary for our day can vary. But we promise to try and show you as much of the best of Taroko in one day as we can! Please let us know if there is something specific you’d like to see. Some possible stops include:
- Swallow Grotto
- Baiyang Waterfalls Trail
- Water Curtain Cave
- Luishui Trail
- Shakadang Trail
- Cimhu Bridge
- Tianxiang
- Eternal Springs Shrine
- Changuang Temple
- Yuewang Suspension Bridge
- Qingshui Cliffs
- Qixingtan Beach
- And other secret spots!
3
3:30PM-4PM Return to Hualien Hotels
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Tour Reviews
The best tour you could possibly imagine
A group of 4 of my friends (including myself) did The Better Taroko Gorge Tour with Iris as our tour guide. To sum up this review in a couple words, I would repeat the title: “The best tour you could possibly imagine”. Iris was very knowledgeable about the Gorge, Hualien and all of Taiwan. She had so many interesting facts and personal, cultural contributions about the geography, politics and culture of all the places we went, that we would all gladly spent way more time with Iris had we had more time. She was super responsive and respectful and did a great job of transporting us, but also simultaneously being a good tour guide and giving us good information as well as taking plenty of pictures and videos of and for us when we were too busy or preoccupied with the sheer beauty of the Gorge to do ourselves.
Iris is very genuine. It is clear that she enjoys doing what she does, which translates perfectly into a very enjoyable and informative day.
In terms of the content, it all ran smoothly and was clearly adapted to what met our specific needs and expectations. This was not a hard, rigid, impersonal tour. There is so much to see and do in the Taroko Gorge and Island Life Taiwan was a perfect fit to make our day with them exactly what we wanted.
I could not recommend this tour anymore!!!
Everything about this tour was perfect; from the inquiry & booking to the day itself and the follow up.
Iris was a wonderful guide; had everything prepared, planned and in the boot of her car for all eventualities.
The place itself is wonderful and all the better for an early start. It was midday before we saw anyone else so we really benefited from seeing the beauty on our own.
Certainly would recommend this tour for those we don’t mind the early start and want a personal, professional tour.
And at the end of the day, all the photos that Iris took of us available for viewing on Google Drive 🙂
Memorable tour of Taroko Gorge
My boyfriend and I greatly enjoyed our time with Island Life Adventures — we took the “Better Taroko Gorge Tour” with Iris, our extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide, who took us to all the prettiest places in the gorge before the big tour buses got there; this meant that in several of the scenic spots we had the place to ourselves (no small feat, especially since we were there during Chinese New Year!) We particularly appreciated the small group size (there were 5 of us in total), which made the experience feel very tailor-made and personal. Iris also took lots of photos throughout the tour and sent them to us afterwards, which was a lovely way to conclude our experience. Would highly recommend!
Amazing Experience, Highlight of our trip in Taiwan!
We did two tours with Island Life Taiwan (Taroko and Zhuilu Old Trail) and both were spectacular experiences. They were definitely the highlight of our time in Taiwan!
Our tour guides (Iris and Manual) were very knowledgeable, nice, and accommodating. They went above and beyond to make the hiking as enjoyable as possible, and made it special for everyone on the tour.
Overall, I highly recommend doing the tours! The parks are huge and you need a great, local guide to be able to make the best of your time there.
Amazing private tour
We had a private tour because we were traveling with our 4-yr old. We all had an amazing time! We got to see more than I thought possible. Alan, our guide, was really great. He even took photos of us, which is so nice considering I’m not usually in them because I’m usually the one taking them. Typical Mom. 🙂 I wish we had more time in the area to do the longer hikes. We’ll have to come back when DS is a bit older.
Fantastic!
Our guide was very passionate, knowledgeable, friendly and funny. She explained us historical facts from features we would have missed otherwise. We had a wonderful time discovering the Taroko Gorge with her. The early start enabled us to visit without being invaded by coaches of tourists. Also, since we were a small group, we could ride a smaller vehicle and access places tourist coaches could not. Definitely recommended if you want to discover the gorge!
Best way to experience Hualien’s nature!
I had wanted to see Taroko Gorge while visiting in Hualien, but knew I couldn’t see much of it without some kind of tour. This one proved to be the best out there! Though it was a tiny bit pricier than a few of the other options I found, I thought it was well worth the cost. Alan was a great local tour guide! (And yes, he speaks English). Because our tour group was only 3 people, he was able to personalize the tour a bit more for us, staying longer in certain places to take pictures, or doing things in a slightly different order. It was all amazing!! So beautiful and not strenuous hikes. I paid extra for the ATV ride on the beach and it was absolutely worth it! We had the beach to ourselves and a whole hour to ride and enjoy the view. I highly recommend this tour while you are there, especially if you are traveling with multiple people, since the price will drop with each additional person. All in all, had a great day!
Our family of five had an incredible day in Taroko Gorge with Iris. We expected the views to be stunning, and they were, but we didn’t know we were visiting on the first day of a four day Taiwanese holiday, so the crowds were huge and could have ruined the trip if not for Iris’ inside knowledge of every aspect of the tour. She juggled the itinerary to keep us away from the worst of the crowds and worked magic to find parking and accompany us on the visit to each spot, providing background information about everything we saw. It was so much more than a sightseeing tour, and we would trust Iris to take us anywhere, and I wouldn’t want to see Taroko Gorge any other way.
Breathtaking
Highly recommend Island life Taiwan tour. We stayed in Hualien for 4 days and we booked them for all our tours during the duration of our stay. They are very professional and provided such excellent service. Tour groups are small, 8 people the most, so we didn’t feel rushed. Each guide catered to every guest and answer each question knowledgeably. They made me and my 10 year old feel very comfortable. I would recommend them to anyone. We did the Zhuilu old trail, Taroko gorge tour, and Heshuan (I know i spelled this wrong sorry) tour and we enjoyed every single bit!
Best day imaginable!
It would be ridiculous to come to Hualien and not see Taroko Gorge, and the Island Life Taiwan tour has got to be the best way to go. Our tour guide Iris was amazing at finding her way around the gorge and avoiding the crowds, which were huge that day as we went during a Taiwanese holiday. She was able to tell us so much about what we were looking at, and arranged for all of the extras you need to go all the way, like helmets against falling rocks when needed, and rain gear (including shoe covers!) to walk through the waterfall curtain. The views are breathtaking. The day is exciting. We highly recommend.
Exciting Trails and Special Treats!
Appreciate the last minute booking through Bruce. Thanks for your accommodation. My family had a great time meeting our guide Alan who brought us through the various trials and even bought us sausages and drinks a the Shakadang Trial. He even brought us down to the bank where we could soak our legs in the icy cold clear blue waters! It was an exciting journey and thanks for introducing us the ‘Mee Sua’ back at Hua Lien! Most of all, the wonderful photos you’ve taken and shared with us through your company! Cheers!
Great Tour of Taroko park
Our guide, Iris, was fabulous. Always friendly and helpful, she explained to us many things about the park, the fauna and the vegetation. We’ve seen everything calmly and the service was impeccable.
The tour was EXCELLENT! Our tour guide was Iris and she was extremely knowledgable and personable. I have a food allergy and she went out of her way to ensure that I could eat something at lunch. We were also on a tight timeline given our train schedule and she made sure that we were able to see all the sights and get to our train on time. All in all a very nice day. Would highly recommend this company.
1st class Tour!!
We took this tour as a family group of 3 adults in October and had a wonderful day, Iris showed us many spots and was full of information which she willing shared. Her bright personality and knowledge really made the day special. So pleased we chose this tour over others, being in a private vehicle was very comfortable and allowed more flexibility with time to take photos etc at places of interest. Lunch was delicious and filling. An added adventure of the the day was catching a very lost and scared dog who was dodging buses and cars on the main highway on the way home. Her willingness to stop to allow us all to catch him in my book says volumes about her and the company, he certainly would have been run over otherwise. His owner was so pleased to get him back!! If I get back to Taiwan I would not hesitate book with this company again, everything was well organised and as advertised. It was a refreshing change from the usual organised tours. Go with them you wont be disappointed and have a fabulous day out!! Thanks again Iris for a very special day.
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