0A Self-Guided Bike Tour of Taiwan’s Coast and East Rift Valley
Ride at your own pace on this self-guided cycling tour of Taiwan’s East Coast. Crafted from years of experience touring Taiwan, our perfect self-guided route is compact but diverse and takes in some of the island’s most impressive scenery on quiet, easy-to-follow roads, along the East Coast and East Rift Valley.
If you crave the perks of independent bike touring without the drawbacks, then this self-guided adventure in Taiwan is the one for you!
Highlights
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Whats include
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DAY TO DAY
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1
This morning, you’ll go to the train station for a lovely trip along the amazing east coast to Xincheng station (Taroko). Your train tickets will be given to your hotel beforehand. When you arrive at Xincheng, one of our friendly tour guides will meet you. Then, you’ll have a local lunch and a detailed briefing about the week ahead.
After lunch, we’ll take you to your hotel, which is deep in the gorge. On the way, we’ll stop for a short walk at Swallow’s Grotto, a really cool spot. When we reach the hotel, you’ll check in and get fitted for your bike. Then, your tour guide will leave you. You can spend the rest of the afternoon riding around the gorge, visiting a nearby monastery, or just enjoying the views.
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2
Today, we start early for an exciting ride through Taroko Gorge to the sea. You might want to stop for a hike along the Lushui-Heliu or Shakadang trails before reaching the Pacific Coast. Instead of the main highway, we’ll take smaller lanes lined with banana trees and temples. Along the way, we’ll stop at beaches for breaks. Tonight, we’ll stay in a cozy bed and breakfast in the fishing village of Yanliao. There’s a great seafood restaurant nearby for dinner.
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Today, we’ll take a break from the coast and explore the beautiful but less-traveled East Rift Valley. It’s a place with green rice fields and small native villages. We’ll head south on a nice road to Fuyuan, where there are walking paths and relaxing hot springs. Dinner will be provided at the hotel tonight.
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This morning, you can start your ride by taking a short detour to see the Tropic of Cancer Monument, the Saoba Monoliths (like Taiwan’s Stone Henge), and maybe stop for a cup of tea at the tea farms of Wuhe. Then, your ride continues south through the widening Rift Valley, with mountains on both sides, before turning east across the Coastal Mountain Range. After a steep climb, you’ll enjoy a long downhill ride with amazing views of the coast. Once you’re back on the coastal road, it’s just a short ride to your hotel by the ocean, which has a nice pool.
For those with the energy in the afternoon there’s the chance to SUP, kayak or just swim at nearby Stone Umbrella Beach, named for the otherworldly coastal rock formations here.
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On your last day of riding, you’ll head south along the stunning coastline, with lots of great places to stop along the way. You could hike to the magical Sanxiantai, an island formed by an old volcano. Or you could try some delicious baozi in Donghe, have a coffee in the relaxed surf town of Dulan, or take a swim at beautiful Shanyuan Beach. You could also check out the unique coastal rock formations at Xiao Yeliu. The ride ends in Taitung, where you can explore temples, parks, an arts district, and night markets, or just relax in the hotel pool.
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This morning, a MyWay tour leader will meet you. You’ll return your bikes and equipment. Then, you’ll be taken to the train station or airport for your next trip.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Click here to see our Taiwan Travel Guide.
Here is some general travel information for Taiwan.
Take a moment to read our blog Is Self-guided for you?
You can also find more answers to your questions on our Self-guided FAQ page.
We'll help plan your trip based on you like and want to do. We know a lot about the place you're gomg. so we can give you good advice. WIIether you're into history, food, or culture, ue'll make sure your trip is just right for you. With us. your travel will be easy and fun!
We carefully choose our expert guides and travel concierges to make sure you have an authentic experience. They're passionate about their work and will bring your destination to life with care and enthusiasm.
We design our luxury trips with responsible travel principles in mind. This means we prioritize experiences that benefit both you and the planet.
It is easy to customize your East Taiwan Self-Guided Cycle Tour tours with us
What our clients say about us
Heather
9 May 2024 ★★★★★Our 2-week trip to Thailand was fantastic! Chiang Mai felt completely magical and Koh Samui was beautiful. We managed to have fun even on the rainy days. Our guides were perfect, very knowledgeable and a lot of fun, with great insights into the local culture. I've been recommending Absolute Asia Tours to all my friends and I can't wait to travel with you guys again! The coordination of everything was very well done.
Gari
22 May 2024 ★★★★★Our recent trip to China and Mongolia was a great success. Overall we found Absolute Asia Tours services to be excellent throughout the two weeks we were in Asia. For us, Mongolia was definitely the highlight. We thoroughly enjoyed or local guides and drives and they were unfailingly knowledgeable, helpful and amusing. Their languages skills were excellent and we felt that we recieved real insight into this fascinating country. We were intinially drawn to the idea of this trip by the reports of the world class fihing and we were absolutely not disappointed. The fishing guide was first rate and we caught more fish than we could have hoped for - more than 25 each day - with the added bonus of being the only other people in sight for miles arround. AAT created a private ger camp for us on the Onon River and we enjoyed delicious food prepared by our chef in a beautiful unspoled atmosphere. They alo arranged for us to visit a nomadic family and spend time with them at home and organized a dinner with an anthropologist with expert knowledge of the region. AAT fullfilled their promise to tkae us to us to one of the world's best fishing destinations in comfort and style. We would be happy to travel with AAT again and will definitely recommend them to our friends.
Cherry
16 May 2024 ★★★★★We've had two "A+" experience with Absolute Asia Tours. It is a pleasure to work with an organization where I feel confident that what you say will happen, happens. This was true with our complicated China itinerary six years ago, and was true with our recent itinerary in Vietnam. your on the ground guides and logistics were top - notch, and I would recommend you to anyone to visit Asia.
James
17 January 2024 ★★★★★Absolute Asia tours gave us a wonderful tour of Southeast Asia (working with sister-agency My Way Travel based in Vietnam). For our Siem Reap/Angkor Wat journey, our party of two had a private driver and guide named Jak, who was a cheerful and knowledgeable companion, explaining the history, culture, architecture and religious significance of the sites while keeping it always fun. We moved efficiently from site to site, and finished with a boat tour of the fishing village on stilts at Kampong Pluk on the Tonle Sap Lake. During most of our trip we stayed at top-notch locally-owned hotels, but in Siem Reap we were at the excellent local Hyatt hotel. Absolute Asia and My Way Travel our outstanding local providers, less expensive than name-brand group tours, and customized to our interests and schedule.
Hope
2 January 2024 ★★★★★We had an awesome time on cycling tour with AAT! It was incredible, filled with good vibes, laughs & a fantastic way to explore Vietnam & Cambodia. Tony our guide made it special by introducing us to locals and showing us the real charm of these countries. The whole tour was well-organized & the way they took care of us awesome. It's an unforgettable trip and I'll definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to experience the beauty of Southeast Asia.
Nas
1 January 2024 ★★★★★My group of six completed a 30 day cycling tour in Asia with AAT. We traveled form Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket & Saigon to Siem Reap. Every day we pedaled through stunning countryside views, passing villages, fields & limestone karsts. Our guide Tony was fantastic-interesting, friendly & personable. This experience stood out as the highlight of our Asia trip.
