Taiwan's North and South

While I was planning the itinerary for Taiwan, I noticed I would be close to both the northern and southern ends of the country. I thought a fun achievement would be to travel to the very northernmost point of the island and then to the very southernmost point and thereby I could say I had fully traversed the length of Taiwan. On the 9th of December, while I was staying in Taipei, I took a day trip out to Fugui Cape, situated on the northern coast of the island, it juts out far enough to host the northernmost point. Then ten days later on the 19th of December I visited Cape Eluanbi, the southernmost extent of the Hengchun Peninsula.

Fugui Cape Park

To get to the northernmost point of Taiwan I took the Taipei metro to Tamsui, a district of Taipei that is located near the mouth of the Tamsui river. From there, I could take a bus that follows the northern coast and dropped me off at the base of the cape. From the bus stop I had about a 1.5 km walk to the northernmost point. Situated near the head of the cape is a lighthouse. The eastern half of the cape is a nature park and the western part hosts a fishing harbour. I visited in winter, and while the weather was good enough for me it was still a little cold, so there were very few other visitors at the cape park. Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed that day so maybe that also contributed to there being fewer visitors. While I was there I explored the area, walking around the cape in a loop, making sure to get the best photo I could of the northernmost point.

Because the light house was closed I had to walk on a path to its side to get a look at the northernmost point of Taiwan. There was no proper trail going further than the lighthouse and no monument marking the spot. I didn't want to risk going off trail so the picture above is the best I could take from the end of the path.

There was a lookout on the eastern side of the Fugui cape that had some nice views of the beach and ocean. On the left I could see a large sphere that I'm guessing is some radar or sensor, it is part of a military base; and on the right I could see the main northern coast of Taiwan.

As I left the cape area I returned to the bus stop by a different route and I found this beautiful section of forest where the tree branches grew low and spread far in such a network that they seemed to be interwoven, one to another, forming a roof over my head. It made for a really great photography subject and I had to share the best picture I took from this spot.

Cape Eluanbi

A part of Kenting National Park, cape Eluanbi is where the southernmost point of Taiwan is situated. I visited the cape in the late afternoon, after I had explored the Kenting Forest Recreation area. The weather here, at Taiwan's southern most extremity, was much nicer compared to the north, and the area had a far larger tourism industry. I visited on a wonderful day and there were plenty of other tourists visiting the Eluanbi park, where the lighthouse is situated. However, I only realised after entering the park that I could not get to the southernmost point from within this park, I had to exit and walk all the way around the light house to get to the true southernmost point.

Unlike the northernmost point, the southernmost point has a well made dedicated trail and a monument built at the physical location. I arrived here just before the sun began to set, there were a few other visitors taking photos but I waited patiently for my turn to take the pictures above.

Eluabi Park had a lookout point on a raised section of land. The above image shows the view looking northwest, along the coast towards the main landmass of the Hengchun Peninsula.

In my visit to Taiwan I was able to traverse the full north to south extent of the Island. Since the longer length of Taiwan is more or less aligned with the north/south axis I felt like this was a good achievement. Part of what made this achievement possible is how well Taiwan's public transit system is set up, including high speed trains. The high speed rail in Taiwan (or THSR) runs from north to south along the more populated western side of the island and it was a really fun experience. It was my first time taking a high speed train that clocked over 270 kilometers per hour.

Thanks for reading – Edward

Written 9th of February 2025