Hualien

Hualien (花蓮 Huālián) is a city of 100,000 people (2022) in Taiwan near the spectacular Taroko Gorge.

Understand
Located on a strip of land between the Pacific Ocean and the Central Mountain Range, Hualien is considered one of the most pleasant cities in Taiwan. Many tourists visit the city to enjoy the scenery and fresh air and also to tour the famous Taroko Gorge, which is a few kilometers north of the city.

It has a large population (12,500 in 2022) of indigenous people. Due to this large indigenous population, Hualien has traditionally been a KMT stronghold, though the DPP has made inroads among the younger generation.



By train


During peak travel season, train tickets are sometimes are hard to get. It is recommended to book your trip early to ensure your seat. There is also the option to take a bus to Luodong and switch to the local train to Hualien. Combined tickets for bus and train can be bought at the Kamalan counter at Taipei bus station and the Capital bus counter at City Hall Station. The trip costs around NT$220 and buses and trains are frequent, so there is no need to book in advance.

Get around
The city center is small and easy to navigate on foot, although scooters are available for rent several places around town for about NT$400 a day. Pony rental near chin yen hotel (across from the train station) is the only rental agency that will rent scooters to foreigners. Getting around by scooter is the best way to see the gorge.

Hualien is a small city without an extensive public transport system, and so it is worth considering taking taxis to areas outside the city center. Hualien station is at least a 30-minute walk from the center of town.

Do
The activities in and around Hualien include mountain hiking, beaches, hot springs, river tracing, whale and dolphin watching and a lot of other wild places. Ask around with the local travel companies.

Parks and nature

 * Beibin Seashore Park, Nanbin Seashore Park and Meilun Seashore Park. A scenic area of palm trees and landscaped greenery that runs the full length of the city's foreshore. The views over the Pacific Ocean are especially spectacular at sunrise.
 * Beibin Seashore Park, Nanbin Seashore Park and Meilun Seashore Park. A scenic area of palm trees and landscaped greenery that runs the full length of the city's foreshore. The views over the Pacific Ocean are especially spectacular at sunrise.

Buy
The Hualien region was the main source of jade for the Maritime jade route (circa 2000 BCE to circa 500 CE), the stone is still mined there, and many shops in the city sell jade products.
 * Woven cloth. Hualien is a good place to pick up hand woven cloth in traditional aboriginal designs.
 * Stone Hualien's stone market is near the old bus station on Mingyi Road, and they sell everything from jewelery to tea-pots all carved out of stone.

Dishes

 * Zhu tung fan (竹筒飯) — rice steamed in a bamboo tube is a specialty of the local aborigines.
 * Muaji (麻薯) — in Japan also known as Mochi, are glutinous rice filled (or sometimes covered) with various flavors, such as peanut, sweet red and green bean paste, sweet sesame paste, coconut or fruit.
 * Wonton (餛飩) — Hualien's wontons are very famous throughout Taiwan

Budget

 * Laguardia. Good breakfast cafe across from the big post office near the train station on Chung Shan Rd. Amazing Hamburgers. Try the bacon cheese beef burger or the cod burger.

Drink
Hualien has an abundance of tea houses, cafes and bars, and also many stores specializing in locally produced tea.



Mid-range

 * Ching Yeh Hotel, 83 Kuolien-1 Road, Tel:833-0186. Near the train station. From NT$1,300.

Connect

 * Area code: The Hualien dialing code is 03. For calls made from overseas, dial: +886 3 XXXXXXX

Go next

 * Taroko Gorge – An impressive 19-km-long canyon, and the name, Taroko, means the "magnificent and splendid" in the language of Truku, the aboriginal tribe residing in the area.
 * RueiSuei – Famous for its Hot Springs and the Siouguluan River Basin.
 * Hehuan Mountain – A fantastic journey through the wonders of Taroko Gorge and past, ending in a treeless, absolutely different ecosystem.
 * River Valleys – The might of typhoons and heavy rains have, over millions of years, carved out of the soft bedrock magnificent river valleys. If you find a river valley (Mugua RIver, for example) and follow it and hike along some tributaries, you are in for a wonderful adventure. No gift shops or 7-Elevens here, just the wonders of Taiwan.
 * Tongmen – South of Hualien City, between Jian and Liyu Lake, lies Taroko's little brother.
 * Highway 11 – Rent a scooter and hit the road. The beauty of the coastline in Hualien can be enjoyed from this gorgeous stretch of highway. Although many buses and cars are also drawn here and many cite this as a cause for safety concerns, this is by most accounts false. Take care, drive responsibly, and always be careful when around traffic, but do not let anyone deter you from this drive. Pack a lunch and picnic on the coast with the turquoise ocean lapping at the coastline below. Buses and taxis will take you along this road also. Taxis are more personable (they will stop when you say 'stop') but buses are much cheaper. However, both pale in comparison to the experience of driving yourself.