Hiking in Taichung, Dakeng scenic area and hiking trails

I was working in Taiwan between two weeks and had a week-end to spare in Taichung. There are numerous attractions to do around Taichung, such as the Sun Moon Lake for example.  But I didn’t fancy long bus rides as I was tired of my business travels and, of course, forgot my international driving license, so I couldn’t rent a car to go about.
 

Taiwan is home to fantastic landscape and a lot of small mountain or hill ranges. After some research, I found out about the Dakeng Scenic area which is 35/45 min drive in the immediate suburb of Taichung and that had buses to get to!  Bonus points, there was a hot spring resort that allowed for external visitors to use their facility in the vicinity. All the ingredients for a very nice day out.
 

There are 10 marked trails in Dakeng area, number 1 to 5 are the ones that are more challenging and longer. Number 6 to 10 are closer to town and easier. Here below is the map available at the parking lot of Zhonzheng Camping Area where you can start trail 4. 
 

I set my sight on doing the Number 4, connect with the number 5 and go down the ridge via number 1. All in all it took be about 3h40, highest point was 874m, but total elevation was only 551m. 

These trails go up ( very very steep ) to a ridge (number 4 is the steepest and shortest approach, number 1 would be gentler but much longer ). The trail number 5 is the one along the ridge that connects all the trails together.

The views from the top of trail 4 and along trail 5 were very nice. There were a lot of rest areas with tables where groups were bringing their breakfast and cooking up some simple breakfast. It was very nice day out. The trails are clearly marked, you really can’t get lost.

You can also download the .GPX file to be imported into Google Maps or your Garmin watch as a Course.

The practicalities :

There is only 1 bus route that goes around the Dakeng scenic area and stops at the various trail entrances. It’s the number 66. There aren’t many, so be prepared to wait. This bus will bring you out of the forest area to the urban area where you can connect to any public buses bringing you back to Taichung center or simply book an Uber back.
To start/end trail 4: The bus stop – Zhonzheng Camping (Zhongzheng Camp 中正露營區 ) - is 15min walk from the campsite itself. Here is the google map pin for the camping parking and trail start.

And to end, the bus stop for trail 1 is at the entrance of the parking there next to the little bridge. There was a lot of kids play area, and it’s more organized on that side. 

For the Bus 66, bring change, or have the Taiwan EasyCard. The cost from Trail 1 to Dakeng circle was TWD 20. I paid in cash.
 

Breakdown of the day:

- Loaded up on snacks and water at the nearby 7/11. Booked an Uber to get to the Camping parking.

- DO NOT select on Uber Dakeng trail 4, it’s going to show up when you search, it brings you to the wrong place. Make sure that you are manually placing the pin on the app. It costed a pretty penny, but I wanted to start early when it was not too hot.

- Did my hike and finished around 11 am. I caught a bus at 11h27 from start of trail 1. 

- Stopped at this bus stop Gui Chengshan Zhuang 貴城山莊 
( used Google map to track my progress and to know when to ask to stop bus driver didn’t speak English ). Then walk 10min up to the hot spring resort, on the way up there was this family restaurant to the left side of the road ( 山雞城 庭園餐廳 ), so I stopped there for lunch. It looked deserted from the outside but there was people inside and it was delicious & affordable! You could eat at the resort too.

- Paid to enter the hot spring pools of The Sun Hot Spring & Resort (台中日光溫泉會館). They have segregated naked pools for male and female (kids free !) as well as a family one outdoor with bigger facilities. Sauna, showers and steam rooms. Really nice to chill. I enjoyed these facilities for a couple of hours and changed into clean clothes. The entrance fee cost TWD 200.

- Booked an Uber back to Taichung. You are closer to the city, so it was easy to get one. But you could very well walk back to the main road and bus stop and grab another bus downtown, it was a very big road to the city, there were many available.

I wrote down the name in Chinese as well for the locations, because when you google them, it works only with the Chinese characters !

That was a beautiful Sunday well spent in Taichung to get out of my hotel room during a business trip! I would absolutely recommend if you have the time and are in the area.