Toroko Gorge - The Most Beautiful Spot In Taiwan

Toroko Gorge - The Most Beautiful Spot In Taiwan

If someone had told me that one of the most beautiful natural sights we'd see on our whole trip would be in Taiwan I wouldn't have believed them. You cannot visit Taiwan without visiting Toroko Gorge. Relatively unknown outside of Taiwan and China, it lies on the east coast near Hualien, where we were based.

Me at the shrine

There are 3 ways to see the gorge - by bus, getting off at sites you choose, by taxi or by scooter. Taxi was never an option for us on a budget, and the bus sounded a bit restricting. And we of course love riding scooters... So you know what we chose. I was a bit apprehensive about renting one.

Us at Swallow Grotto

Our first stop was the Eternal Spring Shrine. The small shrine is attractive but unremarkable, if it wasn't for the epic surroundings. The sight of the shrine and clifftop temple dwarfed by the scale of the gorge is incredible. It does involve a walk through some caves with unnerving warnings.

View for our picnic lunch

We carried on into the gorge and came across an actual rock slide - a giant one. A huge chunk of the hill had collapsed onto the road and while they had cleared the road just about, huge boulders lay everywhere. Quite scary. After a while we reached Swallow Grotto, so named for the masses of swallows nesting in holes in the rock.