Taichung Multi-Day Trips: Skip Highway 8
If an itinerary has you driving from Guguan through the mountains to Lishan and out toward Taroko Gorge, close the tab. That road hasn’t worked for tourists in years.
The Highway 8 dead end
Provincial Highway 8, the old Central Cross-Island Highway, used to connect Taichung’s Guguan hot springs across the Central Mountain Range to Lishan and on toward Hualien. The section between Guguan and Lishan is permanently closed to general tourist traffic after repeated earthquake and typhoon damage; only authorized residents and a public minibus use it now. Any multi-day route heading toward the east coast from Taichung has to detour south through Nantou County on Highway 14A, via Puli and Wuling. Build that detour into your timing before you build anything else.
With that trap cleared, here are three circuits that actually work.
Circuit 1: Central Mountain and Alpine Lakes (2-3 days)
Day 1: leave Taichung for Sun Moon Lake in neighboring Nantou County. Cycle the Xiangshan lakeside bikeway, take the solar boat between Shuishe, Xuanguang Temple and Ita Thao, and ride the ropeway. Overnight lakeside.
Day 2: climb to Cingjing Farm at 1,750m for the Green Green Grasslands and the high-altitude skywalk, then push on to Hehuanshan’s Wuling Pass at 3,275m for sunset above the clouds and genuinely dark-sky stargazing. Overnight at Cingjing or Songxuelou Lodge.
Day 3: catch sunrise over the Central Range, then descend through Puli, stopping for craft paper workshops or 18 Crown Chocolate, back to Taichung.
Circuit 2: Alpine Hot Springs and Ancient Forest (2-3 days)
Day 1: follow the Dajia River gorge up the open section of Highway 8, well short of the Lishan closure, to Guguan Hot Springs. Soak in the weak-alkaline carbonic baths, hike the Shaolai Trail, and stay at a valley onsen resort such as Hoshinoya Guguan or Uni-Resort.
Day 2: Baxianshan National Forest Recreation Area, for the old timber railway ruins, mountain streams, and a real chance at spotting Formosan rock macaques.
Day 3: return via the Dongfeng Bicycle Green Way through Fengyuan, ending with dinner at Fengchia Night Market back in the city.
Circuit 3: West Coast Heritage (2 days)
Day 1: Taichung’s own old town, Miyahara, Second Market, the Sun Cake Museum, National Taichung Theater, then Fengchia Night Market at night.
Day 2: a short train or bus south to Lukang in Changhua, about an hour away, for Longshan Temple, one of Taiwan’s best-preserved Qing dynasty Buddhist temples, the Nine Turns Lane, and tin and wood-carving workshops.
Verdict: Circuit 1 rewards anyone who wants alpine scenery and doesn’t mind a full mountain-driving day. Circuit 2 suits a slower, soak-and-forest pace. Circuit 3 is the right call with only two days available and a preference for staying close to the city. None of them go anywhere near the closed Highway 8 section, and that’s deliberate.
One concrete tip: book Hoshinoya Guguan or any Guguan onsen well ahead if your dates land on a weekend, since Route 153 shuttle capacity and the resort’s own rooms both fill first. See Taichung’s workshops for details on the suncake and craft stops that fit into a west coast day.