Day 12 - Alishan Day 1
Chiayi Turkey Rice 嘉義火雞肉飯
Trail of Tea 茶之道步道
Eryanping Trail 二延平步道
We left Kaohsiung and made it to Alishan! Well, sort of. We make it to 石卓 which is a town close to Alishan National Park, as hotels inside Alishan is very limited and way overpriced. We drove through Chiayi and stopped at a popular restaurant for the famous Chiayi Turkey Rice, which was delicious! There are several popular hiking spots outside of Alishan National Park, and we visited two of them. The Trail of Tea is higher up in elevation and closer to Alishan National Park. It’s a bit hard to find, we had to ask the locals to find the trailhead. Eryanping Trail is near 石卓 and the trailhead is much easier to find. The hike up is beautiful and we got a really good workout climbing up, but the weather condition was not ideal and there was no sunset nor was there the sea of cloud. We still enjoyed the hike. And we got luck the next day, drove straight to the top for a stunning sunset. After the two hikes, we drove into town for dinner then went back to our vacation rental to relax and get ready for the next day.
To cut to the chase — 隙頂二延平步道觀雲平台 viewing platform is the BEST PLACE for sunset views! It is also highly recommended for sunrise. How is that possible? Well, you technically need to walk about 5-minutes from the platform to get to the best runrise spot, but close enough. We walked up and down the Eryanping Trail, but technically you can walk down the Tea Mist Trail and walk along the road to complete the loop, hitting both trails in the process.
Voyagers tips: (1) There are very few large hotels around here, so we stayed at a vacation rental called 找茶人家, which turned out to be pretty nice for a small vacation rental. It’s above a tea shop with the entrance and an elevator near the back. We booked two rooms, one room for two people and has an ensuite bathroom, the other fits three and has a private bathroom but that bathroom, while not shared with others, is located on the other side of the common area. Breakfast is included and you pre-order with them from a nearby breakfast place, delivered to the common area at 8am. (2) The famous “sea of cloud” only appears in certain ideal weather conditions so you need some luck to see it. The weather was too foggy.
Chiayi Turkey Rice 嘉義火雞肉飯
Turkey rice… that doesn’t sound too appealing, right? Turkey is usually dry and plain. Well, there’s a reason turkey rice is famous here. The shredded turkey tastes tender, the sauce is made with turkey rendering and soy sauce and is poured over the rice, it’s served with delicious side dishes at these restaurants that make the overall meal amazingly delicious!
There are so many turkey rice restaurants in Chiayi is borderline ridiculous, and it’s hard to know which ones are good without proper research. My guess is most of them are pretty good in order to survive here, but some are certainly more popular than others. We picked 民主火雞肉飯, which is closer to the freeway to minimize the detour, and while it was crowded, we only waited about 5 minutes before being seated. Here is a list of some of the most popular restaurants in Chiayi:
和平火雞肉飯
東門火雞肉飯
郭家雞肉飯
阿霞火雞肉飯
阿樓師火雞肉飯
民主火雞肉飯 (the one we tried, it was good!)
劉里長火雞肉飯
嘉義噴水雞肉飯
阿溪火雞肉飯
阿宏師火雞肉飯
Trail of Tea 茶之道步道
This is a beautiful trail through a bamboo forest and by a tea farm! The initial path through the bamboo forest is beautiful and calming, take your time here and don’t rush it. The scenery actually got less impressive as we got close to the top, so it’s best to take your time and enjoy the view of the bamboo forest and the tea farm. The trail keeps going, but we turned around once we got to the very top. It’s a very doable hike, if you take your time. The best part is that this is a hidden gem, not too many tourists at all!
Voyagers tips: It was a bit hard to find for us, as there are no formal parking lots. Follow Google Maps directions, drive past a tiny temple on your left, and you’ll get to the trailhead. Here’s the address according to google: 605, Taiwan, Chiayi County, Alishan Township, 樂野村
Eryanping Trail 二延平步道
This is a very popular trail near Alishan. The trailhead is at the bottom of the hill, and the hike up is beautiful. We got to see tea farm workers working during our hike, which was pretty cool. The hike is quite steep, we definitely worked up a sweat on this trail, but the trail is full of stairs and is in great condition. As mentioned above, we took the out-and-back way from the Eryanping trailhead, but based on our research, you can walk up the Eryanping trail and back down the Tea Mist trail to the east, then walk around the road back to the Eryanping trailhead if you want to hit both hiking trails.
For sunset views, we would recommend driving straight up to the platform so you can stay longer up there and not worry about walking back down in the dark.
After the hike, we drove into town for dinner. There are four restaurants in 石卓 but they have pretty much an identical menu with identical dishes. There are also two convenient stores there.