Home > Taipei > 5-Day Best of Taiwan Tour from Taipei: Sun Moon Lake, Taroko Gorge, Kaohsiung and Taitung
USD $582.00
5-Day Best of Taiwan Tour from Taipei: Sun Moon Lake, Taroko Gorge, Kaohsiung and Taitung
Taipei, Taiwan
This 5-day Taiwan tour will take you around the whole island, opening your eyes to the country’s diverse, astounding beauty and culture. Visit Sun Moon Lake and admire the remote beaches and rocky coastal scenery of places like Tarako National Park. Tour historic shrines and Buddhist temples such as Fo Guang Shan Monastery, explore bustling urban districts, and relax in natural hot springs. You’ll stay in 5-star hotels and travel aboard a comfortable coach, stopping in several locations for sightseeing tours with your English-speaking guide. Daily breakfasts and all entrance fees to attractions listed in the itinerary are included.
Start your 5-day round-island tour of Taiwan with hotel pickup in Taipei. Drive south into the lofty mountains to visit Sun Moon Lake, where you’ll stop at several temples like Wenwu Temple, Holy Monk Shrine and Tse-En Pagoda. At Fo Guang Shan Monastery, one of the most famous Buddhist sites in southern Taiwan, take a walking tour and interact with monks and nuns.
The next day, head to Kaohsiung, the second-largest city in Taiwan. Pass Love River (Ai River) and stroll through Lio Ho Night Market.
In southern Taiwan’s Kenting National Park the following day, admire 37 miles (60 km) of coral-rimmed shoreline and explore the forest recreation area.
On your fourth day, continue your journey through Taiwan’s scenic landscapes with a visit to Taitung’s East Coast National Scenic Area, where unspoiled land stretches for miles down the coast. See incredible land formations created by years of erosion.
Then, in Hualien, marvel at the exceptional beauty of Taroko National Park’s Taroko Gorge, whose marble formations are split by a road that looms under forested peaks and towering cliffs.
You’ll end your journey back in Taipei.
All entrance fees, transportation, accommodation and daily breakfasts are included, and for lunch and dinner, your guide will be happy to recommend great places for you to enjoy authentic Taiwanese cuisine.
For details on each day of the tour, see the Itinerary section below.
Wow, the 5 Day tour with Daniel exceeded all my expectations! This was my first tour ever so I was a bit apprehensive beforehand I was looking over the reviews and worrying theres no way all the 5 star reviews could be real. But it is! This tour totally lives up to the lofty expectations set by all the reviews.
Review by: SC, April 2018
This tour is very impressive and it covers most of what you want to see around the Taiwan. Our tour guide Alan Chou definitely makes it fun and enjoyable!
Review by: G W D, April 2018
This was a brilliant way to see so much of Taiwan in just five days. Alan Chou was a great guide- very informative and entertaining. He was professional at all times and able to help people and answer questions. He always kept us informed of what was happening. Eason - the driver- was great. He was always smiling and drove us safely on sometimes, very windy roads. The history of Taiwan was fascinating. And the scenery - well, it was simply stunning. We had a good mix of passengers on our trip from families to retired. Some single travellers, some couples and also families if different sizes and nationalities. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
Review by: Wei Lee L, March 2018
Itinerary covers major attractions around the country. Excellent hotels, clean bus, good service all round. We have travelled quite a bit and many times on escorted tours. Tour guide Alan Chou was one of the best, helpful and very informative with pre prepared images of all the places we were visiting and hotel facilities so we know what to expect. Highly recommended.
Review by: Marie-Paule G, March 2018
Un circuit intéressant, bien organise, un guide au top,un groupe sympathique, bravo pour ces 5 jours de découverte de Taiwan. Notre guide Lenny est un grand professionnel avec des commentaires sur les sites visites mais aussi sur le pays, sa culture, son économie._br/_ Les hôtels étaient excellents et toujours bien situes.
Review by: Neal, March 2018
I enjoyed the tour and my fellow travelers. The tour guide was personable and the things were saw were interesting. The hotels were very good also.
Review by: Eric K, February 2018
Was fun trip my kids liked it a lot.. But The sun moon lake and Tarokao might just be sufficient.
Review by: Cheryl C, February 2018
I have recommended this tour by Eric to so many people. The hotels were spectacular as were the sights. Eric used every spare moment to share his country through computer programs on music, history, background, and maps on the bus! He told us various specialties of the region and where to purchase them. This is one of the best most well run trips I have ever taken...kudos to Eric, the bus driver,, and the company!
Review by: Teresa L, January 2018
This trip was amazing, both my husband and I truly enjoyed it. The hotels are 5-star ones, the itinerary was very good, covering a lot of places. The tour guide, Alan, was top notch. He was humorous, friendly, and knowledgeable. He made the trip fun. The weather was also very nice for this time of the year in Taiwan. We highly recommend this tour.
Review by: lbpayable, January 2018
We enjoyed our time in Taiwan. Lenny our tour guide was punctual, exciting and made our trip fun. The driver was professional and courteous and kept the bus clean and refreshed every day. It would not have been possible to see the best of Taiwan without this tour. The hotels were pretty good and comfortable after a day of touring as well.
Review by: Cheri, January 2018
This is a good tour and a good way to see Taiwan outside of Taipei letting someone else do the planning and driving. Daniel our guide was friendly and efficient, easily organized the large group tour and got us were we needed to be on time throughout the 5 days. _br/_ The hotels were really good and the breakfast buffets amazing! Toroko Gorge and the hotel there were the highlights for sure, beautiful area and spectacular views. Don't skip the pool and hot tubs on the roof, beautiful!_br/_ There is a lot of driving, basically makes a circle of the whole island country, but worth it.
Review by: Poh Ann Michael T, December 2017
An excellent tour leader - balanced with a mix of English and Mandarin commentaries. The hotels we stayed at were beyond our expectations. Large rooms, comfortable beds. The only regret is we get to stay in for one night. Would love to stay for an additional night. The meals were on our own - which is great. This means we do not have to rush with the other travelers and have control over the choice of food. The scenic spots were post-card photo perfect. There was enough time to take photos and not in a rush to meet the deadline of arriving at the hotel on time. We would highly recommend this tour, especially for non-Mandarin speakers.
Review by: Mark L, December 2017
Days 1 through 4 of our tour merit a rating of 4.5 stars. A van picked us up at our Taipei hotel promptly at 7:30 on the morning of Day 1 and took us to the rendezvous point, where we joined 22 other passengers on a standard-size tour bus by 8:30 for the first leg of the trip. Our guide was unfailingly polite, genial, and solicitous of passengers' comfort and safety. However, his prepared commentary on route was rather repetitive, and his explanations about the sites we visited were superficial we could have learned more from any decent guidebook. Accommodations were excellent: two of the five-star hotels we stayed at included a sauna and hot spring baths. Regrettably, Day 5 was a disaster hence the overall 3-star rating for our tour. Viator's online ad promises that guests will spend the entire day exploring Taroko Gorge, the undisputed highlight of the tour. In fact, we only had one hour to do any exploring, and that occurred late on Day 4 at Swallow Grotto, just before checking into the hotel on our last night. To be fair, this was not entirely the fault of the guide, who attempted to adjust our travel schedule back to Taipei in the face of projected traffic delays caused by road construction. In the end, however, we ended up racing out of the hotel on the morning of Day 5 earlier than usual, stopping just long enough to snap a few photos at Chinmu Bridge, and bypassing the planned stop at the Eternal Spring Shrine, just so we could exit the Gorge before the first two-hour road closure. Paradoxically, we then found ourselves mulling around the shabby town at the entrance to the Gorge for 30 minutes, until it was time for a ridiculous, 45-minute tour of a jade factory, which was nothing more than an unwelcome attempt to get us to purchase its products. The guide should have allowed us to spend those precious 75-minutes of wasted time back at Taroko Gorge, particularly since our bus would later end up idling in traffic for more than an hour at a different construction checkpoint en route back to Taipei. One final indignity awaited my wife and me, when the guide informed us that our hotel in Taipei was located outside of his company's Edison Tours passenger drop-off zone, so we would have to find our own way to the hotel, luggage in tow, either by taxi or the Metro we chose the latter. It was a discouraging end to a tour that had a lot going for it through Day 4.
Review by: Mell O, December 2017
You do get to see the whole island and such amazing sites. The hotels that we stayed at were wonderful. Breakfast buffet during the tour. English speaking guide who took care of us the whole time. We had a great bus driver. Those switchback mountain roads upset my stomach. Our driver safely got us to and from our destination. _br/_ Its a quick overview of the island. You do spend quite a bit of time on the tour bus, which is good because we leave the hotels super early in the morning, so I got to catch up on naps on the bus. They do have WiFi available in the bus.
Review by: Hairuo L, December 2017
The trip is fabulous to feel the Taiwan scenaries in 5 days. The location are carefully chosen to let you taste all the best part of Taiwan. The 5 stared hotels residence in this price is also pleasant experience. The guide Alan Chou is knowledgable, vibrant, helpful and considerate in every detail
Review by: John Rae C, December 2017
Loved this tour, though I wish I hadn't done it alone!
Review by: etan, December 2017
Great tour! Best value for your money. All 5 stars hotels.
Review by: Michal R, December 2017
we were picked up on time, the bus was comfortable . On the first day we drove to Sun moon lake- which was nice and there were nice stops on the way. The hotels along the way were excellent. Breakfast was very good and the options for dinner were also good. the view on the way was nice. after visiting Taroko park the guide was anxious to go back to Taipee and did not stop on the way even though the view was very nice an there were many nice spots to stop for sightseeing._br/_ Our guide was nice but he did not explained too much on the way. From the first day he was concerned about coming back to Taipee.
Review by: Stacy Y, December 2017
This is the second time I've been on this 5-Day Best of Taiwan tour, first was April 2015 with friends, this time I'm a newly wed and brought my wife. I must say I enjoyed my first trip more than this one but my wife did enjoy the tour. There were differences and I guess that's to be expected due to changes made based on customer feedback but I wish we could have taken a boat tour of Sun Moon Lake SML like we did on my first trip, we were told that the tour operator didn't want to take the risk but they included a boat tour of the Ai Love River in Kaohsiung go figure. A boat tour on SML is way better in my opinion. On this trip we made a second stop on the first day going to SML and that took 30 minutes of walk around time away from our time at the lake, I highly recommend that you not make that second stop on the way to the lake. By not making a second stop it would allow time for a boat tour of the lake._br/_ Additionally on day 1, the walk up to Ci'en Pagoda can be hard for some people and a few people didn't make the walk after going a short way it's up hill and long, took my wife and I 20 minutes. Let people know about this and maybe allow them to stay at SML during this portion of the tour, this would allow some folks to take advantage of taking a ride up to the Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village FACV on the SML Ropeway cable car, at their own cost of course, it's around US30 to visit the FACV including ropeway or around US10 just to ride the ropeway up and back._br/_ Some of our tour mates mentioned that our guide didn't point out POIs and wished he would instead of just waiting for someone to ask a question. This is what I noticed compared to my first trip things like the fish farms, types of fruit being grown, the highway that can be converted into an airstrip by moving the center barriers, the Japanese Headquarters during the war, the japanese suicide submarine launch area, etc._br/_ On place I wish we would have stopped at on day 4 that was mentioned in the tour brochure was Baxian Cave cave of the 8 Immortals, I think we could have stopped there instead of the cliff overlook after leaving Maobitou, that cliff overlook wasn't worth the stop. I understand that timing due to available daylight on day 4 is an issue during the winter months but these are things that might make the tour just that much better._br/_ All in all, this is a great tour if you don't have a lot of time and want to see more of the island. Can't beat the price that includes four 5-star hotels, two of which have hot spring baths right in your room and one with bath salts in a jar on the tub.
Review by: fi, December 2017
Good tour guide DAVID... had an amazing time.
Review by: bclarkbrcs, November 2017
Guide Alan and our driver were beyond excellent ! For the most part the sites were very nice and well presented by Alan though if you are looking for a lot of walking/hiking elements, this isn't a tour for you. If you are looking for a steady well thought out tour, this one covers all the bases and the basics of Taiwan minus Taipei, that's another tour -- though I did not do this one.
Review by: Mark R, November 2017
The tour is very good and shows you lots of Taiwan. The accommodation is excellent, although there is not much time to enjoy hotel facilities because you are in a different hotel each night. I would have liked an extra night in Kaohsiung.
Review by: Judith M, November 2017
This tour was a great opportunity to tour the rest of Taiwan at a reasonable price. There was a lot of driving, but that has to be expected to travel over the distances. The hotels were all great.
Review by: ROBERT G, October 2017
Having taken a number of tours in mainland China with some mixed results I was very pleasantly surprised at how well this first-time tour for me to Taiwan went.This was a fantastic tour in all respects, Taiwan and the people, the places we visited, accomodation and food, the tour guide and commentary all perfect. We are planning to re-visit.
Review by: Ahmad A, October 2017
I just wanted to express my satisfaction with the 5 Day Taiwan tour. David, our guide, was fantastic. He was very caring, cooperative and most importantly very responsive to the group needs. He was informative and gave us lots of information about Taiwan while we were on the bus and before visiting a place. On the last day when we retirned to Taipei, he even went out of his way to ensure that we got on the right train to Keelung. The Driver was also greathe drove very smoothly at all times and he was always on time._br/_ The hotels in each city was very good. The places we visited were also worth to see. Overall, the tour was very enjoyable and I would recommend it to any of my friends interested in visiting Taiwan.
Review by: Gary W G, October 2017
We were glad we were able to see many areas of Taiwan but that meant we had a lot of time spent in the bus and not much time at the sights. We also had other disappointments. Our guide was hard to understand, did not provide much information, so was more of a tour leader than a guide. Plans were vague and information was minimal.
Review by: Brandon O, October 2017
Alan was the best tour guide ever. Very approachable, knowledgeable and humorous. I would recommend this tour to any one going to Taiwan. The hotels are great and the sights are amazing.
Review by: annsanderson, September 2017
Great tour guide, hotels, and the scenery just amazing. My favourite place was the Taroko Gorge, but hard to pick just one place. Found the Jade shop was too hard to resist purchasing, but purchased Taiwan's precious gemstone as the jade is so close to our greenstone. Such a clean country, great food and the people so happy and helpful. Would thoroughly reccomend this tour.
Review by: Daniel K, August 2017
Great Tour! highly recommended. Very happy with all the hotel accommodation. Our tour guide David was wonderful. Only complain I have was lack of place we can go for dinner. There was two night that we got drop off to 7-11 and told us to buy food and bring to the hotel for our dinner. but otherwise it was a great tour.
Review by: hgwon, August 2017
3 of us attended this tour. All agreed that this tour was much more than we expected. Tremendous hotel accommodations, excellent food especially the breakfast buffet provided as part of the tour. Great sites, outstanding tour guide and driver. I would recommend this tour highly for its vacation and financial value.
Review by: Karl Heinz K, August 2017
Great tour! Alan Chou was the best tour guide ever!!! Funny guy and with a lot of knowledge. The hotels were great, with spacious rooms and fantastic breakfast buffets. Nothing to complain!
Review by: Miriam W, July 2017
highly recommended for one week in Taiwan. The coach was comfortable. The hotels arranged were 5. Tony Lin, our tour guide for the week was very professional.
Review by: johnharink, July 2017
Tour agenda was as listed and allowed me to see a lot in a short period of time. Both the bus driver and the tour guide where great and very knowledgeable. Negative was some of the Hotels where they didn't meet the 5 star criteria, particularly the Hotel Royal in Chihpen in Taitung county, where facilities were 3 star at best and the staff were rude and unprofessional.
Review by: paul antony j, June 2017
This trip was excellent and is highly recommended. The tour company Edison Tours provided a first class itinerary, transportation, safe driving, knowledgeable tour guide and fantastic 5 hotels all at excellent value for money. We do not normally do guided tours however due to time constraints we chose this trip and it was a truly exceptional experience and delivered the best of Taiwan. A group of 36 people were looked after by the tour guide at every stage of the trip. The tour guide Alan Chou provided an excellent humourous presentation of where we are going and what to expect by way of attractions and hotels etc....100 recommended !!
Review by: Felix, June 2017
Wow it was really fun and I learned a lot, and 5 star hotels every night were AMAZING. AMAZING!!!!!!! highly recommend. eric, the tour guide, was very very nice and fun and informative too.
Review by: kumar, June 2017
We just came back from this Tour of 5days Taiwan._br/_ The trip was very enjoyable with a group of nice and light minded people. Highlights of the Trip _br/_ 1. Awesome 5star Hotel stays_br/_ 2. Well guided English speaking tour guide (Eric)_br/_ 3. Well planed itenary for 4 days _br/_ 4. Beautiful coastal siďe attractions
Review by: Jackson T, June 2017
This trip is fun. We love the 5 stars hotels that we stayed during the tour. Definitely will take this trip again in the future.
Review by: YHK, June 2017
This tour was operated by Edison Tours based in Taipei, and was very well organised starting from pickup in very clean Mercedes Van and drop off at the hotels where we stayed. We stayed at different hotels for the pickup and drop off. Daniel the tour guide was very good, kind and patient and conducted the tour in English and Mandarin as there were some non english Mandarin speaker tourists in our group of 38.
Review by: Monique A, May 2017
Alan was an amazing tour guide! Not only is he very knowledgable and funny, but he provided us with just the right amount of information to not bore or overwhelm. Plus, he was always up for answering extra questions or making recommendations.
Review by: Andrei D, May 2017
Very recommended tour. Good logstics and clean and comfortable bus. The guide Lenny was very nice, a lot of explainations and information. Very good English and German. Amaizing hotels, all really 5 stars, two times with in-room thermal bath. You get to see a lot of Taiwan in very good conditions for an amaizing low price it seems it is subsidized by the state. Recommended!
Review by: kurt c, May 2017
Great experience
Review by: Jennivine R, May 2017
This tour was amazing! The highlights were Sun Moon Lake and Taroko Gorge. The hotels were truly top notch. Our tour guide was Alan Chou and the bus driver was Eason. Alan was knowledgeable, funny, and spoke English and Chinese well. Alan was obviously very experienced as he got us to all our destinations before the bigger crowds came, provided history of all the attractions, and gave us tips on places to eat at each destination. The tour also left the hotel in the morning around 9 am and got us to the hotel around 5 or 6 pm. We were able to enjoy the hotels which each was an attraction in itself. I would recommend this tour to anyone wanting to see the major attractions around Taiwan in short amount of time.
Review by: Wilhelmus v, April 2017
A well designed tour with one missed change to see Allisson. Tour guide, beside being a very pleasant person , did his utmost best to make sure that we were well informed. The hotel selection was fine too. Having done tours in the USA, we missed a toilet in the bus, but frequent sanitary stops circumvented this.
Review by: jody.giedraitis, April 2017
Taiwan has some of the most stunning scenery you will ever see. Alan is a wonderful tour guide.
Review by: Thuyng08, April 2017
Highly recommend this tour as it have all the components:_br/_ - Value for money_br/_ - Inclusion of all the main attractions _br/_ - Ease of booking_br/_ - Fantastic accommodations _br/_ The trip was made more enjoyable with Alan Chou as our tour guide who was most knowledgeable, humorous and extremely organised. I especially love how he scheduled our sightseeing of all the attractions to avoid crowds and extreme heat etc.
Review by: Catherine L, April 2017
This really did show the best of Taiwan. The country is beautiful. The hotels were amazing. Our tour guide Alan was knowledgeable, helpful and funny. My only minus point was with 39 people the group was a bit too large.
Review by: khunlai, April 2017
This trip was simply amazing. Our tour guide, Alan Chou had a wide knowledge of the Culture, History and Economy of Taiwan. During the journey, we never felt bored and the flow of the tour was really nice. We recommend this tour for those who wants to see the places in a short time. But, the picture shown Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, Kaohsiung was not shown in our tour.
Review by: Andrew J, April 2017
Tour was really good but a bit too long each day on the bus. The hotels were a really fantastic standard and the tour guide was friendly, although he did repeat himself a lot! He seemed obsessed with bathroom stops! We would certainly recommend this tour as it represents really good value for money and you get to see very diverse and varied parts of Taiwan.
Review by: Hung, March 2017
As the name implies this indeed is the Best of Taiwan tour. Exceptional 5-star lodging in Sun-Moon Lake, Chihpen and Taroko with indigenous performance, simple but rich in contents. Our tour guide: Daniel Yu, and bus driver: Andy, were some of the most hard working travel staff that we enjoyed so much. The local tour company Viator chosen: Edison Travel, is top notched, The travel schedule is tight but well paced, we particularly like the carefully selected travel spots composed of nature beauties, religious landmark, geographic wonders and the roar of Pacific. Our only complaint is not about the tour but the flight it took seventeen hours straight flight to get from US to Taipei, so it would be better to be in Taipei a couple days earlier to get some rest before the trip.
Review by: Atanas S, March 2017
Overall, the trip was a good value for the money. We did get to see a lot of the country, but that also meant spending most of the time on the bus. Each day would start around 8:30 in the morning, and there would be several stops throughout the day. Most stops were less than an hour in duration, which felt somewhat rushed. However, given the distances between each location, I can understand that. The hotels we stayed at were top notch, especially the Fleur du Chine I don't know if I spelled this right where we stayed on the first night. On two of the 4 evenings, we stayed at hotels that were in remote areas, so we couldn't go out after checking in at 6:00 PM. Yes, there was plenty to do in the hotels, but many of the services were pricey. Our group consisted of about 30 people from several different countries, and we all had a good time. Our tour guide Tony was very nice and always willing to answer questions or help translate for us when we stopped at local establishments. All in all, I'd recommend this trip, but be prepared to spend a lot of time on the bus.
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