Zhishan Cultural & Ecological Garden

Lonely Planet review

Just south of Tianmu's Yangming hospital and a few blocks east of the Zhishan MRT sits one of our favourite parks, a jungle-filled mountain just north of the Shuangxi river (also a lovely park in its own right). It's filled with gardens and shrines and the top of the mountain has a temple dedicated to a much revered Sage and General called Chen Yuan Kwang who lived 1500 years ago.

Though the temple itself is lovely enough, more interesting still are the statues surrounding it - carved stone representations of characters well known to anyone familiar with the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms . And what really makes the climb worth it is the view, a sweeping panorama of the whole of Taipei city. The park itself offers a wide variety of hikes, both on dirt trails as well as wooden boardwalks that skirt sections of the mountain.