3 1/2 weeks Taiwan

That is a great ammount of time, you will love it. Not much is unknown (sun-moon lake, toroko gorge), but I would reccomend you get familiar with the guide book so you can plan well.

One of my favorite places in Taiwan that it not as well-known and off the beaten track for most tourists is Rueli. It is a small tea and plum growing town in the greater Alishan Recreation Area with gorgeous landscapes and hiking trails. It truly looks like a Chinese landscape watercolor painting with columns of mist on the mountains. I'm not sure since I'm not living in Taiwan anymore, if the Alishan train still goes near there since the typhoon caused a lot of damage or if there are regular buses there right now. Maybe someone else on this forum would know. It's worth the hassle of getting to Rueli. There were almost no tourists when I visited there last year. I've also visited fascinating places unknown to most westerners in Kaohsiung and Tainan Counties....the tourist offices have English brochures. Kaohsiung county has an English tourist website and probably the other counties in Taiwan do too. The websites for all the national parks there have English tourist websites that showcase more remote less trafficked places. You'll probably need a car to go to most "unknown" places in Taiwan. Hope that helps.

This sort of ties in to #2's post. Kaohsiung itself is rather unremarkable. If you have a lot of time, it's OK to spend 1 or 2 days there. It would not be a bad city in which to live, but it doesn't have a lot to offer tourists. I'm sure that the county, not the city, has some places unknown to most westerners just as #2 says.

It's hard to say if it's too long or not. I see posts in the Western Europe branch that say that you MUST spend 7-10 days in Seville, Spain or you are an idiot. I'd argue that 7-10 days in any one town as a tourist is probably insane, but that's just me. With 3-4 weeks you certainly would be able to travel all around and see a lot of interesting things. Taiwanese people are friendly the food is good there, so you should enjoy yourself.

I really liked Lugang.

http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/m1.aspx?sNo=0002012 is the official gov't tourism webpage of Taiwan and has links to all the national park websites and the tourism websites of the various counties. Forgot to put it in my previous post (#2). To comment on #3, it is true that Kaohsiung doesn't have much to offer tourists compared to other cities in Taiwan. Don't go to Kaohsiung expecting to see interesting museums for example. Go to Taipei for art museums such as the national palace museum and various other museums. I do think Shoushan (monkey mountain) in Kaohsiung is worth visiting (if you've never seen wild monkeys before) and Kaohsiung a great base for visiting the many fascinating places in Kaohsiung county (various hotspring towns, several forest recreation areas, Meinong,Foguangshan, colorful agricultural towns e.t.c.). Still not every place mentioned in the Kaohsiung County website is worth visiting. Don't bother going to Tianliao Moon World, for example. It's really lame. Kaohsiung is also good base for exploring the greater Maolin Scenic Area and it's a short train trip away from Tainan. Tainan is a must see for it's historical architecture and temples. Hope that helps.

rozwa , I feel 3 1/2 weeks is a bit long for here, but there are lots of things you can see outside of Taipei. Down south you may have problems depending on where you want to go because of the typhoon, but Taroko Gorge is beautiful, could spend a week there alone.

Robert,

3 weeks is not too long at all to feel a country. There are millions of things you can do in Taiwan. We spent 3.5 weeks there in July and loved every bit of it (except the typhoon).

You can try to go around the island and stopping in places like yi-lan (beautiful scenery and more traditional Taiwanese lifestyle), green island (snorkelling and diving), lan-yu (traditional aboriginal culture), Tarako Gorge, Taitung, Kenting (beaches), Kaohsiung etc and make your way up to Yu-Shan, and the central Taiwan before heading back to Taipei.

If you really want to see something off the beaten track, then mayb Penghu islands. Apparently they have white sandy beaches and great for a few days relaxing.

The food is great there, the people are very friendly, and there are many ways you can enjoy and 'feel' the culture of Taiwan outside Taipei.

Highly recommended. 3 weeks is def the right amount of time to see it.

Enjoy.

Definitely not too long, especially if you like hiking.
I'm a big fan of Qimei (Cimei) and Wang'an in the Penghu Islands, though that area is quite windy at that time of year- it's up to you if that will deter you.
Dongpu and especially Lishan have some great mountain scenery. I haven't done it yet, but the climbs up Yu Shan and Xue Shan (Taiwan's 1st and 2nd tallest mountains, respectively) are said to be not too difficult and very beautiful.

You could also try some of the offshore islands. Penghu is interesting, a coral archipelago in the Taiwan Strait, off the east coast is Green Island and Orchid Island, the ancestral home of the Thao aborigines. You can get to them by ferry or air.

Otherwise where I live, Tainan is interesting from a historic and cultural perspective. It's where the Dutch had their base in the 17th century and where they were subsequently routed by the pirate Koxinga, who established a kind of Ming Dynasty in exile there.

Plenty to see in three or four weeks. Check my blogs if you're interested.
Wei Long in Taiwan