Taroko National Park Visitor Center — Attraction in Xiulin

Update 21/10/2024 We went through the park on a scooter today. Even though the trails were closed, the scenery blew our minds and made for was one of the most beautiful impressions we‘ve had on our months-long journey through Asia. Absolutely worth a visit, especially considering that buying a lunch at the restaurant of the monastry next to Tianxing or the café of Silks Place Taroko Hotel there hopefully will be of help for the locals to cope with the aftermath of the natural disasters this year.

State of things on 20/10/2024 after earthquake and typhoon: Basically unchanged from status of review dated 25/09/2024. Trails in the park remain closed except for a tiny little bit of Wenshan trail according to visitor centre where you can get off and take a few photos. Apart from that you can go (i.e. drive) through the park within the very limited time frame as per traffic control schedule.

The visitor centre itself is open and you can do a very short trail around the terrace there to see the macaques which are fun to watch. Also the staff were helpful and friendly. Besides the explanations on the limitations due to reconstruction works they are handing out maps and the schedule for the...

Visited September 25, 2024

All trails remained closed. The visitor center is open, and the road is open for short periods of time. I attached the schedule I was given at the visitor center for the road. The visitor center staff were very helpful and spoke English. You can walk, bike, drive, or scooter the road during the open periods. I biked the road and recommend starting from the visitor center. The section is almost entirely downhill going from the visitor center to the arch.

From the open section, you get a taste of the beauty of national park. You can still see the waterfall that goes through the shrine from a distance. You cannot enter. You can also see the damage that has been done to the trails and roads. It is sad to see, but a unique experience in the park’s history.

I am very grateful to have seen part of the park despite the recent earthquake. Thank you to the rangers at the visitor center for helping guests and for the workers...

This review is not so much for the park itself which looks like it is gorgeous but for the experience you can currently have if you are traveling by public transportation (this was July 2025). Unfortunately the 2024 earthquake caused huge landslides and damage to the park. We knew this but had trouble finding detailed information about what we could see if we went anyway. We took the bus to the Taroko Gorge Visitors Center which was open and had very helpful staff. Right now, there is one trail open, a steep path to Datong Tribal Village (attached a photo of the map.) You are also allowed to walk the road into the gorge at the times that vehicles are allowed in. This is what we opted to do (second photo attached). We walked about 2 km along the road and through tunnels and did get some nice views. But there is no shoulder so with buses and cars passing it was not the best walking. But it was just a taste! We look forward to being able to see...