Yangmingshan National Park

Located above the Taipei basin, urban hikers can explore the 28,305-acre Yangmingshan National Park’s 30 peaks. The park is technically an active volcano, but the last eruption was 300,000 years ago. There are several trails, including the Butterfly Corridor, an easy 1.2-mile trail where butterflies flutter around hikers, and the Bird Watching Trail, a two-hour, mostly flat forest trail where hikers can glimpse 20 species of birds like the Taiwan blue magpie and the Formosan whistling thrush. Soothe tired feet with a post-hike dip in Lengshuikeng, a cold water spring, or soak in hot springs at one of the bath houses dotted along Yang Jin Highway, one of the best things to do in Taiwan.

No visit to Taiwan is complete without visiting the 11,455-hectare Yangmingshan National Park. Formed from volcanic activity 2 million years ago, the mountains overlooking Taipei were home to Taiwan’s earliest settlers, the Ketagalan, one of nine plains people tribes in Taiwan who mined sulfur here 2,000 years ago. During the Japanese Occupation (1895-1945) of Taiwan, the Japanese used the sulfur to make delightful hot springs. We love Yangmingshan for its varied hiking paths and nature, including sakura (cherry blossoms), calla lilies, over 100 species of butterflies, and waterfalls.