Alishan is one of the most beautiful places in Taiwan. With that said, it is a pain to get there. I’m not sure if there’s a bus that takes you straight there from Taipei, but even if there were it would take hours. The first time I went, my friend drove us to Chiayi (the closest city to Alishan), and from there we took a bus up the mountain. The second time I went, I took the high speed rail to Chiayi and transferred to a bus that took us up the mountain. Either way it will take you about 1½ hours to 2 hours to get to Chiayi, and another 2 hours to get to the Alishan National Scenic Area. The drive up the mountain has a lot of turns, so if you get carsick TAKE MEDICINE. The trip there was enough to make me never go again, except my friend (visiting from the US) really wanted me to take her there. So…I went again.
The Alishan National Scenic Area is really small. I read some blogs suggesting tourists stay there for a few days, but I don’t see why you would have to. There aren’t many hotels in the area, and most of them are really old. If you don’t mind your hotel conditions then you will be fine. Otherwise, there is really only one good hotel, and it’s expensive:
Alishan House (Modern House) / 阿里山賓館（新館)
Alishan House is split up into two parts: Modern House & Historical House. It was built about 100 years ago, but has since been remodeled. I stayed at the Modern House both times, because the first time I stayed I snuck over to the Historical House to take a look. Let me tell you…don’t stay at the Historical House. It is completely different than the Modern House. Again, if you don’t care about your hotel stay then the Historical House is a cheaper option.
Secret: You can book a room at the Historical House (much cheaper), and call the hotel to see if they can put you in the Modern House instead. This works, except you do run the risk of possibly staying in Historical House if there are no availabilities.
Another thing about Alishan House is that, in my opinion, the view from the hotel is better than the top of Alishan. Check out the slideshow below to see pictures from my stay:
Buses to and from Alishan start and stop at inconvenient times. So if you want to see either the sunrise or sunset, you HAVE TO stay in Alishan overnight.
To get to the top of Alishan, you will wake up at 3:30AM to take a 4:10AM bus from your hotel to Alishan Train Station. From there, you will wait in line for about an hour to get on the Red Train (小火車), which will take you even further up the mountain (~25 min). Buy your train ticket from your hotel, the night before! If you don’t, you will most likely miss the train and miss the sunrise.
My final suggestion: after you get off the train, many tourists will go straight to the viewing deck. You may join them, but you will be fighting many Chinese tourists to get a good view. Instead, turn right after you reach the top of the stairs. Keep going ALL THE WAY. It is a little bit of a hike, but totally worth it. Do this first, I promise you, you won’t regret it.
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