u/EffectiveAd1620

Hello all, planning my first trip to Taiwan in late October for about 10 days.

My original plan was to ride the full 1000 km around the island via route 1. But after some research here though, I keep seeing comments that much of the west coast can be skipped due to traffic, air quality and repetitive scenery.

So now Im focusing more on the east coast:

D1 – Land in Taipei, train to Kaohsiung, rent bike, ride to Pingtung
D2 – Pingtung → Taitung, skipping Kenting
D3 – Taitung → Yuli via hwy 11, then Yuzhang Road inland
D4 – Yuli → Hualien via 193
D5 – Taroko climb and back to Hualien
D6 – Hualien → Yilan, train for part of the Suhua to skip tunnel
D7 – Yilan → Keelung
D8 – North-coast, loop back to Taipei
D9–10 – Taipei

I ride long distance regularly so daily volume is not really an issue. My priority is scenery and overall experience than checking off the 1000 km loop. Also Wuling & the KOM route is on my bucket list in the future so I’m not trying to fit everything into this first trip. And a few questions:

For a first visit to Taiwan, is completing the full route 1 loop still worth doing for the experience?

If I’m already prioritizing the east coast, is the Kaohsiung → Taitung part worth a full day, or do you recommend taking the train directly to Taitung and starting there? If so I could use the extra day around Taipei, like riding Yangmingshan. Would that be a better choice?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Hello all, planning my first trip to Taiwan in late October for about 10 days.

My original plan was to ride the full 1000 km around the island via route 1. But after some research here though, I keep seeing comments that much of the west coast can be skipped due to traffic, air quality and repetitive scenery.

So now Im focusing more on the east coast:

D1 – Land in Taipei, train to Kaohsiung, rent bike, ride to Pingtung
D2 – Pingtung → Taitung, skipping Kenting
D3 – Taitung → Yuli via hwy 11, then Yuzhang Road inland
D4 – Yuli → Hualien via 193
D5 – Taroko climb and back to Hualien
D6 – Hualien → Yilan, train for part of the Suhua to skip tunnel
D7 – Yilan → Keelung
D8 – North-coast, loop back to Taipei
D9–10 – Taipei

I ride long distance regularly so daily volume is not really an issue. My priority is scenery and overall experience than checking off the 1000 km loop. Also Wuling & the KOM route is on my bucket list in the future so I’m not trying to fit everything into this first trip. And a few questions:

For a first visit to Taiwan, is completing the full route 1 loop still worth doing for the experience?

If I’m already prioritizing the east coast, is the Kaohsiung → Taitung part worth a full day, or do you recommend taking the train directly to Taitung and starting there? If so I could use the extra day around Taipei, like riding Yangmingshan. Would that be a better choice?

Any advice would be much appreciated!