Shifen Falls: Taipei’s Little Niagara

Shifen Waterfall, fondly known as Little Niagara, is Taiwan’s most popular waterfall. Despite the high foot traffic and touristy town, it’s still worth a visit. In the afternoon, tiny rainbows of light float over the dense falls or you may see a big round semi-circle of color. The water is a beautiful teal blue and some say that’s more beautiful than Niagara Falls.

The town is nice to. There’s a variety of food stalls with fresh fruit, meat kebabs and other delicious treats. As with other touristy areas, there are plenty of places to buy souvenirs and post cards. One thing special about Shifen, is the ability to make paper lanterns. Between trains, locals and visitors step out onto the empty tracks and paint them. (They’re much bigger up close.)

The lanterns are released into the sky and it makes for a glorious display around sunset. Of course, hiking groups have fun picking up the clutter afterward, but that’s none of my business. Another focal point of Shifen is the old suspension bridge. It looks cool and I encourage you to cross it, but there’s really nothing to see on the other side. We looked.

Getting Around

To get to Shifen Falls, start at Taipei Main Station. From here, get a north bound train to Ruifang. These trains are abundant, convenient and there is absolutely no reason to book tickets in advance. From Ruifang station, board the Pingxi Line going toward (you guessed it) Pingxi. You will have to buy these tickets at Ruifang station or use an EasyCard. Get off the Pingxi Line at Shifen station. After disembarking, walk through the town of Shifen to get to the falls. Follow the signs and enjoy!

Cliff Jumping: Lingjiao Waterfall

Stand around for an hour contemplating life with a strange mix of fear and philosophy, then JUMP! This is what a friend experienced before leaping 40 feet from the top of a waterfall into the pool below. (I didn’t do it. Apparently, old age has dampened my desire to die.) Another said that he would wait for his brain to become slightly confused and then run off the cliff before clarity and sanity could catch up with him. (I date that one 😢) He did this 4 times. According to both, the first time is easiest, since after that the brain has figured out what you’re doing and doesn’t approve.

Resting at twelve meters, Lingjiao Waterfall might be the highest cliff jump in Taiwan, and, of course, (as stated above) we’re slightly disturbed, so this is the one we started with. It’s higher and maybe even more beautiful than Hong Kong’s most famous cliff jump, Sheung Luk, which we are hoping to visit in the not too distant future. Unlike Sheung Luk, Lingjiao has managed to stay off the radar for most tourists and even locals. Except for a group of regulars, who looked like they’d been there a thousand times, we basically had the beautiful spot to ourselves… on a weekend… in July.

We brought water, wine, bread, cheese, and spread our towels out to enjoy a lazy afternoon swimming and jumping. The locals brought the music and, unwittingly, showed us where to stand and what spot to aim for when making the jump. If they hadn’t been there to demonstrate, I can’t say for sure that our group would have tried it. Twelve meters definitely looks like 20 from the top and you can’t see what’s waiting for you at the bottom.

The top of the waterfall is calm, peaceful, pretty and the perfect place to spend an hour in reflection before giving in to the chaos of an adrenaline rush. Overall though, the whole area needs a little TLC. There’s some debris piled up on the side that makes for a rough first impression and the trail to the top is completely overgrown. I seriously doubt that it’s maintained by anyone except the regular jumpers. They did spend a little time clearing it while we were there, mostly just smashing everything down and (probably) praying not to step on a snake.



If more people visited, it would probably be better maintained, but then it would also be more crowded, so pick your poison. Actually, someone did try to turn it into a tourist attraction, but rumor has it that the endeavor was shut down after a boy jumped and died. This would have obviously created a lot of bad press and scared visitors away, especially locals who believe in the Chinese superstition that water is haunted by soul-stealing ghosts. Anyway, you can still see the hollowed out ruins that were never completed, which give the place an eerie vibe.

To us, the jump seemed intimidating, but safe. Someone could land poorly in the water and end up with a few bruises, but the whole pool itself is very deep and no one in our group touched the bottom. As long as you can swim, go for it. When not jumping, it’s also nice to swim under the cliff and scramble up onto the steps. This is a cool, wet place to hide from the sun and it gives you the high ground for a surprise attack when friends come and try to pull you off… Big Mistake.

Getting Around

It’s on the Pingxi Line, exactly one stop from Pingxi Village actually, so you could also squeeze in a visit there or to Shifen Waterfall on this trip. We considered exploring Wanggu Waterfall, since it is also only one stop away, but ditched this plan when some unexpected new friends, who had just come from there, dropped in and told us how the waterfall is much smaller and that no one at all was there swimming, much less jumping.

I digress, take the bus there, but come home on the train. It’s bus number 795 and it departs every half hour from Muzha Station on the brown line. To get to the bus stop, exit the station and cross the street to the OK Mart. Fun fact, this bus stops at every major attraction on the Pingxi Line, including Lingjiao, which is where you want to get off. From there, follow signs for the Lingjiao train station, which is about 500 meters away (other blogs lie about this distance for some reason) down a small side road.

From the station, follow signs for the waterfall, which is only an additional 300 meters away. The trail for the waterfall starts at the Lingjiao Visiter Center (or at least an abandoned, nonfunctional cement building that says it’s a visitor center) and then follows the train tracks until ending at some stairs that lead down to the base of the falls.

To get home, jump on the train (no matter which way it’s going, because there’s only one ping-ponging back and forth along the Pingxi Line) and get off at Houtong Station, where you can transfer to a local train bound for Taipei. The bus ride’s under an hour, whereas the train takes two hours, but I still recommend the train because traffic gets bad on the weekends and you’ll have a better chance of finding a seat.

Hiking Yushan (Jade Mountain): Taiwan's Highest Peak

I get it. I completely understand how people who have never hiked before suddenly become altitude junkies within a year or two of living in Taiwan. The little island, about half the size of Virginia, is home to over a hundred 3,000m+ peaks and the most popular one to start with is Jade Mountain, which gets everybody hooked. Along with being Taiwan’s most popular hike, Jade Mountain is the highest peak in Taiwan and Eastern Asia. With a height of 3,952 m (12,966 ft.), it’s also the 27th most prominent mountain in the world, and my first experience with high altitude hiking.

I trained for one month and hike regularly, but knew the game had changed when one of our group members mentioned that he had just spent a week hiking around Everest’s Base Camp and the GIRLS who had gotten altitude sickness. (Thanks for that by the way, it made me feel so much better.) Obviously, he was one of the first to summit and I was one of the last, but the fact remains: I DID THAT and there must be something wrong with me, because I’m already planning my next high altitude ascent.



Jade Mountain is great for beginner altitude climbers, because it can be spread comfortably across two days and only requires hikers to carry 10-12 kg (22-26 lbs.). The mountain has two lodges, so tents aren’t necessary and neither are sleeping bags, which can be rented on site. Portering companies, also, send food and kerosene up the mountain daily so hikers can purchase meals at the lodges.

Serving more hikers than any other trail, the Jade Mountain lodges are revered as the best on the island. Instead of sleeping bags, the first lodge rents out weighted blankets and pillows (ACTUAL PILLOWS). I slept like a baby. For $300 NTD ($10 USD), the second lodge gives out nice down sleeping bags and fleece blankets. Interestingly, the second lodge is completely off the grid. Water is pumped in from a nearby river and the lights run on solar power. I was able to drink tap water for the first time in two years. In addition to this, it’s rumored they’ll be setting up some wind turbines in the near future.



Access to the summit is limited to 90 people a day and, of course, everyone needs two permits, which can be extremely difficult to come by. Also, the permits, lodging, meals and sleeping bags all have to be booked separately through different companies. For example, the food has to be booked directly through the portering companies and isn’t included in the price of the lodge. The sleeping bags are rented directly from the lodge, but as a separate transaction, so you have to remember to book it with your bed. Also, if you don’t get a receipt number, your reservation and money might be conveniently lost. Complete disclosure, just writing about it is giving me a headache and I’m super glad we joined a group instead of trying it alone.

There are lots of different organizations and people offering trips up the mountain. Trips are expensive (about $300 USD), but everything is included (even transport from Taipei) and they do all the paperwork, which (as mentioned above) is a huge pain. Ours was organized by trekking author, blogger and expert Richard Saunders, but lead by Mark Roche, the owner of Blue Skies Adventures and Saunders’ boss.



It was Roche’s 42nd trip up the mountain, so he was prepared for everything and full of good advice, such as how to ward off altitude sickness with ginger tea. (I love ginger tea, so this was great news.) Roche also has a favorite dead tree named Freddy, after Freddy Kruger. Again, I was usually bringing up the rear, so I got to talk with Roche more as he always tried to be the last one off the trail.

In addition to Roche and Saunders, other trekking companies organizing Jade Mountain trips include: Taiwan Adventures and Taiwan Adventure Outings. Yes, they are two separate companies. Taiwan Adventures has been around longer and has a good reputation for high mountain climbs, especially Snow Mountain. Taiwan Adventure Outings is a newer outfit that just took their first trip up Jade Mountain this year. That being said, the pictures from their trip looked great and I don’t think anyone died.



Speaking of dying, that happens. According to Roche, people die every year on the mountain. He alluded that the deaths were mostly older hikers and could be contributed to heart failure. Regardless, this climb is easily the scariest and most beautiful thing I’ve ever intentionally done to myself. Once you get over the scary, it’s an awesome (the original meaning) hike with mountain landscapes and shaded forests to keep you company.

The high altitude terrain is littered with firs, pines, hemlocks, mountain laurel, rhododendron, and edelweiss. This was the first time I’ve smelled pine needles since moving to Taiwan. Being as homesick as I am, the stupid things almost made my eyes water, as did the view on multiple occasions. (It’s unfair really, because in novels the girl who cries at beautiful things is such a romanticized idea, but in practice it’s awful, especially when the girl is trying to pretend to be a badass mountain climber, which she is not, and tears are not going to help the image.)



In distance, it’s not a very long hike, just 11 km from the trailhead to the summit. It’s the elevation that gets you and it literally takes two hours to hike what a person normally runs in ten minutes. There are two rest areas on the trail at the 1.5 and 5 km markers. They’re great places to have a snack and catch your breath. The summit lodge is at 8 km. If attempting a sunrise summit hike, most hikers stop here to sleep and eat before continuing on at two or three in the morning.

The final 2.4 km leading to the summit is a steep scramble with lots of windy cliffs, but there are chains and cages in place that make it feel relatively safe. A plus to doing the sunrise hike is that you can’t see how far you have to fall until on the return trip. It’s hard to believe that human beings actually do this for fun: "Let’s relax by standing two inches from certain death in the dark on the side of mountain almost 4,000 m above sea level.” You know what the stupidest thing is… I’d do it again.