Here is a list of 12 hot springs that are accessible within 30 minutes. They usually exist in the hot spring season and guarantee good pools as well as adequate temperature. Click the photos to check their locations on Google Map. You literally can walk to each of them from your car within 30 minutes in most circumstances.
Taiwan has around 150 hot spring outcrops, but not all of them are easily accessible. Some hot springs take several days to arrive, and some only appear for a short time and then disappear after a typhoon. The hot springs on the list are the friendly entry to these geothermal wonders in Taiwan.
(Order: North to South)
1. Bayan Hot Spring (Taipei)
(Photographer: James Osborne)
Bayan is in Yangmingshan National Park. The hot spring pools are well maintained by the local. Pools are made out of sandbags and rocks by them, and there is a wide selection for water temperature. The hot spring water is milky white and very sulfury. Its pH is 2~3, the same acidity as lemon juice or dilute sulfuric acid; It is recommended to take off all metal accessories before the hot spring bath. The hot spring pools exist all year long.
All creeks and hot springs in Yangminshan Park are banned by YMS headquarters, yet Bayan Hot Spring is very popular on weekends. Sometimes police officers come and you might get fined 1500NT dollars.
2. Wulai Hot Spring (Taipei)
Wulai Hot Spring in the riverbed is forbidden by Tourism Development Act, which has been enforced since 2020, and the fine is from 10,000 NT dollars to 50,000 NT dollars. It is a shame because Wulai Hot Spring is the most convenient natural hot spring in Taipei, the pools are great and many, and the place can be reached merely by bus.
The natural hot spring pools do exist, and there are still visitors. It is suggested to keep a low profile while visiting it, and the police are more likely to show up during the day than in the evening.
3. Peng Peng Hot Spring (Yilan)
The outcrops along Peng Peng Creek are hundreds of meters long. The hot spring pools’ locations are different every year. The pools guarantee steady temperatures from 38 to 45+, but not hot enough for eggs. Peng Peng Hot Spring is very popular during hot spring season, and tents are often seen. Peng Peng Creek floods easily after or in a shower, and a flood lasts for days after heavy rain.
Peng Peng Hot Spring disappears every year after a typhoon. Around November or December, the local villagers use an excavator to dig for the hot spring pools.
Peng Peng(芃芃)or Fan Fan (梵梵) are both said for the very same place, and the former was the original name. Pengpeng, or Bonbon, means the bubbling sound in the hot spring. In 1970, a local administrator mixed up two different Chinese characters(梵 for 芃) on a document, which is the reason for the two different names for the one hot spring.
4. Qingshui Hot Spring (Yilan)
Right across from Qingshui Recreation Area, where tourists cook eggs, is the Qingshui Hot Spring. There is a big steamy outcrop in the riverbed, and some people use it to cook their food. The hot spring pool is usually by a rock wall. The ground is vast and good for camping. It should be noted that Qingshui Creek floods easily in a shower.
5. Xiaojinping Hot Spring (Hsinchu)
Xiaojinping has a main hot spring pool by the mountainfoot. This hot spring pool is kind of sketchy because sometimes rocks fall on it. The hot spring is sheltered with bars and an iron roof. But you still need to be careful, for rocks could fall too far off when you are by it. This hot spring pool is out of concrete, can contain 4-6 people, and the temperature is 40 degrees.
The other one or two pools are different every year. In some years, there are two pools, while in other years, there is only one. And the temperatures of them vary in different years.
The parking lot is big, and it can fit dozens of cars. But the final 2.5-kilometer road to the parking lot is bad and bumpy. Cars with high chassis are suggested, or it is advised to park somewhere farther and walk to the hot spring for one hour.
6. Mahaipu Hot Spring (Nantou)
Mahaipu Hot Spring is in Lushan Hot Spring Area. There is a hot spring cave, behind a pool that you need to swim across, at 39 degrees that can contain 6-8 people when the water flow of the creek is not high. Mahaipu Creek has beautiful colorful walls, stalactites that are hung on the wall, and many hot spring outcrops.
Comentarios