The hook
The quiet end of Taiwan — the Pacific on one side, the Central Mountains on the other, the cleanest air on the island, and the highest concentration of indigenous population anywhere in the country.
01Why it's worth it
Taitung is where Taiwan stops being crowded. The county runs down the southeast coast with the East Rift Valley inland — a long trough between two mountain ranges, filled with rice terraces, hot springs and small towns — and Highway 11 along the shore, which is one of the great cycling and driving roads in Asia: cliffs, river mouths, and almost nothing built.
The Amis, Puyuma, Paiwan, Bunun and Rukai peoples are a substantial part of the population here, and that presence is ordinary rather than staged — village festivals, millet wine, and food that is not the night-market food of the west coast. Dulan has become a small hub for artists and surfers around an old sugar factory.
Offshore, Green Island and Orchid Island are ferry rides away. Inland, the valley has Luye with its hot-air balloon festival and the Brown Boulevard through the rice, and hot springs at Zhiben. The Tropic of Cancer marker sits on the coast road north.
What people notice first, though, is air and pace. Taiwan's west coast is heavily industrialised; the east is not, and residents are direct about the difference.
02How to experience it
Take the east-coast train from Taipei — book ahead, it sells out — and rent a scooter or car in Taitung city, because the point is the road. Give it three or four days minimum: a day on Highway 11 north toward Donghe and Dulan, a day in the rift valley, and a night at a hot spring. Add Green Island if you dive.
The honest note
The beaches look better than they swim. This is the important practical warning and it comes from a resident with a swimming background: on the east coast "from about Nan'ao down to Taitung there are very dangerous currents and the beaches are stony and the water gets very deep very close to the shore. It's possible to swim there, but i keep a very close eye on my kids when we go there. It's not relaxing swimming." Treat the coast as scenery and surf, not as a swimming holiday.
Remote is the whole proposition, and it cuts both ways. In a Taiwanese ranking of where in the country is good to live, Taitung landed in the second-lowest tier, alongside Nantou and Hualien: "Too remote in the mountains, inconvenient to live there." The same qualities that make it a fine place to spend a week make it inconvenient to live in — and visitors should expect thin public transport and early closing.
Typhoons land here first. July to September the east coast takes the brunt.
From the locals
The clearest endorsement comes as one half of a pairing, in a Taiwanese thread asking for one overrated and one underrated thing. The answer names a place this atlas also pins, and then names this one: "Overrated: Jiufen. Crowded and unfun. Tourist trap. Underrated: Taitung. Awesome nature. Chill atmosphere. Beaches and mountains."
Asked where in Taiwan is best simply to enjoy life, another resident sorted the island by what you want: Yilan for surfing, Taipei for art and museums, Kaohsiung for cost and connections — and "if you just wanna connect with nature, then Hualien or Taitung."
Even a long list of complaints about the country concedes this corner. Someone warning a prospective mover about pollution and noise on the west coast broke off to note the exception twice: the air on the west coast is bad, "east coast is great!", and Taiwan has no beach culture "except for parts in Taitung."
And the story people tell about this county is about its people. A traveller who got off the train at Taitung station and set out to walk into town was interrupted after fifteen minutes by someone pulling up on a scooter, asking where they were going, and insisting on giving them a lift — then the same thing happened again when they left a few days later.