Taipei from above: Maokong hike and gondolas

On my last day in Taiwan, I had a few hours to kill before going to the airport, so Jay and I decided to meet up and do a last little hike together. We chose to go to the suburb of Maokong, which is well known for its gondola lifts going up and down the mountain.

We tried to find the hiking trail going up the mountain, but with almost no signs that was impossible. Instead, we ended up walking along the main road leading up to the gondola stations. So it wasn’t a proper nature hike, but it was still a beautiful walk that offered stunning views of Taipei with the Taipei 101 in the far distance.

We passed several beautiful temples on our way up the mountain and spent some time studying them, but when we got to Zhinan Temple, which is the third of four gondola stations, we were running short of time. Unfortunately, that meant that we didn’t have time for any more road hiking, so we decided to give the summit of the mountain a miss and head back down on the gondola, which was an experience in itself! If hiking is not your thing, I can definitely recommend doing the gondola ride to see the beautiful view of Taipei!

The trip to Maokong was short, but it was a great start to the day and a nice way to end my 6 amazing days in my new favourite city.

I said goodbye to Jay on the subway, got to the airport, caught my flight to Tokyo and waved goodbye to Taiwan as we flew across the beautiful countryside and over the East China Sea.

I’m 100 percent sure that I’ll be back to explore more of Taiwan someday. Taiwan is the kind of place that I can see myself stopping over in for a week or so on the way to visit friends in Australia for example. So farewell for now Taiwan, and see you again soon!!

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