Baolai Hot Spring (寶來溫泉) is the best-known hot spring village in Kaohsiung, albeit quite a ways from the city center.
I recently made the journey to take a soak in Baolai Public Hot Springs (buy ticket). I was pleasantly surprised to find the hot springs park filled with blooming cherry blossoms, which made for a stunning setting to my soak.
I also took a peek at the park’s beautiful campsite, including luxury campers with private hot springs, and tasted some delicious local specialties before leaving.
In this article, I’ll tell you exactly how to replicate my experience, including my recommended stops like Liugui Giant Buddha, Qishan Old Street, Fo Guang Shan Monastery, and others on the way back to Kaohsiung.
Introducing Baolai Hot Springs
Baolai (寶來, sometimes spelled Pao-Lai) is a hot springs village in Liugui (六龜), a remote district of Kaohsiung City, approximately 1.5 hour’s drive from the city center.
It is around the start of the Southern Cross Island Highway (Provincial Highway 20), which traverses the island to Taitung on the East Coast (read about Lisong Hot Spring, a stunning wild spring on the Taitung side of the highway).
Baolai sits in a forested valley 550 meters above sea level, making it a little cooler than lowland areas. It straddles the Baolai River, which is a tributary of the Laonong River.
Originally inhabited by Taiwanese Indigenous people, the area was later used for logging. The Japanese named it Penglai, or “Land of Immortals”, which Taiwanese pronounced as “Baolai”.
It wasn’t until the 1980s that they began piping thermal water into the village and developing it as a hot spring resort.
Typhoon Marakot (2009) and others have caused a lot of damage to the area, resulting in some decline since its peak popularity. Very few foreign tourists ever make it out to Baolai.
The hot spring water at Baolai is weakly alkaline sodium-bicarbonate, making it odorless and colorless. Locals believe it is very good for the skin.
There are a handful of older hot spring hotels in and around town. Grand Orchid Resort is considered the best one.
For casual visitors, the outdoor Baolai Public Hot Springs (also called “Baolai Flower Park and Hot Spring” or 寶來花鄉暨溫泉) is the best place to take a soak, and that’s where I went.
According to the staff on site, the cherry blossoms usually bloom from around mid-February to mid-March. But the year I visited, colder weather brought them later, so I was still able to see the tail end of them at the end of March.
Baolai area is also known for its produce such as wax apples, lychees, wild mountain greens, and plums. Local visitors don’t leave without trying some dishes flavored with local plums – I’ll recommend some at the end of the article.
Getting to Baolai
Driving is the best way to get to Baolai Hot Spring. It’s also possible (but very slow) to get there by bus.
Self Driving
If you check its location on the map, Baolai is actually closer to the Tainan city center than Kaohsiung, as the crow flies, but it takes a similar amount of time,1.5 hours, to drive there from Tainan or Kaohsiung.
For my trip by rental car (which I had rented several days earlier), I left my hotel in Tainan very early to reach Baolai Public Hot Springs for opening time (10 AM).
After visiting, I drove to Kaohsiung, where I finished my car rental near Zuoying HSR Station (where most of the city’s rental shops are located) and proceeded to the city center by MRT.
When driving to Baolai, I entered this pin as my destination. When I turned up the steep driveway into the park, I had to take a left at the top to find the public parking lot (the sign is in Mandarin and easy to miss).
I’ll introduce some stops I made on the way to and from Baolai below. See my guide to renting a driving a car in Taiwan from more information.
With a Private Driver
If you’re not comfortable or able to drive in Taiwan, the second-best option would be to hire a private driver for the day. You can book one here on Klook or contact any of my recommended drivers for a quote.
It would make sense to add a few more stops besides Baolai. Liugui Giant Buddha and Meinong Folk Village are quick and easy stops. I’ll introduce these and other possible stops below.
By Bus
It will take more than twice as long, or around four hours, to travel from Kaohsiung city center to Baolai by bus.
There are multiple ways to get there depending on your exact departure time. All of them involve taking the MRT to Zuoying Station first then a bus from there, with at least one more transfer to reach Baolai.
Use GoogleMaps directions to find the way. Considering spending the night in Baolai so you don’t have to make the same long trip back on the same day.
My Visit to Baolai Hot Spring
Now I’ll cover every step of my day from Tainan to Baolai to Kaohsiung.
Driving from Tainan
Initially I had planned to wake up well before sunrise and make several stops on my drive to Baolai.
My plan was to drive one hour to watch the sunrise at Erliao Sunrise Viewpoint (台南二寮觀日亭, here), which is lowest point in Taiwan where it’s possible to see the sea of clouds phenomenon, usually associated with higher places like Alishan.
After that, I would visit Danei Totoro Stop (here), a small town with Totoro murals, and finally, see the cherry blossoms at this temple near the Tainan/Kaohsiung border.
In the end, none of that happened.
My body wasn’t having it, so I slept in to a more reasonable time, had a local breakfast of fish ball soup and whay guay at Yongle Market in Tainan, then drove directly to Baolai, making only the following two quick stops toward the end of the drive.
These two stops are also easy to make if driving to Baolai from Kaohsiung.
Liugui Giant Buddha
Liugui Giant Buddha (六龜大佛, here), is a quick and easy stop just 20 minutes before Baolai.
This huge bronze seated Buddha was inspired by one in Kamakura, Japan and built on the spot where a rainbow once appeared.
When parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung were thrashed by Typhoon Marakot in 2009, including one village where 471 people died, locals in Liugui believe that the Giant Buddha protected them.
The Buddha is free to visit and you don’t have to climb up all the stairs to have a good look.
Bulao Hot Spring
After my stop at Liugui Giant Buddha, GoogleMaps led me past another small hot spring village I hadn’t known existed: Bulao Hot Springs (不老溫泉, literally “not old hot spring”).
Bulao isn’t much more than a couple hot spring hotels. The reason I mention it is because I just had to stop and take a few photos of this Shiba Inu-themed hot spring hotel, called Meilonshan Hot Spring Resort (here, see on Agoda / official hotel site).
Arriving at Baolai Public Hot Spring Park
Baolai Public Hot Spring is not right in tiny Baolai village but up a small road just outside it. If you arrived by bus, it would be a 15-minute walk to it, including some uphill at the end.
I had to make a sharp left turn onto the access driveway. At the top, I missed the sign pointing left to the parking lot, so watch for that!
From the parking lot, I went up a few stairs to find the hot spring area. I arrived a little before the 10 AM opening time so I took a little stroll through the park before entering the hot spring area.
The park was filled with gorgeous cherry blossoms, covered pavilions, chairs for relaxing, and a walkway past the hot springs leading to the camping area, which I’d investigate later.
When 10 AM hit, I showed my ticket (purchased with discount here on Klook) and was the first one in.
Entry to the hot springs costs TWD 100 (foot bath only) or 300 on weekdays / 350 on weekends for the full bath. On Klook, it’s only 250, so you save 50.
If you buy the TWD 250 ticket on Klook but show up on a weekend like I did, you’ll have to pay an extra TWD 50 on site – bringing your total to 300 but still saving 50 from the full weekend price of 350.
During Lunar New Year, when locals flock here, the price jumps to 400 (or 250 on Klook + 100 at the door).
Soaking in the Hot Springs with Cherry Blossoms
Baolai Public Hot Springs are outdoors (but covered), co-ed (male and female together), and you need to wear and bathing suit and swimming hat. They sell swimming hats (TWD 50) and simple towels (20) at the door if you don’t have one.
After checking in, I proceeded to the changing rooms, where there are lockers and showers with soap.
There are only a handful of hot spring tubs on site, including a foot soaking tub, a longer covered tub with lukewarm water, a hot tub with jets, and a cold plunge pool.
I got my best photos with reflections of cherry blossoms in the long lukewarm tub, while I spend the most time in the hot tub with jets, where a few families soon joined.
Overall, the hot spring facility itself is nothing special, and there are many better ones in Taiwan (see my list here).
But it was the cherry blossoms, lovely outdoor setting, and stunning mountain views which made this hot spring special.
Camping at Baolai Public Hot Spring
After my soak, I took a stroll to the camping area of the park, which is down a path just past the hot springs.
Besides regular camping, they offer luxury tents and campers which come with their own private hot spring tubs. Breakfast is provided at a small restaurant on site. You can see the photos and book one here on Klook.
The camping area also had more cherry blossoms and a pond with some water lilies and egrets.
Lunch in Baolai Village
In Baolai village, which isn’t much more than a couple blocks, there are a handful of restaurants along the highway through town.
When locals visit far-flung places like Baolai, they like to eat foods which aren’t so common in the city, such as mountain boar (山豬), fried river shrimps (炸溪蝦), wild mountain greens.
Baolai specifically is known for its plums, which are used to make various dishes like plum sauce tofu (梅子豆腐) and plum sauce chicken (梅子雞).
I stopped at Baolai Flavors Restaurant (寶來風味餐館, here) and ordered some fried Taiwanese mountain ferns (過貓 or guo mao) and plum sauce tofu to take away. Both were super delicious!
Other interesting greens you can watch for in town are dragon whiskers (龍鬚菜) and a wider curled fern called 山蘇.
Qishan Old Street
I purposely didn’t order too much food in Baolai because I was saving tummy space for Qishan Old Street on the way back to Kaohsiung.
The is the most famous Old Street in Kaohsiung and a must-visit for foodies. The daytime market street features baroque architecture, an old train station, and all kinds of local food specialties.
As the “banana capital” of Taiwan, many of these specialties include banana, like banana drinks, banana cakes, banana chips, and banana ice cream.
See my guide to Qishan Old Street for my specific recommendations.
Other Possible Stops
While Qishan Old Street is the only stop I made on the way to Zuoying Station, there are several others you could possibly include on your day trip to Baolai Hot Spring.
Meinong Folk Village (here) is a cultural center representing the Hakka people in Meinong Village. I visited the center many years ago to buy a beautiful bamboo and oil paper umbrella, a traditional wedding gift in their culture, which still decorates my living room today.
Maolin Butterfly Valley (here) has thousands of butterflies from around November to March. It’s best to go in the morning, so you’d want to do it before Baolai.
Fo Guang Shan Monastery (see my guide) is a bigger stop you could consider to include on your day trip. As Taiwan’s largest monastery, with it’s tallest Buddha statue, budget at least 2-3 hours for visiting.