Meishan, Chiayi: The Slow & Scenic Tea Route to Alishan

Most travelers rush along the heavily touristed route from Chiayi to Alishan, with perhaps a quick stop to see the tea plantations in Shizhuo or bamboo forests in Fenqihu on the way.

What if I told you there’s a slower route from Chiayi which is even more scenic and has almost no tourists or traffic? That would be Meishan!

In this article, I’ll share a road trip I did by scooter through Meishan county, including Taiping Suspension Bridge, lunch on a coffee plantation, a mesmerizing waterfall, bamboo forests, and loads of tea plantation views.

The road trip will finish at Fenqihu & Shizhuo, where you’ll have the option to spend the night, proceed to Alishan, or return to Chiayi via two different routes.

Welcome to Meishan Township

Meishan (梅山鄉) is a rural township in northern Chiayi, which is my absolute favorite county in Taiwan and my wife’s ancestral hometown.

Literally “Plum Mountain”, the name Meishan doesn’t refer to a specific mountain peak, but rather to the area’s long association with plum trees, for which Meishan is still known today.

Besides plums, Meishan is also known for its betel nut palm trees (which produce a nut that is chewed as a mild stimulant), tea and coffee plantations, and remote waterfalls.

The opening of Taiping Suspension Bridge has drawn more tourists to the region (especially elderly Taiwanese tour groups), but very few ever make it past there.

I’ll be covering a few must-sees in Meishan, but the biggest draw to visiting is soaking up its laid-back countryside vibes and stunning scenery along the drive.

Getting to Meishan

Buses to Meishan township are extremely limited and slow.

If bus is your only option, then realistically, you’re looking at a day trip from Chiayi to Taiping Suspension Bridge (which has some tea plantations) and Taiping Old Street, and then back to Chiayi. Just click the above link for the bus details.

For all the places I’ll describe after that, driving a car or scooter is your only realistic option. Be prepared to navigate some extremely winding roads. Oh the plus side, there is almost no traffic.

There are several scooter rental shops just outside Chiayi station. I rented my scooter with this Klook deal. An IDP (International Driver’s Permit) with stamp in the A box (motorcycle endorsement) is needed. See my guide to renting scooters in Taiwan.  

To rent a car, most car rental shops are around HSR stations. I’ve rented from IWS near Chiayi HSR station via this page on Klook. You’ll need an IDP and credit card under the same name to rent a car. See my guide to renting a car in Taiwan.

If you want to go by car but can’t drive in Taiwan, see my list of recommended private drivers and contact any of them for a quote.

You can also book a private car via Tripool. Use code Nick2026 to receive three discount vouchers by email when signing up for the app and choose the “hourly rate” when keying in your trip info.

My Meishan Road Trip

I visited Meishan as a long day trip from Chiayi city, starting quite early and returning after dark.

To be honest, it was a little rushed, and I even had to skip some little spots I had hoped to visit, plus some big ones like Fenqihu and Shizhuo, which I had already been to several times before.

Therefore, for most visitors, I recommend doing this is a 2-3 day trip. On Day 1, drive up through Meishan and spend the night in Ruili, Fenqihu, or Shizhuo. On Day 2, return to Chiayi via either of the two routes I’ll recommend, or proceed to Alishan and spend your second night there.

For my trip, I started out by riding my scooter to Meishan town, which sits on the edge of the Chianan (Chiayi-Tainan) Plain and is the main access point to Meishan region.

Just past it, I took Provincial Highway 162 (162甲) up the Taiping 36 Bends to Taiping Suspension Bridge and Taiping Old Street, which is as far as you can get by bus.

After Taiping village, I continued ascending through stunning tea and coffee plantations, including one where I stopped for lunch.

After that, I hiked to the gorgeous Longgong Waterfall and did the Longzaiwei Tea Trail before passing Fenqihu and joining the main Chiayi-to-Alishan highway in Shizhuo, which is in neighborhing Zhuqi Township.

I then scootered all the way back to Chiayi without stopping, arriving after dark.

But if you’ve never been to Fenqihu, Shizhuo, and Alishan before, you should definitely devote one or two nights to exploring them. I’ll give you all the details below for how to do that.

Having GoogleMaps is crucial for finding the way in this region, so if you go by scooter like I did, you’ll want to make sure your battery is fully charged (bring a battery pack if needed). Scooter rentals always come with phone holders.

I was using a Holafly eSIM for this trip, which was super convenient. I wasted no time at the airport, since it worked from the moment I landed.

This trip to Meishan was the real test for connectivity, as I went deep into the countryside. And I’m happy to report, I was still connected everywhere I went!

Learn more in my guides to using eSIMs (and regular SIMs) in Taiwan.

Breakfast in Chiayi and Drive to Meishan

In Chiayi, I was staying at Orange Hotel (see on Booking / Agoda) for its proximity to Wenhua Road Night Market.

Because most scooter rental shops are near Chiayi Station, I had already rented my scooter from this shop the evening before, when I first arrived in the city. This allowed me to hit the road as soon as I got up.

But not without a local breakfast first!

I was up ridiculously early, as I was still jet lagged from having just flown into Taiwan the day before. I took the chance to line up for the 6 AM opening of A-Fu Meat Rolls (here), the most famous food stall in Chiayi’s East Public Market, which took a full hour.

If you aren’t up for the wait, other breakfast options that I’ve tried on other days include a more typical Taiwanese breakfast shop (here), traditional rice cakes with fried egg (here), or this guy who serves fresh almond milk with egg stirred in and dough sticks right on the street (here).

After breakfast, I made my way out of Chiayi city around 7:30 AM, with a quick stop to take a look at historic Beimen (North Gate) Station (here), the first station on the Alishan Forest Railway after Chiayi station.

From there, it was a 30-minute ride to Meishan town (here), the main town and access point to the rest of Meishan township.

Important for Scooterists: When riding from Chiayi city to Meishan, GoogleMaps kept trying to put me on National Freeway No. 3, which is the fastest way. But scooters are NOT allowed on national freeways (indicated by a flower icon on GoogleMaps).

I had to intentionally ignore its advice, turn onto Provincial Highway 166 to Zhuqi, and then Provincial Highway 3 to Meishan (blue icon on GoogleMaps, scooters allowed).

There’s nothing really of note in Meishan town, but it is the official starting point of Provincial Highway 162 (162甲), which I’d be riding for the next several hours.

Taiping 36 Bends

Fifteen minutes’ drive from Meishan town, I got my first view of Taiping Suspension Bridge across a valley high above me.

Then things suddenly got very exciting when I reached the Taiping 36 Bends (太平三十六彎, here). This is quite possibly the single most winding stretch of road in all of Taiwan.

I had a blast riding the scooter up the 36 steep switchbacks, each which is numbered.

At the top, I stopped to look down on the bends. I was shocked to find a group of local cyclists who had to just conquered them and had just turned around to cycle back down.

From the top I could also see much of the Chianan Plain from high above, revealing just how much elevation I’d just gained in such the short time since setting of from Meishan town.

Taiping Suspension Bridge

Shortly after the bends, I drove right under Taiping Suspension Bridge (太平雲梯 or “Taiping Sky Ladder”, here), which is the highest elevation and one of the most scenic suspension bridges in all of Taiwan (for the tallest and longest one, read about Shuiyuan Suspension Bridge in Nantou).

See my Taiping Bridge and Old Street guide for more info than I’ll give here.

I then parked at the parking lot, skipped the ticket counter (or at least I learned that I should have, because I’d already bought my ticket here on Klook), and proceeded directly to the bridge. Note that it’s closed on Wednesdays.

You can only cross the bridge in one-way direction. Although I wasn’t lucky enough for it, it’s often possible to see the sea of clouds phenomenon from the bridge, especially closer to closing time and sunset.

At the end of the bridge, I had the option to return via a direct trail under the bridge or to do a longer hike through tea plantations, called Yunzhinandao Trail (雲之南道步道, here), which I highly recommend.

The hike circles back to Taiping Village, close to the bridge parking lot and the entrance to Taiping Old Street.

In total, you can budget one hour to visit the bridge only, 1.5 hours for the bridge plus tea plantation hike, or 2 to 2.5 hours for the bridge, hike, and Taiping Old Street.

Also note, the only 7-Eleven on the entire Highway 162 is here in Taiping village, so stock on anything you need.

Taiping Old Street

Taiping Old Street (太平老街, here) is a less touristy version of the far better known Fenqihu Old Street. I saw many of the same food specialties here, but without a single foreign tourist.

The Old Street stretches for several blocks. It’s best to visit from late morning to the afternoon and ideally on the weekend. Weekdays are much quieter, especially Wednesdays, when the bridge is closed.

Some local specialties I noted or tried included wintermelon tea, roselle tea, tea oil, plum wine, Fenqihu-style donuts, taro balls, grilled boar meat, deep fried cabbage balls, and dried fruits, vegetables, and bamboo.

Lunch at Amber Coffee Estate

Continuing up Highway 162, I made a small detour up a narrow, winding road to Amber Coffee Estate (琥珀社咖啡莊園 or Huposhe Coffee Plantation, here), which sits at 1100 meters above sea level.

The coffee farm grows a variety of Arabica coffee beans without pesticides, all hand-picked and sun-dried.

I started my visit by parking the scooter at Bihu Lookout (here), which has an incredible view.

On the mountains across the valley, I could just barely make out the peaks of Hehuanshan, Yushan (Taiwan’s tallest mountain), and even the Alishan Forest Railway line, all indicated on the sign in the above photo.

From there, I followed a boardwalk trail into the estate, which had several types of coffee bushes, all labeled with their type (such as Venecia, Yellow Bourbon, and Villa Sarchi).

I passed through a coffee storage area to find the restaurant-café. In front of it was a large table with coffee beans drying in the sun.

A few steps away was that same incredible valley view, with another sign labeling mountains on the horizon.

For my lunch on the estate, I had already booked a set meal the day before via their LINE account, which you are supposed to do. With my early departure from Chiayi, but 2.5 hours spend at Taiping, I booked for 12:00. If you only want tea or coffee, you can just show up without a booking.

The above link pulls up a QR code which you need to scan to add their LINE account. As soon as you add the account, it will take you through a series of automated messages in Mandarin. I’ll guide you through it here:

1. After the initial welcome message, copy-paste the characters 說明 (explain). It will explain some policies, like how there’s a minimum order of TWD 100 per person.
2. Now paste 菜單 (menu). It will show you the menu, which includes English.
3. Now paste 訂位 (reserve). It will ask you for the following:
4. 日起 (date), 人數 (number of people), 幾點到 (time of arrival), 定位人姓名 (name), and 電話 (phone number). Just reply and give these five items – if you don’t have a Taiwan phone number, just tell them so.
5. It will then ask what you want to order. See the four main menu items below and copy paste whatever meal you want to order. Drinks don’t need to be pre-ordered.
6. Finally, it will ask you to type 停車場, so do that, and it will send you directions to the parking lot with photos (not really needed if you have GoogleMaps).

At any point, if you have issues with this ordering system, the owner will step in. Just use GoogleTranslate, or type in English and he’ll use GoogleTranslate on his end.

If this is all too much, you could also just contact the owner via the coffee estate’s Facebook page to make your booking.

Pre-Order Menu:

茶油雞餐 : Crispy Ginger Chicken with Tea Oil Set
苦茶油湯麵線: Tea Oil Vermicelli Noodles Set (if you are vegetarian, add the words 素的)
蜂蜜鬆餅: Honey Waffle
巧克力鬆餅: Chocolate Waffle

I ordered the Crispy Ginger Chicken with Tea Oil Set and it was super delicious. The chicken is fried in bitter tea oil and topped with a mound of deep-fried ginger slices.

It also came with bitter melon soup, tofu in plum sauce, fried mushrooms and cabbage, rice, and sweet potato (side dishes may vary).

I also ordered a honey process pour-over coffee, which was fabulous.

Besides the coffee, which is produced on site, they also serve local Meishan oolong tea, Meishan jinxuan tea (also called “milk oolong” for its creamy mouthfeel), and Alishan black tea.

The owner was super friendly and sat down with me for a chat (note: I’m not sure if he can speak English). Overall, visiting Amber Coffee Estate was a fantastic experience and I highly recommend it!

Longgong Waterfall Hike

From there, I returned to Highway 162 and proceeded to my next stop, Longgong Waterfall Trail (龍宮瀑布步道, here) in Ruifeng Scenic Area.

The pin in my above link is for the small parking lot (space for cars and scooters, left side of road, with toilets) and trailhead (opposite it, right side of road). It was a 40-minute scooter ride from the restaurant to trailhead.

The trail is not well marked on GoogleMaps and it can be confusing, as there are several other waterfalls and access points to the trail system. But it will all make sense when you get to my location pin above.

The trail starts out paved then descends through the forest into a valley. I then crossed the 10^th Suspension Bridge (十號橋) with a view of Leiyin Waterfall (雷音瀑布) to the left. To my right, I could see my end goal, Longgong Waterfall, across the valley.

The trail crossed another suspension bridge then veered to the right, passing through a tunnel on the opposite valley wall, visible in the below photo.

The path followed the cliffs, becoming very narrow and points, and eventually leading to Longgong Waterfall.

Longgong Waterfall (龍宮瀑布, here) is a staggering 120 meters tall. The trail passes right under it, very close to the top, where it forms a water curtain cave.

To pass it, I had to duck down to avoid bumping my head on the rocky ceiling. It was impossible to cross it without getting wet.

This was super fun, but before I managed to get a photo of myself at the falls, which I later seriously regretted, a large group of elderly hikers showed up and all hope was lost.

I followed the same route back, for a return hiking time of 1.5 hours. I made a local friend on the way back, a younger Taiwanese who was doing a solo road trip after seeing this spot on Tik Tok.

He even showed me a shortcut on the way back up through the forest. While the main path goes up and down multiple times, with lots of stairs, if you can find the path in the trees to the left, there’s way less up and down, so it’s much easier.

Ruili Bamboo Forests and Highway 166 Back to Chiayi

Next, I skipped my plan for a small detour up to 1314 Lookout (一三一四觀景台, here), which looks out over some tea plantations, because I was it was already about 4 PM and I was running out of daylight time.

About 20 minutes’ drive past Longgong Waterfall Trailhead, I reached an intersection where I could go left to stay on Highway 162, which continues along towards Fenqihu, Shizhuo, and Alishan (or back to Chiayi) – I’ll be going this way, and if that’s you plan as well, please skip to the next section.

However, for those looking to return to Chiayi but via a totally different slow route, you can turn right here onto Provincial Highway 166 and take it all the way back. While this route has several cool stops, I would say it’s not quite as scenic as the 162 we just drove.

Note that if you plan to do this, it takes 1.5 hours back to Chiayi, and that doesn’t include any of the stops I’ll describe below. If you don’t want to rush, I would suggest that you spend the night in this area (such as here or here), then exploring the below places on the drive back to Chiayi the next day.

The first stop of note after tuning onto Highway 166 is Ruili (瑞里) area, which is known for its bamboo forests and more tea plantations.

Shortly after the turn, there’s a trail called Yejianghua Stream Trail (野薑花溪步道 or “Wild Ginger Flower” Stream Trail, here).

The trail descends through some tea fields to a stream, then follows it to Green Tunnel (綠色隧道, here), a super narrow road through a beautiful section of bamboo forest.

You can drive a scooter or small car up to Green Tunnel – GoogleMaps will get you there.

Ruili is also the starting point (here) of the Ruitai and Fenrui Historic Trails (which start at the same spot but end in Taihe or Fenqihu, respectively). You could hike even just 30 to 60 minutes of the trail to experience the beautiful bamboo forest.

If you wanted to do the whole trail (either one), it’s quite far, even if you just go one way (about 4 hours), let alone return, not to mention the trail is damaged and currently closed on the Fenqihu end.

If the bamboo forest trails are a priority for you, I do recommend spending a night in Ruili area so you can explore these trails the next day and return to Chiayi (or proceed to Alishan) without rushing.

Continuing along towards Chiayi on Highway 166, you can also make stops at Yuantan Falls (雲潭瀑布, here) and Guanyin Waterfall (觀音瀑布, here).

The latter is a four-level waterfall that looks like Guanyin from afar, with an entrance fee and shuttle bus option), but it requires at least an hour to visit and is only open until 4 PM.

After that, you’d reach Zhuqi and finally Chiayi city.

Staying on 162 to Longzaiwei Trail

Rather than taking Highway 166, as described in the above section, I turned left at the intersection to stay on Highway 162.

My main goal for the day was to reach Longzaiwei Trail (巃仔尾步道, here), a tea trail that I had never done before.

It took me 25 minutes to drive from above intersection to Longzaiwei. The scenery was particularly epic on this portion of the drive.

With the sun getting close to the mountainous horizon, I skipped another item on my list (this teahouse with a view), with the goal of reaching the tea trail before dark.

I pulled into the parking lot at Longzaiwei Trail at 4:30 PM, which was already a bit late. The sun was already behind some hills, which was casting some pesky shadows on the tea fields.

Note that the time of my visit was late March, when official sunset time was 5:40 PM – at the peak of winter, you’d have even less time, while in summer, you’d have a little more.

What’s more, despite GoogleMaps saying the trail is open 24 hours, a sign on site said it actually closes at 5 PM, so apparently I made it just in time.

Nevertheless, those views looking down on the tea fields were nothing short of spectacular!

The tea trail was quite different than I’d imagined. Instead of hiking up into the tea farms, like the better-known Eryanping Trail and Shizhuo tea trails, for this one, you start from a parking lot at the top and hike downhill.

The trail is only 1.7 kilometers (return) if you go the whole way, and you don’t have to go far at all to enjoy the scenery. It goes straight down and back, so it’s impossible to get lost.

There are a couple simple teahouses at the bottom (like this one) with gorgeous views, which unfortunately I didn’t make it to since they were about to close.

Around Longzaiwei, Highway 162 becomes Highway 169 for the final stretch to Fenqihu and Shizhuo.

Fenqihu and Shizhuo

If you don’t plan to ride all the way back to Chiayi in the same day like I did (which is quite rushed), it would definitely make sense to spend the night in Fenqihu or Shizhuo, especially if you’ve never been to them before.

These two villages see far more tourists. Fenqihu is a major stop on the Alishan Forest Railway Line from Chiayi to Alishan, while Shizhuo is on the main bus route. However, both of them are still definitely worth visiting.

If you still have time at this point, I’d recommend stopping briefly at Fenqihu. You can quickly access the best of Fenqihu’s bamboo forests if you stop right here and take the path on right side of road, for even just 15 minutes.

This will give you direct access to the best part of the best trail in town, Fenqi Trail.

This will be easy to do if you’re on a scooter, but with a car, your only option will be to park in one of the lots lower down in town, then hike back up to this same spot.

Also park in one of those parking lots if you’d like to visit Fenqihu Old Street for snacks or dinner, but you’ll need at least 30 minutes to do that.

If catching sunset is a priority for you and it’s getting close, just cruise right past Fenqihu and park here on the tea plantation-covered hillside above Shizhuo, which is an epic sunset viewpoint.

Then choose from one of several excellent tea farm guesthouses on the hill, such as Cuiti, Longyun, or Green Incense. I describe these in detail here in my Shizhuo guide.

Note that few of these serve dinner, so find out in advance, otherwise you’ll need to either bring food or hike 30 minutes (downhill) to the restaurants on the highway, and then back up to your guesthouse.

Proceeding to Alishan

If you intend to reach Alishan National Forest Recreation Area on the same day, it’s about 45 minutes’ drive from Shizhuo to Alishan.

It would be doable to watch the sunset from the viewpoint I mentioned above in Shizhuo then drive onward to Alishan. You would arrive just as it would be starting to get very dark.

However, if you’re less rushed, or if you’ve never been to Shizhuo, I’d recommend spending the night in one of the tea farm guesthouses. Then you can enjoy more of Shizhuo’s hikes the next morning before continuing along to Alishan.

Returning to Chiayi

I’ve already stayed in Fenqihu and Shizhuo multiple times, plus I planned to return to Chiayi in the same day, so I passed by both of them without stopping, around 5:30 PM.

In Shizhuo, Highway 169 meets Highway 18, which is the main highway from Chiayi to Alishan (though it’s still narrow and winding). I got on the 18 and cruised all the way back to Chiayi city without a single stop.

Besides Shizhuo, sunset chasers can also consider watching the sunset from the lookout platform at the top of Eryanping or Tea and Mist Trail (two hikes leading to the same platform).

You can hike up either one (45 minutes) or even drive right up to the top on a super narrow road (allowed on weekdays only). It’s 15 minutes’ drive past Shizhuo. Again I skipped this because I’ve been before.

It was totally dark by the time I got back to Chiayi city, reaching my hotel around 7:00 PM, just in time to enjoy a feast at Wenhua Road Night Market.  

If you have any questions about how to tackle this road trip, feel free to ask in the comments below or in my Facebook group!