Shoushan (壽山, also called Chaishan) is a mountain in Kaohsiung city. Owing to its large population of resident macaques, most English speakers call it “Monkey Mountain”.
Besides Shoushan Zoo and the famous LOVE Lookout, Shoushan is covered in hiking trails. Take one of these trails and you are pretty much guaranteed to spot macaques, more-so than on any other Taiwan hikes.
With so many trails on the mountain, planning a quick visit to see the monkeys can be intimidating. In this article, I’ll share the route I personally take, with LRT and train access, shorter and longer options, a temple with goddess-shaped stalagmite, and how to get free herbal tea on the mountain.
Also see my guide to Kaohsiung and where to stay in the city.
Shoushan Introduction
Shoushan is a long (north to south) mountain which forms a natural barrier between Kaohsiung’s city center and the sea to the west.
The mountain is formed by uplifted coral reef and features many limestone caves (similar to the landscape in Kenting National Forest Recreation Area at the southern tip of Taiwan). Some of these caves need a permit and guide to enter.
Shoushan has gone by many names throughout history. Some of these have included Snake Mountain, Buried Gold Mountain, Kaohsiung Mountain, and Chaishan (柴山). Chaishan is a common alternative name and still used today.
Sometimes, “Shoushan” refers to the southern portion of the mountain, where Shoushan Zoo and LOVE Lookout are located. You can hike to those from Yanchengpu or Pier 2 Art Center area, but I won’t cover them in this article.
“Chaishan” refers to the northern portion, which used to be under military control and nowadays has the most hiking trails, including the one we’ll be doing, and the most monkeys.
The name Shoushan is derived from a name given by the Japanese, meaning “Long Life Hill”, after the crown-prince Hirohito stayed there in 1923.
The name Ape Mountain or Monkey Mountain has been used by foreigners (including the Dutch, British, and Americans) going back hundreds of years.
This is of course due to the large number of macaques (specifically Formosan rock macaques) on the mountain, and English speakers today still call it Monkey Mountain.
In fact, I saw well over 50 macaques when I did my most recent hike!
The whole mountain is now protected as the Taiwan Macaque Sanctuary (台灣獼猴保護區) or Shoushan National Natural Park (壽山國家自然公園(壽山園區).
Getting to Monkey Mountain
There are several different spots where you can access the vast network of hiking trails on Shoushan.
The hiking route I’m going to recommend below will start here (the red “You Are Here” in the above map) and finish here (the end of the black trail just above it). It will take about two hours (with shorter or longer options possible).
The trailhead and trail exit are each about 10-15 minutes walk from TRA Museum of Fine Arts Station (C20), which is a station of both the Kaohsiung LRT Green Line (here) and the local (TRA) train line (here).
If you happen to be staying in Yanchengpu district or visiting Pier 2 Art Center or Cijin Island first, then it will make sense to ride the LRT there. You can swipe EasyCard and the ride takes 15 minutes.
If you’re coming from Kaohsiung Station area, you can hop on a northbound local train to TRA Museum of Fine Arts Station. You can also swipe EasyCard and the ride takes 7 minutes.
If you prefer by MRT, you can ride the Red Line from Kaohsiung Station or Formosa Boulevard north to Aozidi station, then transfer to the LRT (Heart of Love River Ruyi station) there, but this route will take about 20 minutes.
Make sure you don’t get off at the similarly named “Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts Station” (C21), which you’ll pass on the way.
For my visit, staying near Kaohsiung Station, I decided to hop on a YouBike for a slower and more scenic ride to Monkey Mountain. I returned the YouBike here, just a few minutes from the trail entrance.
Pro tip: I started by day with a delicious traditional Taiwanese breakfast at Lao Chiang Nantai (here) near Formosa Boulevard station, one of the best in the city, then cycled to Shoushan.
How to Hike with Monkeys on Shoushan
Now I’m going to cover my recommended hiking route in detail. There are MANY variations you could do here, including shorter and longer options.
For my route, I followed this AllTrails map to go up to Lotus Cave (see image above).
Then, to avoid backtracking, I connected to this AllTrails map to go back down (see image below). I wanted to finish the hike at at Longquan Temple, which has a cool Guanyin-shaped stalagmite in a cave.
The hike took me two hours in total.
For a longer option (2.5-3 hrs), you could take this one back down instead, which goes into that area of many trails at the top-left of the above image before veering down to the temple.
For a shorter option (perhaps with kids), just go up until you see some monkeys, then come back down the same way.
On my numerous visits, I’ve always seen monkeys within 5 to 20 minutes of hiking. But do note, this is 5-20 minutes of uphill stairs, then you can walk back down the same way. So with kids, you might spend 30-60 minutes on the trail in total.
Pro Tip: Bring a cup or refillable bottle to enjoy free herbal tea at one of the pavilions on the mountain. I’ll tell you where below!
MRT/Train Station to Trailhead
From the main exits of either the Museum of Fine Arts train station or the TRA Museum of Fine Arts LRT station, it’s a straight walk down Qinghai Road then Mingde Road (there’s a 7-Eleven where the two roads meet) to the Shoushan Hiking Trail entrance (here).
I came by YouBike and returned my bike here in front of the school on Mingde Road.
Mingde Road ends at Beigushan Qianguang Temple (北鼓山千光宮, here) at the base of the mountain. Take a quick peek inside if you want, but I didn’t bother.
To find the trailhead, I turned right and entered the parking lot to the right of the temple. Just watch for the chonky monkey on the parking lot sign.
On the left side of the parking lot, I saw several signs warning about monkey safety plus a map of the hiking trails. The trailhead is right behind the signs.
Note about Monkey Safety
While the macaques on Shoushan are totally used to humans, they are still wild animals. It is absolutely forbidden to feed them.
You should also avoid staring and showing your teeth at them, which they see as a sign of aggression.
Don’t carry anything in your hands, especially food, as they are known to grab things from people.
You may also want to avoid hanging jewelry, scarves, etc, and be especially careful with young children.
Hiking Up to Lotus Cave
From the trailhead, following my first map, I took the stairs steeply into the forest above the temple. I followed the signs for Four Banyan Trees, which would be the first rest stop.
About 15-20 minutes up, I encountered my first troupe of macaques of the day (on previous trips, I’d seen them sooner).
The first monkeys are always the most exciting, so I spent some time admiring and photographing them before moving on.
Another 20 minutes in, or 40 minutes into my hike, I reached Four Banyan Trees (四棵榕, here), a resting pavilion and lookout with a (rather smoggy) city view.
There were more macaques here, with some of them getting quite close to the locals as they enjoyed their snacks. The locals didn’t seem to notice or pay any attention to them.
I saw some especially cute baby macaques with their mother here.
Setting out again, I was now following signs for the next stop, Panrong Pavilion. The trail became less steep and made several long switchbacks.
Between the switchbacks, there were several options to take short but steep shortcuts. These were super fun and had ropes when needed.
I arrived at Panrong Pavilion (盤榕亭, here) 1 hour and 20 minutes into my hike.
This is the spot where they give away free herbal teas such as barley tea (麥茶), green herbal tea (青草茶), and roselle tea (洛神花茶).
Impressively, some locals carry the water for these up every day. I wished I had brought a cup or bottle to enjoy some!
Panrong was the highest point I would reach on my hike. After it, the trail started going downhill.
A few minutes later, I reached Lotus Cave (蓮花洞, here), at which point I switched to the second map for my descent.
Going Down to Longquan Temple
It took me a minute to find the actual cave at Lotus Cave. At first I thought it was on the right side, where I found an elderly perople’s makeshift exercise area and a group of local elderly men hanging out in the forest below a small cliff.
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, the men were throwing food to the macaques, even though there are dozens of signs on Shoushan saying not to feed them.
The actual cave (nothing special) is a little further down and on the left, near where a different trail goes off for the longer return route to Longquan Temple. If you have the energy and interest, go for it.
For me, at this point, I was getting hungry and looking to take the fastest way back down (but a different one than the one I’d taken up).
So, I kept going forward, using this map to hike from Lotus Cave all the way down to Longquan Temple (following the top side of the loop in the map).
I moved quickly, so it only took just over half an hour to reach the bottom.
The stairs just kept going down, down, and down, with signs pointing to Longmen Pavilion. I had a few more monkey spottings along the way.
I also passed a cool stretch of Formosan Sugar Palms, an equally cool banyan tree, and Longmen Pavilion (龍門亭, here).
Finally, the trail reached flat ground between two large temples and a few hole-in-the-wall shops selling cold drinks.
Guanyin Stalagmite at Longquan Temple
In my research I had read about a Guanyin (female Boddhisattva)-shaped stalagmite in a cave inside one of the temples here and I wanted to find it.
After asking around a bit, I learned it was in Longquan Temple (萬壽山龍泉寺), which is the temple complex to the left when hiking down.
However, the entrance to the temple is not obvious. I had to exit the trail, turn left on the road, and walk a ways down to find the main entrance gate here.
When I entered the temple complex, I learned from a monk that it’s not in the big temple right in front of the main entrance (see photo above). Rather, I had to turn left and walk through a garage-like structure to find the correct temple building here (see photo below).
From the courtyard of the three-sided building, I took the stairs on the inner right side up to the second floor then went through a set of doors in the middle to find the cave within.
The Guanyin-shaped statue is in fact a real stalagmite growing up from a real cave floor inside. And yes, it really does look like the goddess!
From the temple, you can walk back to Museum of Fine Arts station (15 minutes) or the slightly closer Neiwei Arts Center on the Green LRT Line.
However, I was starving, a little pooped, and so I cheated and ordered an Uber from here to the place I planned to have lunch, Sanmin traditional market.
I wanted to mention something after doing this trail as I don’t think it was clear on the guide and looking into it now I realise I took a wrong turn. Maybe it was because I could not view the maps you link to or that the guide was so long that referencing it on the spot is tricky. Yes I mis-read your guide. At Panrong Pavilion you went onto Lotus Cave and continued on from there, but I thought you’d backtracked to the pavilion. It’s because if I remember at Panrong Pavilion where the herbal teas are you turn up and on the left is the boardwalk to the lotus cave and the signs I remember indicate straight on is Longquan Temple(or Longmen Pavilion maybe). My memory of what the signs/maps say is sketchy, but basically they indicated two choices and in my mind Lotus cave was not the way to go. Straight on, pass the teas and hut it doesn’t seem like a path at all, but you soon find it is and the reason I felt the need to mention it. Now mind I realise I went the wrong way,but all the way down I was thinking strange he didn’t mention all these ropes. This way is a steep in places descent down uneven ragged/rocky ground needing the use frequently of the installated ropes on either side. It is like this for most of the descent and throw in a couple of unsigned forks and signs that don’t quite make sense and you are a bit unsure. Turns out the more obvious turns take you out at the same place as the trail in your guide so all good. Actually this was quite interesting and I enjoyed it(I wisely had filled up with tea) even if you had to watch your footing as it would be one nasty accident.
Thanks for sharing your experience and I’m glad it still worked out for you. Honestly there are so many paths and turns up there, it’s pretty easy to get lost or go the wrong way, hence why I do recommend using an app like AllTrails here. But if you aren’t too worried about following my exact route, it’s also fine to just follow the signs and/or make your own route, as you ended up doing, and hopefully still have a fun experience!