If you’re visiting Taiwan soon and want to save money on transport, check out Taiwan Pass, the best travel pass for Taiwan. But before you buy it, you’ll need to understand how it works.
Taiwan Tourism launched the Taiwan Pass in 2024 as a newer, nationwide version of the popular Taipei Fun Pass (which covers only Taipei). Unlike the Taipei Fun Pass, the Taiwan Pass includes long-distance travel, bundling different types of transport across the country, including valuable early access to Alishan Forest Railway tickets (normally very hard to get).
However, the Taiwan Pass is confusing. There are two main versions – Taiwan Railways (TRA) and High Speed Rail (HSR) – and each one has its own choices, rules, and limitations.
Figuring out how much money these passes can save you is quite the process, but I’ll guide you through it, with examples of the passing saving and losing money.
By the end of the article, you’ll see that for either pass to actually you money, you’ll have to take several longer train or HSR rides within three days, which is not realistic for every traveler.
Taiwan Pass Key Info
- All Taiwan Passes are valid for 7 consecutive, calendar days.
- You can buy the pass anytime before your trip, and you’ll need to start making some choices and booking them via the app, but the first time you use it to take a ride (or visit an attraction), the seven days begin, i.e. the pass is “activated”.
- The Taiwan Pass – Taiwan Railways Edition (buy here) includes unlimited train rides for 3 consecutive days, one MRT pass (Airport MRT return ticket or 2-day MRT pass for Taipei, Taichung, or Kaohsiung), and your choice of ONE of the following: Taiwan Tourism Shuttle Bus (Sun Moon Lake, Alishan, Kenting, etc), Alishan Forest Railway one-way ticket, Uber voucher, or scooter voucher.
- The Taiwan Pass – High Speed Rail Edition (buy here) includes unlimited HSR rides for 3 consecutive days, one MRT pass, and your choice of ONE of the following: Taiwan Tourism Shuttle Bus (Sun Moon Lake, Alishan, Kenting, etc), Alishan Forest Railway one-way ticket, Uber voucher, or scooter voucher.
Please note, if you are interested in this pass mainly for the advance Alishan Forest Railway ticket, you can get the early tickets without buying this pass. See my Alishan Forest Railway guide for the details.
- There are also cheaper Children’s Taiwan Passes (meant for ages 6-11). Under 6 is free for most transportation in Taiwan so they don’t need a pass.
- After buying the pass on Klook, you’ll use the Taiwan Pass app (iPhone / Android) to make your bookings. It has the option to choose English, Mandarin, Japanese, or Korean. There’s no physical pass.
- Instructions will be provided on where to pick up the various transportation passes or tickets.
- The HSR version of this pass should NOT be confused with the HSR Unlimited Pass – a totally different pass which gives unlimited HSR rides for a set number of days.
Comparison to Other Passes
Deciding which pass (or passes) to get can be overwhelming. This table should help to clear up some differences between the main travel passes for Taiwan.
| Pass | TRA | HSR | MRT | Buses | Attractions | Days |
| Taiwan Pass (TRA) | ✓ (3-5 days) | X | 1 city of your choice | 1 Tourism Shuttle | X | Use within 7 days |
| Taiwan Pass (HSR) | X | ✓ (3 days) | 1 city of your choice | 1 Tourism Shuttle | X | Use within 7 days |
| HSR Unlimited Pass | Option to add some | ✓ | X | X | X | 2, 3, or 5 days |
| Taipei Fun Pass | X | X | Taipei only | Taipei only | 30+, Taipei only | 1, 2, or 3 days |
From the above table, you should be able to see that the Taiwan Passes include more items than the usual HSR Unlimited Pass.
The Taipei Fun Pass is totally different. It is focused on Taipei City only. Note: there’s also a a brand new Kaohsiung Fun Pass.
Find more money saving tips in my budget travel guide for Taiwan.
Should I get a Taiwan Pass AND a Taipei Fun Pass?
The Taiwan Pass and Taipei Fun Pass cover different regions. You should consider each one separately.
The Taipei Fun Pass is focused on Taipei only and can save you a lot of money during your 1-3 days of exploring Taipei. See my Taipei Fun Pass guide for how to maximize it and buy the pass here.
The Taiwan Pass is meant for traveling around Taiwan and can also save you money on your train/HSR rides around the country.
Please note that the Taipei Fun Pass includes unlimited rides on the Taipei MRT but it does NOT include the Airport MRT (from Taoyuan Airport to Taipei and back).
Therefore, if you get both passes, you can choose Airport MRT return tickets for the MRT option on the Taiwan Pass. Don’t choose Taipei MRT for your Taiwan pass because that’s already included on the Tapei Fun Pass.
Or you can choose a 2-day MRT pass for Taichung or Kaohsiung on your Taiwan Pass. Then you will have zero overlap between the two passes.
Taiwan Pass vs. EasyCard
You may also be wondering how the Taiwan Pass compares to EasyCard (see my EasyCard guide / buy on Klook), Taiwan’s most common and popular transportation card.
Again, they are totally different. The Taiwan Pass (and Taipei Fun Pass) are mainly for tourists. They offer convenience and savings to short-term visitors.
EasyCard is used by locals and visitors alike. It is a reloadable smartcard used for swiping on the MRT and local buses in all cities, plus local trains. It can also be used to pay at convenience stores, some foods stalls, some taxis, YouBikes, ferries, and a few other things. It doesn’t work for reserved seats on trains or for the HSR.
EasyCard costs TWD 100 (non-refundable deposit) plus any funds you load onto it.
If you plan to get a Taipei Fun Pass only, you won’t need an EasyCard for Taipei, but you might use it on other city MRTs (like Kaohsiung) or for buses in Taiwan (Sun Moon Lake, Alishan, Kenting, etc).
If you plan to get a Taiwan Pass only, it depends what choices you make for the MRT option. For example, if you choose the Airport MRT option, you’ll still probably want an EasyCard for MRTs in Taipei and other rides around Taiwan.
If you plan to get BOTH passes, there’s a higher chance you don’t need an EasyCard. The Taipei Fun Pass will include everything in Taipei. And the Taiwan Pass will add Airport MRT tickets or a MRT pass in one other city. It will also add one Taiwan Tourism shuttle bus ride.
But if you’re doing a big Taiwan trip, there might still be other times you’ll wish you had an EasyCard too. For example, if you need to ride the MRT in multiple cities, or you need to ride more than one Taiwan Tourism Shuttle on your trip.
Yes, you can pay for the extra MRT rides in cash each time, but that’s less convenient. And paying for Taiwan Tourism Shuttles in cash is especially inconvenient because you’ll need to find out how much they cost and pay in exact change.
What’s Included on the Taiwan Pass
Now I’ll introduce what each of the Taiwan Passes includes. The details get complicated, so I’ve also added several tables.
First let’s look at what each of the items on the passes mean. Important note: not every pass includes every item in this table. This is just an explanation of what the various possible items mean.
| Pass Item | Notes |
| HSR | – Unlimited HSR rides for 3 consecutive days within your 7-day pass. – Book reserved seats via Taiwan Pass app or just show up at station and show QR code to ride non-reserved (cars 10-12, first-come, first served). – Only included on HSR edition |
| TRA | – Unlimited TRA rides for 3 consecutive days within your 7-day pass – Book reserved seats (express trains) via Taiwan Pass app or just show up at station and show QR code to ride local trains. – Only included on TRA edition |
| MRT | Each pass includes your choice of only one of the following: 1. Taoyuan Airport MRT return ride (Airport to Taipei and back) 2. Taipei 2-day unlimited MRT pass (also called Transportation Fun Pass) 3. Taichung 2-day unlimited MRT pass 4. Kaohsiung 2-day unlimited MRT pass |
| Shuttle Bus, Alishan Forest Railway, & Other Items (Choose only ONE) | Each pass includes your choice of only one of the following: 1. Yilan 3-day unlimited bus pass (Taipei to Jiaoxi, Yilan, or Luodong) 2. Yilan FunTour bus ticket 3. Taichung 2-day MRT and local bus pass 4. Taichung to Qingjing Farm return bus ticket 5. Taichung to Sun Moon Lake return bus ticket 6. Sun Moon Lake FunTour bus ticket 7. Chiayi to Alishan return bus ticket 8. Chiayi to Alishan one-way on the Alishan Forest Railway including Alishan park entrance fee and one-hour stopover in Fenqihu, 60-day advance access to tickets (quota of 23 per day for pass users) – see availability and read my Alishan Forest Railway guide. 9. Alishan to Chiay one-way ticket on the Alishan Forest Railway (no Alishan entrance ticket or Fenqihu stopover), also with 60-day advance booking. 10. Alishan Forest Railway one-day pass (three small lines inside park) 11. Kaohsiung 2-day transportation pass 12. Zuoying (Kaohsiung) to Kenting return bus ticket 13. Uber TWD 300 voucher 14. CarPlus rental TWD 300 voucher 15. 24-hour scooter rental (Chiayi HSR Station, Chiayi TRA Station, Hualien TRA Station, and Yilan Toucheng, IDP with A stamp needed) |
Taiwan Pass – Taiwan Railways (TRA) Version
The Taiwan Pass TRA Version (buy here) is ideal for those who intend to take several regular train rides within 3-5 days.
Regular trains are better for shorter rides (1-2 hours, such as Taipei to Taichung or Chiayi to Kaohsiung) or for the East Coast where there’s no HSR (Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to Taitung, etc.)
The below table shows exactly what you get with this pass. It is valid for seven days.
| Pass | Price | With Klook Discount* | Includes |
| Taiwan Pass TRA Edition | 3542 | 2500 | – 3 days unlimited TRA rides – 1 MRT pass – 1 Tourism Shuttle, Alishan Forest Railway ticket, or other item |
*Adult price. Cheaper children’s ticket also available. Discounted price may change over time
As you can see from the table, this pass gives you three consecutive days of unlimited travel on any Taiwan Railways trains, one of the four available MRT passes, and one choice from the list of 15 other items (Taiwan Tourism shuttles, Alishan Forest Railway, and others).
Taiwan Pass – High Speed Rail (HSR) Version
The Taiwan Pass HSR Version (buy here) is better for those who plan to take at least a few HSR rides within a short time (3 consecutive days within your 7-day pass).
As long as you take at least two or three HSR rides in those three days (and ideally at least one longer one, like Taipei to Zuoying/Kaohsiung), this pass will be worth the money.
Let’s look at what this pass includes. Again, it is valid for seven days after activation.
| Pass | Price | With Klook Discount* | Includes |
| Taiwan Pass HSR Edition | 3342 | 2800 | – 3 days unlimited HSR rides – 1 MRT pass – 1 Tourism Shuttle, Alishan Forest Railway ticket, or other item |
*Adult price. Cheaper children’s ticket also available. Discounted price may change over time
As you can see, the Taiwan Pass HSR edition gives you three days of unlimited HSR rides, one MRT pass, and one choice from a list of 15 other items.
Real Examples of Pass Savings
Determining whether these passes are worth the money is tricky. You’ll first need to figure out which pass is better for you (TRA or HSR).
Then, you’ll need to add up the costs of all the items if you paid for them individually, including any discounts you might get for them on Klook (like the 15% off and buy-one-get-one deal for HSR tickets).
It will be easiest if I give you some examples. The first two show that the TRA version will save little (or no) money, but I feel it’s still worth it for the Alishan Forest Railway booking opportunity.
The second two examples show that the HSR version can easily save you money, plus you also get the Alishan train benfit.
Example 1 (TRA Pass Losing Money)
Here’s a real-life example of how much value you’d save with the TRA Pass, in the order you might use it.
| Pass Item | Uses | Value |
| TRA | Taipei to Hualien | 583 |
| Hualien to Chishang | 343 | |
| MRT | Kaohsiung 2-day MRT pass | 260 |
| Other Item | Alishan Forest Railway to Alishan | 750 |
| Total Value | 1936 | |
| Pass Cost | 2500 | |
| Overall Value | -564 |
As you can see from this example, despite taking two train rides within three consecutive days (Taipei to Hualien and Hualien to Chishang), this pass still has negative value.
In other words, it would be TWD 564 cheaper to book all these items individually.
So why would anyone choose it? Honestly, the only way to make this pass worth the money is if you are taking three long train rides three days in a row which, for most travelers, is unrealistic.
For example, if you added a Chishang-to-Kaohsiung train ride (value TWD 604), this pass would just barely be worth it. But it means you’d have to move cities three days in a row, with little time to see them.
Example 2 (TRA Pass Saving Money)
Let’s look at one more totally different example, where I can actually get this pass to be worth the money.
| Pass Item | Uses | Value |
| MRT | Taoyuan Airport MRT (return ticket) | 310 |
| TRA | Taipei to Kaohsiung | 994 |
| Kaohsiung to Taipei | 994 | |
| Other Item | Kenting Round Trip Bus Tricket | 802 |
| Total Value | 3100 | |
| Pass Cost | 2500 | |
| Overall Value | +600 |
As you can see above, I was able to choose an itinerary where this pass can save you TWD 600.
However, this isn’t a super realistic itinerary. First, you have to take the regular train from Taipei all the way to Kaohsiung (which is slower than the HSR).
Second, you have to use your return train ticket within three days, so that doesn’t give you much time to go to Kenting and back.
Overall, for most travelers doing typical routes around Taiwan, the TRA pass will save you little or no money. The only times is saves money is if you take 2-3 longer train rides within 3 consecutive days.
You can do the math yourself by adding up the value of the items on your pass. Check train prices here and other pass item values on the pass page.
Example 3 (HSR Pass Losing Money)
Taiwan’s High Speed Rail is quite a bit more expensive than the TRA, so this pass is going to offer higher saving possibilities.
Let’s jump to an example:
| Pass Item | Uses | Value |
| MRT | Taoyuan Airport MRT (return ticket) | 310* |
| HSR | Taipei to Zuoying | 1264* |
| Zuoying to Chiayi | 410 | |
| Other Item | Alishan Forest Railway to Alishan | 750* |
| Total Value | 2734 | |
| Pass Cost | 2800 | |
| Overall Value | -66 |
* With 15% discount on Klook
With the Taiwan Pass HSR Version, saving money still isn’t guaranteed. In this real traveler itinerary, buying the pass would lose you TWD 66.
In order to make this pass give you positive savings, you need to take at least two longer HSR rides within three consecutive days, as we’ll see in the next example. The short Zuoying to Chiayi HSR ride just didn’t add enough value here.
If I would have done Taipei to Zuoying by HSR, then Zuoying back to Taipei (within three consecutive days), then this pass would have positive value.
Example 4 (HSR Pass Saving Money)
Here’s another realistic example where I got this pass’s value to be very high. It involves using Taipei as a base and taking several day trips by HSR. As you can see, the savings quickly add up.
| Pass Item | Uses | Value |
| MRT | Taipei 2-day MRT pass | 340* |
| HSR | Taipei to Zuoying (Kaohsiung day trip) | 1265* |
| Zuoying to Taipei | 1265* | |
| Taipei to Taichung (Sun Moon Lake day trip) | 594* | |
| Taichung to Taipei | 594* | |
| Taipei to Taoyuan (Xpark day trip) | 135* | |
| Taoyuan to Taipei | 135* | |
| Tourism Shuttle | Sun Moon Lake Shuttle (return) | 386 |
| Total Value | 4714 | |
| Pass Cost | 2800 | |
| Overall Value | +1914 |
* With 15% discount on Klook
In this case, by squeezing in six HSR rides in only three days (as return day trips), I was able to skyrocket this pass’s savings to TWD 1914.
I could have got it even higher if I replaced the little Taoyuan day trip with a Tainan day trip.
Very few people will actually travel like this (using Taipei as a base and doing three long day trips in a row by HSR), but some really do!
As you can see, to make this Taiwan Pass HSR edition worth the money, you have to do at least two longer HSR rides within three consecutive days. If you can somehow do even more, the savings can grow a lot, but this kind of travel isn’t realistic for most visitors.
Conclusion: Is Taiwan Pass Worth the Money
As you can see from my above examples, the Taiwan Pass – TRA Edition might actually not save you any money. It might even cost more than booking things individually.
However, if for some reason you happen to be doing long train rides three days in a row, it’s possible this pass could save you money.
The Taiwan Pass – HSR Edition is a better deal, but still not guaranteed to save you money. But if you do a return trip from Taipei to Zuoying within three days, or manage to take three or more HSR rides within three days, it could actually save you a lot.
Thank you very much for this great overview.
I would like to book the Taiwan Pass HSR Edition just for the Alishan Forest Railway option to have a better chance of getting a ticket. Is it correct that this option is called Taiwan Haoxing Shuttle Bus on klook? It’s a bit confusing, so I’m hesitating to book.
The Klook page is not very clear. But as long as you choose the Classic Edition of the pass, you get to choose one Taiwan Shuttle Bus (aka Taiwan Haoxing Shuttle Bus) OR the Alishan Forest Railway ticket. This is better explained on the official Taiwan Pass website and my article above. Don’t worry that the Klook page doesn’t mention it. It’s because the page is old, and this is a recent addition. But it will definitely be one of the options in the app after you purchase the pass.
You say “read my Taiwan Pass guide to find out how it works” but that article gives no information on
how and where to book
likely availability
the different departures
the direction of travel
whether returns are really available or only “downbound”
stopover in fenquihu possible or not
whether the app is in more than one language
whether you can pick a seat
whether you need to have activated the pass or not
How and where to book: My article has links to the Klook page for buying the pass and the app where you will manage the pass. You’ll choose your pass items (like Alishan Forest Railway) in the app.
likely availability – I literally linked to the availability schedule.
the different departures: Read my Alishan Forest Railway guide for departure times. That is beyond the scope of this article. This article is about the pass. The train article is about the train.
the direction of travel: My article mentions you can use this pass to go in one direction only, up or down. If you want to go both ways, you’ll need to book the second ride seprately. But I don’t recommend going both ways. It’s a long ride and the scenery would be the same. Buses are twice as fast.
whether returns are really available or only “downbound”: As above.
stopover in fenquihu possible or not: Read my Alishan Forest Railway guide. You’ll learn that the train makes a one-hour stop on the way up, but not on the way down. You can’t stop overnight and get back on the train the next day on one ticket.
whether the app is in more than one language: English, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean.
whether you can pick a seat: Read my Alishan Forest Railway guide. Seats are auto assigned.
whether you need to have activated the pass or not: My article says “the first time you use it to take a ride (or visit an attraction), the seven days begin.” So you’ll need to book any seats in advance that require reservations (like Alishan Forest Railway), but the pass is activated (i.e. countdown of days begins) when you take the first ride.
Hi Nick
Both of your websites are incredible, and they’re absolutely invaluable resources for info-hungry and travel-greedy people like me 🙂
I was initially planning a two week short trip to Taiwan, but then the more I perused through all your articles, the more curious/greedy I became, and now, I’m probably going to end up spending 5+ weeks all around Taiwan, trying to soak up as much of the entire island I possibly can in this much time XD
So that brings me to the next important set of questions: is it possible for one to purchase multiple passes of the same type (eg: 2 x Taipei Fun Pass and 2 or 3 x Taiwan TRA Pass) in order to maximize on convenience and thrift (where and when possible, of course). I’m planning a clockwise tour of the entire island by train, but with a week in Taipei… so, yeah, I was wondering if (you know if) there are any limitations on how many passes one can buy (separate activation dates and times, of course)… or would it be a whole lot easier AND cheaper to just get one of those Easy Passes for the entire duration of my trip? I don’t see myself taking HSR trains besides going to/from Taoyuan airport, but I genuinely intend to use a LOT of MRT in the bigger cities, and of course, TRA for getting around otherwise.
Other tips / pointers also most welcome. And once again, thank you very much in advance, not only for responding to my query and those of others, but for setting up this wonderful encyclopedia on Taiwan 😀
Hi there, and so glad to hear I’ve convinced you to stay in Taiwan longer! 🙂
The passes do get quite confusing, especially if you want to stack them, and each of them will only save you money if used carefully. If not, some of them will actually lose you money and take up a lot of your time figuring them out. But to answer your question, yes, there’s no problem buying multiple passes. Let me address each one carefully.
– EasyCard: This is not a tourist pass. It’s the card used by every local and most tourists too. While you can get by without one, it simply offers convenience every time you get on any MRT of local city bus in the country. It’s also practically a must for taking buses to Sun Moon Lake, Alishan, and other tourist places. 90% of the time, I say just get one. If you get a Taipei Fun Pass, then you may not need the EasyCard much (or at all) in Taipei). But even with that in mind, I’d still get one, for the other times it comes in handy. It’s only TWD 100 (non-refundable deposit for card), then just load 400-500 onto it to begin, and re-load later on with cash as necessary.
– Taipei Fun Pass: This tourist pass is only good for 1-3 days in Taipei and it will only save you money if you visit several of the attractions included. A major perk of this pass is the 5 experiences and free souvenir. If you’re doing it purely for savings, you’ll have to study the items included with the pass, and make a point of trying to visit/do a lot of them within your 1-3 days. If you don’t, and just stick to the normal “must sees” in Taipei, this pass may save you little to no money.
– Taiwan Pass TRA version: Sure, you can buy multiple. But please beware that this pass and all its options get quite confusing. Moreover, when I tried applying the pass to multiple typical travel itineraries in Taiwan, a lot of combinations came up negative (i.e. you lose money compared to booking things the normal way). The pass only really saves money in some specific scenarios, typically when you are traveling fast (like riding the train every single day, and even then, it’s tough to get into positive territory). If you have 5 weeks, chances are you’ll be staying in each spot longer, which makes it even more unlikely that you’ll be riding the train enough times in the short periods given to make the pass worthwhile. Please see the example uses of the pass in my article for more clarity on that.
Overall, I suspect you’ll be better off booking trains the normal way. Please see my dedicated article “How to buy train tickets in Taiwan”. And the timing of your trip has a huge impact on how urgent it will be to book tickets in advance, including whether your trip coincides with any national holidays or long weekends.
For Airport to Taipei, you’ll be riding the Airport MRT, not HSR. Hope this helps, and feel free to ask more detailed questions like this in my “Taiwan Travel Planning” group on Facebook so you can get feedback from other travelers, too.
Thank you immensely for the itemized and detailed feedback, Nick. Your considerate response, your website and everything you continue to do make a big difference for keeners like me 🙂 Turns out, I’ll be visiting from Feb 14 – Mar 22 😀 Just in time for various flower festivals and the lantern festival as well 😀
Also, I will be staying in Taipei for 6 whole days… and I will probably visit all, if not most of the attractions listed within the Taipei Fun Pass. Also specifically, I intend to stay in Ruifang for a few nights to ensure I’m closer to Jiufen / Shifen and Teapot Mountain – so, would I still be able to make full use of the Taipei Pass if I activate it during my fourth day (out of 6), such that I can avail of its benefits on the 7th day (Jiufen etc) ?
But overall, yes, I agree with you, given that I’ll likely be spending a little more time in each place, multiple Taiwan Passes don’t make much sense… although I am still contemplating getting at least one of those, for when I make my way back up north from Kaohsiung > Tainan > Chiayi > Alishan > Sun Moon Lake. P.s. – your article on Fenqihu convinced me to stay here instead of in Alishan itself, haha. The forests and the bento boxes sound like something I would enjoy fully. But, but, but: If I stay in Fenqihu, would I still be able to catch the morning sunrise train from Alishan (HELLA PRICEY, by the way)… or do you have any other viable suggestions?
Any additional tips on this specific leg of my tour would be immensely appreciated 🙂
Hello,
Thanks for the overview. I’m thinking of planning a 3-day Alishan itinerary as follows:
1. Alishan forest railway from Chiayi to Fenqihu, then bus to Shizhuo and overnight in Shizhuo.
2. Morning in Shizhuo, then back to Fenqihu in order to catch the second leg of the forest railway up to Alishan. Overnight in Alishan.
3. Sunrise from Alishan, trails and then take the bus to Sun Moon lake.
With this itinerary in mind, is it worth getting any of the passes to get early access to the Alishan forest railway? Especially since I’ll have to book two separate tickets, one for each day (and leg of the journey). I quite like the idea of a scenic train ride to approach Alishan, which is why I’m thinking of doing the whole route over two days. However, would you say it’s worth the hassle? Or should I better replace one of them with a bus ride? If so which one would you suggest?
Thanks!
For your Taipei Fun Pass, then sure, you can activate it any day you want. But if you activate it on Day 4 of your trip, then of course it means you won’t be able to use it for anything on days 1-3 of your trip. So if you can, try to save all the included activities for the days your pass will be active. There are quite a few, so it can be hard to fit in most of them. It’s best to make a short list of the more valuable ones and/or the ones you want to see the most.
If you stay in Fenqihu, it’s very difficult to get up to Alishan for the super early sunrise train. Let’s say it departs at 5 AM, then you’d need to leave Fenqihu around 3:30, maybe 4 at the latest. The only way you can go from Fenqihu to Alishan that early is to rent a car and drive yourself up the winding road in the dark, or arrange a private driver, which could be quite expensive (as the driver probably needs to drive up from Chiayi city in the middle of the night to take you) or it could be tough to find, as not many drivers really want to do this. You can also ask your hotel in Fenqihu if they happen to offer anything, but I don’t think many of them do. If you want to see sunrise at Alishan, then the best (and really the only) option is to stay at Alishan. Hope this helps!
You don’t need to buy any pass to get those advance tickets. You can also just buy the Alishan Forest Railway tickets directly from the 3rd party website. See my Alishan Forest Railway guide for all the details and link. But the key issue for you is this: Those advance quota tickets are for the full ride (Chiayi to Alishan or vice versa). You can’t book a partial ride (like FChiayi to Fenqihu and Fenqihu to Alishan). And you can’t book the full ride but then just get on at Fenqihu. They would consider you a no-show and may fill your seat. If you want to buy a partial ticket, like Fenqihu to Alishan, you can only do that from three days in advance, since they prioritize passengers doing the full ride. However, if you wait to the last minute like this, your chances are pretty high of getting a spot. Just keep trying multiples times on the official site from 3 days before, and many travelers even score the tickets from the train station on the day of travel.
These complications are the reasons that my most common, recommended itinerary for Alishan is something like:
– Book and do the full train ride from Chiayi to Alishan, stay there 1 night
– Bus to Fenqihu, visit for a couple hours (with lockers for luggage storage), then bus to Shizhuo and sleep there
– Bus Shizhuo back to Chiayi
Travelling in group of 3 together early May , we would need typically a pass per person; eg each person with a 7 day HSR Pass or a HSR unlimited 3 day for example, and for HSR train booking we would not be able to book our train seats together at once but would need to go through the routine from pass voucher to reserved seat on HSR website person by person without ability to ensure seats together.
If so then this is cumbersome and would expect booking of 3 rail tickets/seats directly through the HSR website or via Klook redemption code etc for 3 seats together, given that the HSR seats are allocated to us by HSR ( even if more expensive).
Am i correct or misunderstanding, please clarify?
Yes, your understanding is correct. Unfortunately, since each pass needs to be used individually to book seats, and the seats are auto-assigned, it’s possible you won’t be seated together. But there are some workarounds:
– If you make the bookings quickly after each other, the system may put you close together, but it’s not guaranteed.
– If you are seated separately, on the day of travel, you can go to the ticket counter and asked if it’s possible to change the seats in order to be together.
– If the train isn’t too busy, you can also forfeit your seats and then all sit together in one of the non-reserved cars at the back of the train, pending availability.
You may also consider to simply not bother with these passes. If you read through the examples I give in my article, you’ll actually find that the passes often don’t even save money, and it may actually be cheaper to get the regular 15% off deal of purchase them on the official website, with possible early bird discount if you book early.
Confusing.
I booked my Taiwan Pass (HSR edition) which has 3 days HSR trips within 7 days (Taoyuan to Chiaya, Chiaya to Zuoying, Buying to Taipei), 2 days MRT (Kaohsiung) and ?? (the booking says 1 free shuttle, but its not clear if the Chiaya to Alishan railway is classified as a “shuttle”?
It’s true these passes are very confusing. I clarify this in the above article, see the table in the section titled “Taiwan Pass – High Speed Rail (HSR) Version”. It says you get 3 days of HSR, 1 MRT pass, and “1 Tourism Shuttle, Alishan Forest Railway ticket, or other item”. So yes, the Alishan Forest Railway one-way ticket can be included as your choice in the “shuttles” section.
And in the “What’s Included on the Taiwan Pass” section of my article, I provided another table with a full list of all the possible items that can count under the shuttle category.