6 DAYS GEMS OF TAICHUNG & TAINAN

Arriving into Taichung, we drive 44km or about 1 hour to the landmark National Taichung Theater (closed Mon) was designed by Japanese architect Ito Toyo. Based on the “sound cave” concept, elements such as curved-wall units and air holes are used without pillars to build this changed space.

Afterwards, we drive 50km or around 1½hours to your Japanese-styled hot spring hotel on a peaceful valley surrounded by quiet forests and majestic mountains.

Set off 65km or around 1hour to Wufeng Lin Family Mansion and Garden, one of the Top 5 richest Taiwanese families in the past 100 years. Stop at 921 Museum of Earthquake Taiwan (closed Mon). It is conserved the damage caused by Ji-Ji earthquake, such as collapsed school buildings, fault rupture and elevation of riverbank. This made the museum a precious teaching material for natural science. Another 60Km about 1 hour brings us to Xitou District with its lovely monster houses.

Start the day at the Lotus Forest, submerged in a mountain lake engulfed with eerie thick fog. After lunch at a mountain restaurant, hike the Xitou Nature Education Area to breathe in fresh air amidst bamboo forests. Take a 22.6-metre hight skywalk and walk the treetops for close-up wildlife and seasonal landscape views.

Rise early and head 78km or about 1.5 hours south to Tainan city. Visit the ancient Luerhmen Mazu Temple, embellished in glue-and-paste shard art and cornice decorations. Continue to the Anping Old Fort built on 1624-1634 as an evidence of Taijiang’s 400-year-old history. Conclude at Hayashi Department Store, opened during Japanese rule and bombed by US airplanes at the end of World War II.

Admire the cutting-edge exhibitions of Museum of Tainan art 2, created by Japanese architect and Pritzker Prize-winner Ban Shigeru. Enjoy optional lunch at Principe French, whose chef worked at the Michelin-endorsed Auberge de Clochemerle (at your own expense, reservation recommended). Next, we head to Museum of Chi Mei with exquisite collection of fine arts, musical instruments, natural history and fossils, arms and armors, as well as antiquities and artifacts.

Out of most symmetrical building in Tainan, the Tainan Judicial Museum was deliberately constructed as an asymmetrical building to present the idea that judicial authorities and the common people have equal status. Enjoy traditional Tainan lunch in a hundred-year-old house (at own expense), followed by a visit to 

Blueprint Culture & Creative Park. Its signature blueprint graffiti is a three-dimensional work tricked by blue and white patterned lines. At the end of the day, we transfer 38km or about 45mins to Tainan Airport.