Taiwan’s high mountains, and how the permits actually work

The system that governs all of it is bureaucratic in a way that catches visitors out, and it is the single most common source of disappointment on a first Taiwan trip, because people discover it after they have booked flights.

So here is how the permits actually work, what the Yushan lottery really is, and the excellent high walking that requires neither.

Two permits, and they are not the same thing

The national park entry permit. Required for routes inside Yushan, Taroko and Shei-Pa national parks. It is applied for online, in advance, and it is where the popular routes are rationed.

The police mountain entry permit. A separate document, required for designated mountain areas, historically tied to border and security zones rather than to conservation. Some of these can be obtained at a police station near the trailhead and some must be applied for in advance.

Some routes need both. Some need neither. Which category a given trail falls into is not intuitive from a map, and the rules are adjusted from time to time.

What we do: we tell you at the quoting stage which of your walking days need which permit, we submit the applications in the correct window, and we confirm the current position rather than relying on what was true last season. Taiwan is not one of our own offices, which we say on every page, and our long-standing Taiwanese partner handles the local end of this.

The Yushan lottery, described honestly

For Yushan’s main peak, the national park entry permit and the bed at Paiyun Lodge, the mountain hut below the summit, are allocated together by lottery. Applications open months ahead, there is a fixed number of beds each night, and demand far exceeds supply by a wide margin, particularly at weekends, in the autumn window and around holidays.

Three things follow from that.

It cannot be bought. No operator, ours included, can guarantee a Yushan main peak permit. Anyone who tells you they can is either misleading you or planning to put you on an unpermitted route, which is both illegal and a genuinely bad idea on that mountain.

It has to be applied for very early. Earlier than the rest of your trip, and often before your flights are sensible to book.

It should not be the reason for the trip. We apply in the correct window, we tell you honestly what the odds look like for your dates, and we build the itinerary so that it is excellent whether or not the lottery comes off. What we do not do is sell a Yushan summit as though it were a booking.

If you draw it: two days, a night at Paiyun at around 11,000 feet (3,350 m), a two o’clock start for the summit, and a walk that is long rather than technical.

The high walking that needs no lottery, and is not a consolation prize

This is the part most articles bury and it is the part that matters, because for most visitors these are better days than a rationed summit.

Hehuanshan, on the high road

The Central Cross-Island Highway climbs to a pass at about 10,745 feet (3,275 m), which is the highest road in Northeast Asia, and several separate peaks stand within an hour or two of the roadside.

Hehuanshan Main Peak. About one hour return on a paved service road. Almost no effort, genuine high mountain views.

Shimen Mountain. About forty-five minutes return, a boardwalk and steps, and the best view for the least work in Taiwan.

Hehuanshan East Peak. Around two hours return, a steep stepped climb of roughly 800 feet (245 m), and the one worth doing if you do one.

Hehuanshan North Peak. Three to four hours return, a real walk on an open ridge through dwarf bamboo, and the day we would build in for anyone who actually walks at home.

No permit for the peaks reached directly from the road. Altitude is real here: you drive from sea level to over 10,000 feet (3,050 m) in a few hours, and people feel it. Go slowly, drink more than you want to, and do not plan the hardest walk for the first afternoon.

The Tataka saddle

Reached by road at around 8,560 feet (2,610 m) on the way to Alishan, this gives you the Yushan massif in front of you, cool cypress and hemlock forest, and short marked trails, without any lottery at all. It is where we take people who wanted Yushan and did not draw it, and it is a very good half day in its own right.

Alishan

Cypress forest at around 7,200 feet (2,200 m), reached by a narrow-gauge forest railway up from Chiayi. The trails here are boardwalks and forest paths rather than mountain routes, the giant trees are the point, and the sea of clouds at dawn appears when the weather cooperates and not to order. One night, not a day trip.

Shei-Pa’s lower trails and Wuling

Big forested valleys, waterfalls, and walks of two to six hours at moderate altitude. Permit requirements vary by route, which is exactly the sort of thing to have checked rather than guessed.

Yangmingshan, from Taipei

Forty minutes from the city. Volcanic terrain, sulphur vents, grassland ridges, silver grass in autumn, and Qixing Mountain at 3,675 feet (1,120 m) as a three-hour round trip. No permit. This is the answer to a spare day in Taipei with good weather.

The season, which decides more than the permits

October and November. The best window. Clear air, the autumn light that brings photographers to the high road, stable weather and comfortable temperatures. November is our favourite month on the island.

March and April. The second window. Warm, mostly dry, and the tea country at its best on the way up.

May and June. Meiyu, the plum rains, bring sustained frontal rain from around May to mid-June. Trails are wet, cloud sits on the ridges, and views are a matter of luck.

July to September. Typhoon season, peaking in August and September, and this is the constraint. A near hit closes mountain roads, which are usually the last thing to reopen, and the high road is one of the first to close. Summer is also when the mountains are most valuable, because they run around 25F (14C) cooler than the plain. We build them in and we hold alternatives, as set out in Taiwan month by month.

December to February. Cold at altitude, with snow and ice on the high road several times a winter and occasional road closures. The lower forest walks are fine and pleasant.

What the walking is like, compared with the rest of Asia

Taiwan’s mountains are steep, wet, forested and well engineered. Expect stone steps, boardwalks, fixed ropes on the steeper sections and huts that are real buildings with bunks. Expect leeches on some low forest trails in summer, cloud from mid-morning most days, and afternoon thunderstorms in the warm months.

What you will not find is the scale of the Himalaya or the emptiness of Kyrgyzstan. What you will find is a country where a serious 10,000-foot day is a two-hour drive from a high speed rail station and a hot spring, which is a combination almost nowhere else offers. We put it side by side with the region in trekking in Asia compared.

Practicalities

Guides. Required in practice on the high routes, and not because of navigation. $180 to $280 a day for a licensed English-speaking mountain guide, which is a real number and the reason we do two or three mountain days rather than ten.

Transport. The high road and Alishan are car days. Rail does not reach them, and we use a private car with an English-speaking driver because the roads are narrow, busy with scooters, and prone to closure after rain.

Altitude. Above 10,000 feet (3,050 m), taken by road from sea level, is enough to affect people. Headache and breathlessness are common at Hehuanshan on the first afternoon.

Kit. Layers, waterproofs that mean it, real grip. Taiwan’s mountain weather is wet and it changes fast.

Huts and lodges. Booked with the permit, not separately, on the national park routes.

Lead time. Three to four months for most permitted routes. Longer for the Yushan lottery. We tell you which of your dates are constrained by this before anything is booked.

Plan this trip

Tell us how much walking you want and how high you want to be, and a Taiwan specialist will build the days, submit the permits in the right window and be honest about the ones that are a lottery. Free first outline, no obligation.

Start planning →

Keep reading

• Taiwan: the complete guide to planning your trip
• Hiking Taiwan in 12 days
• Taiwan month by month
• The best two-week route through Taiwan
• Trekking in Asia compared
• All our Taiwan trips

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