Taipei from Above: Maokong Hike and Gondolas, Taipei, Taiwan

On my last day in Taiwan, I had a few hours to kill before going to the airport, so Jay and I decided to meet up and do a last little hike together. We chose to go to the suburb of Maokong, which is well known for its gondola lifts going up and down the mountain.

We tried to find the hiking trail going up the mountain, but with almost no signs that was impossible. Instead, we ended up walking along the main road leading up to the gondola stations. So it wasn’t a proper nature hike, but it was still a beautiful walk that offered stunning views of Taipei with the Taipei 101 in the far distance.

We passed several beautiful temples on our way up the mountain and spent some time studying them, but when we got to Zhinan Temple, which is the third of four gondola stations, we were running short of time. Unfortunately, that meant that we didn’t have time for any more road hiking, so we decided to give the summit of the mountain a miss and head back down on the gondola, which was an experience in itself! If hiking is not your thing, I can definitely recommend doing the gondola ride to see the beautiful view of Taipei! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).