Central Taiwan tends to be a secondary or even tertiary focus for foreign travelers, which makes sense. Train service there is extremely-limited. If you don’t have the patience to figure out local bus routes, or the resources to rent a car, it’s basically a no-go zone.
Once you decide you’re going to come here, however, a major decision awaits you: Do you head down to the water, or up into the hills?
I’m speaking, of course, about the Alishan vs Sun Moon Lake debate. While I love both these destinations, neither one is right for every traveler, let alone every trip. Allow me to help you make your decision for you!
Why It’s Difficult to Choose Between Sun Moon Lake and Alishan
As travelers decide whether they should visit Alishan or Sun Moon Lake, a few things come into play. First, both of these are decidedly secondary Taiwan destinations. Unless you’re taking a longer trip to Taiwan or are coming back for a second or third time, it’s unlikely that either of these places are on your radar. And even then, you almost certainly don’t have time in your trip to visit both.
Secondly, to many travelers, these destinations are very similar: Natural retreats in a country that, particularly along its west coast, is extremely urbanized and crowded. At the root of this assumption is a general lack of knowledge. Most people I speak with have only vague associations for these places—biking for Sun Moon Lake; tea field trekking for Alishan.
Ways to Compare Alishan and Sun Moon Lake
Getting there from Taipei
Taipei is a long way from both of these destinations, but it’s farther from Alishan. To get to Sun Moon Lake merely requires a short trip down to Taichung, where you can catch a bus the rest of the way, assuming you don’t rent a car. To reach Alishan you need to get much further south (to Chiayi); the onward bus or car journey is also longer. Notably, Alishan is a much shorter journey from Kaohsiung than Sun Moon Lake is.
Landscape
If you were to drive or ride a bus from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake (more on how to do that later), you would notice that the landscape changes very subtly as you make the journey. The final result, however, is very different. While relatively modest hill surround the shores of the lake, the mountains that rise around Alishan’s tea fields and ancient forests are positively towering.
Getting around
Upon arriving at Sun Moon Lake, you have two basic ways to get around, assuming you haven’t rented a car. One of the most popular is to rent a bike at the bus station, and ride your bike around the lake. Alternatively, there’s a bus that follows the same route. In Alishan, by contrast, public transportation is relatively sparse; I really do think renting a car is a significantly better option.
Things to do
Whether you choose Sun Moon Lake or Alishan, you’re going to have plenty to do. In Alishan, I love the tea fields of Shizao, the old town of Fengqihu and of course, Alishan Forest Railway itself. At Sun Moon Lake, meanwhile, my favorite is place is actually not even on the water: It’s Ci’en Pagoda which, along with Wen Wu Temple, are to me the places that put the last best in context.
Food
The native people of the area around Sun Moon Lake are Thao aboriginies, whose culinary imprint is all over restaurants in Ita Town. Of course, you can also enjoy pan-Taiwanese cuisine, with tea eggs (or cha ji-dan) being especially delicious. In Alishan, meanwhile, it’s more about the drink (namely, oolong tea) than the food, although with this being said tea-infused meal sets are an amazing option.
Do You Need to Stay Overnight at Sun Moon Lake? What About Alishan?
Sun Moon Lake is close enough to Taichung that, presuming you have a rental car or are prepared to take an early bus and return on a late one, you could do it as a day trip. Most activities here, after all, are sun-up ones. The calculus gets slightly more difficult if you’re originating in Taipei, but not impossible, particularly if you ride the HSR both directions to Taichung and rent a car there.
When comparing Sun Moon Lake to Alishan in this regard, the latter is more time-intensive than the former, first and foremost because there are simply more things to do in Alishan, which is itself spread out over a much larger area than Sun Moon Lake is. Compounding this is the fact that Alishan is much further south than Sun Moon Lake. You might be able to do a day trip from Tainan or Kaohsiung; it would be impossible from Taipei.
Other FAQ About Sun Moon Lake and Alishan
Is Sun Moon Lake in Alishan?
Sun Moon Lake and Alishan don’t look far from one another on the map, but are separate from one another. This is true not only in driving distance (~150 km) and elevation (800 m vs 2,000 m), but in terms of what they represent as destinations. They pair well together, but they are definitely not the same.
How do I get from Sun Moon Lake to Alishan?
The easiest way to get from Sun Moon Lake to Alishan is to drive. However, a bus service between the two destinations does exist, although it runs just once per day in each direction. As a result, using this service (which requires about four hours of travel time, one-way) does require some pre-planning.
Should you visit Sun Moon Lake or Alishan?
In my opinion, you should try to visit both Sun Moon Lake and Alishan if you can. However, if you only have time for one, then let time be your guide. If you can afford to stay a night (or ideally two), Alishan has more to explore, especially if you’re able to rent a car. Sun Moon Lake, meanwhile, is better for an easy day trip.
The Bottom Line
To some extent, comparing Alishan vs Sun Moon Lake is a fool’s errand. They’re both rural destinations in a similar part of Taiwan, but the similarities arguably end there. As a general rule, I’d say that Sun Moon Lake is a better choice for travelers who only have a day to spare; it’s also a self-advertised paradise for cyclists. Alishan, on the other hand, takes more time, even if you can’t technically see it in a day if you’ve based yourself in Chiayi. Still need more help putting your trip together? Consider commissioning a Taiwan itinerary, and leverage my decade-plus of exploring the country.
