We undertook a two-night self-drive holiday in the park in early November. Some elements were extremely good, particularly the Swallow Trail and Tunnel of Nine Turns but we found park administration to be very frustrating. We were aware of road closures at certain times of day and tried to structure our visits to various attractions around these closures. However, information on timings seemed to vary depending on your location and roads we expected to be closed were open. Some trails were closed, where there are landslips, this is understandable, but they also closed trails for maintenance and no advance notice is given at National Park Visitor Centres ahead of time. As an example, the Shakadang Trail, shown as open on the day we arrived at the Visitor Centre was closed the following day and we only found this out when we arrived at the entrance to the site. Tour buses seemed equally baffled. We had originally intended to use public buses to get around but information online is so sparse, we decided at the last minute to hire a car in Hualien and we were so pleased we did. The public bus service at present is quite sporadic with long gaps in between services and buses were often full so we would currently not recommend this as a means of getting around. The 302 bus does still operate through the park between Tianxiang and Xingcheng but there are only six buses a day (9am – 3pm) Monday to Friday and eight at weekends. The 302 bus terminates at Taroko Visitor Centre and contrary to what we had understood there are no buses running through Buluowan. This makes it impossible to see many attractions if staying here without own transport or use of a taxi. Some elements we found a little underwhelming, the Quingshui Cliffs and Xiangde Temple as examples. Overall we were happy to have made the visit as part of our tour of Taiwan, but better public transportation would make a big difference to accessibility around the park.

Came here as part of an excursion from a cruise. We walked for about one and a half hours on the Shakadang Trail which was very dramatic, but felt very safe. We also visited the Eternal Spring Shrine and waterfall which was again dramatic. Absolutely loved this place.

We spent the full day trip from Taipei, with guide Tonny Teng, who picked up from Hualien station. Tonny took us to four different places in Taroko gorge. He is a very safe driver, he spoke good english and knows the area very well. Our familly had a fantastic day. We higly recommend Tonny, you won’t be disappointed.

An impressive winding gorge with many worthwhile sightseeing stops. You can visit the gorge on a day tour (for example from Taipei). However, it is much nicer to combine the tour with an overnight stay at Silks Place at the end of the gorge. There is a bus that stops at all the tourist hotspots (hop on hop off), but you lose a lot of time. We traveled with our own rental car and found this to be the best option. The only disadvantage is that it was sometimes difficult to find a parking space at the sights. Alternatively, I would recommend a private tour with a driver, then you don't have to look for a parking space. The front part of the gorge (at the entrance to the gorge) is rather boring, the interesting sights are at the back. If you are only here on a day trip, you should drive to the end of the gorge first and start your sightseeing tour from there. You will need more time than you think to see the entire gorge. The Taroko Gorge was one of the highlights of our trip to Taiwan.