Originally Posted by glennaa11

It could probably be done, but it would be a bit of a rush, I think. It is about 3 or 3.5 hours from Taipei to Sun Moon Lake. Taroko is probably a similar amount of time. I think there is more to see in Taroko if you only have to pick one. You'd probably need to rent a car. I'm not sure the logistics of that. There are buses that go there but the gorge is big and having your own transport within the park would probably be worthwhile. Personally the thought of driving in a place where I don't know the language or customs fills me with dread. So it was nice having Neil to do all of the driving so I could just sit back and relax. There is a train that goes from Taipei to Hualien. You might be able to rent motorbikes there to get around the area.

For Taipei it is easy to get around by MRT and on foot. There is an extensive bus system but I have not used it much. I only used it last year to get to the National Palace Museum. There are buses that go right from one of the MRT stations to the museum so it was easy. The buses in that are were nice because they announced the stops in English as well as the local language. In my opinion you could easily spend 4 days in and around Taipei and have plenty to see and do. If you want to get out into nature there are some parks in the city plus there is the Maokong gondola cable car that takes you up a mountain south of the city in an area with lots of tea houses and plantations. In order to get further afield from TPE I would suggest a longer time in country.

Hopefully some of the Taiwan experts will see this thread. I have only been there twice but really enjoy it.