The bus to the gorge is easy to find and take. The bus station is an orange building on the left of the train station. The buses depart at 6:30, 8:40, 10:50, and 13:50. The official stops in the park are the headquarters and the village of Tienhsiang, where the accommodations are located and close to the Baiyang waterfall trail.

Many foreigners walk the 19 km down between the two. I tried to do this back in late June. Many of the tunnels are dark, so I would recommend bringing a flashlight/torch. When I went, the Tunnel of Nine Turns and the Swallow paths were closed. The parallel tunnel for cars was marked as no pedestrians allowed, so I chatted with a tour guide and asked for a ride through the tunnel. There were a few tunnels afterward that were also marked no pedestrians that I walked through. I actually preferred those because they were much better lit! In the end, someone offered me a ride on her motor scooter when I had maybe 5-6 km left.

I later learned that you can flag down the bus at any point between the two. They don't come by very often though. Another option is to go up to Tianhsiang in the morning, explore that area, and eat lunch. Then, take the bus down to the headquarters area to explore that area, and then take another one back to Hualien. A lot of taxi drivers also seem to drive in Taroko, so if you are really desperate, you can flag one down.

You didn't say which part of Taiwan you plan to visit. Please be advised since Typhoon Morakot, the natural landscape of Taiwan is undergoing tons of damages and changes this August. You probably have to revise your itinerary accordingly. If you come for the views of mother nature in the mountains, I say now is not a good time.

Northern & northeastern part of Taiwan wasn't affected. However, central and southern Taiwan, especially in the mountain areas, are severely ruined. Mudslides are so brutal and took lives. Roads are also broken. For instance, Alishan and the forest rails are basically beyond reach. Hot springs in Taitung are almost gone. Those are sad views you don't want to see.

On the other hand, city life is quite the same. Cities of Taipei, Taichung, Tainan...etc are still open for business. Generally speaking, you can count on public transportation (bus, train, metro...etc) for your visit, with taxi as side assistance. The biggest obstacle for using public transportation, IMHO, is the language barrier. There are plenty of room to be desired for all the road signs & directions in English.

As for the bus transfer, we just had our grandopening of the brand new bus transit center around Taipei Main Station a couple days ago. I've never used it so I have no idea if that changes the location/routes of the bus lines. All I get from our local newspaper is everything is so new that there is quite a chaos in the surrounding areas. Passengers are very easy to get lost in the new building. It seems future elite knows better. Maybe s/he can chime in about the changes.

only one bus company runs in Hualien city and they are notorious for being irregular.That said, it is the cheapest mode of transport to get to Taroko.
Schedules are as below (only in Chinese, please click on the only line of eng you can see on the link)
http://www.hl.gov.tw/bus/bus.asp?id=27&View=true&page=1
http://www.hl.gov.tw/bus/bus.asp?id=28&View=true&page=1
http://www.hl.gov.tw/bus/bus.asp?id=25&View=true&page=1
http://www.hl.gov.tw/bus/bus.asp?id=26&View=true&page=1

Alternatively,
one could also
1) join a half or one day tour that would take you to Taroko and back at a cost of appr 600/1200 NTD per person.Tour is bookable at every hotel in HL.
2) hail down a cab from the train station or airport and negotiate for a whole day rental which would probably cost between 2000-3500 NTD, depending on the type of vehicle you get.

hi, want to add to this thread--thanks to laurajoyce for her help with finding a rental car; i ended up renting from chailease which was about $15 a day cheaper than iws (iws no longer has an english language website to speak of, chailease is http://www.rentalcar.com.tw/). car was in immaculate condition and came with an english language gps, without which we'd have been dreadfully lost. i'd rent from them again in a heartbeat.

delightful email contact can be had at [email protected]

driving from taipei to taroko was just fine, although i wouldn't want to drive in taipei more than necessary. as far as driving in taiwan goes, once you give up your western ideas about the lane being 'yours,' it's just fine. start thinking of the road as a whole space, having nothing to do with lanes per se, and it's all good.

Hi all. Thanks to everyone who posted to my reply. I got back from the trip and thought I would put down some notes from my own adventures. I should have mentioned I was staying in Taipei at the Y Hotel just next to Taipei Main Station. For the gorge, there are the buses mentioned here as well as the option of renting a scooter, car, or hiring a taxi for the day.

I ended up booking a tour online. There are two complete packages from Taipei. One from Merry Travel Service covers train travel to and from Taipei as well as a half day tour for NT2000. However, be advised the tour is in Chinese. The second option is from Edison Travel Service and covers a flight down to Hualien, an english tour, and a train ride back to Taipei for NT5000. I ended doing a hybrid. Merry also offers full day tours beginning at 8:45am, but no train arrives early enough. I booked the morning flight through TransAsia for NT1500 (which I had to do through email because I couldn't get their online system to work), the full day tour through Merry (NT1000) which included pickup from the airport (which you must notify them of) and drop off at the train station, and a train ticket back to Taipei (NT400). It worked out ok. We got to walk the Swallow Grotto and Tunnel of Nine Turns (the bus allocated around 30 and 50 minutes respectively) and up to the lowest Eternal Shire.

Overall, I thought it was well worth the cost and not having to plan further as I can only understand and speak a low level of Chinese. I should have save the NT200 and skipped lunch. It was an ok family style meal at the HI facility in the park, but probably could have gotten more food for less NT at the small shops below. Also, I didn't like that we had surprise stop (well not listed on the itinerary at least) at a marble shop on the way back. Anyways, that's my adventure with it. For one or two, I would consider this, but for any more, I would probably consider a taxi. There tripadvisor threads that discuss some good drivers that you can book in advance. Last note about transit, try to book in advance if you can. Try to book train tickets in advance. While they weren't sold out, you could be stuck waiting for a later train. The TRA website, isn't great and its kind of stupid that it sticks you on the train nearest your time but automatically confirms without any approval, but the reservations are free and can be cancelled.

Well, hope this helps someone down the line.

*WHEW* no kidding. Taxi ride were a fascinating experience, actually more so in Kaohsiung than Taipei. The other thing that I found strange as a pedestrian were the green walking light telling me it was ok to cross along with the green arrow telling cars it was ok to turn through the path I was about to cross.

Yep, car is king. Especially in Taipei! It can take so long as a pedestrian to cross a large junction - and even then you have to compete with cars.