Hiking Taroko Gorge National Park Independently, from Hualien, Taiwan

Taroko Gorge is one of the most scenic places in Taiwan. Sharp, forest-covered cliffs jut sky-high around you while a bright blue river flows below. It’s a great place for people of all fitness levels to spend a day in nature. Explore pagodas, walk through underground tunnels, and even see some monkeys if you’re lucky, hiking Taroko Gorge National Park.
Hiking Taroko Gorge National Park Independently, without a tour, is trickier than it sounds. Several scenic trails are scattered along 20 km of the main Taroko Gorge road, and to see the best of them, timing your hikes around the bus schedule is key.
Here’s your guide to hiking Taroko Gorge National Park independently.
Most people stay in the city Hualien before hiking Taroko Gorge National Park independently, because it’s the largest city near the National Park. There are timely busses departing from Hualien city center’s bus station, heading to Taroko Gorge every day.
I recommend staying close to the station, so you can get there early in the morning without a long transit.
If you are staying in Hualien, take the 7:00am or 8:30am tourist shuttle bus that departs from the Hualien main bus station to Taroko Gorge. It’s possible to purchase an all-day ticket here for 250 TND ($8 USD), which includes the round-trip bus to Taroko Gorge.
You can also use your Easy Pass and swipe on and off of each bus you take (it’s 138 TWD one-way to the Tianxiang, then 11-40 TWD for each ride around the park, depending on distance). If you are only trekking a few sections of Taroko Gorge National Park’s trails, it may be cheaper to just use your EasyPass.
The main shuttle bus around Taroko Gorge is #1133A, which is also the Tourist Shuttle from Hualien. Be sure to have a timetable on you while you’re hiking in Taroko Gorge, so you know when the next bus is coming. Unfortunately, busses only come once every hour so if you don’t time it right, you may be waiting a long time.
Another bus, Taroko Bus #302, is a separate bus company with a different timetable. This bus does not go back to Hualien, and its final destination is the Xincheng Train Station. The Taroko Gorge one-day bus passes for busses 1133A and 302 are NOT interchangeable.
There are a few taxies floating around that independent hikers can snag as well. But don’t count on this, because drivers could have been hired out for the day by a hiking group from Hualien.
If you look at a map of Taroko Gorge, it can be divided in to a few different sections. If you plan on spending one day hiking Taroko Gorge, I recommend choosing 2 sections and really focusing on them, instead of hopping around too much. Choosing 3 sections means you will be in a rush, and will need to keep one eye on your watch to make sure you are catching the Taroko Gorge shuttle busses at the right times.
See the full map here
If you have more than one day in Taroko Gorge, you can explore these sections at a slower pace, and do 2-3 hikes each day.
Remember the schedule for the LAST BUS from Taroko Gorge back to Hualien. It leaves earlier than you might think, at 5:00pm from Tianxiang and at 5:30 pm from the Taroko Gorge Visitor’s Center. Don’t get stuck hiking Taroko Gorge National Park independently!
Navigating the shuttle busses within Taroko Gorge was the greatest challenge for me when hiking Taroko Gorge National Park independently, without a tour. Many online resources and blogs only highlight the best hikes of Taroko Gorge, with no set plan on how to get between them.
For the most part, it’s a long walk from trail to trail on the main Taroko Gorge road, forcing you to rely on busses for transport.
The two most useful resources I found when planning my own trip to Taroko Gorge were a detailed map of Taroko Gorge, and the shuttle timetables. I wish I had printed, laminated, and hung them both from a string around my neck that’s how often I used them when hiking Taroko Gorge independently.