Gaomei Wetlands (高美濕地)

Gaomei Wetlands is a classic for stunning, dramatic, pull out all the adjectives you want, oceanside sunsets. It’s a must for sunset photographers (you can find plenty of their beautiful work on Instagram).

What I like about is this place, in addition to the wide vista which allows for great perspective shots which include wind turbines, is that the weather conditions and water levels at the wetlands change regularly, so you could go there 100 times and see different colors, reflections, and perspectives each time.

Gaomei gets very crowded, but you have many different places to take pictures from. You can shoot from farther away, and capture the angles of the walking platform out to the wetlands, or you can go out on the wetlands themselves, or shoot from somewhere in between.

Getting to Gaomei is not easy, as it’s pretty far from anything. It’s better to drive or take a taxi from Taichung, but there are a few buses that go there.

From Taichung Train Station, you can take bus 309 and get off at Windmill #18. From there, you have to walk 20-25 minutes (2 km) to the boardwalk. You can also take a bus from Qingshui Station, a bit more difficult to get to than Taichung Station, but it’s closer and goes directly to Gaomei. Bus 688 goes to the Gaomei Visitor Center from Qingshui, or you could take the more infrequent bus 178/179.

Note: Bring a towel for drying off and cleaning your feet/legs after walking on the wetlands.

Also, it gets very cloudy/windy/rainy here so be prepared for not ideal photography conditions. But when it’s ideal, it’s very ideal if you know what I mean!