Sun Moon Lake (日月潭)

Sun Moon Lake is a central Taiwan wonder full of natural beauty, water activities, delicious tea and local delicacies, and amazing sunrises and sunsets.

Spend a night here and relax, and you can catch both the sunset and sunrise on the water (some of the hotel rooms specify water view, which would allow you to see sunrise or sunset from the comfort of your room).

To get a good view of the west, I’d recommend starting at Yidashao Wharf. That has some popular angles. From there you can take an easy 10-minute riverside hike in the direction of the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway (cable car) station. Along the way there will be many spots to see gorgeous views along the water.

In front of the station is a Japanese style torii and a wide viewing platform where you’ll probably get a great shot. You can also walk 5-10 more minutes to get to a smaller platform that gives a direct view west.

If you don’t care about views west at sunset time but just want to see the sky’s colors reflected on the lake, Shuishe Pier also offers wonderful views, as does the creatively designed Xiangshan Visitor Center.

Of note: the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway would be a terrific place to see the sunset, right? Well no one can answer that, because it stops running at 16:00 on weekdays and 16:30 on weekends.

Getting to Sun Moon Lake is not as hard as some of the internet resources (and sometimes Google Maps) lead you to believe. I figured out that the quickest and easiest way from Taipei is taking the HSR to Taichung (47+ minutes) and taking a Nantou bus from there to Sun Moon Lake (1 hour to 1.5 hours depending on traffic). Same for getting back.

You can also check out info directly from the Sun Moon Lake website. Driving from Taichung or Nantou can be a decent option but the road does often get congested.

At such an iconic tourist site, I’d recommend spending the night to enjoy the dining, take a bike ride, do any water activities, and get some good relaxation.

But if you do decide to head back, the last bus is at 19:25, and you have to wait in a line (it’s first-come first-serve). The times that I went there were multiple buses at that time – it seems they try to accommodate so people don’t get stranded. However, can’t promise that you’ll for sure be able to take that or a previous bus.