Trip to Wulai – Hot Springs

Two weekends ago we organized our first excursion out of “Taipei City”. We wanted to experience the “hot springs” and we decided to go to Wulai as it is east to reach using public transport.

The Tourism Bureau of Taiwan prepares some compact guides for various destinations around Taipei. Find here the Wulai one that was really helpful to organize the trip and the day.

Wulai, apart from hot springs, is also know for being the home to the Atayai tribe, and the tribe’s traditional handicrafts and cuisines make coming to Wulai doubly worthwhile. That means it is a touristic place with ugly buses and commercial streets.

Before getting into the water we decided to try a Taiwanese classic snack, a hot dog in a stick. We didn’t know, but it is a sweet sausage!

In order to digest the hot dog we just wandered around the town a little bit (we will need to come back properly equipped to go hiking) .

Most of the tourists will use the “hot springs” hotels (there is a bath in each room), but we decided to follow two elderly locals and ended up in a area of free hot springs next to Nanshi river.

Wherever you go, just follow the locals :)

Hot springs for free!

The water (around 80ºC) in Wulai is colorless and odorless (in other hot springs it can be stinky), and is known to have rejuvenating effects on the skin.

Wash first and get used to hot water

A nice lady who spoke English explained us the steps to follow. First go into the river (quite cold) and then enter the hot spring at 80ºC and enjoy

100% integration with local people :)

This pool was not at 80ºC, otherwise Anna would not be smiling like that.

… and back home!

It is not even necessary to say that we became just a “tourist attraction” for the locals that go bathing there regularly.