Taiwan's hidden gem for the adventurous: Lulu Hot Springs
Discover the less known gorge of southern Taiwan on an overnight jungle adventure to hidden hot springs. In a very very long post.
I’ve been waiting to go back to Taiwan for a long long time. The last time we’ve visited my favourite country was in 2019. I cannot believe it.
Over the four years I’ve gathered a list of many new must visit places. Honestly, you cannot even see Taiwan on my Google Maps because of the number of pins on it. It was impossible squeezing it all on our 12 days trip schedule but one thing I knew for sure - Lulu Hot Spring needed to be there. Not only that, it had to be the first thing we do.
And it was also one of the things that got people’s attention on my Instagram. So as always, here is your travel info if you plan to visit this stunning place too (you totally should, btw).
General info
Taiwan is famous for it’s hot springs, you will find them everywhere. From wild gorges and rivers in the middle of nowhere to very sophisticated paid pools and hotels in towns and cities, you simply must visit them when in Taiwan. Look, you definitely don’t have to hike in jungle for hours to enjoy some hot springs. But you can so…
Lulu Hot Spring is hidden deep in the gorge of the Dalun stream in the south east of the island, close to Taitung (臺東). It is a 2km stretch of geothermal activity with water as hot as 85C.
Yes, it’s free and no permit is needed.
Getting there
Assuming you start in Taipei (台北) like us, you will need to get a train down south. We jumped on the train for Taitung (台東) but got off one stop before, in Chishang (池上). This tiny town is the closest one to the hot spring. The trains takes about four hours so we decided to stay around Chishang overnight, check out the local coffee shops and food scene, see the famous rice fields and maybe even head to the coast if the weather allows (it did not, lol). There are some cute airbnbs around, close to Chishang or the coast. Check those out: This cute village stay, this Cantonese style villa or this Hobbiton style place.
But we decided to improvise and find a place to camp. We are carrying a tent after all. There were some good looking spots by the coast but we wanted to be as close to Lulu as possible so that we can start early the next day. We drove towards the start of the hike, stopped by a random house by the road and asked if we can camp in their garden. Obviously the locals had no problem with that (I am not sure about their dogs, they did not sounds too happy at first…). We paid them little something and enjoyed a quiet night.
If you don’t have much time, you can totally make it to the gorge the same day but it will be a bit of a push. The hike is not the easiest and it’s getting dark earlier by the end of October. You are probably fine in summer.
The best way to reach the start of the hike is by a scooter or a car. That being said, you can do it without one too. Taiwan is great for hitchhiking, super safe and it’s usually super fast finding someone to take you where you need to go. However, the road is not too frequent around Lulu Hot Springs.
We rented scooters. Two this time which made our trip way more comfortable with our backpacks. As everything in Taiwan, renting a scooter is super fast and smooth. We did not have to book in advance (probably different story with cars). There’s a bike and scooter rental right next to the main hall of the train station and another one a few streets down. All you need is your passport, driving licence and international driving licence. A Taiwan phone number is helpful but not necessary. We paid NTD500/day/scooter (that is around £12.50.day) and got a little discount for a 3days rental. The rentals are also ok with you leaving your bags for the time you rent with them so we only packed essentials to our smaller backpacks and left the rest there.
We did a lot of exploring around so we drove a bit - went to this cute coffee shop where we got one of the best coffees ever, tasted Taiwanese coffee too and enjoyed a nice relaxed afternoon, explored the rice fields, drove to our camping spot to set up the tent and back to Chishang to stock up on food for the hike, to Lulu hot Spring and back and used about half of the tank. Topping up the tank we spent around NTD80 (little over £2).
If you are spending a day in and around Chishang, here are our recommendations:
Coffee: Antuku Coffe near Fuli, this cute place in the middle of nowhere, Lazy People, this cafe, another cafe in the middle of nowhere, Tapelik cafe, Monday Coffee & Food, Coffee stay in Chishang and our favourite Kaffavelley near Chishang.
Food: Lao Wu Beef noodles (don’t let the looks deceive you, those were the best beef noodles I had in Taiwan), another noodles place, a must try dessert place, this vegetarian place, this seafood restaurant by the coast, and this one and this bao place.
To see: all the rice fields by Chishang, this funky looking Presbyterian church, all the coastal views, this old bridge and Dulan forest, this surf school and this river rafting place. Also, don’t forget the Lisong hot spring but more about that later.
In case you are staying longer and feel like camping, there are some cool campsites by the coast: Here, here, here and here.
Packing list
The hike is short but not pleasant. You hike up in a jungle and then climb down a very steep hill. You want to pack light. Remember, you have to bring your own water and that will be heavy. We packed 3L each for two days and I wish we had more but I refused to carry it.
For the two days we packed:
A pair of shorts, two shirts, swimwear, underwear, two pairs of socks, water boots (a must in my opinion), tent, sleeping mat (but the sand is so soft and warm I would have been ok without it), sleeping bag (again, it was so hot at the end of October you don’t need a warm one and I would be fine without one too), a towel, head torch (a must), food for one dinner, one breakfast and snacks for the hikes, good walking boots (it’s very slippery there), hiking poles (I wouldn’t do it without them!), gloves would be handy for when climbing the ropes sections, a lot of water, cooking equipment (there is the possibility of making fire so you don’t need your stove, you can cook on a stone - as seen on Instagram). Don’t forget a dry bag.
You can continue via the gorge and enjoy a day full of canyoning (when conditions allow). For this, make sure you bring all the canyoning equipment such as helmet, ropes etc.
Step by step
1. Chishang to the trail head
Drive from Chishang to the parking spot. This will take about 40mins on a scooter. You are following the Nanbu Cross-island Highway (n. 20), heading west. You will have to turn left just before Xiama village (下馬). It’s hard to miss. There’s also reception everywhere so your Google Maps will be working fine. Once you turn left, you will find yourself on a small road leading to a couple of farm houses. Just following all the way to the parking spot. Watch for monkeys and dogs.
The parking spot is not marked, it’s basically just a wider bit of the small road you came via. The exact coordinates for the parking spot: 23.145631, 121.068005.
Make sure you park like a good citizen and leave space for others and for cars to drive around you, the road is not the widest.
2. From the parking to the abandoned house
Leave everything you don’t need in your scooter/car and enjoy the hike. You start by following the concrete road you just followed from the main road, heading - you guessed it - up!
After a couple of bends, you will have to get off the road, taking a sharp turn left. This is where the walking path starts (but it clearly used to be used by cars so you should be ok in a 4 wheel drive car here, all the way to the farm house. But it would require a skilled driver!). This turn was really hard to find because of how overgrown the path was. Clearly, nobody hiked here for moths. The last review on Google was 3 months old when we went. The Maps.me app was super handy here (about 10mins in, lol), we would not find it without it. This was the point where we questioned this whole hike. Cutting our way through jungle was the last thing we wanted. Snakes came to my mind…
Anyway, we continued and it got a bit better. We now clearly saw a gravel road (or at least what used to be one) under out feet and under all the grass. At this point we were also high enough to see some views - the hills around are just stunning and when the weather allows you can see all the way to Chishang. Watch out for monkeys (again) but also enjoy all the other animals around - there are some stunning butterflies around here and we even saw the Formosan serow and that really made my day.
We made it to the abandoned farm house we recognised from all the blogs and vlogs. According to some people you can get all the way here in a 4 wheel drive vehicle.
And this is where the real jungle adventure starts. You will see a sign opposite the house, in a hill. To get to it, we had to walk through grass as tall as me. Here are comparison pictures to give you an idea of how overgrown the path was:
3. From the abandoned house to the top of the ridge
Just behind the sign you will enter the jungle. That seemed a bit scary but on the other hand it means cover from the sun. We could hear monkeys again, the path got very slippery, everything was wet, the air got humid and we yet again questioned the whole hike. It felt like none of us really wanted to fight their way through a jungle but none of us wanted to be the one to call this adventure off. So we kept going.
It got a bit steeper, we now had to use our hands too to get over some fallen trees and bigger rocks and we needed to focus a bit more since everything was slippery. We stopped a few times to admire the massive trees around us and all the stunning plants - you know the ones you pay £70 for in London and then they die in a couple of months. They are basically weed here.
This section was the first time we had to try hard to stay on the “path”. Yes, there are markings but every now and then they disappeared and we had to look around to spot the next one. We also made sure we fix them back to the trees when we saw them on the ground. Yet again, the Maps.me app came in handy.
But we only got lost once and only for a couple of minutes. Thanks to the app we knew what direction we were heading and we found the markings again in no time. We finally made it to the top of the ridge and sat down to eat a snack. There was another “towards Lulu Hot Spring” sign (in Chinese only) so we knew we are on the right path. And it’s only downhill from here. Which sounds like a good thing at that point but we knew it’s going to be hard because of how steep the hill is.
4. From the top of the ridge to the gorge
As soon as we turned around the corner we lost all reception. We went from full reception to zero in seconds. But hey, Maps.me is still showing the hike and our position so we are good.
We followed a path around the corner - the first time you could actually tell there’s a path and passed another “towards Lulu Hot Spring” sign. The forest was so different now. It was suddenly dry and less humid.
In no time the path became very steep and even though it was not wet, I took a number of falls here. In no time we could hear a river in the distance - a good sign.
Marking were clear and we did not struggle to spot them in the forest too much. Maybe because it was less dark around here. So now we were checking the app just to see how far we are. Because this part felt never ending. It was hard on the knees and after about two hours I reached the “I’ve had enough” stage.
The last few minutes were probably the biggest challenge where we had to use ropes. They were dirty and old but they were better than nothing. I wish I brought some gloves. Amateur.
The sounds of the river was now super loud - I couldn’t really hear M. We could smell the hot spring too - you know the lovely smell of a bad egg - and see steam in the distance but the full view of the gorger opened up after we made it through the last (and the thickets) part of the bush and climbed down a couple of wet rocks. And it was a stunning view.
5. The gorge
We dropped down on a rock, got rid of out backpacks and sweaty t-shirts and just sat there for a few minutes. This place is just beautiful and it seemed there was nobody around.
Leaving our bags there, we went to do a bit of exploring so that we can find a spot for our tent and enjoy the hot water.
First, we discovered a packed tent, a tarp and two pairs of water boots with a sign made out of stones saying '“free”. How nice. Also, it means somebody was here recently. A couple of meter from here, just around the corner, there was a tent standing on a nice tiny beach. With two cool boxes next to it. But no people. No, we did not look inside. But again, this set up looked fresh. Maybe somebody is coming back soon?
We continued walking but there was not much we could explore without getting fully into the water. We found two already made pools - great, that will save us some time digging. The way these places work in Taiwan: You dig a hole in the sand next to the river. The hot water is coming from the ground and usually also as a tiny waterfall from the rock walls around. Once you build your pool and it’s filled with hot water, you get it and relax. If the water is too hot you make an opening and let some cold water from the river in and dilute the water to find your perfect temperature.
One thing was very strange - this whole place was so much smaller than what we saw in the vlogs and blogs. There was no rope to cross the river and we couldn’t see the camping beach on the other side either. Plus, the river look way deeper and wilder, there was simply no crossing it without (maybe even with) a rope. The current was way too strong. This made us think - maybe it was raining a lot recently and the water levels are just too hight. Or maybe a recent earthquake destroyed the beach and made part of the gorge disappear?
We walked back to our backpacks and once again examined the places we shortlisted for our tent. And it turned out that the one tent already standing there was in the only ideal spot. Great.
The other spots - and there were just three more - were less than ideal. Two were under a massive overhanging rock and the amount of decent size stones on the sand suggest the wall is crumbling. Soooooo…..No.
The last one was kinda ok but right by the end of the hike and not super flat. Also, there was a little line of water from the near by rock right in the middle of it. But hey, we will take this. Let’s hurry up in case more people show up. We borrowed the tarp from the “free” pile of things someone kindly left behind and used it under our tent.
The biggest disappointment? Since the big “official” camping beach (temporarily I hope!) disappeared we were camping on sand that was not hot. And this was one of the reasons I really really really wanted to do this hike. Camping on a hot sand. Some of the blogs mentioned how people had to move their tents two times to a colder spot because of how hot their tents got. We ended up camping on warm sand. Cool but not what I expected. Anyway.
It was getting dark and nobody else showed up. We enjoyed another hours or so of swimming deeper in the gorge - it was a hard work agains the current but worth it. There was another big section just around the corner with a lot of smoke coming from the river and walls full of minerals of some crazy colours all the way from black, to dark red, to bright orange. Hot water was bubbling everywhere around us.
Shortly we couldn’t really continue because if the amount of water in the river but clearly, this was the bit where people start their canyoning adventures. We hopped back to the river and let the current carry us back to our hot spring beds and enjoyed them for a bit longer.
Walking back to our tent we picked up some dry wood and made fire. We sat down with our dinner and watched the fire for some time before we went to bed.
6. Back up
According to the blogs it should be about five hours back up. When reading about the hike back before coming here I wanted to reserve a bit more time but now we knew what the trail looks like and I was a bit more chilled about it. Maybe even confident we will make it in less than five hours. But still, we decided to wake up with the sun and head back up as soon as we have enough light. We had a train to catch at 2pm.
It was not hard to wake up at all, surprisingly we got enough rest and felt fresh. However, looking up at the massive hill made go ‘oh no’ immediately. At this point I was happy we don’t have too much water left because it meant lighter bags but we couldn’t get rid off all the water because it will be desperately needed.
The hills was crazy hard, we had to use the ropes and sometimes even just trees to pull ourselves up and it was simply exhausting. But we knew that since were sliding down the same hill the day before. We only managed to get lost once this time but found our way back in no time thanks to the app.
To my surprise we made it to the top of the ridge in little over 2.5h, wow. Powered by the idea of noodles and a cold drink in 7/11 we rushed to the scooters. Total time: 4h.
Conditions
From what I found online, you can get to Lulu all year around. However, make sure that the weather is good. You don’t want to do this hike when it’s raining. The path is mostly covered yes but you don’t want it to be full of mud.
Defo don’t go after dark and make sure there’s no typhoon coming your way.
We went end of October and the conditions were just perfect. The forecast was showing some rain but it did change in the end and we enjoyed nice two days - not too hot, not raining, just terribly humid but that’s Taiwan.
Maps & useful links & useful info
TIME:
Hiking to Lulu Hot Spring from the parking spot - our time 4.30h.
That is 1.45h to the top of the ridge and then 2.45h down to the gorge. I assume this would be way way faster if the path wasn’t overgrown.
Hiking from Lulu Hot Spring back to the parking: our time 4h. That was 2.40h to the top and 1.20h back down to our scooter.
DIFFICULTY:
Medium
This is by no means a long or a challenging hike. But! When we went the path was so overgrown it made our hike extra challenging. We had to jump over and climb under trees, had to deal with spider webs, it was hard to navigate and it was slippery even on the less wet side of the hill. It does require some level of fitness.
Here is what the hike looks like according to my watch:
WHERE:
This is the exact location of Lulu hot spring in Google Maps.
Parking spot is here. Coordinates: 23.145631, 121.068005 (if you drive a 4x4 you can maybe get even closer but the path is really overgrown now.)
Useful links talking about the hike:
A very useful blog post (part I of III) with a lot of details and pictures.
Mostly pictures but some useful info too.
Some useful times and stats, including a map.
There are some useful information in Google Maps reviews so make sure you read those too.
Useful videos to give you an idea:
A very nice and detailed vlog from summer 2023.
A vlog showing some of the canyoning adventure too.
Apps to download:
Maps.me is great app to have, it shows the hike and shows your exact location, you can download offline maps too. Google maps are useless here, they don’t show the path. There’s nothing on Alltrails.
Sum up
Was it worth it? For me, yes. Spending a night alone camping on a warm sand after an adventures hike in a jungle and enjoying natural hot springs was all I wanted.
Am I going to do it again? Well. Right after the hike I was saying NO. Now I kinda want to go again and see if the gorge is collapsing and disappearing or we were just unlucky with the water levels and if we can see more of the gorge when the water is lower. So yes, I think I will be going back at some point.
I will also try to stay longer and walking deeper in the gorge if the water levels allow.
However. Lisong Hot Spring is basically around the corner and that spot is equally as beautiful. If not more actually. A bit smaller and yes, it can get busy apparently and it is not an overnight spot. But it’s only about two hours down and two hours back up with only very little ropes climbing and two short river crossings. So if short on time and still want to enjoy some natural hot springs, Li Song is the place to go.
