Taiwan Educational Tour

Our staff will wait at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport to take you to your hotel for check-in once you arrive. You can also go around Taipei's nearby streets by yourself and taste local food or fruits in Taiwan if you have extra time. Taiwan lies between tropical and subtropical areas, and its special climate and geography let it grow good fruits every season!

Delicious Taiwanese fruits

In the morning, start with a visit to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, which houses cultural treasures spanning 5,000 years of Chinese history. Focus on seeing its three iconic artifacts: the Jadeite Cabbage, the Meat-Shaped Stone, and the Mao Gong Ding（a bronze tripod ding vessel from the Western Zhou dynasty）. Immerse yourself in the historical context behind the relics and the beauty of the traditional architecture. After that, head to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to admire its grand structure, modeled after the Temple of Heaven's roof and a pyramid's shape. You can visit the life relics exhibition area on the first floor and the bronze statue on the top floor; if you arrive on the hour, you can also watch the guard mounting ceremony by the military honor guard.

National Palace Museum in Taipei

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

In the afternoon, go to Longshan Temple in Monga. This national historical site is the core of religious beliefs in Taipei's birthplace, featuring distinctive bronze dragon columns, cut-and-paste art, and spiral algae wells. You can learn about Taiwan's folk beliefs and historical stories through the temple's interior furnishings and architectural details. In the evening, visit Taipei 101. Take the high-speed elevator to the 89th-floor observation deck, enjoy a 360-degree view of the city, and experience the unique charm of this landmark building and Taipei's night scenery.

Taipei 101

Your Journey's Rewards：

Admire the thousand-year-old cultural relics in the Palace Museum and appreciate the beauty of traditional architecture; view the grand structure of the Memorial Hall and watch the guard mounting ceremony; explore the folk cultural heritage of Longshan Temple and enjoy the night view of Taipei 101.

Educational Focus：

The cultural relics in the Taipei Palace Museum not only carry Chinese history but also are preserved in Taiwan. How to understand the significance of these relics for the cultural connection between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait?

Takeaway：

Artifacts like the Jadeite Cabbage and the Mao Gong Ding in the Taipei Palace Museum come from different historical periods across China and are important parts of Chinese civilization. Their collection and display in Taiwan not only allow people to see the inheritance of history, but also reflect the trait that the cultures on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share the same origin. They have become an important link connecting the emotions of compatriots on both sides and confirming their common cultural memories, enabling people to intuitively feel the inseparable and close connection between the cultures on both sides.

Thoughts Challenge：

If cultural relics are used as a bridge, how can the cultural connection between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait be made closer to people's daily lives?

In the morning, visit Yehliu Geopark. This roughly 1,700-meter-long headland boasts diverse geological wonders formed by sea erosion, weathering and crustal movements. Wander to Area 1 to see mushroom rocks and candlestick rocks, which fully show the process of geological evolution. Focus on visiting the "Queen's Head" in Area 2 – its slender neck and graceful lines are the symbol of the park, and you can also view unique rocks like Dragon Head Rock and Diamond Rock. The sea erosion platform and ecological conservation area in Area 3 are also worth a visit, letting you feel the unique landforms carved by natural forces and the beauty of marine ecology up close.

Mushroom rocks

Queen's Head

In the afternoon, go to Jiufen Old Street. Wander between Jishan Street and Shuqi Road, check in at A-Mei Tea House – said to be the inspiration for Spirited Away – and watch red lanterns light up the lanes of the mountain town. In the evening, head to Shifen. Pick a sky lantern on the old street, write your wish with a brush, and have the shop staff help light and release it. Watch the sky lantern rise slowly and freeze this unique wish-making memory.

Jiufen Old Street

Release sky lantern

Your Journey's Rewards：

Admire the geological wonders of Yehliu and explore the power of natural carving; wander the mountain streets of Jiufen and savor the humanistic charm; release the blessing sky lanterns in Shifen and keep exclusive memories.

Educational Focus：

The rock landscapes in Yehliu Geopark are the result of long-term natural processes. How to understand the relationship between nature and landforms through these landscapes?

Takeaway：

The mushroom rocks and candlestick rocks in Yehliu Geopark are the products of sea erosion, weathering and crustal movements working together for millions of years. Ocean waves continuously erode the rocks to form unique shapes, and crustal uplift exposes seabed rocks into the current headland. From them, you can directly see that natural forces shape landforms slowly but without stopping; it is this continuous action that creates the geological wonders in front of you.

Thoughts Challenge：

What specific natural forces have jointly acted on the formation of the mushroom rocks and candlestick rocks in Yehliu Geopark, and how does their collaborative effect over millions of years help us understand the slow yet constant shaping of landforms by nature?

Upon arriving at Sun Moon Lake in the morning, first head to Shuishe Pier to take a cruise and start a lake-circling tour, sailing through the three major piers of Shuishe, Xuanguang Temple, and Ita Thao. Get off at Xuanguang Temple Pier, walk to Xuanguang Temple to experience the Zen atmosphere by the lake, and don't forget to taste the well-known Grandma's Tea Eggs. Then return to the cruise to go to Ita Thao Pier, stroll along the waterfront trail, look into the distance at the Sun Moon Lake Cable Car shuttling in the air, and feel the blend of humanistic charm and lake-and-mountain scenery of Sun Moon Lake up close to recharge for the afternoon itinerary.

Sun Moon Lake cruise

Walk from Ita Thao Pier to Sun Moon Lake Cable Car Station, take a one-way cable car to Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, and enjoy a bird's-eye view of the entire Sun Moon Lake and Puli Basin Group in the air. After entering the village, prioritize exploring the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village: see traditional buildings like thatched houses and stone-slab houses, watch the aboriginal dynamic performances, and learn about the skills behind the handicrafts in the Mountain Cultural Relics Museum. Later, you can wander around the European Garden. Finish the tour before dusk, return to Sun Moon Lake for accommodation, and wait quietly for the lake's night scenery.

Your Journey's Rewards：

Admire the lake and mountain scenery of Sun Moon Lake and taste the featured tea eggs; explore the traditional buildings of Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, watch the aboriginal performances, and enjoy the scenery of the European Garden.

Educational Focus：

What is the significance of the construction of Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village?

Takeaway：

The core significance of the construction of Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village lies in the protection and inheritance of Taiwan's aboriginal culture. It restores the living scenes of aborigines by reconstructing traditional buildings such as thatched houses and stone-slab houses; through dynamic performances and cultural relics exhibition halls, it displays cultural symbols like songs, dances and handicrafts, bringing endangered culture to life vividly. At the same time, it builds a cultural exchange platform, allowing tourists to intuitively experience the wisdom of aborigines and providing aborigines with a space to express their cultural confidence, preventing the loss of multiculturalism in the process of modernization and realizing the dual value of cultural protection and public education.

Thoughts Challenge：

How to better respect and contribute to the long-term inheritance of the Jiou Formosan Aboriginal culture while experiencing it?

Set off from Sun Moon Lake in the early morning and take a bus to Alishan Forest Recreation Area . Along the way, you can enjoy the gradual change of vegetation from low-altitude broad-leaved forests to high-altitude coniferous forests. Upon arriving at the area, first take the Alishan Forest Railway to Zhaoping Station. After getting off, wander along the Zhaoping Trail, walking through the forests of cryptomeria and Taiwan red cypress, breathing in the fresh air rich in negative ions and listening to the birds chirping in the woods. There are viewing platforms along the trail, allowing you to look into the distance at the Alishan mountain peaks shrouded in clouds and mist.

Alishan Forest Railway Station

In the afternoon, head from the Zhaoping Trail to the Sacred Tree Group Scenic Area and walk slowly along the wooden boardwalk. Along the way, you will pass ancient Taiwan red cypresses such as the Thousand-Year Cypress and Guangwu Cypress, and observe the texture and shape of these trees that have endured thousands of years of wind and frost up close. When you reach the Alishan Sacred Tree (a giant Taiwan red cypress), stop to admire this "living fossil of the forest" which is about 45 meters tall and has a history of over 2,300 years, feeling the magnificent power of nature. After the tour, take a bus to Chiayi City, check in at your accommodation and then rest.

Sacred Tree Group Scenic Area

Your Journey's Rewards：

Admire the gradual vegetation change in Alishan, take a small train through the forest; observe the texture of thousand-year-old Taiwan red cypresses, and feel the magnificent power of nature.

Educational Focus：

Why can the 2,300-year-old Taiwan red cypress sacred tree in Alishan become a "living fossil of the forest" and survive to this day?

Takeaway：

The thousand-year survival of Alishan's Taiwan red cypress sacred tree is due to two main factors. On one hand, Alishan's high-altitude environment with suitable temperature and humidity provides stable conditions for the red cypress growth. On the other hand, the red cypress itself has hard wood and strong rot resistance, enabling it to withstand wind, frost, diseases and insect pests. In addition, the protection of the sacred tree and its surrounding ecology by the scenic area reduces human interference, allowing this ancient tree to maintain vitality for thousands of years under the protection of both nature and humans, and become a "living fossil" that records the changes of forest ecology.

Thoughts Challenge：

How to reduce human impact to protect the long-term vitality of the Taiwan red cypress sacred tree while visiting it?

When leaving downtown Chiayi to head back to Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, please note that the drive from Chiayi to Taoyuan Airport takes about 4 hours. To help us arrange your airport drop-off time, tell us your flight details one day in advance. Before you leave, check that your luggage is in good condition and you have all your documents.