Green Island

Green Island lies about thirty kilometres off Taitung, a small volcanic island whose coast is a rim of black lava and raised coral with a road running the whole way round it. Almost everyone hires a scooter and does the loop, stopping at the wind-sculpted stacks that have been given names, at Guanyin Cave, at the white lighthouse standing on the low northwest corner, and at the Little Great Wall, a ridge walkway looking down on a bay. The water is the main attraction: visibility here is among the best around Taiwan and there is coral close inshore, so both diving and shore snorkelling are serious activities. On the southeast rocks, Zhaori is a seawater hot spring rising through the tidal rocks, of which very few exist anywhere.

What you actually see

• Zhaori seawater hot spring - geothermal pools in the tidal rocks, filled and cooled by the sea.
• The ring road - the coast road round the whole island, looped by scooter in an afternoon.
• Shore diving and snorkelling - clear water and coral close in, with dive shops all over the island.
• The Little Great Wall - a ridge walkway above a bay with wind-carved rock stacks offshore.

When to go

Spring and early autumn avoid both the winter monsoon, which makes the crossing brutal, and the peak of the typhoon season. Summer weekends and holidays fill the island and its guesthouses. The hot spring is open through the night and is best in the early hours or at sunrise, when it is quiet and the sea is loud.

Honest expectations

The ferry crossing is notoriously rough and seasickness is close to universal on a bad day; sailings are cancelled without warning and people get stranded for days. Scooter hire generally needs a licence and the coast road has blind corners. In summer the island is at capacity, and the hot spring, which is small, gets very crowded. Medical facilities are minimal.

Nearby

Taitung and the Fugang ferry harbour are on the Taiwan coast opposite.