Lishan

Lishan sits at around nineteen hundred metres where the Central Cross-Island Highway meets the road north, in country cool enough to grow temperate fruit that will not set in the lowlands: pears, apples, peaches and persimmons on terraces cut into steep slopes. The village is Atayal in origin and the fruit growing came with veteran resettlement in the 1950s. A large hotel built in palace style stands above the village.

What you'll find

• The fruit terraces - pear, apple and peach orchards cut into steep mountain slopes.
• The Lishan Guest House - a palace-style hotel above the village from the 1950s.
• The highway junction - the meeting of the cross-island and northern mountain roads.
• The altitude - a cool climate at 1,900 metres in a subtropical country.

When to go

March to May brings blossom and September to November the harvest, which are the two reasons to come. Winter is cold and can bring frost. Summer is cool and green.

What to expect

The Central Cross-Island Highway east of here has been closed by landslides since 1999 and the route does not go through. Roads in are long and winding. The village is small with limited food options.

Nearby

Wuling Farm is west, and Hehuanshan is south on the same mountain road.