Maokong Gondola

The gondola runs about four kilometres from Muzha up the Wenshan hills to Maokong, taking roughly half an hour and making an unusual right-angle turn at the Zhinan Temple station, where the cabins swing around a corner tower. A proportion of the cars are the glass-floored Crystal Cabins, which have their own longer queue. The ride climbs steadily over dense secondary forest with the Taipei basin opening out behind, and at the top you step out onto a ridge of old tea terraces where Tieguanyin has been grown for generations. Buses and lanes lead along the ridge past teahouses with terraces facing back down at the city, which is what most people come up for.

What you actually see

• The Crystal Cabins - glass-floored cars with the forest canopy passing directly underneath.
• The Zhinan Temple turn - the right-angle corner where the line changes direction at a mid-route station.
• The basin view - Taipei spreading out behind you as the cable car gains height.
• The Maokong tea terraces - stepped plantings of Tieguanyin along the ridge lanes at the top.

When to go

The line closes on Mondays for maintenance unless that day is a public holiday, which catches people out. Evenings are popular for the lit city view and the queues at the bottom station peak then and at weekends. Clear, dry winter days give the best visibility. Ride up before dusk and come down after dark for both versions.

Honest expectations

The gondola stops in high wind, thunderstorms and typhoons, sometimes with little warning, and you may be sent back down by bus. Weekend and holiday queues at the base station can run past an hour, and longer again for the glass-floored cars. Maokong itself is a strip of teahouses and car parks rather than a village, and prices on the ridge are Taipei prices.

Nearby

The zoo is at the lower terminal and Zhinan Temple has its own stop halfway up.