The Qingshui Cliffs

For about twenty kilometres north of Taroko the mountains meet the sea with almost no shelf in between, and the slope from summit to water is one of the steepest coastal profiles anywhere. The rock is marble and schist, hard enough to stand almost vertically, and the sea below is a very deep blue that shades abruptly where the shelf drops away. The old road was cut into the face itself; the modern highway mostly tunnels behind, with signed pull-offs and platforms at Chongde and Huide giving the view down the coast. The other way to see it is from the water, on a dawn kayak trip from the pebble beach at Chongde, which puts the whole wall above you at first light.

What you actually see

• The cliff wall - marble and schist rising almost vertically from the water for kilometres.
• The Chongde platform - a signed viewpoint looking south along the full run of the coast.
• Dawn kayaking - paddling out from the pebble beach with the cliffs lit by first light.
• The colour break - the sharp change in sea colour where the shelf drops into deep water.

When to go

October to April brings the clearest air and the calmest mornings for kayaking, though the northeast monsoon can make the sea rough. Early morning gives the sun on the cliff face from the water, and afternoons often bring cloud down the slopes. Kayak trips launch before dawn and cancel readily for sea state.

Honest expectations

From the road it is a stop of fifteen minutes at a railed platform with coaches pulling in behind you, and parking at the pull-offs is tight. Haze frequently flattens the depth of the view. Kayak trips start in the dark, involve a wet launch through surf on stones, and are called off often. Landslides and roadworks close sections of the highway without warning.

Nearby

Taroko Gorge is immediately inland and Hualien city is south along the coast.