Smangus

Smangus sits at around fifteen hundred metres and was the last village in Taiwan to get electricity, in 1979, and a road, in 1995. Since 2004 most households have run the village as a collective, pooling income from tourism and farming and sharing it out, an arrangement without much parallel in the country. A trail of about five kilometres each way leads to a grove of giant cypress, the reason most visitors make the journey.

What you actually see

• The giant cypress grove - a stand of very large old trees, two hours' walk from the village.
• The collective - households pooling and sharing tourism and farm income since 2004.
• The Atayal village - houses, church and fields on a mountain shoulder.
• The mountain road - a long narrow climb that kept the village isolated until 1995.

When to go

March to November is the season, with autumn clearest. Winter is cold and the road can ice. Accommodation must be booked well ahead and the village limits numbers.

Honest expectations

The road in is genuinely difficult: narrow, steep, with single-lane sections and a long drive from any city. Accommodation is simple and must be booked. The cypress walk is four hours return and muddy.

Nearby

Lalashan is east across the ridges, and Neiwan is down towards the plain.