Wuling Farm

Wuling was set up in the 1960s as a resettlement farm for veterans and became an orchard and tea operation at around eighteen hundred metres in the Shei-Pa ranges. It is now visited mainly for two windows: cherry blossom in February, when the farm sells timed entry permits and the road is capped, and maple colour from late October. The Qijiawan river running through it holds the Formosan landlocked salmon, a species found nowhere else.

What you actually see

• The cherry blossom - February flowering, with entry permits capped and sold in advance.
• The Formosan landlocked salmon - an endemic fish surviving only in this river system.
• The maple colour - late October and November across the valley.
• The orchards - apple, pear and peach terraces at around 1,800 metres.

When to go

February is the blossom, and permits must be bought well in advance because numbers are limited. October and November bring the maples. Summer is cool and quiet at this altitude.

Honest expectations

Blossom season requires a permit bought ahead and the roads are still jammed. Accommodation on the farm books out months in advance. The drive up is long and winding in any season.

Nearby

Lishan is east on the cross-island highway, and Guanwu is northwest.