Yangmingshan National Park

The park covers the Datun volcano group at the northern edge of Taipei, close enough that the city is visible from the ridges on a clear day and far enough up that the temperature drops several degrees. It is still geologically active: Xiaoyoukeng is a bare hillside of hissing fumaroles crusted yellow with sulphur, and the same heat feeds the bathhouses of Beitou below. Qixingshan, at 1,120 metres, is the highest point in Taipei and is climbed on stepped paths through head-high silvergrass. Qingtiangang is an old grazing terrace where water buffalo still graze, and the Zhuzihu basin is given over to flower farms that people visit to pick calla lilies and hydrangeas in season.

What you actually see

• Xiaoyoukeng - a steaming hillside of sulphur vents with yellow crust and a strong smell of eggs.
• Qingtiangang - a flat grazing terrace of cropped grass where water buffalo wander among walkers.
• Qixingshan - the highest point in Taipei, a stepped climb of about two hours return.
• Zhuzihu flower farms - calla lilies in spring and hydrangeas in early summer, picked by visitors.

When to go

Cherry blossom comes in February, calla lilies from March into April, hydrangeas in May and June, and silvergrass turns the ridges pale in autumn. Those are also the busiest weekends, when traffic controls close the mountain road to private cars and everyone takes a shuttle bus. Weekdays are far calmer.

Honest expectations

It is one of the wettest, foggiest corners of northern Taiwan, and a day can pass with no view at all. Flower-season weekends jam the single mountain road for hours and fill every car park. The farms charge per person and are frankly commercial. Trail steps are slick with damp, and the sulphur areas smell strongly enough to bother some people.

Nearby

Beitou's hot spring valley lies on the southern slope, and Tamsui is west along the coast.