Yehliu Geopark

Yehliu is a thin promontory sticking out into the East China Sea where sandstone layers of differing hardness have been sculpted by sea, wind and salt into shapes that look manufactured. Hundreds of hoodoos stand on slender stalks with heavy heads, a form geologists call mushroom rocks, alongside honeycomb weathering, candle-shaped pillars and potholes filled with seawater. The celebrity is the Queen's Head, a hoodoo whose profile suggests a crowned woman, and whose neck is visibly thinning year by year through natural erosion and decades of being touched, which is why it is now roped off with a replica nearby for photographs. The park is small and the walk is short, but the density of formations in that space is remarkable.

History

The promontory took shape about six million years ago, when the collision of the Philippine Sea and Eurasian plates pushed the Datun Mountains up out of the sea; waves then wore away the soft layers of its Miocene sandstone faster than the hard ones, leaving the top-heavy hoodoos. The most famous, the Queen's Head, named for its likeness to Elizabeth I, is reckoned to be over 4,000 years old and draws about three million visitors a year, but its neck, given as 125 centimetres, has lost about 13 centimetres since 2017, and a smaller copy, the Princess Head, was made to take some of the pressure off (Wikipedia, Yehliu).

What you'll find

• The Queen's Head - the signature hoodoo, roped off, with a permanent queue for the photo.
• Mushroom rocks - hundreds of stalked pillars across the second section of the cape.
• Honeycomb and candlestick formations - finer weathering patterns in the softer layers.
• The cape lookout - the path to the tip, quieter than the main formation area.

When to go

October to April for stable weather; the cape is exposed and closes in typhoons and rough seas. Arrive at opening or in the last hours to avoid the coach parties, which dominate the middle of the day.

Things to know

It is small and extremely popular, and the queue for a photograph with the Queen's Head can take longer than the rest of the visit. There is almost no shade on the rock platform and it is hot and glaring in summer. The formations are fragile, and the reason for the ropes and marked paths is that visitor pressure was measurably damaging them.

Nearby

Jiufen's hillside lanes and the Shifen waterfall are both on the standard north coast circuit.

Key facts