Zhiben Hot Springs

Zhiben has the best-known hot springs on Taiwan's east coast, alkaline carbonate water in a steep valley where public bathhouses were built under Japanese rule and that has been a resort ever since. Hotels line the road up the valley. Above them is the Zhiben Forest Recreation Area, with a banyan whose aerial roots have grown into a wall, a white bark fig grove and trails climbing the slope, which makes the valley a full day rather than just a bath.

History

The name is not Japanese: it comes from the Puyuma Katratripulr, meaning "together", later rendered in Hokkien as Ti-pún (Chinese Wikipedia, Zhiben Hot Spring). The springs were first known to the Puyuma, the earliest people of the area, who dug trenches, filled them with spring water and bathed after hunting or work, and they were the first in Taitung County to be developed. Under Japanese rule the government built public bathhouses here, and after 1945 hotels opened one after another, making Zhiben one of the best-known hot spring areas in Taiwan. On 8 August 2009 Typhoon Morakot hit the valley hard, and film of a riverside hotel collapsing into the flood made international news, but the roads and spas were quickly restored (Wikipedia, Zhiben Hot Spring).

What's there

• The alkaline springs - carbonate water in hotel and public baths along the valley.
• The forest reserve - trails, a giant banyan and a white bark fig grove above the resorts.
• The Qingjue temple - a temple in the valley with Buddha images from Thailand and Japan.
• The valley - steep forested slopes closing round the road.

When to go

October to April is the hot-spring season. Summer is warm and the forest reserve is the better half of the visit then. Typhoon rain closes the valley road periodically.

Practical notes

Hotel quality ranges from excellent to very dated and prices do not always reflect it. The valley road is narrow and busy at weekends. The forest reserve involves a lot of steps.

Nearby

Taitung city is northeast, and Xiaoyeliu is on the coast.

Key facts