(陽明山) Yangmingshan Hike

This is quite a tricky one - there's a lot of blog posts about it and yet not a lot of information. I wanted to do a good, long hike, so I found this blog post which I used as a reference.

Budget: NT$60 (~USD8)

NT$15. Hotel to Jiantan Station.
NT$15. Jiantan Station to Fengguizui bus stop.
NT$15. Quingshui temple to Beitou Station
NT$15. Beitou station to Hotel

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 1,120m / 3,670ft)

April 27, 2025
Difficulty: 3 out of 5. Basically four maybe 1-2/5 hikes combined into one day.
Route below is around 23.8kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,886m/ ▽1,872m (11h23m)
Map Link

When to Go
Throughout the year, but with how hot the hike is (minimal tree cover, low elevation, high humidity), I would not recommend summer months (June-Sept)

Special Notes

Weather forecast: English
This route is the East-West route, famed as the "hardest" hike in Yangmingshan. Basically it's just four dayhikes combined in a day.

Qingtiangang leg. The beautiful grassland.
Mt. Qixing. The highest point of Yangmingshan and Taipei. This summit has two trailheads

Lengshuikeng.
Xiaoyoukeng

Mt. Datun leg. Going up is all stairs as with the others, but going down the south and west peaks were normal mountains trails - unfortunately very muddy trails when I was there.
Mt. Miantian leg. It has the prettiest view as far as I'm concerned - a very clear view of Taipei city and the mountains I've just summited.

Trailheads. For my hike, I basically did all four above in that sequence.

Fengguizui (風櫃嘴)

Go to Jiantan station. Can be by bus or train, google maps work.
M1 Bus to Fenguizui Bus Stop. Google maps pin. This pin is the trailhead which is short walk from the bus stop (took me 7 mins). For those taking a cab, you can have the cab drop you off here.

Bus schedule : 6:10, 6:30, 10:10, 13:10, 15:40 and 17:39.

Qingshui Temple 清天宮(面天山).

Go to Beitou Station. Can be by bus or train, google maps work.
S6 Bus to Quinshui Temple. Google maps pin. Bus departs every 30 minutes from 5:45 to 23:05.

Mountain huts. None. .
Water source. Two points for this trail : Lengshuikeng and Xiaoyoukeng. Also with restaurants to eat in. Lengshuikeng restaurant had way more options.
Directions wise, once you get to Fengguizui, there are plenty of markers. These are the ones to look for : Qingtiangang → Lengshuikeng → Qixing → Xiaoyoukeng → Zhuzihu (but only until you get to the main road and see Mt Datun) → Mt. Datun → Mt. Datun South then West → Miantianping → Mt. Miantian → Mt. Xiangtian → Miantianping → Qiangtian Temple Trail Entrance

Itinerary

04:50am. Start walking to bus station to Jiantan.

I ended up starting my walk at 5:30am, doing a convenience store run and taking the 6am train from Taipei Main Station. I decided to take the 6:30am bus and skip the 30 minute wait at Jiantan Station. Take car 3 to be close to exit 3.

05:23am. ETA : Jiantan station.

I got there 6:10am. Exit 3, turn right, no need to cross the street. Bus stop is not labeled M1, it is labeled 市民小巴1, so look for one that says it goes to Fenguizui (with English sign).

06:10am. Bus, Jiantan station to Fenguizui.

Planned to take the 6:30am bus.

06:51am. ETA: Fengguizui. Start hike.
End of itinerary. I planned to wing it from here. More details + time stamps on the pictures.

Qingtiangang Leg

Heading out from Taipei Main Station.

Empty train.

Exit 3, took the right exit.

Right outside the exit are two bus stops. Google maps point to the bus stop across, but it's not. It's the bus close to the station, no need to cross the road.

After a couple of fails, I found my bus stop.

06:28. Bus / shuttle comes.

Looking back at the sign - see, there's no M1.

07:04. Arrived at the bus stop.

Started walking up. Bus stop to the left.

Slightly going up.

Surprised to see a toilet on the way.

Followed the crowd - glad to see them going in the trailhead up this curb.

07:12. Yup, this is the trailhead.

The start of my almost 12 hours climbing up and down stairs.

07:22. Went up the stairs to arrive at another parking lot. For those taking a cab, this is a good place to have the cab drop you off (learned this from a local). Google maps pin

From here on, follow the signs saying Qingtiangang

There's an English reading to all Chinese.

The rest stop.

My first view point with a little island.

Finally, no stairs.

These signs are all over the place too. It helps you see how far you are from the next stop.

08:04. First peak : Mt. Dingshang. Sorry I focused on my eggs.

Continuing on.

Pretty forest path.

Super pretty.

First sight of the grasslands.

Uhm, should I be afraid?

08:41. Past the pretty grassland.

Yeah I think I should be afraid.

Great view of the Yangmingshan mountain range.

So I guess the buffalos attack people here too?

Yangmingshan's highest point in the background.

Rather disappointed I cannot see the summit, but also slightly overwhelmed that it's still so far (and the summit is what, less than half my itinerary for the day?!)

Every now and then I have to prove I am not a cow. Or something.

Again.

09:16. Go straight to be quick, or do the loop like I did. Why did I do the loop? Coz the itinerary I followed did.

I saw a couple of these... things.

Very pretty views.

My first and only water buffalo.

09:37. Another fork. To the left is an extra peak - Mt. Zhuge. You'll have to backtrack here after that peak.

09:46. Mt. Zhuge peak.

The summit in the background.

Heading back to the fork.

The Qingtiangang grassland.

09:58. Once you exit the gate, there's a fork to Lengshuikeng. Just follow the signs for Lengshuikeng.

Going down the path

Once more a distance marker.

A viewpoint showing the summit finally clearing up!

Yey!

10:25. Arrived at a bridge.

I assume I'm close to the visitor area.

10:29. Lengshuikeng.

It comes with warm and hot water dispenser. No cold. No room temp water even.

Mt. Qixing Leg

To get to Qixing entrance, you can go out to the road or go inside the parking lot. There's a path to Qixing.

See that pedestrian lane? The trailhead is to the left.

Starting the hike.

From here on, just follow the signs to Mt. Qixing.

Up the stairs we go.

10:59. Got to a restpoint with a view of the summit.

Continuing on.

Stairs!

11:37. Oopsie. Not summit. Just the east peak.

View around.

That one is the summit.

11:52. Finally at the summit. People take their time posing here. And I mean POSING. Like different angles, different sides.

There's only one other path down. You're look Xiaoyoukeng.

More of the markers to point at where you are at.

Some volcanic ponds.

Surprised to see an AED on the trail.

This place looked burnt.

See the parking down there? That's Xiaoyoukeng

12:38. Finally at Xiaoyoukeng.

The tourist center. With water source and restaurant.

This is where I had some nice coffee and a quick roll.

Mt. Datun Leg

The path is to the right of the toilet.

Bushes as always.

You'll see this sign, and ignore it.

Turn left going to Zhuzihu.

13:08. There'll be another parking lot. Keep to the left.

You'll see this path to the left.

13:13. Then down another parking lot.

Another parking lot, just skip it. Go to the road.

Go down this road.

Another toilet right before the main road.

13:15. Now, you'll see the sign to Zhuzihu. Ignore that. Turn right and there'll be an offshoot at the curb.

Go straight and it'll just be at that curb.

More signs - ignore them now.

That's the curb.

Finally at the Mt. Datun fork. It's a long way to get there, and avoid the road there's a walkway right next to the highway.

Sign to the entrance.

The by the highway trail.

You can see the highway up there.

Going up the highway.

View of Qixing.

A runner passing by me.

13:32. Another path that everyone else skipped, so of course I skipped it too.

Now the walk on the road.

This is where the path that I skipped joins.

Finally got a pic of this little thing.

13:49. Finally, Mt. Datun trailhead.

goodness. More stairs. But at least I've got some shade.

The shade is gone.

Back to shade.

14:27. And back to the road! Am I done with stairs? Turn left.

Viewing point. Turn left.

Summit is at that facility.

View from Mt. Datun.

14:36. Mt. Datun. That you can drive to.

Heading down.

Hello, Taipei.

Wow, finally, a real trail.

With mud all over. Glad to use the rope.

Steep path.

Looking down what I climbed.

Some ridge points.

Mt. Miantan Leg

16:25. At Miantianping, there's a choice to exit and turn to the left, or continue on to the Mt. Miantian trail entrance. Since I was already here, I decided to finish the entire loop.