The official name of this road is Yilan Route 1 宜一線. It's a great way to get you deep into the mountains for a scenic drive. The road quickly rises above the ocean and heads west toward Taipei county. It isn't very well known, so this is also a good way to avoid traffic and crowds.
The only challenge is finding the road. First you need to drive along the main road heading north of Toucheng to Daxi 大溪 . This is home to Honeymoon Bay, the surfing beach. After you pass the Daxi train station, you will eventually come to a bridge over a little river. Just before you get to the bridge is an old bronze bust of Chiang Kai-shek on a pedestal by the side of the road. Go up the road behind the bust. This passes through a little community of houses and quickly ascends into the mountains. You just keep driving along this road as long as you want. If you keep going, it will take you into Taipei county.
Above Daxi are some hiking trails which can be accessed from the road. If you're interested you can park and go for a walk. Otherwise there isn't anything in particular to do. There are a couple of Buddhist temples and farm houses along the way but not much else. The point is to just enjoy the 
beautiful mountain scenery and cool clean air.
After 40 minutes you will come to Hudiao Lake 虎貂潭. You can't see the lake from the road, but you will see a police station, then a white tiled building with a parking lot. You can park here and take a walk down to the lake and along the river. The walking trail is extremely well constructed - it's almost too good. The path seems like something you would find in a suburban garden. The riverside scenery here is extremely beautiful. You can swim in the shallower sections of the river, although swimming is (theoretically) prohibited in the deeper parts and the lake. Taiwanese assume that people will instantly drown if the water is more than knee deep. Unlike most swimming spots in the mountains, the water isn't freezing cold because it passes through a series of lakes that warm it up a bit. This makes it very comfortable for swimming.
If you keep driving about ten minutes beyond the lake area, 
you will come to a pavillion with a view of the sea along the north coast. From here you can keep going down into Taipei county, or else turn back.
This is one of the best mountain trails in Yilan. There are actually four trails that meet in Taoyuan Valley 桃源谷. Each one is quite different. The so-called Daxi branch of the trail begins at a spot just north of the town of Daxi 大溪, not far from the Honeymoon Bay surfing beach. The trailhead is just 800 meters north of the Daxi train station, so you can easily get here by train from Taipei. (Just make sure you go to the right Daxi and don't end up in Taoyuan county.)
The trail is easy to find. There is a large parking lot at the bottom marked by a conspicuous brown sign. In fact the entire trail is very well constructed and maintained. It is lined with large paving stones the whole way, and occasionally you will come across a stone bench or pavillion. Several large maps along the way will let you know where you are, and milestones mark the distance along the trail. There are even restrooms. It's impossible to get lost - you just follow the stone path onward and upward.
This trail is moderately challenging, so you shouldn't attempt it unless you're in decent shape. You don't have to be an athlete to finish it, but it's 10 kilometers round trip and you're walking up steep stone steps much of the way, so you'll be really tired when you're finished. The trail takes at least 4 hours round trip - longer if you linger or you're a slow walker.
Nevertheless, this trail is well worth the effort. Along the way you pass through a series of varied landscapes and microclimates. At the bottom the vegetation is sub tropical rainforest. Then you pass through low mountain vegetation with great views of the sea and Guishan Island. After that you enter the mountains, and there are impressive green mountain vistas on either side. Then you pass through a series of lush fern forests. Finally you find yourself in an idyllic alpine landscape at the top. The highest point is about 550 meters above sea level.
Besides being a living encyclopedia of Yilan flora (including lots of wild rhododendrons and some strange mushrooms), there is also some fascinating animal life - besides the usual butterflies, lizards and birds, I also saw a beautiful green snake and two muntjacs.
The first 45 minutes of the trail are the hardest. You're climbing up steep stone steps almost the whole time. After you reach the top of the first peak, you walk up and down along mountain ridges the rest of the way, so it's much easier going. At points the trail goes through extremely humid rainforest where the stones are covered with very slippery moss. Be careful! In these places it's a good idea to avoid the mossy stones and just walk on the dirt beside the trail.
If you're a glutton for punishment, there is an undeveloped dirt trail which runs beside the main stone path. As you walk up the stone steps at the beginning, you will eventually see an unmarked trail to the right leading off into the woods. This is an alternate trail for those who want to walk along the forest floor.
You will come across some stone barriers as you approach the end. These keep feral water buffalo from wandering down the mountain. The buffalo aren't domesticated, so be careful. Keep your distance and don't startle them.
Follow the trail until the stone path comes to an end. Here you will find yourself in an amazing alpine meadow, lazily observed by some grazing water buffalo. This is the crest of a ridge above Taoyuan Valley. It's hard to believe you're right above a subtropical rainforest - the scene seems more like Switzerland than Taiwan.
The Daxi trail meets the Caoling branch of the Taoyuan trail here. If you want a longer walk, you can keep going along the Caoling branch. A round trip back to Daxi would be 18 kilometers and would take all day. Alternatively, you could follow the Caoling branch of the Taoyuan Valley trail to the Old Caoling Trail and then either walk down the other trail to Fulong or back down into another part of Yilan.
Because this trail is more challenging than most, unless you happen to run across a hiking club you don't have to worry about crowds. I went on a weekday and didn't come across a single person.
The temperature at the top is much cooler than the bottom. I climbed up on a hot August day, and it was surprisingly cool and misty at the top. If you go any time of the year but summer, be prepared for cold conditions on the peak - you will need warm clothes. And since this is a 10 kilometer walk, be sure to bring lots of drinking water.
This is a low key surfing beach. It isn't a gorgeous beach, and the waves are higher than just about anywhere else in Yilan, so it's not the place to go if you just want to sit on the sand or splash around in the ocean. But if you surf or bodyboard, you will want to give this beach a try.
Honeymoon Bay is fairly big, but most of the coast here consists of big rocks. Only the south edge of the bay has sand, and that's where the surfers are. Above the beach are a few tents where you can rent boards. The guys there also offer lessons for kooks. There aren't any showers or other facilities, However, there is a fantastic view of Guishan Island, which seems very close when you're this far north. And on the other side, mountains loom close behind the bay, so there's a beautiful natural backdrop in both directions. Unfortunately, the town of Daxi which surrounds the bay is basically a concrete eyesore.
The town has done a remarkable job in failing to
capitalize on its surfing beach. If you walk up the 
sea wall to the town, there are a few places that offer cheap accomodations and food for the surfers, and a couple of littls shops selling surf gear. But there isn't much to draw surfers over to the town. Overall this is still a remarkably low key surf spot that still has quite a few rough edges.
Probably the best thing about Honeymoon Bay is the train station right across the street form the beach. To get here from Taipei, just take a train to Daxi. (Make sure you go to the right Daxi, or else you'll end up in Taoyuan.) Because of the nearby train station, you can easily get here on the weekend for a day at the beach without dealing with the usual traffic jams.
Honeymoon Bay is also close to one fantastic mountain hiking trail (Taoyuan Valley) and not very far from 
another (Caoling), so you can climb a mountain in the morning and then cool off in the ocean in the afternoon.
The big quesiton is - if you want to go surfing in Yilan, should you go to Honeymoon Bay or Waiao? The environment at Waiao is much nicer, and there are complete facilities there. However, there will probably be twenty times as many people over there. This is the beach for people who don't want to share their wave.
The big disadvantage of Honeymoon Bay is the danger. There are some rocks hidden in the sand, and if you hit one you're toast. I know a guy who hit a rock here while surfing and ended up limping around Taipei covered with casts, so the danger is real. But I'm sure that for a certain kind of person, the danger adds to the allure.
The easiest way to get here is to take the train to Daxi and walk across the street. Otherwise you take the Number 2 Road north from Toucheng. The beach isn't marked, and it isn't even obvious from the main road how to get down there. The path to the beach is next to the temple on the south edge of the bay - just south of the school. There is a little path down to the beach just to the right of the temple. If you're driving a car, you should park at the entrance of the path and walk down. If you have a scooter, bicycle, or 4 wheel drive vehicle, you can continue down the trail and park right above the beach. Alternatively, you can park in the little parking lot behind the temple, walk past the temple restrooms, and then get on the path that goes down to the beach.
If you can't find the path (it's easy to miss) you can just park anywhere in Daxi and walk south along the seawall until you get to the beach. (Those weird black insects scuttling across the seawall are called sea cockroaches - 海蟑螂).
The official name of this road is Yilan Route 1 宜一線. It's a great way to get you deep into the mountains for a scenic drive. The road quickly rises above the ocean and heads west toward Taipei county. It isn't very well known, so this is also a good way to avoid traffic and crowds.
beautiful mountain scenery and cool clean air.
you will come to a pavillion with a view of the sea along the north coast. From here you can keep going down into Taipei county, or else turn back.
