Lowland Yilan isn't famous for its tea, and if you mention Yilan tea to people from other parts of Taiwan, chances are they've never heard of it. Neverheless, there are quite a few tea farms on the hills and mountains in the southwest part of Dongshan township south of Luodong.
Tea is an attractive crop, and the sight of neatly trimmed hedges of tea sloping down hillsides creates a unique and appealing landscape. For anyone interested in exploring this tea region, there is no single destination. You just need to drive into the tea country and look around. If you're brave and speak some Chinese, you can just knock on a tea farmer's front door and ask if they have any tea to sell. People here are incredibly friendly, and you will surely be invited in to drink tea and chat. If you sit there a long time, it would be polite to buy at least a token amount of tea.
The easier option is to look for someplace set up to serve tea for tourists. There are several places here set up to serve and sell tea, and looking for them provides an excuse for exploring this unusual agricultural landscape.
To find the tea farms, you should drive south of Luodong on road 9. At some point,you need to turn right and just drive down the narrow roads and keep your eyes open. The little country roads here have miserable signage, so it's impossible to give proper directions. However, periodically you will come across brown signs set up for tourists. These will point the way to the tea area. There are several dozen farmers growing tea, and the tea area stretches across the entire southwestern corner of the township.Alternatively, you can follow the signs to Lake Meihua 梅花湖. The tea region is south of the lake.
One problem with Yilan is that there aren't a lot of good restaurants. Most of the places that cater to tourists are mediocre, and the local people usually eat at home. If you happen to be in Yilan city at night, this is a good bet for a decent meal.
It isn't very impressive compared to the big night markets in Taipei or Kaohsiung, not to mention the huge Luodong night market one town over. If you want the deluxe night market experience, definitely go down to Luodong. But if you've decided to stay in Yilan city for the evening and want a smaller low key night market, there are a couple of local specialties here worth trying.
Most of the food and atmosphere are like any other Taiwanese night market - stinky tofu, dubious sanitation, happy crowds, chicken posteriors on a stick, people selling cheap ugly clothing, duck necks, the fat guy sweating into a huge wok as he stirs the food, seaweed flavored shawarma .... Yes, even if you've never been here, you already know
exactly what it's like.
Most of the food here is the same as what you would get at any night market in Taipei. But there are two things you should definitely try while you're here. Both stands are right next to the entrance to the night market. On the left side path, the first vendor on the right sells scallion pancakes 蔥油餅. The stand has Hello Kitty on the sign. These scallion pancakes are world famous (or at least famous throughout Yilan). They're indeed quite tasty, and different from the scallion pancakes in Taipei (thicker and fried in more oil). Once I came here with a friend visiting from Taipei who ate three of them - he thought they were absolutely wonderful. (Nevertheless, I think that one is sufficient.)
On a weekend there will be 20 or 30 people patiently
standing in line, but the line goes fast.
The other thing you should try is on the right hand side of the entrance to the night market. A stand here sells a retro beverage called yaoyaobing 搖搖冰. I'm told that this used to be extremely common all over Taiwan, but it's now almost extinct in the cities. I've never seen it in Taipei. Here in Yilan, this old fashioned drink is alive and well. It's common to see people selling yaoyaobing by the side of the road in remote areas. This drink is basically just a mixture of slushy ice and fruit juice or some other flavor. If it's a hot night, I recommend the green bean. According to Chinese medicine, this has a cooling effect on the body, and I swear it really works. Yaoyaobing makes the perfect end to an oily night market meal, and gives you a chance to see what Taiwanese drank back when the island was still a dictatorship.
If you want to recouperate from the crowds and grease, you can walk down the street to the park across from the train station. This is a quiet refuge, and there is usually a cool breeze in the evening. The structure on top of the park, which represents a forest, has become the symbol of Yilan.
The night market is right in the middle of Yilan City and easy to find. If you exit from the train station, turn right. The night market is underneath the overpass just one block away.
This large commercial orchid farm, owned by the King Car conglomerate, welcomes tourists. It isn't far from the hot spring area in downtown Jiaoxi, so it's well worth a detour.
There aren't any tours of the green houses. Visitors are welcome to wander around and see how orchids are grown. To the left of the entrance is an area housing a collection of rare orchids. Most of these only bloom in winter when the weather is cooler. At the far end of this room is a door which leads over to the main greenhouses, most of which are devoted to the iconic Taiwanese moth orchid (phalaenopsis).
After seeing the orchids, you will come back to the entrance via a retail area selling plants to visitors. Of course there is a selection of orchids, but they also offer some unusual plants. The prices are about the same as what you would pay at the Jianguo weekend flower market in Taipei, but a plant still makes a great souvenir of Yilan.
On your way out, the gift shop offers a full range of Kavalan whiskey, the famous whiskey produced in Yilan by King Car, the same company which owns these green houses. This unusual flavor of this award winning whiskey is truly excellent and well worth the price.
To get here, take the road next to the Jiaoxi Post Office. At the dead end, turn right. Take the first left and go over the train tracks. This is Dawen Road 大塭路. Keep going until you reach the highway overpass. On one side of the overpass is the Shandori Hotel. On the other side of the overpass is a road. Turn left and follow this little road to the greenhouses.
This is a beautiful new museum that introduces the landscape of Yilan. The museum is worth a stop if only to admire the building, which is a gorgeous piece of architecture. From a distance it looks like it's either sinking into the nearby wetlands or else jutting out of the ground like the local black coastal rocks.
Inside the museum offers high tech exhibits which focus on the terrain of this region - the plains, mountains, and sea are each introduced. There is also an area for special exhibitions. For example, the inaugural special exhibit showcased masterworks of Yilan craft.
The only drawback to this museum is its popularity. It is an obligatory stops for all the tour buses, so the museum can get crowded even on weekdays.
There is a large cafe downstairs for the weary museum goer to recuperate in air conditioned comfort. Because this is Mr. Brown's Coffee, whose management also owns the Yilan whiskey distillery, you can buy a bottle of the excellent Kavalan whiskey as a souvenir. This whiskey shocked connoisseurs by winning a number of international awards, proving for the first time that it's possible to produce world class whiskey in a sub-tropical location.
The museum is right beside the Number 2 Road north of Toucheng, next to Wushi Harbor 烏石港. There is a tiny parking lot in front of the museum, but plentiful parking around the harbor. While you're here visiting, you can also walk around the little wetland area next to the museum and then go over to the fishing port. Several vendors are selling the usual selection of snacks, as well as some local specialties such as guavas.
The museum has a website with detailed information for visitors: http://www.lym.gov.tw/ch/Index/index.asp
Toucheng is the oldest permanent Han settlement on the Lanyang plain. This isn't saying much, since Han pioneering in Yilan only began in the nineteenth century.
The name Toucheng means "first town," so of course it has some of the oldest buildings on the east coast of Taiwan. These historic buildings are concentrated along Heping Road, which has been branded the town's "old street" and promoted for tourism. A few bilingual signs explain the history of the street and some of the important buildings.
The street isn't very impressive, but it's worth a quick stop if
you're passing by Toucheng on the way to the beaches and 
other attractions in the northern part of Yilan county. A few of the buildings have been kept in good condition or renovated, but most have the sad dilapidated look typical of historic buildings in Taiwan. There is a mix of Qing dynasty and Japanese colonial buildings, alternating with more recent concrete monstrosities.
The street is narrow and not very long - just three short blocks. At the far end is a tiny temple, which is the most important attraction. It's the oldest surviving temple in Yilan county. There are also some old shops, little row houses, and an impressive Japanese colonial mansion.
The old street's real name is Heping Road 和平路. To find this street, take Road 2 north from Jiaoxi. This is the main road for the northern part of Yilan. When you get to Toucheng, you will cross Heping East Road 和平東路. Turn left onto this street. After driving one block you will see a large bilingual sign marking the old street. Just park where you can 
and take a walk down the length of the street.
Although not very long, this is an excellent urban cycling path. This path takes about an hour round trip if you don't stop. The surface is smooth and almost completely flat for most of the way, so it's a very easy ride. If you don't have a bike, the path is also a pleasant place for a walk in good weather.
The bike path starts at the parking lot where the Road Number 9 (the main road between Jiaoxi and Yilan City) crosses the river into Yilan City. Head west (upstream). This park path is reserved for bicycles and pedestrians. At first you pass through well landscaped urban park along the flood plain. On a nice day this would be a great place for a picnic. Eventually the path goes up onto the flood embankment, so you're down looking at river on one side and the city on the other.
The path follows the river out toward the western suburbs of the 
city. Eventually the landscape becomes agricultural, and you're looking down at the river and farms with different local crops - guavas, taros, bamboo shoots, and bananas. Finally the bike path just comes to a sudden dead end, and you turn around and head back.
Not too far from the dead end, there are some stone steps going up a hill. On the other side of the hill is Yuanshan Park. There isn't anything special about the park itself (athough they have public restrooms if you need them). However, above the park is an interesting historical curiosity.
Climb the stairs to the hill that looms above the park. At the top are the remains of an old Shinto shrine built during the Japanese colonial era. After the Japanese left, the KMT rebuilt the shrine in Minnan style to look like a Taiwanese ancestral temple and used it as a martyr's shrine to fallen Chinese soldiers. Recently the shrine has been beautifully restored to the post-war condition. During the restoration, fragrant hinoki wood was used for the interior, so the little shrine room has an intoxicating natural odor like cedar 
incense. The two modern additions to the sides of the shrine are a mini-museum with which introduce the area and also explain the history of Shinto shrines in Taiwan.
Behind the shrine is a path to an excavated prehistoric site. Altough the site has been preserved, it is not open to the public.
