Yongzhen Beach 永鎮海濱

Even though almost no one ever swims here, this is probably the best swimming beach in north Taiwan.

The beach extends all the way along the coast of Yilan township, from the Yunyu River on the north to the Lanyang River on the south. The beach stretches a total of about 13 kilometers. For most of the way it is completely undeveloped. The beach has extremely fine gray sand. Because the sand is dark, it heats up in summer, so bring a towel and flip flops. The beach is usually pretty clean - because it faces the open Pacific, there isn't much garbage floating in, and the typhoons scour the beach clean a few times a year. There are some concrete seawalls to keep the beach from eroding in several places, but most of the way it's still natural.

The coastal road runs parallel to the beach the entire way. There is a large earthen embankment between the road and the beach. I'm not sure if this was built for military defense or as a barrier against storm surges and tsunamis. Along the embankment is a wonderful bike trail which runs the length of the beach.

The amazing thing about this beach is that almost no one swims here. Compared to the famous beach at Waiao, which has a strong current, this beach is much safer. The water near the shore is quite shallow, there isn't a noticeable undertow in the places I've been swimming, and the waves are small.

Even so, most Taiwanese are have an irrational terror of the ocean and would never dream of swimming here. Taiwanese tourists who come near the ocean always put one foot in and scream like the water is killing them - they expect to be grabbed by a giant squid, mauled by a shark, and shocked by electric eels within seconds of entering the water.

There are a couple of places where tourists go to walk on the beach. But for most of the length of this beach, there is only the occasional old guy fishing. In most places the beach is completely deserted, even on weekends. The fact that there is an almost infinite empty perfect beach in north Taiwnan, just an hour drive from Taipei, is truly amazing. If you forget your swim suit, just find and isolated spot and go swimming in your underwear ... or less.

In any Western country this beach would be prime real estate and packed full of people. It's great that Taiwanese people are terrified of the ocean, because this means that any foreigner who comes here will have a 13 kilometer long private beach.

Since the famous surfing beach at Waiao has become so crowded with kooks, the real surfers have started looking for new surfing spots. Recently I've noticed surfers on this beach at two spots north of the town of Dafu 大福. When the surf is decent, this beach seems to be as good for surfing as Waiao. And this beach is so long, surfers haven't even begun to explore most of it. I'm sure that the best surfing spots have yet to be discovered.

To get to this beach, just go to the coastal road in Jiaoxi township. Every so often you will notice a narrow paved road or walking trail which will take you up from the coastal road, over the tsunami barrier, across the bike path, and down to the beach. If you poke around it isn't hard to find a way to get down to the beach.

There is one spot with a parking lot and running water to wash off. This is the Zhuangwei Coastal Park 壯圍海濱公園. To get there, head down the coastal road until you reach Zhuangbin Road Section 4 壯濱路四段. You will come to a large temple called Kaizhang Shengwang Temple 開漳聖王廟. To the left of the temple is a little road which leads up to a parking lot.

This park area has a great boardwalk which is perfect for walking above the beach and enjoying the view, complete with covered places to sit. This is a good place to get a view of Guishan Island.

If you like you can go down to the beach here and swim. Afterwards you can wash off at the taps near the parking lot. Unfortunately, these aren't showers - they're meant for people to wash their feet after walking on the beach. (Surely no one would be crazy enough to swim in the ocean!) But you can bend over and splash water around to wash off after a swim.

Honeymoon Bay 蜜月灣

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).