DYLUM

2018-04-02 22:01:17

I rode down to Toufen to take the 台湾好行 TW shuttle bus up to Nanzhuang. The shuttle bus was located at the same terminal station for the other Miaoli buses but the shuttle does not come very often, so you should schedule your itinerary carefully. I purchased a day pass for NT$100 which allows unlimited rides on the shuttle (one way to Nanzhuang is about NT$91 so it saved me quite a bit even though I didn't get off anywhere else). Also picked up a pamphlet which lists the shuttle bus routes, as well as recommended food stalls (if you keep the pamphlet and show it to the advertised vendor, they will give you discount). The bus arrived in Nanzhuang visitor centre in about 35-40 minutes. You will immediately recognize the tourist centre as well as entrance to the old streets (very obvious). The old streets has lots of yummy food -especially deep fried snacks, flour-made sweets/cake like desserts, and a cannot miss green tea red bean mochi 'flaked' ice stand at the end/top of the old streets. However, I wouldn't allocate too much time here. The old streets are very small. I ended up finishing in about 1-1.5 hours and even walked to the outskirts of the real town (which was almost deserted, many stores were also closed - I went on a Saturday). I didn't go to the mountain trails, but from what I saw, I would still recommend the one in Hsinchu (much nicer and longer).

Van1919

2017-12-15 21:52:42

There are many hiking trails around Nanzhuang old town. Although the town is interesting mainly for its Hakka Street food, there are more attractive places about 30 minutes away in 3 directions that you can hike by using the affordable tourist buses "Nazhuang Hao Xing". I stayed 3 days and could not finish all the hikes. There is the Xiang Tian Hu Lake which we took not the paved path but into the mountains for about 3.5 hours round trip without scaling the Xiang Tian Shan Mountain. It's interesting to walk on the ridges of the mountain. In another trip from Nanzhuang old town, you can go to the Lion Head Mountain and hike paved roads (mainly uphill) to end in Wuanhua Temple (or the other way). Along the way, magnificent temples residing on the mountain slopes with fantastic views greet you. The third location is to go to the Eco-River and onward to Xian Shan (Fairy Mountain). Unfortunately there was not enough time to hike but there are interesting routes around here as well. In late April through summer, the Tong Flowers will bloom on the mountain. The soft white petals will flutter with the winds onto you. They call it June Snow.People are very friendly and helpful. Helps to have Chinese speaking travelling companions though.

IveeLim

2018-03-21 09:25:46

We had lunch at the Hakka restaurant at the entrance of the old street which was nice and quite cheap. The 台湾好行 bus stop is just facing the entrance of the old street. The entrance is way too narrow especially when people used their baby prams and strollers on the uneven road surface. Almost all the stalls sell one type of food or another made of osmanthus which you can sample without obligation. At the end of the street is an old postal office since Japanese days.

1place1dream

2017-11-22 22:55:18

The old town is actually not that old and not that interesting. There are a few interesting places in Nanzhuang minutes from the old town that is more interesting. eg a ake known as 向天湖, a flatten mountain 石壁景觀 and a valley known as 神仙谷. We particularly love the 神仙谷. It has 3 streams rushing into a big waterfall.You can read and see the photo on Day 6 of my Taiwan June 2012 blog.http://1place1dream.blogspot.sg/2012/06/taiwan-june-2012-day-6.html