Cingjing Farm occupies a high ridge at around 1,750 m in Ren’ai Township, and the nickname — Taiwan’s little Switzerland — is doing a lot of work but is not entirely unearned. The Green Green Grassland really is a broad sweep of cropped meadow with several hundred sheep on it, the Central Mountain Range really does fill the eastern horizon, and on most mornings a sea of cloud really does sit in the valleys below.
The farm was established in 1961 to resettle veterans of the Chinese Civil War, including a community of ethnic Yunnanese soldiers who came via Myanmar and Thailand — which is why the villages on the way up serve some of the best Yunnanese food in Taiwan. Understanding that history makes the place considerably more interesting than the sheep alone would suggest.
Practically, Cingjing works as either a long day trip from Taichung or, better, an overnight stop en route to Hehuanshan. The road up is spectacular and slow, and rushing it wastes the best part.
Top things to do at Cingjing Farm
The Green Green Grassland and sheep show
The main paid attraction. A New Zealand shearer runs a sheep-shearing demonstration and there is a Mongolian-style horsemanship display most days; between shows you can simply walk out across the meadow among the animals.
Walk the Cingjing Skywalk
A 1.2 km elevated boardwalk running along the mountainside, suspended up to 70 m above the slope. It is entirely step-free, takes about an hour at a gentle pace, and separately ticketed from the farm — and it is the single best-value thing to do in Nantou.
Eat Yunnanese food in the villages below
The settlements strung along Provincial Highway 14A serve rice-noodle dishes, mint salads and dapingguo pancakes brought by the veterans who settled here. It is a genuinely distinct regional cuisine and a good reason to stay the night.
How to get to Cingjing Farm
- From Taichung, Nantou Bus route 6658 runs to Cingjing via Puli in around three hours. From Sun Moon Lake, change at Puli.
- Driving takes about two hours from Taichung on Provincial Highway 14 and 14A, climbing over 1,500 m with many hairpins. Fog is common in the afternoon.
- A private day tour from Taichung is the low-stress option and removes the mountain driving entirely.
- It is genuinely cold up here. Bring a fleece or jacket even in July, and something warmer between December and February.
- The sea of cloud is a morning phenomenon. Staying overnight is the only reliable way to see it.
- Buy the farm and Skywalk tickets online in advance — the queues on holiday weekends are long and slow.
- The last buses down the mountain leave early in the afternoon. Check the return timetable before you commit to a day trip.
Best tours & tickets for Cingjing Farm
These top-rated experiences are the easiest way to enjoy Cingjing Farm and its surroundings:
Attraction ticket from $8 Nantou: Qingjing Farm Green Green Grassland Ticket & Combos
Cingjing Farm is Taiwan’s "Little Switzerland" — rolling green meadows grazed by hundreds of sheep, set on a ridge at 1,750 m with the Central Mountain Range filling the horizon. Pre-booking saves you the ticket-window queue, which on weekends and holidays is genuinely long. The Green Green Grassland is the main event, with a sheep-shearing show by a New Zealand shearer and a Mongolian-style horsemanship display most days. Combo tickets that add the Skywalk are the better value if you are staying more than a couple of hours.
- Entry to the Green Green Grassland at 1,750 m above sea level
- Sheep-shearing show and the daily horsemanship display
- Alpine meadows and sea-of-clouds views over the Central Range
Private day tour from $40 Taichung: Qingjing Farm, Skywalk and Swiss Garden Tour
Getting to Cingjing under your own steam means a two-hour climb up Provincial Highway 14 with more than a thousand metres of ascent and a lot of hairpins — not everyone’s idea of a holiday. This private tour removes that entirely. A driver-guide collects you in Taichung and handles the mountain road while you take in the scenery, then you work through the three headline sights: the sheep meadows of the Green Green Grassland, the elevated Skywalk, and the alpine-flower terraces of the Swiss Garden. Because it is private you can linger where you like.
- The whole Cingjing plateau in one day without driving the mountain road
- Green Green Grassland, the Skywalk and the Swiss Garden
- Private vehicle — your group only, and you set the pace
Private day tour from $450 per group Taichung: Sun Moon Lake, Cingjing Farm & Skywalk Tour
Sun Moon Lake sits at 748 m, Cingjing at 1,750 m, and the road between them is one of the great mountain drives in Taiwan. This private tour strings both together in a long, full day — the lake in the cooler morning light, then the climb up to the meadows and the Skywalk for the afternoon. It is an ambitious itinerary and you will be in the car a fair amount, but if central Taiwan is a one-day stop on a bigger trip it delivers far more than trying to do either half by public transport. Priced per group of up to four.
- Nantou’s two headline sights — lake and high mountain — in a single day
- Private vehicle, so no waiting on a group at every stop
- Around 1,300 m of altitude change, and the scenery to match
