Everything about reaching Nantou follows from one fact: there is no train station and no airport in the county. Every route in therefore runs through Taichung, which is 90 minutes from Sun Moon Lake and about two hours from Cingjing. Get to Taichung efficiently and the rest is easy.
Step 1: get to Taichung
From Taipei, the High Speed Rail takes about 50 minutes to Taichung HSR station (Wuri) and runs several times an hour. It is the fastest and least stressful option by a wide margin, and non-reserved seats are usually available on the spot outside holiday periods. Conventional TRA trains are cheaper but take around 2.5 hours to Taichung main station, which is a different station some way from the HSR one.
From Taoyuan International Airport, take the Airport MRT to Taoyuan HSR station and change to a southbound high-speed train — total time from landing to Taichung is roughly two hours. Direct airport buses to Taichung also run, and are cheaper but slower.
Step 2: Taichung to Sun Moon Lake
By bus — the standard route
Nantou Bus and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle both run frequent services from Taichung HSR station directly to Shuishe at Sun Moon Lake, taking about 90 minutes. Buses leave from the basement bus terminal at the HSR station and are timed around train arrivals. This is the route most independent travellers use, and it works well.
Booking a round-trip shuttle ticket in advance is worth it on weekends and public holidays, when the standby queue at Taichung HSR can get genuinely long.
By private transfer — the low-stress route
A private car does the same journey door to door in about 80 minutes, drops you at your hotel rather than the bus stop, and has room for real luggage. If you are arriving late, travelling with children, or checking into a lakeside hotel, it is worth the difference.
By guided day tour
If you are not staying overnight in Nantou, a day tour from Taichung or Taipei bundles the transport and the sightseeing. From Taichung this is excellent value; from Taipei it is a long day but removes every connection.
Step 3: getting to Cingjing and Hehuanshan
This is where it gets harder. Nantou Bus route 6658 runs from Taichung to Cingjing via Puli in around three hours, but services are limited and the last bus down the mountain leaves early in the afternoon — check the return timetable before committing to a day trip.
Driving takes about two hours from Taichung on Provincial Highway 14 and 14A, climbing more than 1,500 m through a great many hairpins, with afternoon fog common. Highway 14A continues to Wuling at 3,275 m on Hehuanshan and closes without much warning for snow, ice and typhoon damage.
For most visitors without their own car, a private tour or hired driver is the sensible answer for the mountains. It is the one part of Nantou where the extra cost genuinely buys you the day.
Getting around inside Nantou
- Around Sun Moon Lake: the public ferry between Shuishe, Xuanguang and Ita Thao is both transport and sightseeing. Round-the-lake buses cover the ring road and the temples.
- By bike: the lakeside path from Shuishe to Xiangshan is flat, separated from traffic and rightly famous. Rentals are at both piers.
- The Jiji line: the branch railway from Ershui to Checheng is the one train ride in the county, and it connects at Shuili with buses to Sun Moon Lake.
- Scooters: widely rented, but you need an international permit that Taiwan recognises, and the mountain roads are not the place to learn.
Should you rent a car?
For Sun Moon Lake alone, no — buses, ferries and bikes cover it comfortably and parking fills up early. For Cingjing, Hehuanshan, Aowanda and Sun Link Sea, a car transforms the trip, provided you are comfortable with sustained mountain driving. If you are not, hire a driver instead; it costs less than you would expect when split between three or four people.
