Taiwan Today

Cycling vacations open up new vistas for business and leisure.

At 66-years-old Bike Lin (林惠忠) is still thrilled by what he discovers about Taiwan from the saddle of his bicycle, even though he has explored the country like this for decades. “Each journey is unique and rewarding. Traveling on a bike allows me to savor local color close up,” said the veteran cyclist and vice president of Taipei City-based Formosa Lohas Cycling Association (FLCA), which was established in 2012 with a mission to encourage people to travel by bike. “Cars are too big for roads in some areas and motorcycles are noisy, so bicycles are the best way to go places.” Three years ago, he spent 111 days cycling around Taiwan, and the result is a detailed and informative travelogue that he plans to publish in book form to inspire people to hop on their bikes and pedal through the country’s spectacular routes. 

Tourism by bike is trending and has been for some time. FLCA president Hsu Cheng-non (徐正能) noted that the catalyst for many people to hit the road on two wheels was “Island Etude,” a movie released 15 years ago that follows a college student making a round-the-island trip. In the same year King Liu (劉金標), founder of Taiwan’s leading bicycle producer Giant Manufacturing Co., made his own island odyssey at the age of 73, inspiring others to follow suit. Hsu said that the 2008 spike in oil prices further popularized the pushbike as a means of vacation transport.

Adventurous Turns
In 2009 Giant established the first travel agency in Taiwan solely catering to cycle tours, Giant Adventure Co. Meanwhile, Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) overseen by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) was making bike travel further afield more accessible by offering dedicated spaces on selected trains. Cycle races, too, have played their part in putting mountain ranges and coastal roads on riders’ radars. Media coverage has attracted ever-larger numbers of enthusiasts to events such as the annual Taiwan KOM Challenge organized by Taiwan Cyclist Federation since 2012. This one-day race covers an astonishing 105-kilometer scenic route starting at sea level in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County and ending in central Taiwan’s Nantou County at Wuling, the highest point in the country’s highway network at an altitude of 3,275 meters. It is one of many bicycle activities promoted by the central government’s Tourism Bureau (TB) and is one of Taiwan’s best-known cycle races. “Such rides turn global attention on Taiwan and kindle public enthusiasm,” Hsu said. 

Contests like these inspire competitors to come back and enjoy the scenery at a more leisurely pace. “Cycling is a carbon-free activity and part of sustainable tourism options promoted by government,” said Wu Chieh-ping (吳潔萍), director of TB’s planning division. “It takes too long to tour a place on foot and you’re likely to miss out on interesting places in a car. So, two wheels are the perfect way for tourists to get that personal feel for the country.”

  Improving infrastructure is high on the agenda for the TB as a key plank in its strategy to advance this form of eco-friendly tourism. In 2014 the MOTC approved a plan for a network of cycle trails around the country and organizations like FLCA and the Cycling Life-Style Foundation set up by Giant Manufacturing Co. offered advice on issues like routes to avoid heavy traffic and road sign design. At the end of 2015, the 961-kilometer island loop Cycling Route No.1 opened, with 25 branch routes completed over the next three years. These guide riders to sites like central Taiwan’s Sun Moon Lake, where there was already a local network of scenic trails. The year 2021 was designated by the TB as the Year of Bicycle Tourism, and the agency built 16 more bike trails in national scenic areas under its supervision. To benefit local businesses, the TB and local governments encouraged around 5,000 hotels and homestays to offer dedicated space for cycle parking, as well as vehicle maintenance and washing facilities.

Safe Leaders
The TB also cultivates cycle tour guides, as do Giant Adventure and FLCA. Potential guides must attend training sessions to hone diverse skills and knowledge ranging from repair and emergency medical care to route planning for safety and comfort. “Bike tours are unique in the tourism industry because they take you to spots that are inaccessible to other types of vehicles,” Hsu said. “A good guide knows how to include these places in a viable, safe and enjoyable itinerary within a specific timeframe.” The association currently has some 60 guides who all received comprehensive in-house training.  

Today Giant Adventure organizes more bike group tours than any other travel agency. Tours can be customized for clients, and a group can comprise over 100 members. A multiday tour is accompanied by two vans carrying food, water, spare bikes and medical and bike repair equipment, as well as the riders’ luggage. Company director Agar Tsai (蔡嘉津) expects to have around 10,000 customers this year, up from about 1,000 in 2009, and said the number would be even higher if the travel agency had enough staff to keep up with demand. 

One of the company’s flagship packages is the three-day 200-kilometer journey along the East Rift Valley in eastern Taiwan spanning Hualien and Taitung counties. Those in the know cycle from Taitung to Hualien in summer to take advantage of the tail wind. In winter, the direction is reversed along with the change in wind direction, an example of seasoned cyclists’ wisdom built into guided tours. Another popular product is the nine-day round-island trip, which involves cycling 100 kilometers a day. This is standard in both length and time for most companies offering round-island trips. “The journey builds a close bond between riders, enhances their knowledge of the country and is often a coming-of-age ritual for Taiwan’s young people,” said Tsai, whose three high school children completed the trip for the first time in January.

  By contrast, FLCA promotes slow-paced cycle travel, organizing long round-island journeys divided into five sections, each of which lasts five days. “We avoid the main roads, detouring to narrower ones and spending more time in small places,” Hsu said. As a result, the trip covers around 1,700 kilometers but is less physically challenging than the more common nine-day trip. In pursuit of cycle-friendly transport, FLCA even advised the TRA on how to morph train stations into more welcoming spaces. This has borne fruit as the association now plans itineraries that intergrate railway and bike travel to explore the country. To date FLCA has designed 15 such tours, with a focus on historic railway sites. 



Electric Experience
In an evolution reflecting the wider range of people coming to cycling as a leisure activity, specialist agencies have developed new routes for electric bicycles. Hsu said that FLCA began to receive clients looking for electric bike tours around four years ago, and the trend has since grown. “Initially the association was wary of electric bikes, but then we realized that it’s not a bad thing as it enables more people to enjoy Taiwan by bike,” Hsu said. 

Giant Adventure has also now set up e-bike tourism for those wanting to throw off the chains and take some of the sweat out of pedaling. “With e-bikes we develop routes that are too strenuous for the average person using a traditional bicycle,” Tsai said. In 2019 the enterprise organized its first tour from Taipei to Wuling with all members traveling the 236-kilometer route on electric bikes. It launched another new route totaling 656 kilometers this past summer along the Central Mountain Range. Starting at Taiwan’s northernmost lighthouse at Fugui Cape and ending at its southernmost counterpart at Eluanbi, the seven-day tour takes participants around the country’s five major mountain ranges, a trip that would be hard to complete without an e-bike. 
  With government investment in infrastructure, the push by the private sector and bike evolution, cycle tourism now has a firm foothold in the leisure industry. “It’s a great way to experience Taiwan and get closer to nature with low environmental impact,” Wu said. “Supporting this type of tourism is a success on the TB’s agenda that will see further development.” 
 

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw