Alishan 石棹 has 5 fully planned circular trails! They are the trails of cloud, tea, haze, cherry blossom and mist, which include cedar forests, tea gardens, mountains, clouds and seas, and cherry blossoms in spring, so you can plan a whole day’s visit to satisfy your needs.

Table of Contents

The Way of the Mist Trail

When we came here in early February, a few cherry blossoms bloomed next to the parking lot at the exit of the Wuhu Way Trail, and the owner of the farm even let us and our group go in to enjoy the view. Special attention should be paid to the fact that there are only 2 or 3 parking spaces in this parking lot, so if you don’t have a space, you can park at the Shizhao Information Station.

The first half of the Mist Trail is a walk through the forest, and the scenery is quite impressive, so I’m going to use a picture of an abandoned wooden staircase in the light to represent it.

After leaving the forest, you are about halfway through the walk, and the scenery is very different. The second half of the walk is an open tea plantation, and the foggy road is not too long, so you can walk through it very quickly.

The two towering trees in the tea plantation provide a height contrast to the hikers, and the latter part of the trail is a straight ascent, making the climb quite easy.

Walking up the final slope will end the fog road, looking back, the rolling hills are spectacular, missing some sea of clouds.

The Way of Tea Trail

The Tea Trail is connected to the Mist Trail, and from the beginning to 2/3 of the way, it is almost all bamboo forest. Although it is not too hot and dry, the entire Tea Trail is uphill all the way! It is also the longest of the five trails, so be sure to save your energy before you start.

There are about 3 forks in the Tea Trail, all of which lead to Shizhao Information Center (the one on the left is the downward fork). I came here twice in early February, and the first time I walked halfway along the Tea Trail, I didn’t know how much farther it was…. The first time I went halfway down the Tea Trail, I didn’t know how far it was… so I gave up, and it took me a week to finish the trail again. (I asked my partner to go up the slope on the right first to see if it was still uphill, and it was.)

There are few places on the Tea Route where you can see the blue sky and white clouds, and you can only see tea gardens on the side of the road, which is called the Tea Route Trail, but it’s almost all bamboo forests.

Walking along, when you can see the cedar forest, it means that you are almost finished with the Tea Trail, and it also means that you are officially finished with the uphill section, and then it’s downhill all the way, from a test of your heart and lungs to a test of your knees.

The Way of the Cloud Trail

The first time I walked to the Tea Trail, I returned because I thought the Cloud Trail was also upward, but then I learned that the gradient of the Cloud & Tea Trail was opposite, so I came back to walk it again every other week! At the beginning, it was a friendly wooden trestle downhill.

The whole course is either flat or downhill, and the cedar forest can be considered one of the prettiest among the 5 trails (personal preference).

The sunlight appears faintly.

There is a resting platform on the way, and in the distance our group could hear the bustling sound, thinking that the trail was coming to an end, before we heard the sound of tourists on the road, but it turned out to be a group of people resting on the platform.

The enthusiastic mountaineers even gave us some snacks.

Resting for a moment, a great deal of light dipped into the forest.

This should be Aunt Taro, right?

After the break, we continued to walk down the road with our companions, and all of us looked much more comfortable than in the tea ceremony.

At this point, you have already finished the Cloud Road, and when you finish, you will be directly connected to the asphalt road, so you can walk back along the road, and the scenery along the road is almost all tea gardens.

A small number of cherry blossoms are planted between the tea gardens, and some of the sneaky ones bloomed in early February.

The green eyes were also attracted by the nectar, and the lens that had been memorized for the entire journey was finally put to use.

The Crested Newt was hiding in the forest and was ready to fly to suck nectar. I didn’t take any good photos of the birds during these two visits because most of them were in the forest and it was very difficult to take photos of the small birds, but they were still very peaceful when they were eating the nectar!

The Way of the Kasumi Trail

The entrance to the Xiawao Road Trail is right across from the Shizhao Information Center, and the area around the entrance is full of tea gardens, with a sea of clouds to the west.

You can view the entire tea plantation after a short walk, thanks to the ginkgo trees that lose all their leaves in winter, making the contours between the tea gardens obvious and an interesting visual effect.

The Xia Way is not too long, but it is uphill for the whole section, and you can look back at the mountains on the way up, which is very beautiful! In the middle of the trail, you will pass the bamboo forest in the photo, and you can cross it in about 5 to 10 minutes.

Walk to the top left corner to finish the trail. The reason there were so many people in front of us at that time was because a lot of people were taking photos and the traffic was jammed.

At the top of the trail, you can see a much larger tea plantation. The camera is not wide enough, but it must be more spectacular to see it on site. The Xia Way and the Cloud Way are the top two of the five trails that are most worthwhile to walk in my opinion.

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the exit, and if you continue up the hill, you can get a tea ceremony!

The Way of the Sakura Trail

The entrance to the Sakura Way is also next to the Shizhao Information Station, and is the shortest of the five trails, which should only be about 100 meters, and the entrance to the trail allows you to see the mountains in the distance.

The left and right sides of the trail are full of cherry trees, but the cherry blossoms here only have buds at the beginning of February, so if it’s not the blooming season, there should not be any special place to stroll…. I would recommend to take this trail when the cherry blossoms are in bloom.