Where to Stay in Nantou, Taiwan

What is Nantou known for?

It lies in the island's only landlocked county, among green hills and high peaks, and it grew as the old seat of the provincial government in a planned garden village, while the county around holds the great Sun Moon Lake, tea gardens, and the high central range. The mountains ring the town. Hills and lake mark the county.

What are the main landmarks in Nantou?

Zhongxing New Village spreads its lawns near Nantou. The old garden seat of the provincial government, low and green among the hills, marks the town, from the days it ruled the province. Craft halls fill the town.

The national craft institute keeps the woodwork and lacquer of Taiwan, while the great Sun Moon Lake, Jade Mountain, and the tea gardens of Lugu lie in the county around Nantou.

What is the history of Nantou?

Nantou grew as a market of the central hills. Settlers cleared the foothills of the interior for rice and camphor, and the town rose as a market where the plains met the mountains and the land of the highland peoples. The mountains held their own peoples.

The high ranges were long the land of the island's mountain tribes, and the camphor and timber of their forests drew traders and loggers to the hills. Nantou became the seat of the province. When Taiwan needed a provincial capital away from the coast, a garden town called Zhongxing New Village was laid out here to house the government, spread with lawns and low offices.

The earth shook hard in nineteen ninety-nine. A great earthquake, the Chi-Chi quake centred at Jiji, struck the county nearby, and the town rebuilt and raised a memorial to the dead. The green mountains still ring the town.

Nantou keeps its hills and its lake at the heart of Taiwan.

Where is Nantou?

Nantou lies in the central mountains of Taiwan, the only county without a coast. The town sits in a hill basin where the western plain rises toward the high peaks, on the upper reaches of the Zhuoshui river, ringed by green forested ranges. Steep mountains rise to the east.

The foothills roll down to the plain.

What is the climate of Nantou?

In Nantou the subtropical air stays mild and damp, tempered by the hills. Warm summers and mild winters cross the hills, cooler on the high peaks, and the summer brings heavy rains and the typhoons, while the winters stay soft in the valleys. Mist fills the mountains at dawn.

The hills stay green much of the year.

How do you get to Nantou?

Nantou lies in the central mountains of Taiwan, inland from Taichung. Roads and the freeway run to it from Taichung on the plain, and mountain roads climb east to Sun Moon Lake and the high ranges. Buses climb from Nantou out to the hill towns.

Most arrive by road from Taichung.