Written by Ryan and Iris St.Onge / Translated by Brant

Whether by bike, car or on foot, these plans are offered as suggestions in order to enhance your trip and should not be regarded as the definitive way in which to see a city. If you follow ours plans to the letter and discover that you missed something important, please remember this disclaimer. While we can’t promise that these little tours cover everything, they will offer solid plans from which to organize your days with minimal time wasted.

There are plenty of ways to see a new city. Each have their upside and their downside. For instance, cars cover a lot of ground but you miss a lot of the local flavor. Conversely, walking is rather slow, but what you do see, you see in detail. Bicycles seem to offer the best middle ground but weather and traffic make them troublesome methods.

With all due respect to the bicycle, I’ve always been a walker. I have enjoyed walking for as long as I can remember and my wife has also developed a love for walking owing to our rather hectic travel schedule. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t really get a feel for a city unless you’ve explored it on foot. It’s not that bicycles and cars aren’t nice ways to get around, and in big cities they are often the only way to get around buthitting the bricks at a sneaker’s pace is the most enjoyable way to become intimate with a new locale.

Unfortunately, walking aimlessly around an unfamiliar city is not only frustratingly boring, but also painful. Walking without a plan is never advisable. In some cities it could mean the difference between life and death (or a stay in a hospital). While I wouldn’t imply that the streets of Taiwan’s cities are that dangerous, walking without a loose plan can lead you to see a whole lot of nothing over the course of several hours and leave you wondering why people even want to visit Jiayi, just for example. It’s not about the quantity of distance covered in a day but rather the quality. If you know where you are going, have a plan and a schedule, walking tours need not grind your knees and feet down into putty. And with a plan, even the most mundane city in Taiwan can become an afternoon of fun and enjoyment. Even Jiayi!

Since Hualien is, by my estimation, slightly more interesting than average, we assumed that a walking tour though the downtown core might be worth a few hours of our time and just might turn out to be quite fun. We chose a beautiful Sunday afternoon to do our walk. As with so many downtown areas in Taiwan, Hualien is slow to rise. It’s best to begin this tour in the early to mid-afternoon rather than the morning. In the afternoon you will find more of the shops open and more people out and about. While it’s certainly possible to do this tour in the morning, do not be surprised to find many of the shops and locations closed along the way.

We chose Café Mud on Jong Jen Rd. as our starting point because of its central location and, well, because we like to start pretty much everything we do with a coffee. It takes the edge off and makes me a lot less aggravated with people. Café Mud serves an excellent cup of coffee and the owners are both friendly and knowledgeable. It’s a good place to go over your strategies for the day.

From Café Mud we moved north on Jong Jen Rd, through Hualien’s busiest intersection at Jong Shan Rd. Here you can marvel at Hualien’s most valuable pieces of real estate. It might not look like much: a shoe store, Starbucks, 3C and some sort of roadside hotpot, but chances are you can’t afford this land and neither can we. Marvel at prime real estate wasted!

Through Jong Shan Rd. we veered right on Fu Shing Rd. and into one of Hualien’s traditional markets. By two in the afternoon, the morning bustle will have died down somewhat, but there is still enough traffic moving through this area to get a feel for the real Hualien. Lots of yelling and jostling and wet pant legs. While this market is neither the biggest nor the busiest in Hualien, it does offer a pretty interesting array of products for those looking for exotic incense, toys or kitchenware. We stopped to take a disproportionate number of pictures. I have a fixation for photographing mannequins and the urge needed to be satisfied.

Beyond the market lies Jong Hua Rd. and Hualien’s banking district. Wall Street, it is not, but you’ll find all the familiar banks clustered at the mouth of the market if your wallet is in need of a fill-up. Turn right out of the market and head back toward Jong Shan Rd. When you reach the corner, you have reached the center of Hualien’s tourist industry. I like to call it Tourist Hell, but that’s just me. This is where you will find all the famous local snacks. From Magi to dried ham to nougat, all your favorites will be represented, often more than once. If you are so inclined, take a few minutes to walk along Jong Hua Rd. and sample everything Hualien shops have to offer. If you want to buy, remember those banks back there? Yeah, well, now you know why I mentioned them. Actually, some of this stuff is quite good. The writers especially recommend Nougat, Hualien County Cakes and Uncle Kuo’s Ham. So, buy a pack. Buy two. Take some home for the whole family!

If you are anything like me, fifteen minutes of shopping and you’re ready to do something (anything!) else. If not, by all means take your time.

We packed up all our purchased materials (ham and nougat!), headed down Fu Ding St. (left off of Jong Hua Rd.) and headed straight for the old railway station. The complex is worth more than a quick glace since it’s a pretty cool look into the history of Taiwan and Hualien in particular.

The entire station straddles Fu Ding St. so don’t get caught missing one of the sites. Both are worth your attention. Old bunkers, engines and even a holding cell for prisoners are on display for visitors to check out. Don’t forget to get a photo of yourself in jail. It’s a hoot on Facebook! The entire site has recently been renovated to give it that old-but-clean-and-safe look so you don’t have to worry about stepping on rusty railroad spikes or getting mugged by marauding gangs of hobos.

From the old station continue down Fu Ding and get a peak at what could be Hualien’s greatest tourist attraction – that is, if it ever gets finished. The gargantuan steel structure that stands loftily before you is the brainchild of the Hualien County Government. Powered by solar energy, the NT$170,000,000 site is supposed to be a model of Hualien’s commitment to the environment. It is, as of press time, still unopened and cordoned off from the world by the ubiquitous corrugated metal fence of doom (don’t get me started on corrugated metal fences). If and when the site does open, it should prove to be a very interesting place to see, with art galleries, bike paths and a pretty looking park (or so says the fading banner on the metal fence), all run on solar power. Until then, take a quick walk by and see what Hualien’s future holds. Maybe.

Take the right on Chong Ching St. and dive into Hualien’s stone market. Thousands of tourists flock to Hualien every year in search of rare and interesting stones. Whether it’s jade or rose stone (or anything in between) you’ll probably find it here. It’s a bit pricey, but just try and get good rose stone where you come from. Perhaps it’s time you bought that piece for the front foyer.

For those interested in aboriginal culture, the market has reasonably authentic aboriginal dancing daily at 8pm and 9pm, but you’ll have to come back for that because we’re on a schedule and you’re probably losing daylight.

Take a right turn on Tz You St. and walk back toward downtown Hualien. This will take you on an interesting little tour of Old Hualien. This part of town represents the oldest standing structures in town and has a lot of interesting architecture and flavor. Oddly enough, it gets very little tourist attention, which is a shame because it actually holds some cultural value in the form of local history and doesn’t involve vacuuming your hard earned cash out of your wallet at every turn.

Tz You St. runs parallel to a small stream that has seen better days, but still provides a picturesque, if slightly smelly, walk. If you are hot and sweaty, a swim is strongly discouraged.

Veer left on Cheng Gong St. and you will immediately enter what, in days gone by, would have been Hualien’s red light district. Yeah, that’s right. Red light on the east coast. And no, it’s not what you would expect, so cool your jets. There still stand a few seedy Karaokes and bars along this stretch and if you are lucky, Hualien’s oldest surviving cinema, of the outdoor variety, might be open for a quick peak. There have been rumors of some renovation at the cinema, but as of yet nothing has happened. Let’s hope. That would indeed be a cool little tourist attraction. As it stands, the street itself is still worthy of a walk.

On the corner of Cheng Gong and Ren Ai St. is a pretty cool temple for those interested in, well, temples. I am, so I always snap a few pictures when I get a chance. Daoist temples are so much more photogenic than Protestant churches.

If all this walking has worked up an appetite, try some dumplings at the little restaurant across from the temple. It’s a nice little stop along the way for those who didn’t wear the proper foot attire. For those with a little extra cash to burn, Dolphin is a wonderful little Italian bistro and serves some of the best food on the island. That’s right, on the island!

Heading west on Ren Ai Rd. are more examples of Hualien’s past including the Tang Hai Hotel, an old Taxi station and other interesting bits of local history worthy of a few moments consideration. Of course, there is next to no information of much of these locations, so an active imagination is needed to fill in the historical gaps.

Old Hualien is a photographer’s dream with its rusty old machinery and boarded up windows. There’s been a lot of construction in Hualien these past few years and the city is changing very quickly, so don’t be surprised if this part of town’s days are numbered.

Through Jong Jen and Jong Hua Rds. you’ll come to the newly renovated Hualien Creative & Cultural Park. The site of the former Hualien Distillery, the grounds are now home to dozens of art galleries and exhibition spaces. On any given day there are more than a few local and out-of-town artists displaying their work. This park is truly worth an hour of your time to fully explore all it has to offer. Plus it serves beer, which is a bonus at this point in the walk.

Exiting the park on the west side at Min Guo Rd. head south again until you come back to Tz You St. Cross it and duck into the cobble-stoned walking path that traces the former Hualien railroad tracks. If the walking tour has taken you over three hours like it did us, you should be arriving just as local vendors are setting up their wares for Hualien’s own version of Shimending. While certainly not as colorful, the tracks have a certain charm in the late afternoon/early evening. Plus, the young people with their complicated haircuts and interesting outfits are ideal if you are into people watching like I am.

The walking path will end at Jong Jen Rd. about 25m from the Mud Café where you began. If you are as hungry as we were by the end, treat yourself to a meatball sandwich at Vittoria Della Cucina. They serve the best sandwich in town. If you are looking for something pricier to celebrate the completion of our circuit, Bullfighter Steakhouse above Vittoria Della Cucina is also an option. You can’t go wrong with a nice steak.