18 tea districts
Tea travel
Routes, trails, seasons and where to eat and sleep for eighteen districts, each linked to its teas.
Mountain character is literal: the cedar note in Shanlinxi tea is there because the gardens sit next to a cedar forest.
4 routes Day trip teas 6新北市茶區Pinglin・Shiding・SanxiaYou can be standing in pouchong country a little over an hour after leaving Taipei Main Station. Pinglin has the museum, the river and trails you can finish in an afternoon; Shiding’s old street is built out over the water; Sanxia makes a green tea unlike anywhere else. All three work as day trips.
2 routes Day trip teas 3台北市茶區Maokong・NangangThere are tea gardens inside Taipei city limits, which is reason enough to go up once. The gondola puts you on the tea hills forty minutes out of downtown; in Nangang the osmanthus flowers in autumn and the whole hill road smells of it.
1 routes Day trip teas 3北部茶區ShimenShimen sits at Taiwan’s northern tip, where the Tieguanyin drinks sea moisture all year but is sheltered from the wind by the land itself. Do the tea-hill trail, then the waterfall, then the seafood — that is a day.
2 routes Day trip teas 3桃園茶區Longtan・YangmeiLongtan and Yangmei are cycling country. The slopes are gentle, the ponds many, and the tea gardens sit between fish ponds and farms, so you can stop often. This is also one of the districts that makes Oriental Beauty.
2 routes Day trip teas 2新竹茶區Beipu・EmeiThe home of Oriental Beauty. Beipu and Emei sit either side of a hill: Beipu sells, Emei grows, a division settled since the 1990s. Old streets, heritage houses, pounded tea, tung blossom, fireflies, dried persimmons — something is happening here all year.
4 routes Day trip teas 4苗栗茶區Toufen・Shitan・Sanyi・Tongluo: JiuhuMiaoli’s tea grows alongside silkworms, woodcarving and tung blossom. Laoqi in Toufen has a whole graded set of trails from twenty minutes to two hours — pick by how much walking you want. Shitan has a tea street, Sanxia has the April snow.
6 routes Two days possible teas 4南投縣茶區Lugu・Mingjian / Songboling・Zhushan・Yuchi・Shuili・Nantou City: HoutanjingDongding is in Lugu, Songboling in Mingjian, the spiral gardens in Zhushan, and Sun Moon Lake black tea in Yuchi. Four places making four different teas, all within an hour of each other by car — the densest square of tea in Taiwan.
1 routes Day trip teas 11杉林溪茶區Shanlinxi・Around Yangzaiwan and LongfengxiaAbove 1,500 m, forty minutes further up the road from Lugu. This is ginkgo, moso bamboo and cloud country; tea is one thing among several here, though it is the one that keeps.
1 routes Day trip teas 11玉山茶區Caopingtou・Yushan visitor tea gardensCaopingtou and the Yushan visitor gardens in Xinyi township, 1,250–1,500 m up on the flank of Jade Mountain. There is a giant teapot landmark here, and the whole run of the New Central Cross-Island Highway.
2 routes Two days possible teas 13仁愛茶區Qingjing・Lushan・Cuifeng, Cuiluan, ChunyangQingjing, Lushan, Cuifeng, Chunyang — all above 1,000 m on average, with the Dongyanshan farm reaching 1,750. This is the gateway to hot springs, high pasture and Hehuanshan; tea is one of several reasons to be up here.
2 routes Two days possible teas 9梨山茶區Lishan・Fushoushan farm・Wuling farmTwo thousand to 2,600 m — the highest tea district in Taiwan. It is a long drive, but the same road gives you peaches, apples, the Xueshan trailhead and the country’s protected salmon. Give it two days at least.
3 routes Day trip teas 5雲林縣茶區Gukeng: Huashan and Zhanghu・Gukeng: Caoling and Shibi・LinneiOne township, coffee at 400 m and high-mountain tea at 1,200. Gukeng lets the two get on with their own business: Huashan and Zhanghu turned to garden cafés and hill trails, while Caoling and Shibi kept making high-mountain tea. Linnei sits lower still, 200 to 400 m.
2 routes Day trip teas 4蘭陽名茶區Datong: Yulan・Dongshan: ZhongshanYilan grows its tea low — Yulan at around 150 m, Dongshan under 500. Low does not mean lesser: the rain and humidity here make a tender leaf and a delicate, high-toned aroma. An hour from Taipei through the Xueshan tunnel.
6 routes Two days possible teas 17阿里山茶區Meishan: Ruili, Ruifeng, Taixing, Taihe・Zhuqi and Shizhuo・Dabang, Tefuye, Lijia — Tsou villagesThis district has the most itineraries, and nearly all of them run two days. Ruili, Ruifeng, Taixing and Taihe in Meishan are threaded together by old trails, bamboo, waterfalls and suspension bridges, and the guesthouses are the tea growers themselves. Further up are Zhuqi, Shizhuo and the Tsou villages. Every month of the year has its own crop.
3 routes Two days possible teas 3花東縱谷茶區Ruisui, Hualien: Wuhe・Yuli, Hualien: Chikeshan・Fuli, Hualien: LiushishishanChike mountain and Liushishi mountain, where daylilies and tea grow on the same slopes. August’s gold is the famous picture, but the tea is here all year.
3 routes Two days possible teas 3台東茶區Taimali: Jinzhenshan・Luye: GaotaiThe daylily hill at Taimali, where you drink tea looking at the Pacific. On a clear day the ridge shows you Green Island and Orchid Island. Cherry blossom in winter, fireflies in summer, hot springs at the foot of the hill.
1 routes Day trip teas 5南部茶區Liugui・MeinongKaohsiung’s tea is scattered: Liugui and Namasia up in the hills, Meinong down on the plain, with Motianling, Taoyuan and Maolin each off on their own. What sets this district apart is the wild tea of Liugui — trees that were on those mountains before we were. A day can take in the plain at Meinong and the hills at Liugui.
1 routes Day trip teas 1屏東茶區ManzhouGangkou tea from Manzhou is the southernmost tea in Taiwan, grown in sea wind. It brews long, tastes strong, and carries a bitterness that turns sweet — nothing like a high-mountain oolong. Kenting is on the way.The routes and sights are drawn from publicly published itineraries for each district and rewritten. **Opening hours, access and transport change — confirm with the operator or the authority before you travel.**