Overview

You could go to Taiwan strictly for the food (arguably the world's finest Chinese cuisine) or the cosmopolitan pleasures of Taipei (now a city of more than 6 million), but what may surprise you is what awaits outside the island's major cities - a magnificent canvas of mountainous landscapes, national parks and even white-sand beaches that dazzles hikers and tour bus passengers alike.

From Yangminshan National Park in the north, where trails lead to waterfalls and hot springs, to Kenting National Park at the southern tip of the island, where travel-poster-like tropical beaches and coves line the coast, this an island that lives up to the name first given to it by the Portuguese centuries ago, Formosa - Latin for beautiful.

But it is also a place where the traditions of Chinese culture still run deep. Exotic festivals fill the calendar and lavish temples showcase classical architecture and artwork, most notably in the southern city of Tainan, home to more than 200 temples, including the 17th-century Confucius Temple and Kaiyuan, a Buddhist temple set amid beautifully landscaped grounds scattered with pagodas.

In the end, this is an island where in a day you can go from frenetic city life to rural lowlands where the land is still worked by water buffalo, from the elegance of Taipei's National Palace Museum (with more than 600,000 treasures, the world's largest collection of Chinese art) to Yingke, a small northern town devoted to pottery, from simple tea sets to exquisite replicas of ancient Ming vases - a never-ending celebration of China past and present.

 Plan Your Trip

SIGHTSEEING

For a great road trip, cruise the Central Cross-Island Highway (the most spectacular mountain drive in this part of the world) from Taichung on the west coast to Hualien on the east coast. Along the way you'll get a chance to see mist-covered valleys, vast bamboo forests, and Taroko Gorge, a mini-Grand Canyon of marble cliffs stretching more than 10 miles and cut by a white-water river.

CULTURE

Taiwan's festival-of-the-month club includes dragon boat races, lion dances, and food fetes, but for sheer color Taipei's Lantern Festival is matchless. Five days of activities (on the first full moon of the lunar calendar, usually in February) includes lantern-lit processions to temples throughout the city, along with dragon dances and folk art demonstrations. For a distinctive Taiwanese festival, make plans to attend a harvest festival celebrated by the island's native aboriginal tribes. The largest, an elaborate spectacle of traditional costumes, music, and dance, is held by the Ami in the eastern Taiwan town of Hualien, in late summer.

DINING

Here's a tip: Don't think takeout, because dining out here is a way of life. If you are eager to sample dishes from around the island, schedule an August visit during Taipei's Chinese Food Festival. Recipes follow the full range of traditional styles of mainland China, from the milder flavors of Peking and Canton to the fiery Szechuan concoctions, but Taiwan has developed its own cuisine, based largely on seafood and sauces drawn from Shanghai traditions. If it's not festival time, don't despair: Head for night markets in Taipei and other major cities, where you can taste-test your way amid stalls with everything from curios to clothes.

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