Day Trip to Xiaoliuqiu Island - From Kaohsiung
Reaching Xiaoliuqiu Island was fairly easy, but it did take a little work. Being in the south of Taiwan meant that English was much less common, but the people were just as patient with us and maybe even more friendly and helpful to us than in Taipei. We started our journey at the Kaohsiung Main Station where we tried to purchase bus tickets to the city of Donggang, where we knew we could catch a ferry to the island. We couldn't find the right bus company, so we asked the information desk and they very excitedly (assuming because they liked our destination choice) directed us to a company located about one block down the road. We found the storefront called "ibus", paid our round trip fare, and waited for the bus. It was about 5 minutes late which is totally on time by our standards and when we got on..noticed that we could have used our Easy Cards...we should have known, this is Taiwan after all where things seem to just make sense.
After about 50 minutes on the bus, we were in the city of Donggang making several stops along the street. We weren't really sure which stop was best for us to disembark to be closest to the ferry terminal so we just picked one that seemed reasonable and walked. Upon arriving at the ferry terminal we had two options; the public ferry or the private one. Since the private ferry had more runs per day and was only marginally more expensive, we bought an open ticket with a same day return and enjoyed the 20 minute ride across the open ocean on a very comfortable hydrofoil.
When we got to the Island terminal, we knew we wanted to rent some kind of transportation, and thought bikes would be a safe choice. Before I continue, I want to disclaim that I think we were the first people to rent bikes here in a long, long time. The first person we spoke with had only scooters, she didn't understand what I meant by "bike" and when I motioned it to her, she just laughed at me. The next rental company we went to basically did the same thing but instead of laughing they tried explaining how we could share one scooter for the same price as two bikes, but we wanted bikes! We finally found a guy who had about 10 bikes and when I asked him the price for two, his quote was indeed the same price as one scooter. Whatever, it was cheap and we went for it. But then when I tried to pay, he would only accept 2/3 of what he quoted me...Can you tell I love Taiwan?
We biked the main road which circles the island and took us about 4 hours in total with many stops along the way. There are four main attractions on the island which have admission fees. At the first attraction we came across, we purchased a pass for all four. Between these four attractions, Gebawan beach, and just cruising around on our bikes, we consumed most of the afternoon. When we reached the ferry terminal again, we hopped on the next boat back to the main land, found our bus stop, and made our way back to Kaohsiung.
Prices and logistical information:
Prices we paid based on 1 person:
Prices we paid based on 1 person:
- Round trip ticket from Kaohsiung to Donggang on ibus x1: NT$190 (~$6.30)
- Round trip ferry ticket from Donggang ferry terminal to Xiaoliuqiu Island x1: NT$410 (~$13.70)
- Bike rental x1 all day: NT$100 (~$3.30)
- Scooter rental x1 all day: NT$300 (~$9.90)
- Island attractions pass x1 (4 attractions): NT$120 (~$4.00)
- Took ibus bus number 9127. Ticket counter and bus pickup is located here
- Ferry terminal is located here
- Bus pickup from Donggang is located here (can also be dropped off here)
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