Beyond the city limits of ultramodern Taipei lies a wild and majestic landscape.

Here’s how to plan an adventurous trip through Taiwan.

But nothing had prepared us for the sheer verticality of this landscape.

Steam rising in a national park in Taiwan

Visitors at a fumarole at Yangmingshan National Park.Credit:Sean Marc Lee

Hsu had recently checked off all three.

As we climbed, he explained that these slopes were the consequence of Taiwans relative newness as an island.

The green walls were thick with moss, flowers, and ferns.

Pair of photos from Taiwan, one showing red lanterns above a street, and one showing a tree-covered cliff

From left: The famous red lanterns of Old Street, in the Taiwanese mountain town of Jiufen; the steep coastal cliffs of Qingshui.Sean Marc Lee

Has anyone ever fallen off the mountain?

I asked Hsu as I looked behind us.

The city runs like a river between the mountains, he explained.

Pair of photos from Taiwan, one showing a beach meeting a cliff, and one showing a cafe table

From left: Qingshui Cliff, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean; the Long Gone Café, at Qixingtan beach.Sean Marc Lee

Taiwan is self-governing and democratic, but only a handful of nations recognize it as a sovereign state.

Its like Big Sur, Alex commented, but without the mansions.

I had a hard time holding the facts in my head.

Pair of photos from Taiwan, one showing a communal table in a hotel lobby, and one showing an Asian hotel breakfast

From left: The lobby tearoom at the Liiko Hotel; rice noodle soup with squid for breakfast at the Gloria Manor hotel, in Kenting.Sean Marc Lee

They were being crowded out by the grandeur of the landscape looming around and above us.

The original earned itself the name Resignation Bridge soldiers ordered to cross its rickety ropes would often quit instead.

In the south of the island, we finally saw some horizontal lines in the landscape.

Red lanterns in front of a theater in Taiwan

Lanterns in front of the Shengping Theater, in the town of Jiufen.Sean Marc Lee

Located right inside the park, it was renovated in an elegant mid-century style.

She pressed something into my hand: one of the trees seeds, the size of an egg.

Maybe itll grow where you live, she said to me, smiling.

A luxury hotel pool in Taiwan

The pool at the Mandarin Oriental, Taipei.Sean Marc Lee

A needlefish, he said.

Theyre delicious you might get one back in town, barbecued.

We didnt have the heart to eat the sad-eyed needlefish.

Tourists on the Taroko Gorge Buluowan suspension bridge

The Taroko Gorge Buluowan suspension bridge.Sean Marc Lee

Ko Brunch:This cafe opened late in 2022 just outside Kenting National Park.

It serves excellent breakfasts in the local style.

Try the shredded scallion pancake with white pepper and salt, topped with an egg.

A woman walking in the water in Taiwan

Wading on the Hengchun Peninsula.Sean Marc Lee

Co-founder Kendra Tombolato(kendra@wildtaiwantravel.com) can organize a weeklong journey to Taiwans wild places.

A teahouse terrace overlooking the mountains in Taiwan

A teahouse in the mountains near Jiufen.Sean Marc Lee

Pair of photos from Taiwan, one showing an ice cream sandwich, and one showing a tree

From left: An ice cream roll with peanut brittle shavings and cilantro at Jiufen’s night market; a 400-year-old looking-glass tree in Kenting National Forest.Sean Marc Lee

Pair of photos from Taiwan, one showing swings at a bar, and one showing a mud hut in a forest

From left: The swinging chairs at the Wild Kids Bar, in Hengchun; a mud hut in Kenting National Forest.Sean Marc Lee

A black dog with a yellow collar

Nan Wan Xiao Bai, the house dog at Wild Kid Bar, in Hengchun.Sean Marc Lee