I’ve been working on a story about outdoors adventures near Taipei, one section of which focusses on mountain biking in the city. Most people don’t realize that Taipei is pretty outdoorsy city and has several mountains within the city limits. There is some great mountain biking in the Beitou District and Yangmingshan National Park.

Despite the fact that there are tons of mountain bikers and some of Taiwan’s most picturesque trails in the city, it was really hard to find any good information online. So, I wrote this post to help other people looking for information about mountain biking near Taipei with there research. Here’s a bit of what I learned and some of the resources that I found.

 The Best Mountain Biking is in Beitou

Beitou is Taipei’s northernmost district. It’s best known for its hotsprings, but also draws a lot of visitors with Yangmingshan National Park. This is one of Taipei’s most popular and scenic areas for mountain biking. If you want to go mountain biking near the city, you will almost certainly end up here.

The first website you’re likely to find when searching for mountain biking in Taiwan is that of the Formosan Fat Tire Association, which has some excellent information about the trails around Taipei. The website is, however, lacking some important details for potential mountain bikers, such as how to find the trails.

The most detailed blog that I found was Biking in Taiwan. The author (I couldn’t find his name anywhere) has several good posts about trails in Taipei, such as this one about the Wefenshan Weather Station and this one about his five favourite rides.

Taiwan in Cycles is another blog worth looking at, although I didn’t find much information about trails there.

Another good resource for information on biking in Taiwan is the website of my Internet buddy Daniel Carruthers, Bike Dan in Asia. He’s a road cyclist, so you won’t find much info about mouton biking there, but you aren’t likely to find anyone more knowledgable about cycling in Asia than Dan.

Another great resource is the Forumosa cycling forum. It’s probably the best place to find information in English about biking in Taipei, or anywhere in Taiwan for that matter.

I also came across a couple of videos of biking in the park here and here. They’ll give you a fair idea of what riding there looks like.

You Don’t Have to Mountain Bike to Enjoy Yangmingshan

Surprisingly, although I wasn’t able to find a lot of info about mountain biking in Beitou and Yangmingshan, I was able to a good Taipei Times article about road biking there. Yangmingshan is crisscrossed with small roads perfect for biking, so even if you don’t have a mountain bike,  you can still explore the park and even make it to the nicest spots, like the top of Datun Mountain, which is one of the highest roads in the greater Taipei area, and the lookout at Lengshuikeng, which is said to be amazing.

Bike Shops and Biking Tours in Taipei

Alan’s Mountain Bike is probably the best-known local shop with English service.

There is a huge list of Taipei bike shops on the Formosan Fat Tire website.

Grasshopper Adventures runs bicycle tours in Taiwan. I met these guys once randomly on the side of a rural road. They seemed super nice.

In Motion Asia is another well-known bicycle and adventure tour company with service in Taiwan.

I hope that this post helped you to find what you need to organize your trip to go biking in Taiwan.

If you have any useful info to add, please leave a comment and I’ll be sure to add it!

Lead image by Zach Dischner (The image is not from Yangmingshan. It’s only meant to get you pumped for some mountain biking).

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The Algarve

Location

Southern coast of Portugal

Climate/Geography

The Algarve has a subtropical Mediterranean climate, which means that it’s a pretty accommodating place all year round with highs of 25 °C in the winter, and 48 °C in the summer. The temperature rarely falls below zero in the winter, and  it barely ever rains there in the summer.

The Algarve consists of 5402 square kilometers of rolling hills, small mountains, lush valleys, and some of the finest beaches in Europe.  It stretches from the Targus Valley in the north to the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition to its beaches, its known for its islands, limestone caves, and 170 square kilometer Ria Formosa Lagoon nature preserve.

Closest Town/City/Village

The Algarve is a large region containing several cities, including: Faro, Albufeira, Lagoa, Lagos, Loulé, Olhão,Portimão, Quarteira, Silves, Tavira, and Vila Real de Santo António.

Description

The Algarve is one of the most beautiful places in Europe, and everybody knows it. The population of the area triples in the summer when it’s swarmed by 7 million foreign tourists, the majority of whom come from Britain, Ireland, Germany, and Holland. The upside of this is that English is common, making it easy for us English speakers to get around.

The geographic diversity and natural beauty of the Algarve make it an exceptional area for outdoor activities. Algarve beaches are some of the most beautiful in the world. For the surfers there are lots of beach (and a few point) breaks along the West and South coast that average 4-6 foot waves. Big wave lovers don’t despair. In the winter it can get up to 15 feet on a regular basis, and even up to 25 feet at Carrapateira once in a while.

April through September a northerly wind blows up through the Sera de Monchique making the Alvor Estuary (near Lagos) a brilliant spot for kitesurfing.  There is rock climbing of all difficulty levels all around the Algarve, especially along the coast and at Rocha da Pena. The diving here is among the best in the country, especially the caves at Sagres, and the snorkeling at Ponta da Piedade is said to be magical.  The hilly terrain and oceanside cliffs here make for mountain bike trails that are breathtaking for both their beauty and their beastliness.

Activities

• Surfing (3 – 25 foot waves depending on location and conditions)
• Kitesurfing (winds up to 25 knots)
• Wakeboarding
• Sea kayaking
• Snorkeling
• Sailing
• Dolphin and whale watching
• Scuba diving
• Climbing (novice – extreme)
• Mountain Biking (novice – extreme)
• Hiking

On a Budget?

• Budget rooms start around $20 USD per person for a dorm.  Private rooms will run a bit more. You can find more information about hostels in Portugal here. In Faro the cheaper places are the Low Cost Inn and the Faro Youth Hostel.
• Camping starts around $6 USD per person (but they may charge for your tent or car as well).
• Wine starts at about $1.50 USD per bottle in supermarkets. Awesome!
• Cheap meals can be found for around $7-8 USD (but, don’t forget, the supermarket is always an option).

Travel Insurance

I like to use World Nomads. It’s not too expensive and signing up is fast and straightforward. They also have pretty good coverage for sports equipment like surf and snowboards, but it varies depending on your country of origin, so be sure double check. You can get a free quote on their website.

Photos

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Photos courtesy of (in order) jernie, Falcon505, Sue Elias, eriwst, montuno, Flashpacking Life, and YXO on Flickr.

Suggested Reading

Click on an image for more information.

Map

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Algarve Vacations

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