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  1. hi,

    Thank you for your guide! I don’t have a travel experience to share yet, but I am hoping to visit the island next month, and wonder if you would know whether there are any public lockers on the island where I could store my valuables (such as a camera) when I go snorkeling independently (it would not be an issue if I were to join a group).

    1. Hi Terri, unfortunately I don’t know of any public lockers, but generally it’s pretty safe all around as it’s a small island and most areas don’t see a lot of human traffic. If you’re riding around on a scooter/e-scooter, many of these have storage areas in the seat where you could lock away any extra valuable items. If I remember correctly there might be lockers at the Hot Spring area but most likely these are open to guests only, I’m not sure if non-patrons can use them. Hope that helps a little!

  2. Hi! Seeing this post makes me reminisce of my trip to Lyudao in 2017. I took the ferry, which was super duper shakey – everyone on the boat puked. Haha my friends and I were quite shocked and a bit traumatized after. Luckily on the way back from Lyudao to the main island the wave and the turbulence weren’t as bad as the previous trip from main island to Lyudao! But it was indeed a memorable experience and the island was so beautiful!!!

    1. heh same here, on my first boat ride everyone was puking and it was pretty gross! i think it’s definitely improved since though… glad you had great memories! It is one of my favourite spots in Taiwan :)

  3. I’m on Lyudao right now (April/May 2021). The only ATM is in the Post Office and this is a cash-only economy. I’m guessing the lack of stable internet hinders credit/debit card use.

    When I made my B&B reservations I just wired them the payment from my bank account in Taipei.

    I spent three days SCUBA diving (10 dives: 8 boat dives and 2 shore dives). I brought all my own equipment and didn’t rent any. The cost for the 10 dives was NT$20,000. That seemed really expensive, but I was diving EANx and it was just me (the price per person drops the more people you have).

    My meals ranged from NT$300 for an all-you-can eat BBQ with 1 Taiwan beer to NT$1000 at a Western-style restaurant with 2 cocktails.

    I don’t have a scooter license but my B&B provided me with a electric scooter as part of my fees. Top speed was a whopping 23 km/hour! My wife and I rented a car for one day, and that was NT$2000.

    The cost for six nights at my B&B was NT$15,000. It was a really nice B&B – new building, very clean, and connected to the dive shop (literally had to walk THROUGH the dive shop to get to the B&B).

    A 3-hour guided island tour (one-on-one) was NT$1500.

    All in all I guess the entire trip was all together about NT$45,000.

  4. Hello! Thanks for your informative post. May I know if you know the best period to visit Green Island? I’m thinking of visiting in early Nov, thank you!

    1. I would say Summer would be the best time to visit Green Island because of the relatively dry weather and calmer seas – The weather is key for getting to/from the island – In bad weather the ferry ride is pretty pukey and ferries/planes get cancelled a lot, which typically happens around Typhoon season usually in July-September so you should miss it, but weather is pretty unpredictable these days… November will probably be cooler so maybe not the most suitable for water activities but walking around and hiking will probably be nice :)

  5. Hi I am in Green Island now (Oct 2018)
    not much update, your information still very relevant.
    I stayed in the same hotel, and clicked your link hopefully they tracked it somehow.
    The boat from Taitung was 8am ($460 one way) – ALL price mentioned here is in NTD, the hotel picked us up once we reached the jetty.
    Went around by electric scooter (still $600) that scooter can take 2 ppl and ride about 50km. Not too bad, enough to get us around the island once, did a very quick ride and only spent the most time at Little Great Wall. I didn’t see the Ox Head Hill coz it wasn’t that obvious lol.

    I went scuba dive, saw a few posts recommend A-Hsi and I contacted them through facebook: 綠島阿禧潛水俱樂部-過日子民宿 . They can speak a little English so you can just chat with them in English directly. I had a blast! I saw 4 green turtles (they said you were lucky to see 1, but I saw 4!!) They just built a new hotel, a little bit pricey for me but the diving package was one of the most worthed probably. It was $1250 for a dive and $600 for gears. As a comparison, the hotel where I stayed offers ‘recreational’ dive for $2500 and my roommate got hers for $4000 (2 dives). A-Hsi also has diving masks with power (myopia) so I don’t need to wear contact lens. The divemaster was amazing too, really recommend them.

    I ate one of the restaurants near 7-11. Yes they have 7-11 and other facilities. I love the food here, they have a lot of variety, if you come in a big group you can try a lot of delicious dishes, a typical chinese round table dinner, with deer meat (not from the wild deer in the island, thank goodness! looks like all food came from Taiwan mainland) sashimi, seafood, tuna, you name it! And if you travel solo, there are a few places selling food under $100

    I went for a night tour, saw 1-2 deer, those native insects and that’s it lol!! It wasn’t bad for $100 (purchased from the hotel) although I wish I can see more deer. You use your own scooter to go for this tour, but if you don’t rent scooter they will bring you on their scooter anyway.

    Overall it was nice, worth a visit. I got lucky cos the weather was sunny when I came, it was raining in the past few days and today it is raining as well. I spent a night here, in a dorm $720 , got last2 minute deals from b o o k i n g . c o m usually it is $800.
    Hope it helps! and thank you Jaclynn for your blog.

  6. Hi there – great post!

    I’ll be in Taiwan for a couple of weeks in December, and contemplating Lyudao. In particular the salt water springs catches my attention, though can’t help but notice a few negative comments about them on TripAdvisor (run down, temperature controls a bit off etc.). However latest comment was Dec-2016. Was your experience different? Maybe they improved?

    Thanks!

    1. Hi! Well I was last there in May 2016 so I’m not sure how they compare now, but most of my time was spent in the seaside pools and personally I found them pretty decent :)

  7. Hi Jaclyn !

    Loving your informative blog post on Lyudao! Just wanna check whether you know the policies of scooter rental has changed! As me and my Girlfriend are planning to head down there during May and we decide to use the scooter as it seems to be the most easiest form of transport. However a lot of websites and forums have mentioned that a license is required so we are rather perplex by the information.

    Cheers!

    1. A scooter that runs on petrol (like a typical motorbike) requires a proper international license, but an e-scooter than runs on battery (and max speed under 40kmh) doesn’t need a license at all. Lyudao is small enough that the e-scooter is sufficient :)

  8. Hi Jaclynn, awesome blog. My friend and I are going to Green Island or Orchid Island from Hong Kong for 3 days. Two questions:
    1. Did you scuba dive in Orchid? I am a very experienced diver, my friend is confident but less experienced. If you dived in Orchid, how does it compare to Green Island? And how was the diving in Green?
    2. If we do go to Green island only, we have spotted a pretty accomodation by white beach very close down south to the hot springs. Is it worth staying down south for two nights, considering that we will be diving during the day and using the hot springs (and will hire a scooter) or would it be better staying up north?
    Thanks so much!
    Merche

    1. Hi Merche,

      1. Yes I scuba dived in both Lanyu and Lyudao. Both involve lots of tropical fish and coral, in Lyudao I got to see the mushroom rock (before it fell over) and in Lanyu the water was a bit clearer when I was there. Lanyu dives are from the shore – you can read a bit more about it on my Lanyu post, but unfortunately I didn’t have underwater camera so I don’t have pix, but I was at ADEX and they said you can get some pretty interesting nudibranchs at Lyudao as well if you like macro stuff.

      2. Green Island is pretty small, so I personally think no matter where you stay, I don’t think it’ll matter too much given you’re renting a scooter as well! But white beach is pretty so maybe if you stay there, you might get pretty sunrises as well without having to go to the hot springs for that? :)

    1. ultimately depends on you, I’d recommend at least a night on Green Island and perhaps a bit longer for Orchid Island just taking into account it takes 3 hours to get there, but it really depends on how much you want to do and enjoy!

  9. Thanks so much for your quick reply, Jaclynn! We have some time, so we should be able to visit both islands (weather permitting) and perhaps explore Taitung. What other coastal towns would you recommend stopping in? I read your post on Taitung and your experience with Xiao Peng sounds incredible! Do you know if his guest house still exists and if so, do you have his contact info?

    Thanks again for sharing your adventures!

    Janice

    1. Heh wow that was back in 2007 so I’m not sure, but I did a bit of a search and it looks a lot like this one, https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-g304163-d3546174-Reviews-Liping_Organic_Tea_Farm_Homestay-Taitung_County.html – I don’t have contact details but at least you have an address to work off.

      Taitung City has a nice little town centre and railway market that’s pretty at night. The seashore park and the forest park are nice as well but BEWARE SANDFLIES. They call them xiaoheiwen, I got bitten like crazy all over my legs because I was in shorts. They’re little black insects and it doesn’t hurt when they bite you but the next morning (and 3 weeks after) you are itching like crazy. I suggest to cover up – the seashore park is really quite pretty if you just wanna cycle by, but definitely just be careful of sandflies.

      From Taitung I took a train to Chishang – that’s a pretty nice day trip: https://theoccasionaltraveller.com/taitung-chishang-cycling/

      There is also the SanXianTai in Chenggong or the 3 Immortals Bridge that I didn’t get to see but sounds really cool.

      I’d explore a bit of Lu Ye as well, the gaotai has a great view and paragliding there was pretty awesome :)

      1. Thank you again, Jaclynn! We’ll be sure to take your tips and we have our fingers crossed that the weather will be decent when we’re there so we can go out to explore the islands.

        Thanks again,

        Janice

  10. Hi! Thanks so much for your blog posts (on both Green Island and Orchid Island). My husband and I are hoping to visit Taiwan during the first week of March and have a few questions:
    1. In your opinion, what would be an optimal itinerary (i.e., would you spend any time in Taitung, or would you go first to Green Island, and then Orchid Island, or would you just do one?) How many days would you recommend staying at each place (we’re not divers, but we snorkel)?
    2. If you could only choose one island to visit, which one would it be and why?
    3. Do you recommend going during this time? Will the weather in March be cloudy, wet and/or cold?
    4. What are your recommendations for accommodations (would they be the ones you listed on your post, or have you heard of others -I think you mentioned a home stay on Orchid Island)?
    5. Would you recommend booking anything in advance, or just waiting till we get there since it’s not peak season?

    Thank you!

    1. Hi Janice thanks for reading! I’ll try and answer your questions as best as I can

      1. Taitung City itself is nice for a night or two, maybe to take break from the islands and being on a boat. Taitung County has some lovely sights to see so if you had time, I’d suggest either daytrips or staying in different towns along the coast. I’d say how long you want to stay there really depends on you, which is a terrible answer I know but it’s a pretty subjective thing. I’d say at least 2 nights for Green Island and at least 3 nights for Orchid Island because it takes longer to get there.

      2. Both Green Island and Orchid Island are quite different, so I’d definitely recommend visiting both if you have the time. If you’re short on time, Green island is easier to get to and smaller so it’s easier to navigate, but if you want somewhere wilder and the Yami culture experience, then take the time to go to Orchid Island.

      3. I honestly don’t know what the weather is like in March because I’ve never been there during that period, I’d probably be googling or maybe talking to guesthouse/activity owners and reading forum boards like you’re probably doing!

      4. I’d recommend the places in my post because that’s what I know and I had pretty good experiences, but everything else would be based off internet research like you :) The homestay was something I heard about when on the island so unfortunately I don’t have any contacts for you.

      5. This kinda depends on your propensity for certainty. I usually like to know my accommodation is booked in advance but mostly cause it makes me feel more secure about having a bed for the night and I don’t like the hassle of hunting for a room while toting around a giant backpack. I think if you’re not too picky about it and you have the time to explore and find a good bargain, there’s no need to book in advance.

      Hope that helps!

  11. Hi, how about ferry schedule in March? Would it be possible that it will be cancelled? Cause I’m thinking of booking an accom there.

  12. Hi there. I intend to travel to Lyudao in November. I understand it is their lull period. Is it hard to get around? I wish to snorkel there but not sure whether it will be safe as if it is a lull period, there may not be people willing to travel out and it will be expensive for me.

    1. Hi Matthew – I think most importantly you’ll need to check the weather, the challenge will probably be getting to the island because choppy seas/strong winds may mean delayed/cancelled ferry and flights. I think they run less ferry services during off-peak as well. Getting around the island is easy enough if you rent an electric scooter, but again because it’s an island and with snorkelling and beach stuff, the weather forecast is quite critical for you to have a nice time there!

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