Pingxi Crags is probably my favourite hike in the Taipei region, and although it’s quite a short hike and it takes a while to get to Pingxi and back it’s well worth the effort. If you’re not good with heights you should probably give this one a miss, but if you enjoy scrambling up steep rocks this is a lot of fun.
Pingxi Old Street stretches down from the train station to the main road and has a bunch of cafes and food vendors:
From the pedestrian bridge at the bottom of Old Street turn right along the main road:
Walk past the Family Mart and bus stop, and on up the road for 5 minutes or so alongside the river:
When you reach this bit of the river on the right:
You’ll see this road turning off on the left:
Take that road and head up to the left:
The signs are for the peaks of Pingxi Crags.
Keep on up the road…
…until you reach the car park:
The hike described on this page is a loop round the peaks Xiaozi Shan, Cimu Feng, and Putuo Shan:
Head for Xiaozi Shan first:
This way:
When you get to this clearing:
…Xiaozi Shan is the rock wall up to your right. A combination of steep stone steps and a ladder with fixed hand rails gets you up to the top:
It’s steep. If you don’t like heights, you won’t like this!
View back over the town in the valley:
View of Cimu Peak up ahead:
You can head back down the same way, or take the path going round the other side from the base of the ladder. Either way, when you come back down to the clearing turn right past this sign:
Which brings you down to another clearing. From here you loop up round Cimu Feng and Putuo Shan and back to this clearing:
Follow the signs for Cimu Peak:
More stone steps, but not as steep:
As you climb again, nice views open up looking back towards Xiaozi Shan:
Cimu is higher than Xiaozi and has a bare summit unlike Putuo (which is covered by trees which block the views), so the top of Cimu gives you the widest view of the valley:
Looking across to Putuo Shan:
Note the crashed red lantern in the lower right of the frame. This is where the sky lanterns all go after being released in Pingxi and Shifen – they crash into the rivers and mountainsides, littering the forest with brightly-coloured trash carrying messages of world peace. A popular tourist activity which you should probably skip if you don’t like littering mountains.
Anyway, to get over to Putuo Shan, take the steep steps down to the right just past the Cimu summit:
And turn right when you reach the paved trail:
Follow the steps down:
…until you reach the start of the trail up Putuo Shan marked by these ribbons:
To be honest, Putuo Shan is totally skippable. The views at the top are mostly blocked, and you may have already had your fill of steep stone steps. So you can just keep going down the paved trail if you don’t fancy it.
If you do fancy one more, this dirt trail takes you round the base of the peak and then turns up another set of steep stone steps to the top:
There are a few religious statues at the top, but the views aren’t as good as the other peaks.
Once you’re done, head back down the same way to the paved trail and continue down to the clearing.
From the clearing, follow the sign for ‘start of trail / Putuo temple’ to get back down to the car park area and the road back to town.
In case you want to take the bus back to Taipei rather than the train, this bus stop on the main road near Family Mart (opposite side) has buses to Muzha where you can switch to the MRT brown line:
Another crashed lantern being fished from the river:
Shifen Waterfall and Shenkeng Old Street
Pingxi Crags is a fairly short but sweet hike but Pingxi takes a bit of effort to get to, so it makes sense to combine the hike with a couple of other spots. If you take the train to Pingxi, you can visit Shifen on the way. Take the TRA train from Taipei Main Station, Songshan Station, or Nangang Station, to Ruifang. At Ruifang you can transfer to the Pingxi Line which goes up the valley to Houtong (aka Cat Village), Shifen and Pingxi (Houtong is another cool little town, from where you can hike up and over to Jiufen see here)
Shifen Old Street is right along the railway track next to the station and is another good spot to stroll and snack, and a 15-minute walk (follow the signs from town) gets you out to Shifen Waterfall:
You pass Shifen visitor center on the way to the waterfall. There’s a bus stop there from where you can catch a bus to Pingxi instead of walking back to the railway. The train is nicer but the bus will save you time if it’s coming soon. Just make sure the driver knows you want to get off at Pingxi, it’s easy to miss the stops.
After finishing the hike, if you take the bus to Muzha you can stop at Shenkeng Old Street for dinner on the way back to Taipei. Again, it’s easy to miss the stops. Be alert for the Shenkeng stop (roughly an hour from Pingxi) and hit the buzzer. The old street is diagonally back across from where the bus drops you. It’s a much prettier old street than the more ramshackle ones in Shifen and Pingxi, and is known for stinky tofu. Not everyone can bring themselves to try it, but if you’re game for Taiwan’s famously stinky snack then Shenkeng Old Street is a good place to give it a go:
Stinky tofu restaurants and vendors line the street:
Any questions about Pingxi or Shifen? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.
Useful Links
Accommodation: search & book rooms in Taipei and rooms in Jiufen. Airbnb’s also a great option in Taiwan, if you’ve never used it before you can get a 30 dollar discount if you sign up with this link
For some more hikes in and around Taipei see here, and see my Taiwan overland travel guide here. Also check out my guides to hiking in Seoul, Tokyo, and Kyoto
Make sure you have a good insurance policy; World Nomads offer flexible travel insurance you can buy even if already overseas – most travel insurance companies won’t cover you if you’ve already left your country, and this can be a crucial point as I once found out the hard way in Thailand
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