A great trail right above Shilin Night Market.
Most first-time tourists to Taiwan will likely visit Shilin Night Market, but most of them are missing out on this amazing view of it that's only 30 minutes away. Granted, I've taken people up here and they hated it, and the trail can be a little confusing, but I think if you see these pictures and the views you can have up here you might find it worth the hassle.
On the way up you'll pass a few raggidy houses and likely get confused as to whether you're headed in the right direction. But you know you're almost there when you hit a temple with a bunch of weightlifting equipment in front of it.
After passing through the Zen Gym you'll reach a balcony with a view like this...
There's another lookout on the other side of the mountain as well. If you go back on the trail you'll eventually make it to a clearing that shows SongShan Airport. Lots of photographers go there with their telephoto lenses to do plane spotting. However I've never seemed to get anything decent there. But then again, I don't have a telephoto lens...
Instead I would much prefer to go and visit JianTan Underpass, which is a really cool place that's pretty famous all over Instagram. If you check out the post it's pretty easy to see why.
📍 Address: No. 3, Alley 1, Lane 1, Section 4, Zhongshan North Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, 10491.