Best Hot Springs in the World--Taiwan

Hot springs can be very relaxing with tremendous healing powers! My first hot springs experience was when I suffered a muscle injury. One of my doctors recommended me to go to Taiwan and use the hot spring treatments. With the hot spring treatments, I healed in only weeks, instead of months. In the recent years, I have also discovered that after a few days of hot springs, I seem to have grown more hair… of course I did not dare enough to count the ‘number of hair roots per square centimeter.” The ability of hot springs is definitely a miracle, perhaps the hair growing is just a pigment of my imagination, but the muscle healing and the relaxation is certainly worth a try.

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Of all the hot springs I have been to across the world, I especially enjoy the ones in Taiwan. Taiwan is a small island nation sitting east of China, south of Japan, and north of Philippines. It is certainly a great destination for vacation; lower cost than Japan, safer than Philippines, and cleaner and less frustrating than China. People are friendly, some speaks fluent English.

There are many hot spring resorts/towns within the 1 hour travel distance of Taipei, Taiwan’s capital city. The one I enjoys the most is in YiLan, a small city south east of Taipei, reachable by convenient long distance bus from center of Taipei, with travel time of about 45 minutes. Cost is only about US$3.00 per adult per trip. After getting off the long distance bus at the QiaoXi stop (first stop of this long distance bus), there will be many hot spring hotels in the area, many within 5 minutes of walking distance.

Hotels typically offers hot spring spas in individual rooms, confirm before you actually reserve your room. You can also request to see the rooms when you are there. But, for me, I prefer the hotels with public spa pools. Only a few hotels in the area have large pools with hot spring water. These hot spring pools typically have different zones, with different water massage functions. You can go from one massage that pours hot spring water on your back, to another that pumps out water to massage your back, to another that spews out hot spring water to massage your back, the selection is just amazing! Kids can also enjoy the hot spring pools, with water slide, play are, and stationary water guns, they can play for hours! Some hot spring pools also offer fish pools, just put your feet in and small fish will come nibbling at your feet, making your skin healthier and softer.

Cost of the hot spring pool is about US$3.00 to $8.00 per adult, and oh, bring your own sandwiches. Some pool areas may not have food vendors or restaurants. Without hotel stay, you can get one day of relaxation at a cost of less than US$15.00 per person including round trip fare.

Airfare to Taiwan can start around $600 round trip. Hotel stays is usually fairly well priced. If anyone is interested, I can post more details on the travel. This is certainly a perfect vacation for people with muscle injuries, back ache, muscle ache, and maybe even hair thinning victims such as myself! :)

Tips: The long distance bus I took is located across from the Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building (till January, 2010.) The bus stop is convenient, sitting just outside of the subway station. The bus departs every 15 to 20 minutes. Ticket can be purchased at the bus stops. Best time to enjoy hot springs in Taiwan is between late October to late April. Summer maybe a bit too hot!

Visa requirements: For US Citizens, no visa is required if your stay in Taiwan does not exceed 30 days, here is a travel guide including important links to United States Department of State and with some info you might need for your travels.

There are also other activities if you travel to this tropical country. Their National Museum is world famous! Night life in Taiwan is endless, I am beyond the bar age, :) but shopping the night market is certainly enjoyable for my kids and I. Shopping is great too, oh, before I forget, eye glasses costs about 1/3 of price compared to Costco, and with great quality and designer style, unlike Costco’s standardized stuffs. Definitely a way to off set the airfare to this country. Southern Taiwan, conveniently reachable via the Taiwan bullet-train is also filled with fun and excitement. But this is another day’s doodle.

--blackrhino