A Short Hike to the Famous Elephant Mountain in Taipei
Hi fellow Hivers and and Pinmapple peeps! How is it going? Yesterday I went to an impromptu short hike to the （象山） Elephant Mountain in Taipei. And I'd like to share you my experience and some of the pictures I took.
I live in Taipei and have hiked this mountain many times, exploring it in various ways such as traversing from one end to another, reaching the highest peak, and even visiting some old temples on the mountain.
This time, however, I didn't plan to hike; it just happened that I ran my weekend errands nearby and thought, 'Why not go for a quick hike before going home?'
象山 - Xiang Shan - Elephant Mountain
Arriving in the trailhead, you will be welcomed by this post telling Xiangshan is a 700m tall and can be finished in just 10 mins. Yes, 10 minutes. That is one reason why this is famous among tourists.
The entire trail is paved with stairs and is fairly wide, providing ample space for people going up and down. While I was hiking, I remembered my first visit here about 5 years ago when the trail was only wide and paved in some parts.
Here's a tip for when you're visiting Xiang Shan: bring mosquito repellent, bottled water, and wear a thin shirt. The trail is surrounded by trees, and since it rains quite often in Taipei, mosquitoes love to reproduce here. It's also very humid, so expect to sweat a lot.
Well this mountain is a real walk in the park. Even kids would enjoy visiting here.
In just 5 minutes I arrived at the first viewing platform. The view is already good! You can see the Taipei 101 and some buildings around it.
A 100 meters higher, I arrived at the second viewing platform. And I just realized, not most tourists comes this far. It is a pitty because the view from here gets better.
At this point I am sweating so hard and the rain started to pour. So I decides to end my hike here and just chill, enjoy the view and take some cool photos of Taipei 101. Which is the main reason why tourists love to visit this mountain, a perfect spot to get a clear view of the Taipei 101 and the landscape of Taipei itself.
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That was so fast!
I kinda expected to see more, you know when you reach the peak. But well, it’s only a side trip from running errands 😅
Taipei 101 looks really so cool over there. Wish I knew about this place from before so we could take nice photos of the iconic tower. Sa baba lang kami ng take photos eh hehe
It is fast, ikr? 🤣 But this mountain is long and connected to other mountains. If Elephant Mountain is too easy, you could go farther and you'll see more interesting hidden places like old houses.
Come back! I will show you around 😁
wow old houses?! that’s nice! i like that 😁
why is it making me feel uneasy? i think you’re going to make me hike a lot 🤣
Yes! Like this one in the picture. It is located somewhere in the middle of Elephant Mountain.
HAHAHAHA! I will just show you around. There is a good Izakaya nearby this place too!
The buildings have a strong foundation, there are no traces of earthquakes. Nice.
Yes! Taipei did not suffer much damage from the recent earthquake. I believe the buildings here were constructed to withstand strong earthquakes. In fact, Taipei 101 has its own damper to withstand earthquakes.
Nice, hope it will be applied here in the Philippines.
Taipe is nice.
Thank you 🙏🏻🙏🏻🫰🏻
Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2202.
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the last picture is just so stunning. I always see Taipei landscape from instagram pages and from your experience it looks like that took some effort to capture those cool pictures😁
Thank you! I only used my phone to capture it 😁