The Lunar New Year Holiday will begin on Jan. 24. This year there will be up to nine days for camera-wielding tourists and their families to take either a long or short trip around the island.

Just like that newer arrival on the scene in Taiwan, the High Speed Railway, Alishan（阿里山） Mountain Railway is as much a tourist attraction as a practical method of transport.

Bizitou Botanical Garden (埤仔頭植物園) isn't the only botanical garden in Chiayi City (嘉義市). There's another in the city's sprawling and eponymous park, some kilometers to the southeast.

The Jiayou Bicycle Trail (嘉油鐵馬道) is a worthy addition to Taiwan's fast-growing network of bike paths and tourist cycling routes.

Ever since seeing it marked one day on a local map, Meishan Da Xiagu (梅山大峽谷), nestling in a secluded corner in the far north of Chiayi (嘉義) County, has been high on my list of places to visit, for the simple reason that the Chinese name means 'grand canyon,' a name which conjures up images of awe inspiring cliffs and plunging precipices.

Taiwan's mountains aren't just extremely scenic, they're also a great natural rain maker. Triggering rain-bearing clouds to drop their load as they blow in from the east and rise on updrafts caused by the mountains, residents of Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung have the Central Mountain Range partly to thank for the excellent, relatively dry climate they enjoy year-round.

Caoling Geopark is the kind of place that receives only the briefest of stops from most visitors, who pull into the car park, take a quick look at the destroyed hillside in front (now somewhat softened as Nature begins to reclaim the area), read the several short info boards nearby, and then leap back in the car in search of Caoling's more visually compelling attractions, of which there are a number.

Emerging from the long tunnel through which the main road to the mountain resort of Caoling (草嶺) in Yunlin County (雲林縣) passes, we brake sharply.

The second most-famous temple in Yunlin County's Beigang Township (雲林縣北港鎮) has the misfortune of being just a few hundred meters from one of South Taiwan's best known places of worship.

From the tropical coast to snow-covered peaks in one hour? A motorbike ride along the Provincial Highway 18 (PH18) from Chiayi (嘉義) City to Alishan Forest Recreation Area (阿里山森林遊樂區) shows the beauty of changing landscapes from sea breeze to chilly wind.