Lisong Hot Springs nestled in the mountains

They are the highest hot springs on the eastern portion of the Southern Cross-Island Highway (南橫公路), and they are certainly the most beautiful hot springs that this writer have ever been to.

While most hot springs aficionados have heard of Lisong — sometimes called Motian Hot Springs (摩天溫泉) — many have not. Although travel times (a maximum of two hours walking) are short, it is deceptively remote. It is not an easy walk, but one well worth the effort.

From K169 on the Southern Cross-Island Highway, near the small village of Motian, there’s a rough 2.5-kilometer road that ends in a cabbage farm where there’s room for three or four cars to park. A parking fee of NT$200 may be required if the landowner is around.

A mountain permit is theoretically required, but of the three times I’ve been there, I’ve only seen other people on the trail once, and that was on a major holiday.

Walking from the highway to the trailhead takes about 50 minutes and no parking fee has to be paid. Walk straight through the cabbage field to find the trailhead. The trail, in typical Taiwan fashion, is very steep. It plunges relentlessly from about 1,300 meters at the trailhead, down through verdant old growth forest to about 1,050 meters where it hits the river.

It’s said that the clear hot spring water is especially therapeutic for women and for sore joints — perfect for the end of this grinding downhill hike! The hot springs are a little upriver from where the path hits the river.

From the trailhead an hour is plenty of time to get to the river and another 10 minutes upriver will see you at the hot springs. The last ten minutes will take you across the river twice and have you scrambling along the cliff walls of the gorge. During the wet season I think it would be very difficult to get to the hot springs, and certainly inadvisable. The walk back up takes longer than the walk down, but you’ll have time to enjoy the numerous wild orchids, pines and walnut trees that grow along the path.

The hot mineral water cascading down the richly colored east face of the gorge, and the steam rising back up to the leafy trees that cling to the cliffs high above the river, make these hot springs especially beautiful.

The walls are encrusted with bright green and white crystallized minerals, but there are also oranges, yellows, and browns. The 45-65 degree Celsius pools are formed by river rocks that hold the water in shallow sandy pools. The river beside the hot springs is at least four meters deep in places and surrounded by sheer cliffs, perfect for cooling off in after a long soak in the hot springs.

There’s food and lodging in the nearby villages of Lidao (利稻) and Motian. Buses between Taidong and Lidao stop at Motian.

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