Chiayi in southwest Taiwan is the gateway to Alishan and a captivating city in its own right.
Nestled between Tainan and Taichung, whilst Chiayi may not be as well visited by tourists, it has some awesome attractions and a fine food scene (famous for its chicken / turkey and rice).
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Known as the ‘hometown’ of Taiwan Baseball, there are things to do in Chiayi day and night, including evening street-eats at Wenhua Road Night Market.
From Hinoki Village to cultural parks (plus the starting point of Alishan Forest Railways), here is our Taiwan Chiayi itinerary and things to do in Chiayi.
You might like – Our Alishan Itinerary: how to spend 2 to 3 days in Alishan >
Taiwan checklist
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For booking tours, transfers and SIM cards/eSIMs we recommend Get Your Guide, Viator, KK Day or Klook. You can also purchase eSIMs from Airalo.
For booking rental cars visit Discover Cars.
How to get to Chiayi
Chiayi in southwest Taiwan has two main train stations – Chiayi Station (for local / TRA trains) and Chiayi High Speed Railway Station.
Note the HSR station is a little way away from downtown and most of the central Chiayi accommodation.
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From Taipei to Chiayi, the High Speed Railway train from Taipei Main Station takes around 1 hour 27 minutes (5 stops), whilst the local ‘Tze-Chiang Limited Express’ from Taipei takes around 3 hours 30 minutes.
Chiayi is also easily accessible by train from Kaohsiung, Tainan and Taichung.
Chiayi to Alishan
If you are visiting Chiayi to go to Alishan (like we did), you can get an Alishan bus / tourist shuttle (from either outside Chiayi Station or Chiayi HSR station).
The trip from Chiayi to Alishan can be done in several ways but perhaps the easiest and cheapest is to take the Alishan shuttle bus. We did this exact trip in February 2025 – check out our guide to riding on the bus and booking tickets here >
You can also take the famous Alishan Forest Railway from Chiayi Station to Alishan here BUT it books out weeks in advance and within seconds of going on sale – but you can keep checking the website for any unsold returned tickets.
Note the Chiayi to Alishan bus is cheaper, shorter in duration plus there are several departures a day – you can also use your EasyCard to just jump aboard on quieter days.
Or try this Chiayi to Alishan group tour with Klook or Chiayi car hire.
Chiayi Accommodation
If you are heading to Chiayi solely to visit Alishan Forest, you might want to stay in a hotel nearby the train station.
Some of our recommended Chiayi hotels and accommodation include:
Budget-Mid Range
Sunrise Hotel
We stayed here the night before we took the bus to Alishan. The rooms are simple but stylish, and is located a short walk away from the train/bus station. Check rates and availability on booking.com | agoda.com | expedia.com | hotels.com
Mid Range – Luxury
Holiday Inn Express Chiayi
Highly rated international chain hotel located behind the train station, offering a complimentary buffet breakfast. Check rates and availability on booking.com | agoda.com | expedia.com | hotels.com
Or try glamping in Chiayi in a colourful caravan >
Chiayi things to do
Hinoki Village 檜意森活村
Chiayi’s best known cultural village, Hinoki Village (sometimes referred to Cypress Forest Life Village) dates back to the 1910s, when it was built during Japanese rule to house workers constructing the Alishan Forest Railway line.
With around 30 buildings now converted to shops, cafes and workshops, it is one of the biggest surviving Japanese style villages left in Taiwan.
After WWII, the village housed forestry workers until it was designated a listed site and converted into a cultural park around 10 years ago.
There are lots of installations and sculptures around this site, plus a koi carp pond – there is also a section where you can buy a wishing amulet, write your message and tie it up on a ‘blessing’ wall. Or hire and dress up in traditional japanese wear with this Hinoki Village Kimono rental experience >
This is a good place for Taiwan souvenir shopping in Chiayi although most of the cafes and businesses close around 6pm – so you are better going to Wenhua Night Market if you are exploring Chiayi at night.
Try this – Chiayi day trips and Alishan tours with Klook >
Wenhua Road Night Market
Chiayi’s most famous night market, the Wenhua Road Night Market opens daily from mid afternoon until around 11pm – taking place along a main road, this is as popular with pedestrians as it is with moped drivers.
From bao buns to fried chicken, sugar cane drinks to stinky tofu, you won’t go hungry at Wenhua Road Night Market. Food is inexpensive but if you want to sit down, head to one of the restaurants along the strip.
As well as food, there are lots of the usual Taiwan night market activities like children’s games, retro pinball arcades plus a few gachapon shops and tech / clothing shops.
You might like – Our guide to Taiwan’s best night markets >
Kano Baseball Statue in Chiayi
So iconic is this statue, it is on the front of the current Chiayi Tourist brochure.
Referred to as the ‘hometown’ of Taiwan baseball, the area’s ‘Kano Baseball Team, consisting of Taiwanese, indigenous and Japanese players won a historic game against the odds in the 1930s against a much more established and professional team.
They went on to become the first team in the south to win the Taiwan baseball championship – after winning, the Kano Baseball team took part in a famous victory parade from Chiayi station to the fountain you see today, marked by this amazing statue.
You might like – Our first timers guide to Taiwan >
Chiayi Cultural & Creative Industries Park
Taiwan is famous for its cultural parks and there are some really good ones like Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei or Blueprint Cultural and Creative Park in Tainan.
However, if we are being honest, we aren’t sure about Chiayi’s Cultural Park as we visited on a weekday afternoon and there was literally one cafe open and no-one else there (well, apart from some kids practising dance moves).
We’ve included it in our Chiayi things to do guide as there is some nice street art plus we believe there are festivals and pop-up events held here at the weekends in summer – so maybe we just visited at the wrong time.
Close to Chiayi Station, this used to be an old distillery / brewery and the first in Taiwan to produce Kaoliang liquor made from sorghum grain.
You might like – 20+ Instagrammable and most colourful Taiwan locations >
Chiayi Temples
Chiayi has lots of temples to visit, the most famous of which is City God Temple / Cheng Huang Temple, which is close to Wenhua Road Night Market.
Dating back to the early 18th century, it is one of the oldest temples in southern Taiwan and very popular with couples or those looking for love.
We visited Jiuhua Mountain Temple quite by chance – we were wandering around Chiayi’s backstreets looking for something to eat and stumbled across this huge red temple with several storeys. This is the main place of worship is Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, a Buddhist teacher and monk.
From the upper floors, you can see across Chiayi and on a clear day, look out towards the mountains.
You might like – Things to do in Tainan, Taiwan >
Chiayi Park
The area’s oldest recreation ground,some of Chiayi Park’s trees are over 400 years but it became a farm around 100 years ago and then a park.
As well as being home to Chiayi Tower, Chiayi Botanical Garden and the Chiayi Relic Museum, the Chiayi City Municipal Baseball Stadium can be found nearby.
The park contains lots of relics and structures including old steam trains and old Japanese style wooden buildings – a little more modern is the Chiayi Tower, which has an observation deck at the top.
You might like – Things to do in Taichung, Taiwan >
Food in Chiayi
As we only had limited time in Chiayi, we actually only ate food at the Wenhua Road Night Market, a Taiwanese breakfast joint plus a couple of Japanese Taiwan chain restaurants near our ‘Chiayi Sunrise’ hotel, Marugame and Sushiro (we know, we know – we will do better next time and stay longer)!
The local Taiwanese breakfast place in Chiayi we really enjoyed was called Hongmaozi Breakfast Restaurant 紅帽子早餐店 and can be found here on Google Maps >
We loved it because the staff were as amazing as their breakfast pancakes – we ordered several pancake and biscuit items off the menu and the food was tasty and inexpensive.
Taiwanese chicken rice originated in Chiayi so you’ll see many popular chicken rice / turkey rice stalls dotted around the city. Turkey rice was introduced to feed the US Troops stationed here many decades ago.
Also, Chiayi’s Smart Fish restaurant featured on Netflix’s Street Food Asia, known for its sublime fish head stew served with vegetables and tofu. If you like Netflix food docs, check out our guide to the time Somebody Feed Phil filmed / ate in Taipei and Keelung >
You might like – Taiwanderers food and drink guides or our monthly Taiwan event guides
Meteor Garden Tour
In our Taiwan Travel Tips (TTT) Facebook group, one of the most common reasons to visit Chiayi is to follow in the footsteps of the famous Meteor Garden TV series, starring Barbie Hsu as Dong (who sadly passed away in 2025).
The fictional “Ying De University” from the iconic Taiwan drama was filmed at National Chung Cheng University in Chiayi – relive those finest ‘F4’ moments.
Check out this Meteor Garden sightseeing tour from Taipei >
Chiayi Park
The area’s oldest recreation ground,some of Chiayi Park’s trees are over 400 years but it became a farm around 100 years ago and then a park.
As well as being home to Chiayi Tower, Chiayi Botanical Garden and the Chiayi Relic Museum, the Chiayi City Municipal Baseball Stadium can be found nearby.
The park contains lots of relics and structures including old steam trains and old Japanese style wooden buildings – a little more modern is the Chiayi Tower, which has an observation deck at the top.
The Taiwan Baseball season in Chiayi usually runs from March to October with 8 of the 2025 major league games played at Chiayi baseball stadium.
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