Been to Taipei a few times and always wanted to get that obligatory panoramic Taipei city skyline shot - finally did it on my 65th birthday 🎂 😄
Turns out it wasn't that hard and there's no real reason not to do it, if you have the time in Taipei - it takes about a couple of hours, definitely not more than half a day.
Just take the MRT to Xiangshan 象山 station on the Red Line. So convenient.
Get out at Exit 2 of Xiangshan station.
Exit 2 leads you directly to Elephant Hill Park.
@johorkaki Climbing Xiangshan or Elephant Hill 🐘 in Taipei on my 65th birthday
♬ original sound - Tony Boey
There is a map board showing where the four trails and lookouts are located. We chose Elephant Hill Trail and the Fireworks Lookout this time as it was the nearest to the MRT station. We shall come back in the future to walk the other Lion 獅山, Leopard 豹山, and Tiger 虎山 mountain trails.
Elephant Hill peaks at 600 feet which is about the same as Singapore's Bukit Timah hill at 537 feet.
The entrance to the Elephant Hill trail is to the right side of the map board, walk 10 minutes (700 metres) along the street to reach here.
Look out for street signages. Ask friendly locals for directions. Most do not speak English but say "Xiangshan" and they will point you in the right direction.
It is very difficult to lose your way 🤭
The start of Elephant Hill trail. You may see monks as Lingyun Temple is up on the slope of Elephant Hill.
The long stairs were well maintained but have a slightly intimidating incline for a newly minted 65er 🤭
Soon we came to a fork with clear signage - we took the route from here to Yongchun Pavilion, then to Fireworks Lookout, continue to Yixiantian, then turn back down via Mt. Xiangshan and Liu Ju Shi back to the start point at the bottom of the trail.
So yeah, take the stairs on the left of the signage.
@johorkaki Climbing Xiangshan or Elephant Hill 🐘 on my 65th birthday
♬ original sound - Tony Boey
It didn't take long before we reached the first view that stopped us in our tracks.
A glimpse of Taipei 101 tower through the lush leafy green canopy.
Continue on!
Even greater views are just ahead!
Lots of sneak previews as we climbed the stairs. So yeah, it's all stairs so just comfortable walking shoes will be fine for walking the Elephant Hill trail. (But, slippers and heels are not good ideas here.)
The Fireworks Lookout 🎆
The pride of Taipei.
Took more shots to make the climb worth more 🤭😄
After Fireworks Lookout, turned back to the bottom of the hill.
View on the way down.
Another lookout.
Looking west with airliners departing from Touyuan Airport. Yeah, that little speck on the left was an airplane.
The sunset going down behind Taipei 101 and the mountains should be a pretty sight.
Sunset view courtesy of Wikipedia.
Some of the sections going down were rather steep. So yeah, for us it was the right decision at the trail fork to go up via left and come down via right.
View of the concrete jungle on the way down.
A few steps to the bottom of the trail.
So here we are. Mission accomplished.
The whole walk took about an hour. We didn't stay for the sunset. Next time, we must!
There are also another three hiking trails for us to explore next time.
Major bucket list item checked 🤭
Not a difficult climb actually. I didn't even break much sweat partly because it was evening and the sky was cloudy.
After Elephant Hill we explored the backstreets of Taipei.
I always prefer backstreets than main street of any city on visits.
台北象山 🐘 Xiangshan Hiking Trail
Address: 110, Taiwan, Taipei City, Xinyi District
Nearest MRT: Doorstep of Xiangshan station (Red Line)
Written by Tony Boey on 22 Jun 2025
About Johor Kaki
yalor - must go when young so parents can pay for the trip
ReplyDeleteWell done 👏 👍 . Explore the other 3 beast hills in your next visit.
ReplyDeleteThe 南港/九五𡶶/拇指山 is not too be missed too 😅
U very good liao, can climb hill. I can’t even climb out of my bed. 😂
ReplyDeleteMany happy returns on your big day. Here to many more years of your writing
ReplyDeleteThank you for your wishes :-D
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