Things to Do at Lala Mountain Nature Reserve

Lala Mountain Nature Reserve spills across Taoyuan’s fringe like a half-finished watercolor. Even in summer, cool, damp air sticks to your skin, heavy with pine sap and the sweet rot of fallen cypress needles. Formosan blue magpies rip the hush with metallic shrieks while leaves rustle above the cloud line. Moss coats every surface at eye level, and when the canopy breaks, shafts of light turn spider silk into silver threads between branches. Inside the reserve, silence settles—not total, but the kind that rings in your ears when the wind drops. Trails wind through old-growth forest where Taiwan cypress have stood since the Qing dynasty; their trunks are so wide that three people still cannot link arms around them. Locals swear the forest photographs best when 9am fog rolls in, though you may find yourself hiking more by feel than sight.

From Taoyuan MRT station, board the 509 bus at bay 3—the green one with mountain decals. The 55-minute ride costs NT$45 and climbs through tea plantations that thicken into forest. Buses run every 30 minutes on weekends, hourly on weekdays. Drivers should take Provincial Highway 7 east; the parking lot fills by 9am on Saturdays, so arrive early or expect a long hike from roadside spots.