Qualla: Nanao (Taiwan)

Nanao (Taiwan): Introduction

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Taiwankengo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Provincial Highway 9 runs along the coast of southeastern Yilan County with the Pacific on one side and sheer cliffs on the other, and at roughly the 130-kilometer mark it reaches Nan'ao. The township occupies the largest area in Yilan County — 740 square kilometers — while holding one of its smallest populations. This arithmetic of space and people is what Nan'ao is: an enormous landscape, thin on tourists, thick on geography. The mountains here drop to the ocean within a few kilometers. Rivers carry meltwater down from peaks above 2,000 meters into gorges cut through grey marble. The Atayal people have lived in these valleys for generations, and their presence shapes everything about what Nan'ao is today.

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Image: Taiwankengo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nanao (Taiwan): Atayal Country

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Taiwankengo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Nan'ao is designated a mountain indigenous township, and the Atayal are its primary community. Two Atayal dialects are spoken here: Ts'oli' in the villages of Nan'ao, Bihou, Jinyue, and Wuta, and Squliq elsewhere. The foundational concept of Atayal life is gaga — an untranslated ...

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Image: Taiwankengo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nanao (Taiwan): The Hot Springs

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User:KasugaHuang, CC BY 2.5. Four hot spring sources run along Nan'ao Creek, fed by geothermal activity deep in the mountain rock. Two are accessible by road following the first several kilometers of the river gorge; the other two require significant effort. Bihou Hot Spring is the closer and more visited. L...

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Image: User:KasugaHuang | CC BY 2.5

Nanao (Taiwan): Aohua Falls and the Mystery Beach

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pipi, CC BY-SA 3.0. In Aohua Village, near the Yilan-Hualien county border, the Aohua Waterfall drops 47 meters in a single vertical plunge into a deep pool. The approach is a ten-minute walk along a 300-meter paved path lined with Jiuxiong trees. The pool at the base is deep enough for swimming and...

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Image: Pipi | CC BY-SA 3.0

Nanao (Taiwan): Cueifong Lake and Quiet

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rybloo, CC BY-SA 3.0. At an elevation of 1,900 meters in the mountains above Nan'ao sits Cueifong Lake — Taiwan's largest alpine lake, normally covering approximately 20 hectares. In July 2022, it became the world's first designated Quiet Trail and Sound Sanctuary, an international recognition of its ...

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Image: Rybloo | CC BY-SA 3.0

Nanao (Taiwan): Getting There and the Road That Made It

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0. The North-Link Line of the Taiwan Railways Administration opened February 1, 1980, connecting Yilan County's coast to the network. It is an engineering record: 91 tunnels and 16 bridges through terrain that resisted every easier solution. Stations in Nan'ao Township include Dong'...

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Image: Bernard Gagnon | CC BY-SA 3.0