Maokong: The Taiwanese Tea Hills

Of all the countries* that I have been fortunate enough to visit, Taiwan is by far one of the most underrated… but more on that some other time. For now, I want to take you to the top of Maokong, to the rolling hills of Southern Taipei, where you can be one of few tourists to discover the magic of YaoYue Tea House as you sit on wooden terraces that protrude over the edge of a Taiwanese mountain.

The Maokong Gondola

Taiwan has an advanced subway system called the MRT and you can get a 3-day pass for 380 Taiwanese Dollars (which is just under 45 dirham or just over 11 euro); public transport in Taipei is cheap and extremely efficient. If you take the MRT to Taipei Zoo, exit and then walk for a couple of minutes, you’ll get to the Tapei Gondolas.

Surprisingly, if you head to the Maokong gondolas midweek (we went on a Monday afternoon), the station is empty, so you can jump straight onto a gondola. You can even opt for a glass-bottom gondola if you’re feeling fancy. After a scenic, 30-minute trip that offers panoramic city views, you’ll reach Maokong Station at the top. Say hello to the hill country – because you’ve now arrived in Taipei’s tea region.

YaoYue Tea House

The Taiwanese tea hills of Maokong are picturesque. Not only is tea grown in Maokong, but there are also a number of local tea houses dotted throughout the hills and valleys where you can enjoy a traditional tea experience… with an epic view. Take a left from Maokong Station and walk the winding roads for about half an hour; you’ll eventually reach a pathway that takes you to YaoYue Teahouse where you’ll find a labyrinth of walkways leading to the tea house’s hidden terraces and tables that descend into the valley below.

Sipping Taiwanese tea on a mountain-side terrace at Yao-Yue Tea House has to be one of the highlights of my trip to Taiwan. Not just because of the unbelievable scenery and the walk to find it, but because making Taiwanese tea is not dissimilar to a science experiment. You purchase your tea from a menu listing many varieties, then you’re given a number of items of equipment before following the steps in the menu that tell you how to make tea the Taiwanese way. The tea costs approximately 300 Taiwanese Dollars and the water costs 70. Once you have (eventually) made the tea, you just sit back and watch the world go by. It’s the kind of place you could sit for hours – and there’s absolutely nothing touristy about the way it is run; it’s a local tea house, so expect minimal English spoken.

Taiwanese sunsets & cityscapes

We headed back to Maokong Station to catch the gondola back down to the city just as the sun was going down. There is absolutely no traffic on the roads in Maokong; I think we passed about 4 people in total, so you can expect a peaceful walk to-and-from YaoYue Tea House if you visit midweek (apparently it is a popular escape for locals at the weekend so the gondolas can get busy). The sunset from the top of Maokong was magical and you can clearly see Taipei 101 rising from the streets in the distance, so if you’re looking for a sunset cityscape to unwind and soak up Taiwan, this is it.

I recommend heading up to Maokong just after lunch and then heading down during sunset – or just after – for a truly special skyline view.

*It was 58 countries at the time of writing, and – along with Namibia – Taiwan is definitely a country that will blow you away in the most unexpected of ways.