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Taiwan Travel

Taiwan Day 4 – Taichung City Tour

January 4, 2016March 28, 2019

Taichung Itinerary: Xinfeng Farm, Ah Liang’s Mushroom Garden, Lavender Cottage, Princess Annie’s Garden, Summit Resort, Carton King Creativity Park, Fengjia Night Market

➡ Day 1: Singapore > Taipei | Xinbeitou Hot Spring, Shilin Night Market
➡ Day 2: Taipei > Kaohsiung | E-DA World
➡ Day 3: Kaohsiung | E-DA Theme Park > Taichung | Fengjia Market
➡ Day 4: Taichung City Tour

Day 4 of our trip was pretty stress-free because we’ve engaged a driver to bring us around. He’ll be with us for three days to tour Taichung, Cingjing and back to Taipei on the third day. We paid him NT$12,000 (~SG$515), and it’s going to save us a lot of travelling time and hassles from moving our luggage around.

☑ Now, you can easily book for a Private Sightseeing Car Charter (Central Taiwan) from Klook.

Our driver, Mr. Yang (his contact was listed on this post), picked us from our hotel at 9am sharp. He’s a very experienced and skillful driver (with more than 15 years of experience). He even prepared bottles of mineral water in his car for us, we were so touched by his kind gesture.

Most of our Taichung itinerary was suggested by him, except for Xinfeng Farm which I’ve specially requested. Reason – Edison wanted to try-out strawberry picking but unfortunately, it was summer – strawberries were no longer available. So, we planned to bring him to another fruit farm for some fruit picking opportunities. I chanced upon Xinfeng Farm from this website, so we thought of bringing him there.

Much to my surprise, Mr. Yang told us that he has never been there and he was kinda surprised that we asked to go there. He had to rely on his GPS to bring us there, and it was about an hour’s drive from La Vida Hotel that we stayed.

Xinfeng Farm  新峰農場

XinFeng Farm

Xinfeng Farm provides a wonderful setting for a genuine fruit picking experience that kids and adults will enjoy. For a city boy like Edison, he truly enjoyed himself here as he experienced grape picking for the first time.

Jufeng grapes (巨峰葡萄) grow here from June to August and from October to December. They have dark purple, thick and chewy skin, with a sweet and sour taste. We didn’t like eating the grapes because they’re sour, but we still bought back those that Edison picked.

XinFeng3

Admission to the farm is free. Visitors can purchase the fruits that they picked at a reasonable price. Tools for fruit picking will be provided. Apart from grapes, the farm also have peaches, tangerines, loquats and even oranges at different months.

Ah Liang’s Mushroom Garden  阿亮香菇園

Ah Liang's Mushroom Garden

This mushroom garden is located near Xinfeng Farm. To be honest, this place is quite boring so we left in less than half an hour. Perhaps a mushroom farm doesn’t look as interesting as a fruit farm because it’s dark and musty.

Over here, you can see how mushrooms are grown. There are a variety of mushrooms for both medicinal and culinary purposes, such as shitake, enokitake, oyster mushrooms, meaty king oyster mushrooms, and even lingzhi. Besides mushrooms, you can also purchase a variety of mushroom products here.

Ah Liang's Mushroom Garden“Mama, can we go now? This place is so boring!”

Admission is free.

Lavender Cottage  薰衣草森林

Lavender's Cottage

Among all the places that we’ve visited in Taichung, Lavender Cottage is the most beautiful, interesting and enjoyable. So, if you’re visiting Taichung, this is the place that I’d recommend.

The best way to introduce this place to you is to tell you the story of two young women. Many years ago, two coffee-loving and herb-loving young women enjoyed travelling around the world as they drew and record their feelings into music. Tired from working in the big cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung, they decided to quit their jobs and started their new life as farmers.

They bought a hill in the middle of nowhere that even mobile phone signal was hard to pick-up. And there, they experiment with growing lavender, and built their dream of a hillside coffee shop surrounded by lavender. After years of hard work, their dream was realized and Lavender Cottage was born.

Interesting and inspiring, isn’t it?

Lavender Cottage is one of the cosiest, most beautiful and relaxing little gardens you can find in Taichung. As we stepped into the garden, we were amazed by the beauty of the purple lavender and its delightful scent. The grass is so green and the cottage is very tastefully-decorated too.

Lavender's Cottage

You can find lavender products such as soap, bath powder, fragrance and lip gloss, as well as souvenirs such as postcards here. You need to pay admission fee, but it’s redeemable for food and drinks.

Carton King Creativity Park  紙箱王創意主題園區

Carton King Creativity Park

Carton King is very popular in Taiwan, and in fact, I’ve heard of it many times before I had a chance to visit this place. Carton King Creativity Park is a pretty little garden with adjoining restaurant, honey store and souvenir store. As its name suggests, cartons are the main “ingredient” here. It’s totally unbelievable that almost all the things here are made of cardboard – except the people and food, of course! In their restaurant, even the tables and chairs are made of cardboard.

Carton King Creativity Park

Creativity is simply unlimited here. There are more than a thousand products made of cardboard, from furniture to decorations, toys, animals, lighting, photo frame, bag and puzzles. There is really no places like this elsewhere in the world.

Admission fee applies.

Princess Annie’s Garden  安妮公主花園

This garden is somewhat similar to Lavender Cottage but on a much smaller scale. The garden restaurant provides ample seating varying from indoor to wooden pavilion and outdoor, with a wide variety of western cuisine, dessert and drinks. The garden has lovely decorations fit for a princess, but other than that, there is really nothing else to see here.

Admission fee applies.

Summit Resort 新社莊園

Summit Resort

Before we completely melted under the summer heat, we visited Summit Resort as our last destination before we head back to our hotel.

Summit Resort

Summit Resort

This European style castle is not left by European, but it was built by locals many years ago. It’s a beautiful and scenic place to take a stroll and pictures. The atmosphere is nice and relaxing. Best to go during winter, but certainly not summer as it’s very warm and sunny.

Summit Resort

Admission fee applies.

We returned to our hotel at around 6:30pm, took a shower and head to Fengjia Night Market for dinner. All in all, it was an enjoyable day in Taichung. Lavender Cottage and Carton King are an eye-opener that shows us the power of ideas and creativity.

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10 comments

OnlyJYJ May 23, 2016 at 3:16 PM

Thanks for sharing your itinerary! Just to ask, when did you visit Taichung? I’m planning a trip in Dec, and was wondering if the fruits farm and lavendar cottage are suitable to visit during that time of the year.

Reply
Emily May 23, 2016 at 10:51 PM

Hello,
I went in June. I believe Lavendar Cottage is suitable for visit at anytime of the year. As fruit picking is seasonal, it’s best to check with the farms prior to your visit.

Reply
Jenny August 11, 2016 at 5:34 PM

Hi Emily,
Did you move out from your hotel in Taichung to do a full day tour to the various attractions like Lavender Cottage, Carton King and farms? Do you still recall estimated stay at the Carton King and Lavender Cottage? I’m planning my itinerary but I have never been there before. Travelling with 2 kids aged 6 and 1
Thanks!

Reply
Emily August 11, 2016 at 10:02 PM

Hi Jenny,
We spent about 2 hours at Lavender Cottage and Carton King. For the farms, we spent less than an hour. I didn’t move out of the hotel in Taichung. We returned to the same hotel at night. Hope this helps. Enjoy your trip! 🙂

Reply
Jenny August 23, 2016 at 2:28 PM

Hi Emily,
thank you for your reply. I love the comments you mentioned in your travelogue, especially on the accommodation as they are very truthful and not all are in the very high end category and yet suitable for families to consider.

Reply
Emily August 24, 2016 at 5:23 PM

You’re welcome, Jenny. Glad you found this useful. Enjoy yr vacation! 🙂

Reply
Jeannie April 22, 2017 at 12:36 AM

Hi Emily
May I know which hotel did you stay in Taichung? Near fengjia market?
And can I have the taiwan driver contact nbr. Thks
Jeannie

Reply
Emily April 24, 2017 at 8:12 AM

Hi Jeannie,
In Taichung, we stayed at La Vida Hotel. It’s very near to Fengjia market (~3 mins walk), the hotel is clean and beautiful. I highly recommend it. The Taiwan driver that we engaged is Mr Yang – pls refer to the post below for his contact. Thanks.

http://ourlittlesmarties.com/2015/12/taiwan-free-and-easy-itinerary/

Reply
Lane June 13, 2018 at 10:38 AM

When you were in taichung for 3 days, did you provide hotel room for the driver?

Reply
Emily June 13, 2018 at 4:56 PM

Hi Lane,
No, I only informed the driver on the hotel name (not the room). He waited for us at the lobby.

Reply

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