As your train follows the North Link Railway along the coast, you will see high mountains on one side and azure seas on the other in an enchanting tableau of natural splendor. Along the way you will experience the changes of nature's handiwork. After the train rolls onto the Lanyang Plain your eyes will be filled with emerald-green rice fields and, in the distance, Turtle Island; once you pass through Su'ao the scenery racing by your window will change drastically, and majestic mountains and deep blue waters will immediately appear.

Hualien has a vast range of attractions, and here you can enjoy a multitude of tourist activities. Whether you want to savor the sights of lakes and mountains, abandon yourself to the allures of the sea, experience quaint indigenous cultures, or engage in bird- or whale-watching--or even loosen up in a relaxing hot-spring bath--you will find something in Hualien to satisfy you.

The tourist spots near Hualien include the East Coast National Scenic Area, East Rift Valley National Scenic Area, Taroko National Park, Swallows' Grottos, Cave of Nine Turns, Buluowan, Zhuilu Precipice, Tianxiang, and Liwu River Valley. Each of these spots has its own special features. The East Coast National Scenic Area, for example, has a precipitous sea-eroded topography, with steep mountainsides dropping sharply into the Pacific. The East Rift Valley National Scenic Area offers an infinite variety of farmland scenes, with fields of paddy rice, rape flowers, tea, and daylilies, as well as cattle farms; there are also gorges, waterfalls, winding streams, plunging rivers, deltas, fault lines, and other geological features. Taroko National Park is best known for its awesome marble-walled gorge, its rich diversity of mountain scenery, its many species of flora and fauna, and its old cultural sites.