Sanxiantai: Sea Arches and Coastal Geology on Taiwan’s East Coast

The road south from Hualien runs close to the Pacific for most of the morning, and then the coastline opens into something stranger: a low headland, a scattering of huge rocks offshore, and an eight-arched footbridge curving out across the water like the spine of some sea creature. This is Sanxiantai, the “Platform of the Three Immortals,” on Taiwan’s rugged east coast. It is one of the quieter stops on the Taiwan Lantern Festival small group tour, a pause between the mountains of Hualien and the hot springs of Chihpen, and one of the clearest places on the whole itinerary to watch geology, myth and tide working on the same stretch of shore.

A Bridge Shaped Like a Dragon

The footbridge is the reason most travellers stop here. Built in 1987 and rebuilt after a period of earthquake damage, it runs roughly 400 metres out from the headland in eight arches, each one rising and falling so that the whole structure reads, from a distance, as a dragon undulating across the water. It connects the coast of Chenggong Township, in Taitung County, to Sanxiantai Island itself — not really an island any more in the strict sense, since it was a headland until the neck of land joining it to the mainland eroded away, but treated as one ever since, and now reachable only by the bridge.

How much walking does the Sanxiantai stop involve?

Expect a level bridge crossing followed by uneven, unpaved walking on the island itself. The bridge deck rises and falls gently over each of its eight arches, and the paths beyond it cross volcanic rock, coral outcrops and short flights of steps to the lookout points. It sits comfortably within the tour’s Level 2 – Moderate rating, which asks travellers to manage stairs and up to 8 kilometres of walking on uneven ground across a touring day.

Two Names for One Place

The place carries two separate stories, and neither cancels the other out. In Amis tradition — the Indigenous people of Taiwan’s east coast, who call the site nuwalian — a sea dragon is said to have made its home in these waters, and the rocks and channels are read as traces of that presence. The Han Chinese name, Sanxiantai, comes from a different tradition: three of the Eight Immortals of Taoist legend are said to have rested here on a long journey along the coast, leaving three enormous rocks as the mark of their visit. Both readings sit over the same landscape, which is not unusual on this coast — Indigenous and Han place-stories layer over each other rather than replacing one another, and Sanxiantai is a clear example of it.

Coral, Volcanic Rock and a Coastline Still Being Carved

Sanxiantai’s geology is what gives the legends their setting. The island is built from a mix of coral and volcanic rock, and centuries of wind and wave have worked that rock into potholes, sea caves, trenches and undercut ledges — the kind of texture that makes the short walking circuit around the island worth the time. A scattering of coastal plants that tolerate salt spray and thin soil grows in the pockets between the rock, distinct from the vegetation just a few hundred metres inland. None of this is static: this is an actively eroding coast, and the shapes visible today are not the shapes that will be visible in a generation.

Is the footbridge reliably open?

Mostly, but not always, and it’s worth knowing why. The bridge was closed for over a year after earthquake damage in late 2022, reopening to the public in February 2024 once engineers had confirmed the structure was sound. Even on ordinary days, the East Coast National Scenic Area authority will close it temporarily in high wind, using the Beaufort scale as its threshold, since the crossing is fully exposed to the Pacific. An escorted small group tour builds in the flexibility to adjust the day’s plan around conditions like these; an independent traveller arriving on a windy afternoon may simply find the gates shut.

From Hualien to Chihpen: Where Sanxiantai Fits the Day

On the tour, Sanxiantai is one stop on a full day along Highway 11, the coast road between Hualien and Chihpen. The group pauses here mid-morning, then continues a short distance further south to Baxian Cave, where sea-eroded limestone caverns sit permanently wrapped in drifting mist and carry their own layer of religious meaning, this time tied to eight Chinese deities rather than three. By late afternoon the coach arrives in Chihpen, known for its hot springs, where the evening is left free to rest before dinner at the hotel.

Do we visit Baxian Cave on the same day?

Yes. It follows Sanxiantai directly in the day’s itinerary, a short drive further down the coast near Changbin Township. Where Sanxiantai’s landscape is read through the Eight Immortals and a sea dragon, Baxian Cave carries the memory of eight different deities, and the perpetual coastal fog around the cave mouths gives it a very different mood to Sanxiantai’s open headland and bridge.

One Coastline Among Several

Sanxiantai is not the only place on this tour where Taiwan’s landscape has been shaped by geology and then read through legend or history. Two days earlier, on the drive north of Hualien, the group passes Qingshui Cliff, where marble mountains drop almost straight into the sea. Earlier again, on Day 2, the itinerary visits the former gold-mining settlements of Jiufen and Jinguashi, where it is human industry rather than wind and wave that has shaped the hillside. Seen together across the full itinerary, these stops build a picture of an island whose coast is still being written, by geology in some places and by people in others.

What happens after the Sanxiantai stop?

The coach continues south to Chihpen for the night, arriving in the late afternoon. Chihpen is known for its hot springs, and the evening is left unstructured — time to soak, rest, or simply sit with the day’s walking behind you, before a included dinner at the hotel. It is one of the more restful overnight stops on the tour, positioned deliberately after a day that involves more walking than most.

Is Sanxiantai suitable for travellers with mobility concerns?

It asks more of the legs than many stops on the tour: stairs on the bridge’s arches, uneven volcanic rock on the island, and no shade for most of the crossing. Anyone who manages the tour’s general Level 2 – Moderate pace comfortably should be fine here, but if stairs or uneven ground are a particular concern, it’s worth raising with a Tour Specialist ahead of booking, so they can talk through what the day actually involves and how the bridge and island paths compare with other stops on the itinerary.

Watching the Pacific Meet the Rock

What stays with most travellers is not any single fact about Sanxiantai but the combination: the dragon-shaped bridge underfoot, three immense rocks holding a story about immortals resting mid-journey, and a coastline that is visibly, audibly being taken apart by the sea one wave at a time. It rewards slow attention more than a checklist of sights. Standing partway across the bridge, with Chenggong’s fishing boats visible to the south and the open Pacific stretching east with nothing between you and the horizon, it is easy to understand why two very different cultures each felt the need to explain this particular stretch of coast with a story about something more than rock and water.

Sanxiantai is a brief stop in an 11-day journey, but it sets the tone for the days that follow along Taiwan’s east coast — a landscape that keeps offering these small, well-earned pauses between the larger set pieces of temples, museums and lantern-lit nights. For travellers drawn to places where geology, legend and a good story about a bridge all meet in one spot, it is a quiet highlight of the route south to Chihpen.