Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan: A Visitor’s Guide

High in the forested hills of central Taiwan, a long green lake curls around a tiny wooded island. Sun Moon Lake is the largest lake in Taiwan, and for more than a century it has been the island’s favourite retreat from the heat and bustle of the western plains. It is also three places at once: the ancestral homeland of the Thao, one of Taiwan’s smallest Indigenous peoples; a reservoir reshaped by one of the great hydropower schemes of the colonial era; and a lakeshore of temples and memorials, most of them built or rebuilt in the decades after the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan in 1949. This guide explains how to read the lake, what to see around its shores and what a visit involves on foot. On Days 8 and 9 of our Taiwan Lantern Festival small group tour, the group spends time at Sun Moon Lake, with temples, a tea factory and a private motorboat ride on the water.

Where is Sun Moon Lake, and how did it get its name?

Sun Moon Lake lies in Yuchi Township, Nantou County, close to the geographical centre of Taiwan, at a surface elevation of roughly 745 to 748 metres. It sits within the Puli group of basins, a cluster of old lake beds among the foothills of the Central Mountain Range. According to the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area, which manages the area for Taiwan’s Tourism Administration, Lalu Island divides the water into two parts: one rounded like the sun, the other curved like a crescent moon. Hence the name.

The scenery is the reason people come. Wooded ridges rise steeply on every side, the water is a clear jade green, and in the early morning a thin haze often lies across the surface until the sun burns it off. The National Scenic Area likens the misty views to a Chinese landscape painting, and the lake has been one of the island’s classic sights since the early twentieth century, when push-car railways first made it reachable from the west coast.

The Thao people and Lalu Island

Long before the hydropower engineers and the temple builders arrived, Sun Moon Lake was the home of the Thao. Their oral tradition tells of hunters who chased a great white deer over the mountains for days until it plunged into a lake full of fish. Finding the water good and the land rich, they returned for their families and settled on its shores. The deer, along with the owl, remains a sacred animal to the Thao, and you will see both carved in wood in the lakeside shops.

The Thao are a small people: numbering fewer than a thousand, they are among the smallest of Taiwan’s officially recognised Indigenous peoples. For much of the twentieth century they were classified with the Tsou, and they became Taiwan’s tenth officially recognised Indigenous people only in 2001. The main Thao community on the lake’s south-eastern shore, once called Dehua, then took the name Ita Thao, from a phrase in the Thao language meaning “we are people”. It is a living community, not a museum. Thao families still hold ceremonies for their ancestors and for the harvest, and the National Scenic Area asks visitors who wish to attend one to contact the Thao Tribe Cultural Development Association first and to follow the community’s rules. The best-known Thao performance is pestle music, the ringing rhythm of wooden pestles striking stone, which is traditionally heard as the prelude to the Thao new year.

The small island at the centre of the lake is Lalu, which the Thao regard as the home of their ancestral spirits. It has had several names. Under Japanese rule and then the Nationalist government it was renamed more than once, latterly as Guanghua Island. After the great earthquake of 21 September 1999, which damaged much of the area, the Nantou County Government restored the name Lalu out of respect for the Thao, and in 2000 the National Scenic Area marked it as the Thao’s ancestral-spirit island. Jiadong trees, regarded as the dwelling place of the Thao’s highest-ranking ancestral spirit, were planted there. Lalu is best appreciated from the water: visitors are not permitted to land on it, so treat it as a sacred place rather than a viewpoint.

A lake reshaped by hydropower

The lake you see today is larger than the one the Thao first knew. Under Japanese colonial rule, the newly founded Taiwan Power Company began the Sun Moon Lake Hydropower Project in 1919. Work stalled for lack of money, resumed in 1931 and was completed in 1934. Engineers dammed the upper Zhuoshui River, Taiwan’s longest river, and carried its water through about 15 kilometres of tunnels and channels into the lake, then sent it plunging down to a power station in the valley below. When it opened, the First Power Plant was the largest in Asia.

Two lakeside dams raised the water by more than 18 metres. The National Scenic Area’s figures show the surface growing from about 4.55 square kilometres to roughly 1.7 times that size, and storage capacity rising many times over. The rising water forced the removal of lakeside temples and left Lalu, once a larger island where people lived, as the small islet visible today. Sun Moon Lake is still a working reservoir, managed by the Taiwan Power Company and now part of a large pumped-storage system, which is why, at the time of writing, swimming is not permitted except at special organised events such as the annual swimming carnival.

Temples around the lake

After the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan in 1949, Sun Moon Lake became one of Chiang Kai-shek’s favourite places, and several of its best-known landmarks date from those decades. The lakeside temples are active places of worship, so visit them as you would a church: quietly, without blocking worshippers, and with a little patience for anyone praying.

Wenwu Temple stands on the northern shore. Its origins lie in two older temples that were moved when the hydropower dams raised the water, and the present building, rebuilt in 1969, is in the palace style of northern China, with three halls climbing the hillside. The front hall honours Kaiji, the First Ancestor, and the God of Literature; the central hall honours Guan Gong and the general Yue Fei; the rear hall is dedicated to Confucius. The official guide notes that this is the only Confucius temple in Taiwan that keeps its central door open, and the only one with a statue of the sage. Two large vermilion lions guard the forecourt, and students often leave copies of their exam admission slips on the altar in hope of good results.

Below the temple, the old pilgrim stairway from the pier has been restored as the Year of Steps: 366 steps over about 150 metres, one for each day of a leap year. It is steep, and few visitors need to climb it now that the road reaches the temple directly.

Further around the shore, two Buddhist temples share one story. Xuanzang Temple, completed in 1965 in the style of the Tang dynasty, enshrines what devotees venerate as a relic of the monk Xuanzang, whose seventh-century pilgrimage to India brought hundreds of Buddhist texts back to China. The relic was first kept at the smaller Xuanguang Temple by the water before moving up the hill. Our guide to the Xuanzang Shrine and its pilgrim relic tells that history in full.

Higher still, on the 954-metre Shabalan Mountain, stands Ci’en Pagoda, which Chiang Kai-shek built in memory of his mother. Completed in 1971, it is 46 metres tall, bringing its top to 1,000 metres above sea level, and has nine storeys that visitors can climb for a wide view over the lake. A trail of about 700 metres leads up to it from the road.

Is a boat trip the best way to see Sun Moon Lake?

Yes: for most visitors, a boat is the easiest and most rewarding way to see the lake, because it shows you the shape of the water, Lalu Island and the temples on the far shores without long drives or steep walks. Boats run from three main piers, at Shuishe, Ita Thao and Xuanguang Temple, and piers can close in typhoons and dense fog. At the time of writing, boat fares are set by individual operators, so the National Scenic Area advises buying tickets only from designated counters. Check the weather on the morning you plan to go.

There are other ways to get above or around the water. The Sun Moon Lake Ropeway rises from near Ita Thao over the ridge to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, a large theme park with reconstructed Indigenous villages, gardens and rides. A road of about 30 kilometres circles the lake, served by a hop-on, hop-off shuttle bus. Cyclists come for the lakeside bikeway, which CNN’s travel site once named among the most beautiful in the world; its best-known stretch, between Shuishe and the Xiangshan Visitor Center, includes a section built out over the water.

How much walking does Sun Moon Lake involve?

Visiting Sun Moon Lake can involve very little walking, as long as you rely on boats, the shuttle and the roads that now reach the temples. The piers and lakeside promenades at Shuishe and Ita Thao are largely level, though expect some stairs at the piers and short flights of steps within the temple grounds. Wenwu Temple’s 366-step stairway, the climb to the top of Ci’en Pagoda and the forest trails around the lake are optional and more demanding. The National Scenic Area lists 14 lakeside and mountain trails, from about 150 metres to more than 10 kilometres long, and most take between half an hour and two hours. Trails close in typhoons and heavy weather, and some are shut for repairs at any given time, so check the official site before setting out.

How long do you need at Sun Moon Lake?

Allow at least one full day, ideally with a night by the lake so you can see it in the quiet of early morning and at dusk. A day gives you time for a boat trip, one or two temples and a wander through Ita Thao. A second day lets you add Ci’en Pagoda, a lakeside walk or a ride on the ropeway at a gentler pace.

Is Sun Moon Lake worth visiting?

Yes, especially if you are interested in more than scenery. Within a few kilometres of shoreline you can see Taiwan’s Indigenous heritage, its Japanese colonial engineering, its Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian traditions and the imprint of the Nationalist era, all against a backdrop of forested mountains. It also makes a restful contrast with Taiwan’s busy cities, which is why it sits well in the middle of a longer journey.

Sun Moon Lake on Days 8 and 9 of the tour

The Lantern Festival tour reaches Sun Moon Lake on Day 8, travelling inland from Tainan and stopping on the way at the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum. Earlier in the journey the group has watched sky lanterns rise over Pingxi, explored Taipei, followed the east coast south and spent Day 6 in Kaohsiung, with Cijin Island and Fo Guang Shan; our guide to the Taiwan Lantern Festival and its customs explains the celebrations that frame the trip.

Day 9 is spent around the lake. The group visits the Assam Tea Factory, in a district where Assam black tea was first planted under Japanese rule; our article on Sun Moon Lake black tea and its Assam origins covers that story. The group also visits the shrine dedicated to Xuanzang, which the itinerary calls the Holy Monk Shrine. There is some time for rest before a private motorboat ride around the lake later in the afternoon, and the day also includes Wenwu Temple and the lively market at Ita Thao, which the itinerary spells Idashao. On Day 10 the group continues north, stopping at Ci Lake on the way to the Taoyuan Lantern Festival and Taipei.

The tour is rated Level 2, Moderate, with three to five hours of activity a day and up to 8 kilometres of walking on uneven ground, and an Odyssey Program Leader travels with the group. For the practical side of planning, see our answers to common questions about travelling in Taiwan.

Sun Moon Lake rewards a little background. Once you know about the white deer, the ancestral island at its centre and the engineers who raised the water, the view from the shore becomes a layered story rather than a pretty picture. On the Taiwan Lantern Festival small group tour, a small group of up to 16 travellers sees the lake from the water, its temples and its Thao community, at an unhurried pace in the middle of an eleven-day journey.