General say, there is only one way from
Taipei to Hualien – by train (TRA, Taiwan Railways Administration)(of course,
you can go by Taxi but it is very expensive and sometimes dangerous for highway
9), but if you have been try to book ticket on TRA webpage, you will know it is
very difficult especially at weekend and long vacation.
If you booked smoothly, congregation, you
are lucky. If not? there are some other method you can try..
First you must know the stops between
Taipei and Hualien, for example, The Puyama and Taroko stop at BanQiao, Taipei,
SongShan, YiLan, LuoDong than Hualien, so you can try to book ticket from LoDong/YiLan
to Hualien first.
Why LuoDong /YiLan first? Because there are
two methods form Taipei to LuoDong /YiLan but only one method from LuoDong /YiLan
to Hualien (the train). So, if you can from LuoDong /YiLan to Hualien, than you
can form Taipei to Hualien.
After you get the way from LuoDong/YiLan to
Hualien, than you can select :
1.
Continue book the ticket from
Taipei to LuoDong /I-Lan for the same train code, if you get, from Taipei to
Hualien you just need to move from Car A Seat A to Car C Seat D. We call this “Separate
tickets”.
2.
There are more than 2 bus lines
from Taipei to LuoDong /I-Lan (Capital Bus and Kamalan Bus) and just about 1 or
1.5 hour (different start stop) if not in traffic time. Capital bus stop is at
MRT Taipei City Hall station, Kamalan Bus stop near the BanQiao railway station
and Taipei Bus Station (beside Taipei Railway Station)
There are not only Puyuma and Taroka but
also Tze-Chiang Limited Express. Tze-Chiang Limited Express will
stop more stops so you will have more chance by “separate ticket”.
If you have more time, you can take “Local Train”,
it is for commute, so you don’t need to worry about no ticket, and this train
almost stop at all stops so you can see the real side of railway.
If you wanna by bus from Taipei to
LuoDong/YiLan than by train to Hualien, TRA have a combo ticket called “Railway
& Bus Combo Ticket”, it is combined by a Bus ticket and a Local Train
ticket and with discount. You can upgrade Local Train to other just need to pay
the different. But, this combo ticket cannot reservation, only sale on the day
you want to take.
So now, you can try to book the ticket to
Hualien and to see the beautiful East Taiwan.
Link:
TRA booking website http://railway.hinet.net/
TRA Train timetable http://twtraffic.tra.gov.tw/twrail/English/e_index.aspx
Capital Bus http://www.capital-bus.com.tw/yilan/businfo.html
Kamalan Bus http://www.kamalan.com.tw/servicr_station.php
