Over the last few years, Taiwan has quietly become a hotbed for sports tourism. Name just about any participatory sport, from gentle pastimes like walking and cycling to hair-raising activities like rock climbing and paragliding, and Taiwan not only offers possibilities to enjoy that sport, but likely offers excellent opportunities. (The only exceptions are frozen, wintry sports like skiing and skating, but you can’t have everything.)

The local sports bounty is partly due to luck. Taiwan straddles the Tropic of Cancer and this location guarantees mild weather most of the year. Taiwan is also blessed with great geography, as the Central Mountain Range provides a playground for hiking, cycling, river tracing, rock climbing, and paragliding, while the island’s surrounding warm seas offer fishing, scuba diving, sailing, windsurfing, swimming, and other sports. But it takes more than luck to create a sports tourism destination – it also takes participants, and Taiwan has those as well. The people of Taiwan began to discover the joys of active leisure in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and they turned to the mountains, the oceans, and the roads. Clubs sprang up that offered information, tours, equipment, and advice about all kinds of sports tourism, from cycling to paragliding to trekking to river tracing, and everything in between.

Taiwan is perhaps best known for its hiking and backpacking. Options range from easy day hikes in Yangmingshan, Taroko Gorge, Alishan, and other convenient-to-reach places to high-country backpacking trips on the 3,000-meter peaks of the Central Range. The best known of the mountain treks is Yushan, or Jade Mountain, and this relatively easy two-day hike is a superb introduction to the remote alpine parklands of Taiwan.

The mountains are a great place for several other sports-related pastimes. Some of these, such as river tracing and rock climbing, are for the fit and youthful, while others, like paragliding, are for the adrenaline-addicted. River tracing in particular has seized the attention of the youth of Taiwan. Clad in water-resistant clothing, hardy young souls climb up and down rivers and streams, participating in a sport that combines the skills of rock climbing and mountaineering with a love of nature. River tracing allows aficionados to penetrate wilderness in a way that few people can; for example, the Taipei River Tracing Club recently spent 12 days climbing Yushan by ascending rapids and waterfalls and climbing through jungle.

Paragliding is another niche sport that has its enthusiastic adherents. It is similar to parachuting, except that participants jump off steep hills and float gently onto flat ground far below. This sport is not entirely for experts – anyone in search of a thrill can ride as a passenger on the back of an experienced paraglider. Green Bay in northern Taiwan is a popular place for paragliding, as is Saijia in Pingtung County.

An activity gentler in spirit is bird watching. Few non-birdwatchers are aware of it, but Taiwan is famous on the international ornithological circuit. It is chiefly prized for its 14 endemic species – birds that can be found nowhere else except Taiwan – but it is also remarkably rich in other species. Taiwan’s island location makes it a choice stopover for migrating birds, while its mountains, wetlands, seashores, forests, and other ecosystems provide homes for a wide variety of birds. Hard-core bird-lovers trek deep into the mountains to pursue their passion, but residents of Taipei can see one prized endemic – the Formosan Blue Magpie – in nearby Yangmingshan and even in the city itself.

Another sport that has surged in popularity over recent years is cycling, in part because Taiwan is home to one of the world’s most famous bikemakers (Giant) and in part because it hosts the Tour de Taiwan every spring. For gung-ho cyclers, the Taiwan Cyclist Federation organizes an annual around-the-island bike trip that starts in Taipei, follows the West Coast to the far south, then returns along the scenic East Coast. This trip takes in many of the highlights of Taiwan tourism, from the historic West Coast cities, with their museums and temples and night markets, to the remote and beautiful East Coast, with its wild seashores, deep canyons, and remarkable views.

More sedentary cyclers can choose shorter routes. The seaside trip from Hualien to Taitung is popular, given its excellent ocean scenery and its relative lack of auto traffic. This route also offers the prospect of a return trip to Hualien via a different route, up the Rift Valley. Single-day trips also beckon, and many cities in Taiwan, including Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Hualien, have built dozens of kilometers of bicycle paths, often along rivers and the seacoast, that appeal to weekenders and casual riders. Taipei alone has 60 kilometers of bike trail, compared with 25 kilometers of trail 10 years ago. In the water, Taiwan offers a similarly wide range of pastimes, from adrenaline-inducing sports like surfing and windsurfing to more mellow activities like fishing, swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving. Taiwan’s surfing hotspot is the East Coast, particularly the southeast coast near Taitung, where reliable waves and a laid-back atmosphere appeal to the neoprene-clad enthusiasts of this niche sport. The most famous place for windsurfing is the Penghu archipelago, where strong northerly winds and warm water combine to create perfect conditions. Beginners are welcome at Penghu: at Guanyin Ting, a sandy bay protected by a breakwater, beginners can paddle, swim, and learn to sail and windsurf under the guidance of experts.

For scuba divers, Kending is the top location. A 60-kilometer strip of coral reef runs the length of the Kending coastline, providing a home for a huge variety of corals, sponges, crustaceans, and other sea life. In all, nearly 300 species of coral live in Kending, and the water is a reliably warm 20° to 23°C. The warm current that feeds Kending also runs north up the East Coast, bringing warm water and nutrients with it. Green Island is another popular spot, but in fact coral reefs can be seen as far north as Keelung. The choices don’t stop there. Golf is popular up and down the island and so is fishing, whether from land or from chartered boats. Sailing, taichi, bowling, nine-ball, and ultralight flying are also among the options; in Taiwan’s outdoors, the sky’s the limit. Almost every sport in Taiwan is represented by a club that can help organize tours and offer advice. The Tourism Bureau website has a list of them at:
http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/lan/Cht/search/index2.asp?sid=24&layer1=2.
In addition, a quick Internet search will uncover just about everything you need to know to get active and have fun in Taiwan.