Sun Moon Lake is a beautiful alpine lake located in Taiwan’s Yuchi Township, Nantou County. Lalu Island in the middle of the lake separates the lake into a part shaped like a crescent moon and another part shaped like a round sun; thus, the name Sun Moon Lake. Surrounding the lake are mountains, streams and forest trees. The lake is vast and calm, providing a perfect reflection of the changing looks of Sun Moon Lake each season.
The Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area covers five major recreation attractions - Huantan, Shuili River, Puli, Zhuoshui River and Jiji. Surrounding these major attractions are sightseeing hotspots such as Taomi, Checheng, Jiji, Shuishe Great Mountain, Shuanglong Waterfall, Mingtan Reservoir and Shuili River.
Sun Moon Lake’s beauty is created by mountain and water. Diffused misty clouds and distinct mountain views all evoke poetic and romantic scenes from Chinese landscape paintings. Therefore, this area is renowned as Taiwan’s famous “Eight Beautiful Scenic Attractions.”
The bikeway around Sun Moon Lake was selected by CNNgo, the online streaming platform of CNN, as one of the world’s top10 most beautiful bikeways.
The 400-meter Shuishang Bikeway starts from Shuishe to Xiangshan Visitors Center. Biking here evokes the feeling of boating on water.
Some of the famous attractions in Huantan worth visiting are Wenwu Temple, Longfeng Temple, Ci En Pagoda, Yongjie Bridge and Xiangshan.
In 2018, on the Internet, we invited people to select the Eight New Wonders of Sun Moon Lake. These tourist attractions are all suitable for checking in on Facebook and taking photos. They are also ideal for those wanting to appreciate the lake deeply. The eight new wonders are:
Sun Moon Lake’s terrain is part of a group of Puli Basins, which is considered one of the three major basins in Taiwan. These used to be lake basins, but due to the power of nature and some efforts by men, this famous Taiwan lake was created.
During the Japanese occupation, Taiwan was designated as an area of light industry, and its water resources were fully used in many aspects to provide power to Taiwan’s business developments. Since Sun Moon Lake had quite an advantage geographically, and it’s Taiwan’s largest natural lake, the Taiwan Power Company was established in 1919. Soon the Sun Moon Lake Hydropower Project began. A water diversion tunnel up to about 15 kilometers long from Wujie transported water from the river to Sun Moon Lake, then took advantage of the 320 meters hydraulic drop to power the generator to generate electricity.
The water in Sun Moon Lake is green and clear, reflecting the images of surrounding mountains and serene landscape. Regardless of morning or evening, spring, summer, autumn or winter, sunny, warm, cloudy or foggy weather conditions, Sun Moon Lake is always beautiful and breathtaking!
During the early morning hours, the lake is covered with a dreamy thin veil of haze. As the sun rises above the mountain, the hazy lake slowly reveals the reflections of the profiles of trees and mountains, enhanced by sounds of insects buzzing and birds chirping. At dusk, the lake is painted golden by the sunset like a wonderland. When night falls, light reflects on the lake as the water ripples gently from the cool evening breeze. Such an intoxicating romantic atmosphere!