Yeliu Geopark 野柳, Taiwan

Taiwan's famous geological curiosity

Yeliu Geopark (野柳地质公园, sometimes spelled as Yehliu or Yehliou, Chinese 野柳) is a famous geological park in northern Taiwan, close to Keelung City, the biggest city on Taiwan's northern coast. My girlfriend brought me there for the first time and I wasn't sure what to expect. But when I saw this amazing natural wonder, I was totally stunned. This is definitely something for nature lovers, even though there are many tourists. Let me show you how to go to Yeliou Geopark and what can you expect to see.

If you go to Yeliu from Taipei, you need to go to Taipei Main Station and take the normal train to Keelung (it'll take you about 1h). Once you reach Keelung's main station, exit and walk right (you'll see an overpass, cross the road that way and turn right again). It's very close to the station, maybe 5min away. There you'll see buses stopping at one of Keelung's main roads and people waiting for them. Take a bus to Wanli, a small township (takes around 30min) and ask the driver to tell you, when you arrive at Wanli, because it's not the final destination. The Yeliu Geopark is right next to it, but you have to walk around 15min from the station through Wanli to reach the entrance to the Geopark. Just walk on the main road and you'll be fine. The township is very small, but also very beautiful, with 2 temples and a small bay. Photo on the left is the entrance, the admission is 50NTD per person (adults), that's about 1.2 Euros at the current rate.

See my map of the famous spots in Northern Taiwan (around Keelung):

Yeliu - Wanli - Keelung - Miaokou Night Market - Ruifang - Jiufen

These are my best photos of the Yeliu Geopark:

The area before you enter the park is full of tourists, buses park here. Most are Mainland Chinese.

After paying admission, you have to walk for along this paved lane for a while.

This is the north eastern direction.

The Yeliu cape with the lattice transmission tower.

The Yeliu cape again.

The view on the left opened up and we saw these amazing rock formations.

I'm trying to grasp the image, something I have never seen before.

This is a map of all geological phenomena. Please click to enlarge (Map source: Yeliu Homepage)

These stones are called hoodoo stones. Some of them have very unique forms.

A Taiwanese girl taking photos. I like those natural pots full of water.

This looks like it's located on the Moon. But no, this is Yeliu.

Another closeup on the pots.

This is totally like on the Moon, don't you agree?

A small thin cape next to the bigger Yeliu cape. Fishermen like it.

The fishermen from close: They were busy and probably see nothing special in these formations.

Taiwan's rocky shores of the northern coast.

A pathway was carefully placed here, so visitors don't damage the landscape.

The Moon again.

And then we saw the world famous Queen's Head, the most popular formation here. It's one of the symbols of Taiwan and everyone wants to take a photo here. Read more about her here>>

A small bridge.

At the cape on the eastern side.

The lattice transmission tower from close.

We climbed up and had this amazing view.

The Yeliu cape from above.

We enjoyed a wonderful sunset. See more photos here>>

Before we left, we saw a statue of a fisherman, who saved many lives of people, that were drowning here.

Yeliu Geopark is truly one of the most amazing spots in all of Taiwan. Sure, you need a little more time and effort to reach there, but it's truly worth to see. The whole area around Keelung is amazing, so I definitely advise you to visit, in case you fly to Taipei. It's only few hours away and you can go on some fascinating day trips, in case you're finished with exploring the city. If you have any questions, ask me in the comments section.

[My TAIWAN page][My TAIPEI page][Info: Yeliu Homepage][All photos by MKL, 2010]