Explore Hualien

The Hualien Cultural and Creative Industries Park occupies a former Japanese-era winery south of Hualien Station, where rice wine and red wine were once brewed. Its 3.3-hectare site keeps 26 old factory warehouses, opened in stages from 2011, which now hold exhibitions, concerts, markets, shops and cafés around open courtyards.

Pine Garden is a two-storey arcaded building put up in 1942–1943 as the Hualien Port army office during Japanese rule, on a rise among old Ryukyu pines above the mouth of the Meilun River. After 1945 it served as a rest house for US military advisers; it is now a listed historic building with exhibitions, a former martial-arts hall and an air-raid shelter.

Qixingtan Beach is a crescent-shaped pebble beach on the Pacific in Xincheng Township, just north of Hualien City beside Hualien Airport. It takes its name from a former lake that was filled in during the 1930s to build the airfield; a seawall path and a cycle track now run along the shore, with views of the Central Mountain Range.

Farglory Ocean Park is a marine theme park on a hillside above the Pacific in Shoufeng Township, south of Hualien City, opened in 2002. Its 51 hectares combine an aquarium, dolphin and sea lion shows, rides and themed zones such as Crystal Castle, Discovery Island and Dolphin Lagoon, linked by a cable car.

Liyu Lake is the largest inland lake in Hualien County, about 1.6 kilometres long, lying at the foot of Mount Liyu in Shoufeng Township, south-west of Hualien City. A path of about 5 kilometres for walking and cycling circles the shore, boats and paddleboards go out on the water, and fireflies appear around the lake in April and May.