Riding round Taiwan means linking two provincial highways: Highway 1 down the west coast, 461.081 km (286 miles) from Taipei to Fengkang, and Highway 9 back up the east, 453.851 km (282 miles) from Pingtung to Taipei. That is a little over 900 km of trunk road before you add the mountain detours, and most riders take seven to ten days. Two things dominate the planning. The eastern leg includes the Suhua Highway, a cliff road above the Pacific with a modern tunnel bypass that has specific rules about which motorcycles may use it, and the classic inland detour climbs Provincial Highway 14A to Wuling at 3,275 m (10,745 ft), the highest point on any road in Taiwan. This guide covers both (verified August 2026).
Route at a glance
| The circuit | Provincial Highway 1 west, 461.081 km; Provincial Highway 9 east, 453.851 km; a little over 900 km in total |
| Time | Seven to ten days at a touring pace; four is possible and misses the point |
| Suhua Highway | Su'ao to Hualien, originally 118 km and now 102.4 km; opened 1932, two-way throughout since 25 October 1990 |
| Suhua Improvement | 38.8 km of new road with 8 tunnels totalling 24.5 km; opened February 2018 and January 2020 |
| Motorcycles on the new road | Machines over 250cc admitted since 1 September 2022; 50 to 250cc under trial in the Zhongren Tunnel since 30 April 2025 at 50 km/h |
| Wuling | 3,275 m (10,745 ft), km 31.5 of Provincial Highway 14A, the highest road point in Taiwan |
| Highway 14A | 41.733 km, Wushe to Dayuling; snow controls above Cuifeng in winter |
| Licence for visitors | 1949 Geneva Convention international driving permit, valid 30 days from entry without registration |
Open the full island loop in Google Maps — Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Taitung, Hualien, Yilan and back to Taipei, so you can send the whole circuit to your navigation in one go.
The two halves are not the same ride
Highway 1 is the old north-south trunk road through the western plain, running through fourteen counties and cities and carrying most of Taiwan's population and industry. Its highest point is 181 m, in Yangmei in Taoyuan. It is efficient, it is busy, and it is not why anyone comes. Riders who want the west to be interesting take the inland Highway 3 or cut into the hills.
Highway 9 is the opposite: the second-longest provincial highway in Taiwan, running from central Taipei down the east through Yilan, Hualien, Taitung and into Pingtung, along a coast where the Central Mountain Range comes down to the Pacific with almost no shelf in between. Most riders do the loop anticlockwise, getting the western plain over with and finishing on the east coast, or simply skip the west by train and ride the east twice.
The Suhua Highway, and the rules on the new road
The Suhua is the most famous stretch of the loop and the most misunderstood. Its history explains why. The Qing-era North Road of 1874 was a mule track; the Japanese colonial government widened it into the Rinkai Road, which opened to vehicles in 1932 at about 120 km with nine major bridges and fourteen tunnels. After the war it was renamed the Suhua Highway, and at its narrowest it was 3.5 metres wide with corners of 15 m radius — single-lane, convoy-controlled from six checkpoints, and frightening enough that passengers remembered it for life. Widening started in the 1980s and it only became fully two-way on 25 October 1990.
The road is cut along a coast where the Eurasian and Philippine Sea plates meet, so earthquakes are frequent and the slopes shed rock in any weather. Typhoons make it worse, and the highway carries a constant stream of gravel and marble trucks. That is why the Suhua Highway Improvement exists: 38.8 km of new road with eight tunnels totalling 24.5 km, 8.5 km of bridges and 5.8 km at grade, built for NT$55.173 billion. Su'ao to Dong'ao opened on 5 February 2018; Nan'ao to Heping and Hezhong to Daqingshui on 6 January 2020. The limit is 70 km/h maximum and 50 km/h minimum.
Now the part that matters for motorcycles. Because the new alignment is mostly long tunnels, the transport ministry initially prohibited all motorcycles, of every class, from the improved sections except the Renshui Tunnel — which left riders on the old, narrower Highway 9A. Motorcycle rights groups campaigned for more than two years, a consultancy study and public workshops were commissioned, and a trial for large heavy motorcycles began at noon on 30 September 2021. That trial became a formal opening on 1 September 2022, so machines over 250cc may now use the Suhua Improvement sections.
Ordinary heavy motorcycles, the 50 to 250cc white-plate class that most rental scooters fall into, remain a separate question. A trial opening of the Zhongren Tunnel to that class started on 30 April 2025 with a 50 km/h limit, and as of July 2026 the highway authority confirmed it was still running as a trial rather than a permanent change. If you are on a rented scooter, plan on the old road and check the current position before you set off, because the old Suhua is a genuinely different proposition from the new one.
Wuling and the mountain detour
Provincial Highway 14A runs 41.733 km from Wushe in Nantou to Dayuling, and at km 31.5 it crosses the saddle between Hehuan East Peak and Hehuan Main Peak at 3,275 m. That is the highest point on any road in Taiwan. There is a car park and a viewing platform, and because it is remote and free of light pollution it is also a well-known place to look at stars.
The road exists because of the Central Cross-Island Highway. It was built from June 1957 as the Wushe supply line for that project, largely following the Japanese-era Hehuan Traverse Route, and it opened on 7 May 1958. The saddle was first named Nanling and then renamed Wuling; the Japanese name was Sakuma Pass, after the governor-general whose 1914 campaign the original road served.
Two practical points. Snow falls up here in winter, and above Cuifeng the authorities impose controls when it lies, admitting only vehicles with chains fitted and four-wheel-drive vehicles — a restriction a motorcycle cannot satisfy. The crash barriers along the route are painted yellow specifically so they can still be seen against snow. Second, Highway 14A has become the practical substitute for part of the Central Cross-Island Highway, because the Guguan to Dechi section of Provincial Highway 8 has been closed since the 921 earthquake of 1999 and remains shut to general traffic; a restoration was approved in 2024 with completion targeted around 2037.
Taroko Gorge and the eastern mountains
Provincial Highway 8 east of Dayuling drops through Taroko Gorge to the coast, cut into marble walls in a canyon that is the single most photographed road in Taiwan. It is also the most fragile. The Hualien earthquake of 2024 caused landslides at multiple points along the eastern Central Cross-Island Highway, and access through the gorge has been subject to closures and restrictions since. Treat any plan that routes you through Taroko as provisional and check the current status with the national park and the highway bureau rather than assuming a map is current.
South of Hualien the loop splits into two parallel roads: Highway 9 through the East Rift Valley between two mountain ranges, and Highway 11 along the Pacific shore, rejoining at Taitung. The valley road is faster and greener, the coast road slower with more to look at.
Season, licences and the practical details
Season. October to April is the drier, cooler half of the year and the better riding window. Summer brings heat, humidity and the typhoon season, and the eastern half of the island takes the worst of it — the Suhua and the mountain roads close for rockfall and landslide after heavy rain, sometimes for days. High mountain roads such as Highway 14A can see snow and ice from around December to March.
Licences. Taiwan recognises the 1949 Geneva Convention international driving permit. You may ride on it for 30 days from your date of entry with no further formality; for a longer stay you must register the permit at a Motor Vehicle Office, and registration can extend its validity for up to a year. The permit must cover the class of machine you intend to ride. That matters more here than in most places, because Taiwan's own categories — ordinary heavy motorcycles of 50 to 250cc and large heavy motorcycles above 250cc — are exactly the categories used to write the Suhua Improvement access rules.
Fuel and services. Fuel is easy on both trunk roads and thin on the mountain routes. Fill in Wushe or Puli before climbing Highway 14A, and in Hualien or Su'ao before the Suhua.
Traffic culture. Taiwan drives on the right. Scooter traffic is dense in the cities and follows its own conventions, including hook turns at some junctions; gravel and marble trucks dominate the east coast and do not yield. Ride expecting to be overtaken by something much larger.
Gear notes for tunnels, altitude and typhoon country
Two things about a Taiwan loop punish a setup built for open, stable countries. The first is that the route changes underneath you. Landslides, earthquake damage and tunnel access rules mean the road you planned may not be the road you ride, and long tunnel sequences kill mobile data completely. Carrying the whole circuit offline, with alternatives loaded, and running it on a display that copes with tropical rain, is the difference between navigating and guessing — our guide to choosing a motorcycle GPS setup covers what offline capability really means, and a JADO S6 riding system keeps the route and the cameras on one screen without the phone leaving your jacket.
The second is the altitude swing. Going from sea level at Hualien to 3,275 m at Wuling in a single morning is a bigger change than anywhere else on the island, and cold thin air at the top drops tire pressure with nobody around to check it — why tire pressure falls in cold weather explains the physics, and a TPMS sensor warns you about a slow leak while you can still turn round. On the mountain sections there are no sockets at all, so a bi-directional fast charger that draws power from the bike and puts it back into a phone or camera is worth carrying.
FAQ
How long does it take to ride around Taiwan?
Seven to ten days is the usual touring range for the roughly 900 km of trunk road plus detours. Riders in a hurry do it in four, but that means the western plain at speed and no time in the mountains.
Can motorcycles use the Suhua Highway Improvement?
Large heavy motorcycles, over 250cc, have been formally permitted since 1 September 2022. Ordinary heavy motorcycles of 50 to 250cc are still limited: a trial opening of the Zhongren Tunnel to that class began on 30 April 2025 with a 50 km/h limit and was still a trial as of July 2026. Confirm the current position before you plan a scooter around it.
What is the highest road in Taiwan?
Wuling, at 3,275 m, on Provincial Highway 14A at km 31.5, between Hehuan Main Peak and Hehuan East Peak. It is the highest point reached by any road on the island and is open to motorcycles, subject to winter snow controls above Cuifeng.
What licence do I need to ride in Taiwan as a visitor?
A 1949 Geneva Convention international driving permit covering the class of machine, carried with your home licence. It works for 30 days from entry; beyond that you must register it at a Motor Vehicle Office, which can extend validity up to a year.
When is the best time to ride around Taiwan?
October to April. Summer is hot, humid and inside the typhoon season, and the east coast roads including the Suhua are the ones that close for landslides after heavy rain. Winter brings snow controls to the highest mountain roads but leaves the coastal loop rideable.
