Jiqi Beach 磯崎海水浴場

7/12/2023

Jiqi Beach in Fengbin Township of Hualien County is one of the best surfing spots in Taiwan. This is one of the few sandy beaches on the east coast between Hualien and Taitung. It is definitely worth a visit if you are looking for an exquisite and less crowded beach.

Background:
On both sides of the beach are volcanic rock formations, while the middle is sandstone and shale, which helped to form this amazing beach.
Jiqi was originally called Kaluluan by the native Amis people. Originally they used the beach to dry salt, and later settled here during the Qing Dynasty, relying on fishing.
Now the beach is a popular summer destination, especially for surfing.
However, just a few months ago the beach closed to the public, and access is only allowed to a restaurant that charges 100 NT per person to enter. The government promises they will give access to the beach soon, but water activities may be banned forever.

Hours:
24/7 (But officially closed now the the public)

Price:
Currently a restaurant charges 100 NT per person just to look at the beach, the government says they will allow beach access again soon

How to get there:
By Car/Scooter: Take highway 11 south from Hualien or north from Taitung, It is more than an hour's journey from either city. Looking for a scooter rental in Hualien? You can search KKday here or Klook here to look for options. You can also check out our scooter rental guide here.
If you are looking for car rentals in Hualien, you can also search Klook here or KKDay here. You can also check out our car rental guide here.
By bus: The beach can be reached by bus 1140 or 1145. You can book tickets to travel to Hualien via inter-city bus on Klook h ere. Book tickets via the normal train (TRA) on Klook here.

Where to stay?
Most of the accommodation you will find is near the city center. If you only want to visit Hualien City and Taroko Gorge, you can consider booking a hotel near downtown, walking or cycling around the city, and taking a bus to Taroko Gorge.
We have stayed at and recommend Dream Taiwan Homestay
(Agoda / Booking.com / Expedia / Hotels.com), a high quality hostel for the money in downtown Hualien, Farglory Hotel (Agoda / Booking.com / Expedia / Hotels.com), right next to Farglory Ocean Park with amazing views of Hualien, and Goldenflower B&B (Agoda / Booking.com) in Yuli right next to Sixty Stone Mountain.
You can find out where to stay in our Taiwan hotels guide or search for the best hotel deals in Taiwan here.
You can also book Wifi and SIM cards for Taiwan on Gigago here.
Need travel insurance? Compare prices on Insubuy here.

Tours:
You can find more tours and activities in Hualien such as Surfing, Paragliding, SUP / Paddle Boarding, Kayaking, Canoeing, River Tracing, and much more on Klook here or KKday here.

Map:
Please see below:

Our Journey:

I have been to Jiqi beach twice, but I have never been surfing here. It seems like a nice spot to chill, but I have never took a trip just to stay here for the day.
The first time I went was via scooter from Hualien. It was a super long scooter ride, and it was also raining so we didn't really enjoy the beach much.

The first time I went was on the back of a scooter. It was a long ride from Hualien.

And there were some tunnels along the way. It was also raining a lot of the time.

But someone along the way had it worse than us.

First view of the beach.

There is a small parking area here, and in the distance you can see a camping area and surf shop.

View of the sand, it is kind of a dark color and you can be sure it is hot under the sun.

Full view of the beach.

Dirty ferry dock leading to the beach.

View looking east.

View to the south.

Nice looking waves.

And that concludes our trip.

View of the beach on a stormy day.

Much bigger waves.

The side of the beach.

More photos above.

You can find more tours and activities in Hualien such as Surfing, Paragliding, SUP / Paddle Boarding, Kayaking, Canoeing, River Tracing, and much more on Klook here or KKday here.

You can also check out our full guide to Hualien here, our full guide to Taroko Gorge here, our full guide to Taroko National Park here, and our full guide to Taiwan’s East Coast here.

You can also check out our full travel guide to Taiwan here.