Longpan Park 龍盤公園

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Longpan Park is one of the most beautiful places in all of Kenting National Park. It features a large grassland that covers the southern tip of Taiwan. has great views of the shoreline on the east side of the peninsula, featuring a wind-cut sandy landscape and sea cliffs.

Background:
The area that covers Longpan Park originally a coral reef that was elevated above the shoreline. Due to the easily eroding limestone leftover after the rocks were thrust upward, it created a large plateau on the southern tip of Taiwan.  The plateau has a long grassy plain that is a unique feature in Taiwan. 
Kenting was first settled by Chinese during the Qing Dynasty. The word Kenting comes from two words that mean cultivate (ken3 墾) and strong man (丁 ding1). During that time, a group of strong men (or Zhuang Ding 壯丁) came from Guangdong, who were basically Chinese pioneers of the area to cultivate the land, hence the area was named Kenting for them.
The area was considered to be made into a park during the Japanese occupation due to it being the only tropical location in the Japanese Empire, but was never officially created.
During the Japanese era Nanwan was used as a whaling area and there were a few fishing villages here. 
Kenting National Park was established in 1984 as the first national park in Taiwan after WWII.
Kenting became a major vacation spot, becoming a center for hostels and hotels for travelers. 

Hours:
24/7

Price:
Free

How to get there:
By car/scooter: Take provincial highway 26 on the east side of Kenting until you come to Longpan Park on the right side of the road. There is parking on the side of the road. Looking for scooter rental in Pingtung? Click here or here to search for options.
If you are looking for car rentals, you can also search here. 
By bus: From Hengchun, take bus 8249 to Longpan Park bus stop. You can book tickets to Pingtung via high speed rail (HSR)  on Klook here or KKDay here, or book tickets via the normal train (TRA)  on Klook here. You can book tickets to travel to Pingtung via inter-city bus on Klook here. 

Accommodation:
Looking for a hotel? Find out where to stay in our Taiwan hotels guide or search for the best hotel deals in Taiwan here. We recommend booking through Agoda here, which provides the best quality selection of accommodation in Taiwan.
I have stayed at many hostels and hotels in Kenting, and even almost bought a house here. Some places that I have stayed at and can recommend are Nanwan Kiki (book on Agoda here, Booking.com here), a B&B next to Nanwan Bay, Kenting's most popular Beach. There are also a few decent hotels near Kenting Street Night Market like Kenting Star Inn 888 (book on Agoda here, Klook here, Hotels.com here, Expedia here, or Booking.com here), or Kenting Dajianshan Hotel (book on Agoda here, Booking.com here, Hotels.com here, or Expedia here). You will notice that none of these hotels are five star resorts (I do not come to Kenting to waste my time at a resort, but you can still search Agoda, Booking.com, Hotels.com, or Expedia for those) but they are in my opinion the above have the best value for the money. 
You can also book Wifi and SIM cards for Taiwan on Gigago here.  
Need travel insurance? Compare prices on Insubuy here. 

Tours and Activities in Kenting:
There are many activities available such as snorkeling, diving, SUPing, surfing, submarine riding, and river tracing. 
You can find more tours of Kenting on Klook here or KKday here. 

Just to let you know, if you book using the links above, we get some commission at no cost to you, and you can help support our blog. You can click here to receive $5 USD on your first Klook purchase. 

Map:
Please see below:

Our Journey:

I have been to Longpan Park three times, and it is a nice pit stop on your way around Kenting. The walk itself takes less than ten minutes but the views are worth it. 

The park basically consists of a boardwalk that goes out to a sea cliff. You can also see seasonal flowers here. 

Map of the park. 

Grass and shrubs.

First view of the ocean over the grass. 

People posing with the ocean view. 

On weekends this walk can get very busy.

Crowd of people at the cliff's edge. 

View back toward the grassland. 

Cliff edge photo taking area. 

View of the ocean. I am not sure if the trail goes all the way down or not. 

View further east. 

View to the east. 

Closer view of the grassland toward Shuiwaku. 

Last view of the selfie takers. 

Walk back to the parking lot. 

I think that is a weather radar tower in the distance, off limites to the public. 

There are many activities available such as snorkeling, diving, SUPing, surfing, submarine riding, and river tracing. 
You can find more tours of Kenting on Klook here or KKday here. 

Check out our full guide to Kenting here.
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You can also check out our full guide to Pingtung here, and can also check out our full travel guide to Taiwan here. ​

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