Sunset Chasing TaiwanSunset spots › Greater Taipei › Taipei City
Photo: Ken Marshall · CC BY 4.0
Thumb Mountain
拇指山
Not rated yet — I haven’t been.
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Getting there & back
Is tonight worth it at Thumb Mountain?
The app scores every spot from the forecast at its own sunset hour, with the seven-day outlook and the last train home. Six spots are free.
The spot
The rock peak between Elephant Mountain and Nangang Mountain on the Four Beasts ridge, 320 meters up, with a horseshoe-shaped platform on bare rock and a view that goes all the way round: Taipei 101 and the basin in front of you, the Datun volcanoes beyond, and the sun setting over the western hills. It is a step up from Elephant Mountain in both effort and view, and far less crowded.
Start from MRT Xiangshan, climb the Elephant Mountain trail (see writeup here) past the Six Giant Rocks, and keep going along the ridge; the turn-off to the peak is signed and the last stretch is steep stairs and a short rock scramble. Allow an hour up. The stairs are unlit beyond the Elephant Mountain platforms, so carry a headlamp for the way down after the city lights come on.