14/09/2026
舊草嶺隧道
Old Caoling Tunnel
An old Year 1924 Japanese Occupation era 2,167 meters railway tunnel, repurposed on 2008 for biking and walking, (~20-minute cycling time), under the fluorescent lit strip lights
Fulong, Gongliao District, New Taipei City
I made my way from Taipei by Taiwan Railway to Fulong Station, a scenic coastal journey that gradually traded Taipei’s busy streets for the rugged, beautiful Northeast Coast.
From Fulong, I rented a bicycle and rode toward the Old Caoling Tunnel, which stretches between Fulong in New Taipei and Shicheng in Yilan.
After exploring the tunnel and the surrounding coast, I returned to Fulong Station and caught a Taiwan Railway train back toward Taipei; train services between Fulong and Taipei are available on the Yilan Line.
Entering the 2,167-meter Old Caoling Tunnel felt like stepping directly into Taiwan’s railway past.
Built during the Japanese colonial period and completed in 1924, it was once a crucial railway link between Taipei and Yilan and, at the time of its opening, was the longest railway tunnel in Southeast Asia.
After the railway route was replaced, the historic tunnel was eventually transformed and reopened as a bikeway in 2008.
I lingered over the weathered red-brick walls, the nostalgic railway-style pavement, vintage oil-lamp lighting, and the dramatic inscriptions “Control the Natural Stronghold” and “Where White Clouds Soar.”
Then I began pedaling into the cool, shadowy darkness, and the experience became almost magical.
My bicycle wheels hummed against the old railway passage as dim vintage lights guided me forward, while the tunnel’s damp, echoing atmosphere wrapped around me like a living piece of history.
Halfway through, I stopped at the marker between New Taipei and Yilan, and somewhere beyond the walls I could hear the distant rumble of trains passing through the newer tunnel.
For roughly twenty minutes, I simply rode, listened, breathed, and absorbed the hauntingly beautiful feeling of cycling through a century-old railway tunnel—an unforgettable blend of history, adventure, nostalgia, and coastal Taiwan.