Alishan Forest Train 阿里山森林小火车
September 19, 2025
After breakfast, we called an Uber to Chiayi Station and boarded Express 5 at 10 a.m. The ticket for the nearly five-hour ride — climbing from 30 meters above sea level to 2,300 meters — cost about $25, including admission to Alishan National Park.
To our surprise, we were the only two passengers in our carriage. The train had four cars, and the other three seemed reasonably full, but ours was completely empty. We never quite figured out why — perhaps they intentionally left some seats unsold.
The train departed on time, but about 45 minutes into the journey it came to a halt. We were informed that the power head at the back needed to be replaced with a different unit. After a delay of 45 minutes, the train resumed its climb. What an unexpected twist to start the trip.
The Alishan Forest Railway is more than 100 years old, originally built by the Japanese during their occupation to haul lumber out of the Alishan mountains. The narrow-gauge line snakes through lush forests, over 40 tunnels and countless bridges. Along the way, the weather shifted constantly — hot and humid at first, then foggy, rainy, and always with the train swaying left and right as it climbed.
The train made a 30-minute stop at Fenqihu (奮起湖), shorter than the scheduled one hour. There we sampled the famous railway bento box before re-boarding. Despite the earlier delay, the train impressively pulled into Alishan Station on time.
At the station, the hotel receptionist was waiting to pick us up, and just five minutes later we were settled into our room. The sky was overcast, but our excitement to see Alishan wasn’t dampened. We boarded the park shuttle (about $2 per person) to 沼口车站. As soon as we got off the bus, however, the rain poured down. Luckily, we could wait inside a covered rest area.
When the sky finally grew dim and the rain eased a little, we decided we couldn’t wait any longer. We headed down the trail toward the Sisters Ponds (姊妹潭). Unfortunately, it wasn’t much fun walking through the dark forest, even on the man-made paths. Soon the rainfall picked up again, and when we spotted a shuttle waiting for a tour group, we abandoned the hike and hopped on board back to the town.
The center of the Alishan tourist area turned out to be small and outdated. Few restaurants were open for dinner, and the one we chose served only mediocre food with cash-only payment and service that was even less appealing.
The rest of the evening was spent drying our shoes and hoping the weather would be kinder to us the next day.
2025年9月19日
早餐后，我们叫了Uber 前往嘉义火车站，搭乘上午十点的阿里山森林小火车。这趟从海拔 30 米一路攀升到 2300 米的近五小时车程，票价约 25 美元，还包含阿里山国家森林游乐区的门票。
小火车一票难求，之前为买票我们花了不少精力。而令我们非常意外的是，全车共有四节小车厢，其他三节都基本满座，唯独我们这节空荡荡的，整节车厢只有我们两位乘客。记得昨天早上抢票时没几分钟就说全部售磬了，也许铁路公司刻意保留了几个座位不出售吧。
列车准时发车，但刚开出约45分钟后就突然停下。工作人员通知我们，后方的动力机组需要更换。经过半个多小时的等待，列车才再次启动，继续缓缓爬升。这真是出乎意料的插曲。
阿里山森林铁路已有百年历史，由日本殖民时期所建，用于运送阿里山的木材。窄轨小火车蜿蜒穿梭在郁郁葱葱的森林之中，沿途经过40多条隧道和无数座桥梁。天气也在不断变化——一会儿闷热潮湿，一会儿起雾或下雨，而列车始终在左右摇晃中艰难爬坡。
途中列车在奋起湖停靠，本应有一小时在那里休息逛老街，却只停了半小时。我们抓紧时间品尝了著名的铁路便当。虽然旅程一开始有延误，但列车最后还是准点抵达阿里山车站，令人惊讶。
到站后，旅馆的接待人员已在等候。五分钟车程后，我们便入住了。天空依旧阴沉，但我们游园的兴致不减，立刻搭乘园区接驳车（每人新台币 60 元）前往 沼口车站。没想到刚一下车，雨就倾盆而下，好在附近有遮蔽的休息区可以暂避。
天色渐暗，雨势稍缓，我们不愿再等，便冒雨走上通往姐妹潭的步道。黑黝黝的森林里行走并没有太多乐趣，哪怕是人工修建的木栈道也有积水。很快雨又大了起来，雨衣防水鞋都不管用。正巧看到一辆接送旅行团的接驳车，我们便果断跳上车，结束行程，返回小镇。
阿里山游客中心一带的商业区并不大，略显陈旧。晚餐选择很有限，最后随便找了一家网上评论还算好的餐馆点了三道菜，不仅只能付现金，味道非常一般，服务更是糟糕。
当晚的主题，就是努力把湿透的鞋子烘干，并期待第二天会有更好的天气。