Things to do in Penghu

This is my second time visiting Penghu, and I feel so lucky to have experienced the South Penghu Marine National Park this time! It was really amazing. Our tour guide, Xiao Liu, was very dedicated and professional. He even helped us take beautiful pictures. It was such a wonderful day; all I can say is "amazing!"

Perfect for family trips. Highly recommend booking the sunset tour, where you can first take a boat to watch the sunset. The boat tour includes guided commentary to learn about Penghu's history and culture. Afterward, head to the Marine Ranch for all-you-can-eat grilled oysters and seafood congee. You can also purchase additional dishes. After filling up, enjoy fishing and squid jigging on the platform, for a fulfilling evening activity.

If you're planning to enjoy the water activities, be sure to take the earliest ferry at 8:30 AM. This way, you'll practically skip the lines and can keep playing without waiting. You'll even have time to do each activity more than three times. If you arrive at 10:30 AM, you'll likely have to wait in long lines and be exposed to more sun. Leaving around 11:30 AM to have lunch and then take a tour around the island before catching the 1:00 PM ferry back to the mainland is perfect timing.

Both Cimei and Wang-an islands offer scooters for touring and taking photos around the island. The time for each island is tight at under 2 hours. The boat ride to either island is 70 minutes one way, and many people get seasick and vomit if the waves are high. The return boat trip from either island is about 30 minutes.

The entire process was incredibly smooth. Even though we didn't catch any baby squid to add to the meal, we still got to enjoy hot and delicious squid noodles, and even brown sugar cake for dessert. We got to experience three local ingredients directly - highly recommended!

This time, I brought my family to quickly learn about Penghu culture, and our first stop was the Penghu Living Museum. It mainly displays rich content related to Penghu's history, culture, and customs, and it is also a suitable indoor attraction for families to visit together. The museum uses real cultural relics, models, audio-visual multimedia, and life scene restoration to allow visitors to deeply understand the local life trajectory of Penghu. The tickets are very reasonable and it is really worth a visit 👍

I was lucky enough to have my itinerary upgraded that day, adding an exploration activity on Dongji Island, which made the trip even more complete. There are two ways to explore Dongji Island: follow the tour guide on foot, hike up the small "Bagua Mountain," and listen to the guide's humorous introduction to the unique flora, fauna, and customs of Dongji Island, which is very rewarding. From the Bagua Mountain Meteorological Station, you can overlook the entire harbor, with beautiful scenery. A small road next to it extends to the Dongji Island Lighthouse (unfortunately, due to limited tour time, we could only see it from a distance and take photos). Finally, follow the guide downhill back to the harbor. The second way is to rent a scooter (NT$250 per scooter) and explore the island on your own, which is the most free, time-saving, and labor-saving way to fully explore all the attractions of Dongji Island. After the Dongji Island exploration, the second itinerary was a cruise to the "Blue Cave," but unfortunately the "blue sky index" was low that day, so we couldn't get a glimpse of the beauty of the Blue Cave. The last stop was Qimei Island. There are also two ways to explore it: one is to take a dedicated tour bus, with the driver providing a guided tour of Qimei's classic scenic spots - the Seven Beauties Tomb (a brief stop, without entering to purchase tickets). Along the way, admire the unique igneous rock statues along the Qimei coast that resemble animals - crocodiles, stone lions, and dragon ridges (three points of resemblance, seven points of imagination), as well as the "Little Taiwan" sea erosion platform that resembles the island of Taiwan. Finally, arrive at the Double-Heart Stone Weir, which is also beautiful with a bit of blue sky and sea.

A very fulfilling itinerary. We started the morning digging for clams, building rock piles ("bao dun"), and crabbing. It's hard to imagine finding so many clams on a rocky beach. We caught a small shark while "bao dun"-ing, and someone even caught a pufferfish... and some other unknown fish. We also tried catching eels, but unfortunately, we didn't catch any 😅. We caught many stingrays in the fishing net. It was the first time I learned that stingrays are edible 😆, although they have a lot of small cartilage. We also went fishing, and all three of us in our family caught fish! After lunch, they thoughtfully provided each of us with a small lounge chair for a short nap. In the afternoon, they took us to feed seagulls and gave us a yacht tour. We even took turns steering the boat for a short distance 🤣. It was truly a very fulfilling itinerary.

The itinerary is jam-packed. In the morning, we practiced snorkeling and enjoyed water activities like the waterslide, inflatable obstacle course, towable surfing, and towable sofa – exciting and thrilling! In the afternoon, we explored an uninhabited island and Toujin Island. Through the guide's humorous explanations, we learned about Toujin Island's rich intertidal life. Then, we went on a more in-depth snorkeling session. Both the morning and afternoon sessions were eye-opening, showing me what an underwater tropical rainforest is like, with colorful corals and all kinds of fish species. We even saw huge schools of sardines under the floating platform at Forget Worry Island. The seafood we had for lunch was fresh and delicious (if you don't eat seafood, you can discuss alternatives with the company the day before). This activity is definitely a high-quality ecotourism experience, worth the money, and highly recommended!