The best places to see monkeys in Taiwan
Formosan Rock Macaques, to be precise
Posted by: Josh, 16 January 2026
If you want to know the best spots in Taiwan to see monkeys, you’ve come to the right place.
This is your short, sweet guide to successfully spotting simians.
Contents
Kenting
Best for: Overall monkey spotting experience
For us, Kenting National Forest Recreation area is the best place in Taiwan to see monkeys.
I’ve not found a reliable estimate for how many macaques call Kenting home, but it’s a good enough number that you’re almost certain to see them if you spend enough time here.
It took us around 15 minutes to spot our first group, a small number wandering along the forest floor around 100 metres from us. We saw three more groups in the four hours or so that we spent trekking around this nature reserve, including a larger family that settled in the trees above us.
The other great thing about Kenting is the variety of wildlife and plant-life that you can see while walking the well-worn paths. We only spotted one deer on our visit in November, a brief glimpse as a stag chased off a monkey who’d strayed too close to him, but you might be lucky enough to see more.
If you've read our guide to Kenting, you'll know that Liz and I enjoyed every minute of wandering through the forest that has grown on the ancient coral rock formations – admiring the unique ways the tree roots clung to every rockface, the many butterflies that call the south of Taiwan home, and the glittering surfaces in the Fairy Caves.
Worst for: People who don’t like monkeys?
There is just nothing to complain about here. Liz and I absolutely loved our walks in Kenting. It’s a joyful experience to see such a big population of monkeys in a safe environment, one in which tourists treat them with the respect and distance that they need to thrive. If I were a monkey, I'd be looking for real estate in this region.
Monkey Mountain, Khaosiung
Best for: Seeing the most monkeys
Shoushan, or Monkey Mountain, in Khaosiung most likely has the post MPSM (monkeys per square mile) in all of Taiwan. If you visit, I guarantee that you will see a huge number of macaques strolling across the paths, standing in the way of you on the trails, and jumping between the trees.
The walking routes here are very beautiful, and suitable for hikers of all experiences. Stick to the boardwalks if you’re not an experienced hiker and bring water with you in all seasons. We visited in November, when temperatures still topped 30 degrees Celsius.
Experienced hikers can get off the boardwalks and follow the steeper and rockier paths, through the trees, some of which you’ll climb with the aid of ropes left out on the trails. If you’re confident hiking in tropical areas, they’re worth the detour. Just know your limits.
Worst for: Monkeys behaving badly
The big problem is that these monkeys have been exposed to far too much interaction with humans, which has caused conflict between them and us. Even though the problems here are widely known, we still saw one Chinese-speaking tourist – I can’t say if they were local or from mainland China – feeding the monkeys at one of the rest stops.
A large macaque is an intimidating thing to be faced with if you don’t know what to do. When confronted with a large group on a path, we waited to see how other hikers handled the group. It turns out the answer is to walk slowly and confidently past them, without making any eye contact.
If you stop to take pictures, or if the monkeys spot you taking food or drink out of your backpack, don’t be surprised if an enterprising monkey tries climbing on you to see what else you’ve brought that they might want to steal. If this happens, stay calm and wait for it to climb off. You’re at risk of being scratched if you panic and try to shake it off.
Efforts are being made to reduce the impact of humans on the monkey population here, but I’d expect tangible changes to monkey (and human) behaviour to take some time.
Liyu Lake, Hualien
Best for: A gentle stroll, with monkey potential
Liyu Lake is a great spot to go walking near Hualien, on the East coast of Taiwan.
While there are some more strenuous trails for hikers here, you could just stick to the approximately 90-miunte loop around the lake if you can’t or don’t want to do a walk with steeper uphill sections on forest paths.
Spotting monkeys here might require a bit more patience – you’re likely to hear them, but we only saw one monkey while on the lakeside road. Follow one of the paths into the forest, and I’d expect you might see more with a bit of time and half an eye fixed on the treetops.
Even if you don’t see a monkey here, the lake itself is well worth the trip. You might even be fortunate enough to visit on a dragon boat racing day.
Worst for: Volume of monkeys
Whereas in Kenting or on Monkey Mountain you’re almost sure to see monkeys, at Liyu Lake there’s a chance you won’t see quite so many.
It’s also a harder place to visit if you don’t have a car. If you’ve already read our guide to visiting Hualien, you’ll know that the last bus back to town leaves around mid-afternoon – and Uber doesn’t operate in this area of Taiwan.
Even so, we both had a lovely day out here. And the writers of Taiwan Tales and Trails, a good resource for anyone looking to get hiking in Taiwan, report seeing more monkeys than we managed to on our visit. Perhaps the macaques were staying a bit deeper in the forest that day, with so much noise from the dragon boat racing out on the lake.
Nanhua Wushan Macaque Reserve
Best for: Erm, you tell us
We’ve covered three of the best places to see monkeys in Taiwan above, but there is one spot that we didn’t make it to on our travels that you might want to look into.
The Nanhua Wushan Macaque Nature Reserve (search 南化烏山台灣獼猴區 in Google Maps) is, according to this official-looking website, home to over 100 Formosan Macaques.
It’s located near Tainan, but you can also drive there in about an hour and 15 minutes from Kaohsiung. You probably won’t want to make the journey by public transport, as it’s two hours from central Tainan or nearly three hours from Khaosiung.
If you’ve visited this reserve, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.
This looks so fun! I was in Taiwan for 10 days about 6 years back but somehow never thought to discover this side of the country - love it!
This is so cool! I'm saving this for when we travel to Taiwan. I definitely want to see monkeys in the wild!
This is such a helpful and honest guide to seeing monkeys in Taiwan. I like how you explain the differences between Kenting, Monkey Mountain in Kaohsiung, and Liyu Lake. The tips about staying calm and not making eye contact at Shoushan are especially important. It’s great that you also mention the impact of human interaction on the macaques. A really practical read for anyone hoping to see monkeys responsibly in Taiwan. Your pictuers are amazing!