Five of the ten international cruise ships scheduled to call at Port of Hualien this year (2025) are “discovery” class passenger vessels. Since calling at Hualien on April 17th as the port’s first international cruise ship arrival of the year, the ultra-luxury, discovery-class Scenic Eclipse II has made two more stops at the port on June 19th and June 21st, respec-tively. The indigenous culture and natural scenery experienced during these visits left passengers deeply impressed and in no doubt of Hualien’s magnetic allure.
The strong earthquake that rocked Taiwan’s central East Coast in April 2024 wreaked havoc across Hualien’s world-famous Taroko National Park. More than one year on, re-covery and reconstruction work has, as of July 1st, allowed a number of the park’s popular stops and scenic attractions to be reopened to the public. These include Taroko Terrace, the park’s main visitors center, Tianxiang Recreation Area, trails and sites to the west of Xibao, the Chongde Recreation Area, Dali-Datong Trail, and Shanhai Community. Other popular sites along the main road through Taroko, including Eternal Spring Shrine, Shakadang Trail, Swallow Grotto, Buluowan, Zhuilu Old Trail, and Jiuqu Cave, either re-main under assessment or are in the process of repair and thus remain closed to visitors.
Visits to Port of Hualien by large-size, high-capacity cruise ships such as the 115,000GT Diamond Princess and 83,000GT MS Westerdam already booked for 2026 will each bring at least 2,000 visitors to Taiwan’s East Coast. Beyond sites in the gradually recovering Taroko National Park, cruise passengers will be invited to experience cultural and scenic attractions such as Lintienshan Forestry Culture Park and Liushidan Mountain in Hual-ien’s East Rift Valley. In addition, Port of Hualien is continuing to upgrade port passenger facilities and provides helpful and comprehensive local tourism information and conven-ient transportation access to Hualien City and points beyond. Port officials are working closely with the Hualien County Government to promote local attractions and attract more international cruise ship calls in order to bring more of the world to Hualien and revitalize the region’s tourism economy.
Port of Hualien’s two passenger clearance stations are located adjacent to Wharf Nos. 23 and 14, respectively. The first, designed for high-volume, large cruise ship needs, can ef-ficiently handle 1,200 passengers / hour. The second, completed in January 2024 and designed to handle 600 passengers / hour, is designed primarily for handling domestic ferry / inter-island cruise passengers and as a backup waiting area for passengers taking the intermittent Hualien - Suao ferry. With physical and service infrastructures well in place, Port of Hualien looks forward to welcoming many more cruise ships to its friendly shores.
