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Taiwan Taiwan forest

Xitou Nature Education Area

lienyuan lee · CC BY 3.0

99% trees around it and 859 species recorded.

88Forestyas Score

ForestDense canopyMountain forestBirds

  • trees within 3 km99%
  • wild within 10 km98%
  • species recorded859
  • Altitude1,127 m

The forest around

99% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 98%Grassland 0%Built-up 1%Trees 99%Grassland 1%Built-up 0%Trees 96%Grassland 3%Cropland 0%Built-up 0%Trees 90%Grassland 6%Water 0%Bare ground 1%Cropland 2%Built-up 1%99%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km98%
  • 1–3 km99%
  • 3–6 km96%
  • 6–10 km90%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees99%
  • Grassland1%
  • Bare ground0%
  • Cropland0%
  • Built-up0%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

859 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Strobilanthes flexicaulis
Strobilanthes flexicaulisStrobilanthes flexicaulis56 recordsPing an Chang · CC BY-SA 4.0
Helwingia japonica
Helwingia japonicaHelwingia japonica45 recordsAlpsdake · CC BY-SA 4.0
Aeschynanthus acuminatus
Aeschynanthus acuminatusAeschynanthus acuminatus42 recordsPing an Chang · CC BY-SA 4.0
Debregeasia orientalis
Debregeasia orientalisDebregeasia orientalis39 recordsHectonichus · CC BY-SA 3.0
Oreocnide pedunculata
Oreocnide pedunculataOreocnide pedunculata24 recordsKeisotyo · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ficus erecta
Ficus erectaFicus erecta24 recordsKENPEI · CC BY-SA 3.0
Running mountaingrass
Running mountaingrassOplismenus compositus23 recordsGihan Jayaweera · CC BY-SA 3.0
Impatiens uniflora
Impatiens unifloraImpatiens uniflora21 recordspeganum from Small Dole, England · CC BY-SA 2.0
Hairy beggarticks
Hairy beggarticksBidens pilosa21 recordsWiki Farazi · CC0
Redflower ragleaf
Redflower ragleafCrassocephalum crepidioides20 recordsForest & Kim Starr · CC BY 3.0
Ophiorrhiza japonica
Ophiorrhiza japonicaOphiorrhiza japonica20 recordsKENPEI · CC BY-SA 3.0
Asian taro
Asian taroAlocasia odora20 recordsMickaël Schauli · CC BY-SA 4.0

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

88out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 99%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 98%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 859Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 1,127 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking from December to January.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan21°10°47 mm
  2. Feb23°12°39 mm
  3. Mar24°14°66 mm
  4. Apr27°17°102 mm
  5. May28°20°252 mm
  6. Jun27°21°343 mm
  7. Jul28°21°268 mm
  8. Aug28°22°400 mm
  9. Sep28°20°228 mm
  10. Oct27°18°73 mm
  11. Nov25°16°47 mm
  12. Dec22°12°37 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Xitou Nature Education Area.

Forest in Nantou County

Xitou Nature Education Area is a forest in Taiwan, 1,127 m above the sea.

Seen from space, 99% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 98% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

859 species have been recorded around it: 654 plants, 3 fungi, 193 birds and 9 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Strobilanthes flexicaulis, Helwingia japonica and Aeschynanthus acuminatus.

The best time to walk is from December to January.

溪頭自然教育園區 Xitou Natural Education Park - panoramio (1)
lienyuan lee · CC BY 3.0

Get there and walk

  • Official informationAccess, hours and rules from those who manage the place.Official site
  • 一陽露營區campsite · 3.0 km · 21 within 10 km
  • 溪頭福華渡假飯店：大學樓place to stay · 0.2 km · 40 within 10 km
  • Lugunearest town · 9.2 km in a straight line
  • Chiayi Airport (CYI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 48 km in a straight lineCar hire in TaichungDiscover Cars · sponsored link

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire in TaichungDiscover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Xitou Nature Education Area seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 22marked trails within 5 km鳯凰山北嶺線, 金柑樹山步道, 鳳凰山南嶺線 and 19 more
  • 9named and notable trees within 6 km溪頭臥神木, 杉林溪巨木, 美國水松 and 6 more
  • 16picnic sites within 4 km
  • 63shelters and huts within 6 km仁亭 and 62 more
  • 20viewpoints within 5 km燕庵, 向欣谷, 青龍瀑布 and 17 more
  • 2visitor centres within 6 km杉林溪自然教育中心, 小半天旅遊服務中心
  • 10car parks within 3 km
  • 21campsites within 10 km一陽露營區, 竹內露營區, 獵寮 and 18 more
  • 40places to stay within 10 km溪頭福華渡假飯店：大學樓, 溪頭福華渡假飯店：　鳳凰樓, 孟宗山莊 and 37 more
  • 18restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Xitou Nature Education Area.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas136 mountains within 25 km
Xiluanda Mountain3,081 m · 16 kmJunkeng Shan2,977 m · 16 kmQingshui Shan Nanfeng3,008 m · 18 kmWangxiang Shan3,232 m · 19 kmGundai Mountain3,278 m · 20 kmMount Tibaun2,909 m · 20 kmDuiguan Mountain2,936 m · 24 kmLinzhi Shan3,854 m · 24 km
Islandyasthe island
Taiwan Island35,883 km²
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 km
Lulin ObservatoryBortle 3 · 24 km
Cascadyas6 waterfalls within 15 km
Ch’ing-lung Falls4.4 kmDexing Waterfall4.7 kmQinglong Waterfall6.5 kmJui-lung Falls10 kmPenglai Waterfall12 kmJiao Lung Waterfall14 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

Sky Walk Xitou-07.2023-10-18
阿道 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Xitou Nature Education Area-11.2023-10-18
阿道 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Xitou Sky Walk
SSR2000 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Other forests nearby.

Xitou Nature Education Area

Taiwan

  • 88Forestyas Score
  • 99%Trees
  • 98%Wild
  • 859Species

Huisun Forest Recreation Area

Taiwan · 50 km

  • 87Forestyas Score
  • 96%Trees
  • 98%Wild
  • 677Species

See the guide

Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area

Taiwan · 50 km

  • 84Forestyas Score
  • 91%Trees
  • 99%Wild
  • 395Species

See the guide

Basianshan National Forest Recreation Area

Taiwan · 62 km

  • 84Forestyas Score
  • 96%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 391Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q16926656) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species86,459 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Darkskyas, Cascadyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here