Explore the wonders of Tianliao’s cold springs and bizarre rocks — a super fun day trip in this charming town

By / Scenic Spots Home compiled report
 
Tianliao District is located in the northwest of Kaohsiung, featuring diverse and undulating terrain. With numerous tributaries of the Erren River, its badland topography attracts many travelers on a pilgrimage. Blessed with a tropical climate, the area boasts thriving agriculture and livestock farming. Take a holiday and bring your family to stroll around peaceful spots together.

Dagan Mountain Golf Course is far from the hustle and bustle and offers pleasant scenery. As you enter the access road to the course, rows of straight Cook Island pines come into view, their lush canopies towering overhead. The course features beautiful landscapes, with its 18-hole fairways laid out along valleys and ridges, offering gentle slopes. Ponds and bunkers are strategically placed to enhance the variety and fun of the game. Lined with numerous large trees, it is also known as a “forest golf course.”
 
Address: No. 1, Changshan Road, Xide Li, Tianliao District, Kaohsiung City

Kaohsiung’s Moon World is located between Chongde and Guting in Tianliao District. Known as a barren land, it possesses a desolate and otherworldly beauty reminiscent of the moon, which has made it famous. The geological landscape here is unique and academically referred to as a “badland” terrain. Over the years, rainwater and river water have eroded the soft, bluish-gray, slightly saline mudstone, forming a rugged and barren landscape. The fine-grained, loosely cemented mudstone with low permeability becomes extremely slippery when wet, causing it to slide downhill. This makes plant growth very difficult, leaving the area barren with exposed mudstone and a dense network of ridges and gullies — a unique sight of muddy badland terrain.
 
Address: No. 36, Moon World Road, Chongde Li, Tianliao District, Kaohsiung City

Tianliao Cold Spring has a long history and is one of the world’s rare carbonate cold springs. It is a naturally flowing sodium bicarbonate spring with a pH of 7 and an average water temperature of 22°C. The water is transparent, colorless, with a slight sulfur smell, and is a low-temperature hot spring. Known for its purity and soothing quality, it is often called the “Beauty Skin Spring,” and is the only area in southern Taiwan with a cold spring.
 
Address: Gangbei Road, Nan’an Li, Tianliao District, Kaohsiung City

Stone Temple is the rear hall of Cihui Shengtian Palace. In 1994, the temple provided aid to Thai laborers who were in trouble due to labor disputes. While waiting to return home, the Thai workers, filled with gratitude, collected stones and shells every day and used them to decorate the expanding temple. This created a uniquely shaped building that became a local legend, giving rise to the name “Stone Temple.” Opposite the temple is the Cihui Cultural Relics Museum, which displays tools from early Taiwanese agricultural life.
 
Address: No. 2-7, Xinxing Road, Xinxing Li, Tianliao District, Kaohsiung City