A green, rainy plain on the northeast coast — hot springs and a rare cold spring, a turtle-shaped island offshore, and the cradle of Taiwan's own opera.
東北海岸一片翠綠多雨的平原——溫泉與罕見的冷泉、外海一座形似烏龜的島,與台灣本土戲曲的搖籃。
Yilan sits on Taiwan's rainy northeast coast, occupying the Lanyang Plain (蘭陽平原) — a triangular alluvial fan ringed by steep mountains on three sides and opening to the Pacific on the fourth, drained by the Lanyang River. For most of its history this green, wet plain was almost a world apart, cut off from Taipei by the Snow Mountain Range. Long before Han settlers, it was the homeland of the Indigenous Kavalan people (噶瑪蘭族), from whom the region's old name comes; the Atayal lived in the surrounding mountains.
宜蘭位於台灣多雨的東北角,主體是蘭陽平原——一片三面環山、一面朝太平洋敞開的三角形沖積扇,由蘭陽溪貫流。長久以來,這片翠綠濕潤的平原幾乎自成一個世界,被雪山山脈擋在台北之外。早在漢人到來之前,這裡是平埔原住民噶瑪蘭族的家園,此地舊名即源於他們;泰雅族則居住在周圍山區。
Han settlement came late and forcefully. In 1796 the pioneer Wu Sha (吳沙) led a large band of mostly Zhangzhou migrants into the plain, building a fortified base at today's Toucheng (頭城, "First City"). Settlers spread in defensive clusters whose names — with the characters 圍 ("walled enclosure") and 結 ("bond") — still dot the map. As the Kavalan lost their land, many migrated south to Hualien and Taitung, and by 1875 the Qing reorganized the plain into Yilan County.
漢人的開墾來得既晚且強勢。1796 年,墾首吳沙率領大批漳州移民進入平原,在今日的頭城(「第一座城」)築起據點。墾民以「圍」「結」為單位向外擴散建村,這些地名至今仍留在地圖上。隨著噶瑪蘭族失去土地,許多族人南遷花蓮、台東,到 1875 年清廷將此地改制為宜蘭縣。
For more than a century Yilan stayed isolated — reachable from Taipei only by a slow mountain road. That changed in 2006, when the Hsuehshan Tunnel (雪山隧道), about 12.9 km long and one of the longest road tunnels in the world, opened through the Snow Mountain Range; a two-hour trip suddenly shrank to under an hour, pulling Yilan into Taipei's backyard. Beyond its rain, modern Yilan is known for clean, citizen-focused local government and as a guardian of folk culture — home to the National Center for Traditional Arts and the cradle of gezaixi (歌仔戲), the only major traditional opera that originated on Taiwanese soil.
此後一個多世紀,宜蘭始終與外界隔絕,從台北前往只能走緩慢的山路。直到 2006 年,全長約 12.9 公里、為世界最長公路隧道之一的雪山隧道穿越雪山山脈通車,原本兩小時的車程驟然縮短到一小時內,宜蘭頓成台北的後花園。除了雨,現代宜蘭以清廉、以民為本的縣政與民間文化的守護聞名——國立傳統藝術中心坐落於此,它更是歌仔戲的搖籃——唯一真正發源於台灣本土的大型傳統戲曲。
A 24-hectare "living folk-arts village" beside the Dongshan River in Wujie, opened in 2004. Cobbled old-street blocks hold craft workshops — wooden clogs, puppets, glass, ceramics — alongside open-air stages for gezaixi opera and folk performances.
A turtle-shaped volcanic islet off Toucheng, about 20 minutes by boat from Wushi Harbor. An active volcano with an offshore turquoise "milky sea" colored by undersea hot springs, it is famous for whale- and dolphin-watching; with a permit you can land and walk its tunnels.
A dramatic museum in Toucheng by architect Kris Yao, opened in 2010. Its slanted, wedge-shaped form is modeled on the cuesta (單面山) tilted-rock landform of the nearby coast, and its exhibits tell the story of Yilan's land, sea and people.
One of Taiwan's rare lowland hot springs, right in the town of Jiaoxi — a clear, colorless, odorless sodium-bicarbonate spring nicknamed the "beauty spring." Free foot-soaking pools dot the town center, making it the easiest soak to reach from Taipei.
A vast forest recreation area in the northern Central Range, a former logging center. Highlights include the "Bong-Bong" forest train, alpine Cuifeng Lake, the misty Jianqing Historic Trail and the Jiuzhize hot spring.
A riverside park in Wujie built around the Dongshan River, and the home venue of the Yilan International Childrens' Folklore & Folkgame Festival. In summer it fills with water-play areas, art installations and stages.
The harbor in Toucheng is the gateway for whale-watching and Turtle Island boat tours, beside the Lanyang Museum. The adjacent Wai'ao Beach is one of north Taiwan's most popular surfing spots, with the turtle island on the horizon.
A rare cold carbonated spring in Su'ao — water around 22°C, fizzing with carbon-dioxide bubbles, so a soak feels like sitting in a tub of soda water. Known since the Japanese era, its water was traditionally used to make the local yokan sweet jelly.
A century-old fishing port in Su'ao, one of Taiwan's three major fishing harbors and often called the "home of the mackerel" — it lands the great majority of Taiwan's mackerel catch. A great place for fresh seafood and the rhythm of a working harbor.
The historic main street of Toucheng, the plain's first Han town. Once a thriving port street, it keeps old shophouses and temples, and the town hosts the dramatic Qianggu (搶孤) ghost-month pole-climbing ritual.
Yilan is a guardian of folk culture — the birthplace of an opera, the homeland of a people, and a town built around a spring.
Yilan is the cradle of gezaixi (歌仔戲), the only major traditional opera form that originated in Taiwan itself. It grew in the late 19th century (tradition points to Jietoufen in Yuanshan) out of folk ballads, first sung on temple plazas before becoming full staged opera. The National Center for Traditional Arts now preserves gezaixi, glove puppetry, lacquer, woodcraft, glass and ceramics in one living village.
Yilan is the ancestral home of the Kavalan (噶瑪蘭族), recognized as Taiwan's 11th Indigenous people in 2002 and known for banana-fiber weaving (most now live in Hualien). Add Jiaoxi's "beauty spring" bathhouses, the green onions of Sanxing, and a strong community and eco identity, and Yilan's culture is both deep-rooted and quietly modern.
Born in Yilan, Chiang was a Western-trained doctor and the foremost leader of Taiwan's cultural and political movements under Japanese rule. He co-founded the Taiwan Cultural Association in 1921 and in 1927 the Taiwan People's Party, the first modern party led by Taiwanese. The freeway through the Hsuehshan Tunnel is named the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway in his honor.
Beyond any single name, Yilan's gift to Taiwan is gezaixi itself — generations of performers who turned local ballads into the island's own opera. Its singers and troupes, nurtured on temple plazas across the Lanyang Plain, carry a uniquely Taiwanese art onto stages nationwide.
A summer festival at the Dongshan River Water Park, first held in 1996 to mark the 200th anniversary of Wu Sha's settlement. It combines international children's performing troupes with large outdoor water-play areas — one of Taiwan's signature summer events.
A dramatic ritual at the end of Ghost Month in Toucheng: competitors scale tall poles slathered in beef tallow to reach offering platforms and seize the winning flag — a roughly 200-year-old tradition remembering the pioneers who died settling the plain.
Roughly spring through autumn, boats run from Wushi Harbor to the waters around Turtle Island, where whales and dolphins ride the warm offshore currents.
The spring Yilan Green Expo reflects the county's eco-minded identity, while the cooler months fill Jiaoxi's bathhouses and foot-soaking pools with soakers escaping the city.
Yilan's "banquet" cooking turns humble ingredients into delicacies — and the rainy plain grows Taiwan's sweetest green onions.
Taiwan's most prized green onions — thick, white-stemmed and sweet — best in a hot, crispy green-onion pancake.
Sanxing 三星A signature Yilan banquet dish: chicken stock, minced meat and shrimp cooked to a paste, chilled to a jelly, then battered and fried — cool outside, scalding within.
Yilan banquet 辦桌A homestyle banquet soup of shredded meat and vegetables simmered with napa cabbage, topped with crisp fried egg floss — the spirit of waste-nothing Yilan cooking.
Yilan banquet 辦桌Duck salted, pressed and smoked over sugarcane, then sliced thin — one of Yilan's traditional "treasures."
Countywide 全縣Rainy, hilly Yilan is Taiwan's kumquat country; the fruit is most often eaten preserved as sweet candied 蜜餞.
Yuanshan 員山The port lands the overwhelming majority of Taiwan's mackerel — eaten fresh, grilled or in the local seafood markets.
Su'ao 蘇澳Yilan's most famous night market, known for filled tapioca balls (包心粉圓), angelica mutton soup and mutton stalls.
Luodong 羅東A cured, dried pig-liver delicacy, another traditional Yilan banquet specialty sliced thin for guests.
Yilan banquet 辦桌A green, rainy plain ringed by mountains, opening to the Pacific.
Jiaoxi's lowland "beauty spring" and the rare Su'ao cold spring.
The turtle-shaped volcanic islet and whale-watching waters.
Taiwan's own opera and the National Center for Traditional Arts.
The tunnel that put Yilan under an hour from Taipei.
Sanxing green onions, kumquats, smoked duck and mackerel.
Introduce Yilan to a visitor — tap 🔊 to hear each sentence. 用英文向訪客介紹宜蘭,點 🔊 聽聽看。
Sources · 資料來源:宜蘭縣政府、國立傳統藝術中心、東北角暨宜蘭海岸國家風景區管理處、文化部、維基百科等公開資料整理。