Long Dong(Dragon’s Cave) 龍洞

Region: NorthEast

Type of Climbing: Sport, Trad,  possible Bouldering,  a little bit of DWS

Season:  Spring and Fall are consistently good, but Winter can be great, just check the forecast before heading out. Summer is hot but mostly dry– bring a swimsuit and seek the shade.

Rating:  

Description: Long Dong(Dragon’s Lair or Dragon’s Cave)  is  Taiwan’s premier outdoor climbing area - superb sandstone sport and trad climbing on the NorthEast coast of Taiwan.

Accessible easily from Taipei, Hsinchu and northern parts of Taiwan, approaches range from quick and easy to 30 minute hikes over rough terrain and sketchy traverses, but you’re rewarded for your hard work with varied climbing on firm sandstone that provides great friction and gear placements.

The sapphire blue waters, the sea breeze and beautiful rock formations make for a breathtaking backdrop that complements the excellent climbing.

Guidebook 

We highly recommend the Rock Climbing Taiwan 台灣龍洞攀岩  guidebook, extensively covering both Sport and Trad climbing at Long Dong, available at Tingsaniou in Taipei, iClimb in Hsinchu, or online worldwide.

However because the guidebook was printed in 2012, we recommend supplementing the guidebook with Guidebook+, our online route status tracker.

Directions

By Car: LongDong Schoolgate Entrance, LongDong Backdoor Entrance

Click on the Entrance you want to approach above and use Google Maps for directions

By Bus from Taipei: Right outside of Main Station Exit M1, buy a ticket from to Long Dong Harbour(龍洞港）The  Bus # will be 1811 . Buses leave daily at 8:20, 9:20 and 10:20 in the morning. Don’t be late. The bus ride takes about 1:10-1:30.

For School Gate entrance, get off at “龍洞港“(Long Dong Harbour) bus stop, walk down the bamboo stairs into the village main road, and walk right into the crag.

For Backdoor entrance, get off at the next stop(Officially “龍洞南口”, but if you ask politely, the bus driver may drop you off right after the tunnel.) and walk back towards the temple. Follow the small temple road through to the parking lot, and then descend the stone steps on your right leading down to the gazebo to go to Backdoor .

Buses run back to Taipei at very roughly 12pm, 3pm and 6pm depending on traffic. To catch the Taipei bus from Backdoor wait at the Long Dong Ocean Park stop.

If you miss the Taipei bus, the 791 bus comes every hour and goes to Keelung Train station where it’s a quick 30 minute bus ride to Taipei.

Weather:

• Taiwan Central Weather Bureau (Scroll down for LongDong) – This is specific to Long Dong, but it has only one forecast for the whole day.
• Township weather report- This is for the district that Long Dong is in, but is more detailed and shows weather forecasts throughout the day.

Rebolt status: Because of seaside corrosion, some routes are not safe to climb. The Guidebook does a decent job of explaining which routes are safe or not but since there has been significant rebolting since its publication in 2012, we also recommend supplementing it with Guidebook+, our local route tracker.

Accomodations: As camping is technically not allowed, the most convenient options are staying at the guesthouse in the village(#3 Long Dong street) or at The Bivy Climber’s Hostel.

Guide Service:  QxAdventures and Detour Formosa provides guide service for this area.

More Info 

MountainProject.com - Pretty good resource about Long Dong, with transportation, info about what gear to bring, and basic info about crags.  Lacks depth and coverage of the guidebook but enough for a day trip.

Climbstone.com - Well organized, basic  info on Long Dong, including how to get there, what to bring. The site is run by Matt Robertson,  author of the Rock Climbing Taiwan guidebook.