Bongbong Wild Hot Spring (芃芃溫泉), Yilan
(Last update - 2023/2) Certain wild hotsprings are best left hidden. Huangxi and Xiaqigu are both too small for the amount of people who descend on them. Huangxi can comfortably fit about four people! Bongbong (芃芃溫泉) however is enormous. There must be at least 40 pools here and some are quite large. Even though the spring is well-known and attracts crowds at the weekend it's large enough to not feel like a crush.
A small spring source
A group of indigenous hunters came through at one point. They had been hunting boar with dogs but hadn’t caught one.
One of the cooler riverside pools
The spring pools on a visit in 2021. The river had moved closer to the left bank
The pools vary in temperature from scalding hot to lukewarm. The ones closest to the river have more cool water filtering into them. Some of the pools around the bubbling water sources are hot enough to boil eggs in. Usually the pools are washed away each typhoon season and are rebuilt in the fall. The river shifts course sometimes too and sometimes the springs will change banks between winters. As of 2023 they’re on the left bank, but regardless, the river is not hard to cross in many areas.
A little note on the name: This spring seems to have been called Fanfan for a while, including on google maps, and that’s what I knew it as. Other stuff in the valley is still called Fanfan (梵梵), including the nearby church, some resorts, and some roads. However newer signs at the spring call it Pengpeng (芃芃), though this has been transliterated as Bongbong. The maps entry on the springs has also changed to this. Whatever name is used just note that it’s all the same place. Bongbong is likely an indigenous name for the spring so I think it’s best to refer to it as that from now on.
Boiling eggs in a super hot pool!
Hiking upriver from the small village is quite easy. There's a bridge and a few stepping stone sections (sometimes this bridge is washed away but it’s often rebuilt). Consider taking river shoes if there's been rain previously. On the first inside bend there's a smaller hotspring area with one pool and a steaming pond. This area would be a nice hotspring by itself but the area a few minutes further upriver is much better.
A trail at low water
The main area is on a wide open part of the riverbed with steep cliffs on each side. The spring emerges into orange tinted rivulets and trickles down through a series of pools. Some people were bathing in the upper pools but they were emerging bright red from the heat. I managed to find one very comfortable pool near the river that must have been close to body temperature and fell asleep in it.
Some big positives with Bongbong are that there is no sulfur smell and the temperature doesn't seem to fluctuate very much. Some hotsprings like Huangxi were a little erratic and there was the occasional scalding water surge. In recent years a geothermal plant has been proposed for the site, according to this article. This would almost certainly destroy the springs and it seems the locals are against it. I can't however find any reference in the Chinese language press to this plan so it may be inaccurate.
The large pond in the first spring area. Sort of looks a bit like an oil spill but it’s just mud and minerals
The spring is a fairly long drive from Taipei and not really possible to reach via public transport. The best option would be to drive via car through the Xueshan Tunnel. Alternatively a bus or train to Yilan City and then taxi/scooter may work if there's a group and taxi pickup back could be arranged. It may be quite an expensive way to do it though. There are a couple of buses like the 1764 or 1750, but good luck navigating this useless website. From the looks of it there are only around 6 buses passing per day. This distance will keep this spring mostly popular with Yilan residents, but there does need to be a good alternative to Bayan and this one can both hold crowds and is legal.
The adventures that make up these entries are often posted as Instagram stories at tomrookart first. So give that a follow too if you like as it can sometimes be a year or more before stuff turns up here. Location is on the Hidden Taiwan Map. For a lot of Taiwan related art and pictures check my other blog posts and gallery here.