This is the one daytime sight in Luodong we'd send you to, and it's free. The Luodong Forestry Culture Park (羅東林業文化園區) is the old Luodong timber office and log pond, about 16 hectares of water, rail and Japanese-era buildings. Give it an hour or two in the afternoon, then walk on to Luodong Night Market for dinner.
- Hours Park 08:00 to 17:00 every day. Exhibition halls 09:00 to 12:00 and 13:30 to 17:00, each closed two weekdays (see below).
- Entry Free, no booking
- Address No. 118, Zhongzheng North Road, Luodong (羅東鎮中正北路118號). Use the south entrance on Xinyi Road (信義路).
- Phone 03-954-4247
- Getting there G21 Taiwan Tourist Shuttle Dongshan River Line to the Luodong Forestry Culture Park stop, or a walk or short taxi ride from Luodong Station
Why it's here
In the Japanese era, Taipingshan was one of Taiwan's three great state forests, with Alishan and Baxianshan. Its cypress timber came down the mountain by cable and by forest railway, and this was the end of the line. The Luodong forest railway opened in 1924, about 36 km of narrow-gauge track from the mountains to Zhulin Station here, and ran until 1979. The logs were stored and sorted in the pond until they were sold.
Logging on Taipingshan ended in 1982, and the site was left much as it was. The forestry agency began turning it into a park in 2004, and in 2012 it was registered as a cultural landscape. It's run today by the Yilan branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency.
What to see
- The log pond (貯木池). Walk the path around it first. The logs are long gone, and it's now a habitat for waterbirds.
- The log unloading platform, the slope where logs were rolled off the trains into the water.
- Zhulin Station (竹林車站), the little wooden terminus of the forest railway, where the timber and the people coming down from the mountains changed over. It's the photo everyone takes.
- The old locomotives and carriages on the narrow-gauge track.
- The exhibition halls in the old buildings: forest products (森產館), forest life (森活館), forest animals (森動館) and the forest railway (林鐵館), which is in the old inspection shed, one of the park's listed historic buildings. There are small halls for kids too.
- A machine-gun bunker that once guarded the yard and the railway.
The old buildings also hold a few shops and cafés, including a Starbucks (08:00 to 20:00) and a timber shop. For lunch, see where to eat in Luodong.
Which halls are open when
The grounds are open every day, but the indoor halls take turns to close, so check this if there's one you want to see. Each hall lets in 20 people at a time.
| Closed on | Halls |
|---|---|
| Monday and Tuesday | Forest Products, Forest Animals, Forest Kids (林場kids扣屋), Forest Stories (森林物語) |
| Wednesday and Thursday | Forest Life, Forest Railway |
| Weekdays (open weekends only) | Seed House (樹民種子屋), weekdays for booked groups only |
So Friday to Sunday is the best time, when every hall is open. All the halls close on Lunar New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Good to know: when we checked in November 2026, the county listed two other halls, Senyi 1 and Senyi 2 (森藝一館, 森藝二館), as closed for now.
Free guided talks
Staff give short free talks at set times, at each stop:
| Where | Times |
|---|---|
| Zhulin Station | 09:30, 14:30 |
| Forest Products Hall | 10:00, 15:00 |
| Visitor center and Forest Life Hall | 10:30, 15:30 |
| Forest Railway Hall | 11:00, 16:00 |
| Forest Animals Hall | 11:30, 14:00 |
Getting there
- G21 The Taiwan Tourist Shuttle Dongshan River Line (Green 21) from Luodong Transfer Station, by the train station, stops at Luodong Forestry Culture Park. It's the same bus that goes on to the Traditional Arts Center, so you can do both in a day.
- TRA Train to Luodong Station, then walk or take a short taxi ride.
- CAR There's a paid car park by the park.
→ Luodong · Taipingshan, where the logs came from · Yilan with kids · More things to do
Sources: Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, Yilan Branch: Luodong Forestry Culture Park (hours, halls, guided talks, history, phone); Yilan County tourism (宜蘭勁好玩), Forestry Culture Park (sights, area, Senyi halls); Lanyang forestry history archive, the Taipingshan forest railway; Taiwan Tourist Shuttle, Dongshan River line. Checked November 2026.