Shoushan Nature Park

Also called Caishan Nature Park, this former cement mine is now a large, centrally located park with extensive hiking trails and great views of Kaohsiung City and the bay. The park is famous for a stair path that leads to a summit, where locals will serve tea to those who make it, and freely roaming monkeys who are both fascinating and entertaining. The tropical shore forest terrain is also lovely and provides shade on a hot day. The most centrally located section of the park is about 1 km from the Yangchengpu MRT station.

For running, there are some good options. A fun challenge is the ‘stair path’ to the summit (it can get crowded, best to go early). There’s an extensive series of trails, ranging from moderate to quite hilly, some meant more for hiking, but all with generally good footing. There’s a ‘main trail’ which is of moderate difficulty, as it sort of switchbacks around the mountain. For road running, a good bet is to run the road to the Kaohsiung Martyrs’ Shrine and Love Lookout. Then, run downhill on Wanshou Road to National Sun Yat-sen University, and the  Sizivan Beach area. There are many additional roads for running in the park, though they can be narrow and have no shoulder. We could not find a good online map of the trails, but there are large maps at the park entrance and other key points.