These low-lying sandy islands are good for a vacation. There are lots a places to explore. Penghu, which was formerly called the Pescadores, are notoriously windy. They are also known as the "Fishermen's Islands." Ownership has changed many times over the centuries, now they belong to Taiwan.

Summer is a great time to visit the main island of Penghu. You can see Kuibishan Moses Parted the Sea to the north (at low tide), enjoy the sandy and calm beach of Shanshui in the south. And Magong Old Street, the abandoned Duxingshi Village, Shuncheng Gate, and Rainbow Bridge over the water in downtown is worth a whole day. If you are lucky you can see fireworks! Be aware taxis can be hard to find so consider renting a scooter or hiring a driver.

Penghu, known as the Pescadores in English, is an archipelago of sandy islands in the Taiwan Strait, between Taiwan and China. The women swathe their faces in towels to protect their delicate faces against the constant wind. Penghu is also famous for peanuts. The Penghu Trans Oceanic Bridge i s worth seeing. The Pescadores have changed hands many times over the years, now they belong to the Republic of China (Taiwan). Penghu is out of the way, but it's well worth a trip.

We were teaching in Taiwan for 2 weeks and needed a break from the busy city life. We looked at going to Fulong beach (outside of Taiwan) or south to Kenting (too far, $$) but we settled on Penghu. We were glad we did. Penghu has the most beautiful beaches I've seen in Taiwan. It offers a variety of beach types including cove beaches, lots of shade, only sand, water activities etc. All of these beaches are easily accessible by vehicle (scooter or car) at a reasonable price from an in town renter. They can be located on a map or by road signs. Our favourite beaches are: Neian, Shili and Jibea Shiwea (Sand Spit). All were very different but very nice. Each location had a shower and toilet on location. Bring your own beverages and food. The downtown center is bustling in the afternoon but by 2:00pm everything shuts down. It reopens at 5:00pm until about 11:00pm. From 2-5 is the hottest time of day in Penghu and many locals cover up and take shelter (we did the same). The sun can be quite hot and without proper protection, you are at risk of a very serious sunburn. Most of the local stores don't speak English, but you can get by from using pictures or gestures and slower speech. We were lucky enough to find the odd local who spoke enough English to help us out. Penghu is more than just beaches. There is the Banyan Tree market which features a giant one-of-a-kind tree and many cactus flavoured goods. Very very tasty. There are great biking trails along the Great Bridge or WInd Farms made famous on Penghu. The aquarium is world class; go for the feeding at 11AM or 3PM to get your full 200 NT worth! The lighthouse offers the best views of the sunset. The Erkan villages are a 'living village' made completely of coral. Penghu is a place that has beautiful, secluded and serene beaches. It will make you wonder why you would travel to Bali or any other island for the 4x the cost. We were the only ones on the beach all 3 days we went and got the rest and relaxation we needed to re-energize ourselves. For restaurants, hotel suggestions and other tips, feel free to contact me. Penghu is a secret island getaway that will not disappoint.

I've been here a couple of times and its always a lovely trip. Things have changed a little since the 'good old days' and now you can't rent scooters on the main island without a local licence (they won't accept international licences either). However, there is bike rental available, some hotels have bikes for hire, and apparently the airport has FREE bikes you can pick up and return. however, I recommend penghubike (0928703109), zonghua rd 312. The guy is really friendly, and the bikes are great quality, he even has tandems, a bike will only cost you NT200 per day, and the islands are all flat ! The total journey from one end of the island to the other is about 40 km and there are lots of secret cycle routes that will take you to out of the way places not visited by the scooter brigades. One other thing I recommend is not opting for the standard boat trips from Magong, but go to Chikan on Baisha island and go to the North Sea Visitor Centre, and get boats from there. The reason being, the islands are closer than those accessible from Magong (only 20 mins to jibei yu) so you won't spend all day on a boat with only a very short amount of time to explore, and Jibei yu has a lovely sand spit that offers beautiful swimming, you can also hire a scooter (without a licence) for only NT 150 and spend as long as you like. The other islands are also close, and well worth a visit. Early April is a good time to go, because its not to crowded and full of jet skiers. If you don't want to go boating you can stay on the main island and just cycle around the bay to Shili beach and Shanshui beach for some lovely white sandy beaches and great swimming !

In terms of geological formation, Penghu Island and its surrounding islets are truly exceptional. You truly need to see them for yourself. Summer time is definitely the best time to visit this place. When there are more tourists, eateries will open and mini cruise ships would take you to far away places. However, in winter, the main Penghu Island is almost vacated. Almost all the shops are not opened and even the homeless dogs don't have any motivation to do anything else. That being said, if you are a traveller then, you would get the opportunity to experience the TRUE lifestyle of local people. It would be a plus if you can speak Ming Nan Dialect, and you get to converse with the old timers whose children have mostly gone to mainland Taiwan looking for job opportunities. Talking away with local people, they stated clearly that they could feel the impact of global warming because when they were children, winter was truly cold and hostile. Now, despite that the wind might be strong but it's not as cold as it used to be. Now that with mainland China and Taiwan are getting closer together, armies from Penghu have mostly been retrenched. Thus, the lifeline to local economy has been given a fatal blow because armies are good spenders of money. Local people lamented that local governments stated that tourism would be good for local economy but ultimately, large tour groups monopolise everything from accommodation to food to tour to souvenir purchase. As a result, money doesn't actually flow on directly into local economy. Penghu is known for its green credibility. It's putting more focus towards the usage of wind power to generate green power, and to promote the usage of vehicles and street lights that use Lithium Ion batteries. For local music enthusiasts, the deceased Producer of A-Mei, Zhang I-Shen originated from here. And so did Pan Ang Pan. This place is also rich with history, with western power changing hands between the French, Dutch, Portuguese over centuries. I came here with no expectation and I left Penghu with better knowledge of the island, and its co-relation with the mainland Taiwan.

We visited Penghu at the beginning of August 2014 and spent 3 days 2 nights there. After reading all the reviews we decided to take a ferry to the island. We have done some researches and found out that aparantly it was able to get there by ferry from Tainan. It turned out that there are no ferries going from Tainan eventhough we found it on some websites. Some people recommended us to take the train from Tainan to Xinying and from there just get a Taxi to Budai pier. Budai is a city of the Chiayi county. Every ferries will leave from Budai and NOT from Chiayi. From Chiayi t would cost you around 1200 TND and it would take around an hour to get there while from Xinying it would only cost you 500 TND and 30 minutes to get to the pier. The boat trip was alright and we got to Makung, Penghu in about an hour. We stayed at King Lin Hotel which was on the Makong island. The owner and her stuff were really friendly. She helped us out to rent a scooter as we didn't have an international driver's license with us but for the other islands such as Jibei it was fine without showing a driver's license. We payed 1000 TND for 2 days which was ok. On the next day we took the boat from North tourist information center to Jibei island. We payed 350 TND for a return ticket each. JIbei island was absolutely beautiful, you can also do a lot of water sport activites there. We rent a scooter for 150 TND for 4 hours and it was more than enough for us as it was really hot on the island and we couldn't stay in the sun for any longer. Back on Makung island, we also went to the shanshui and shili beaches. Both were really beautiful and relaxed as it wasn't crowded at all. In general Penghu is a really peaceful island and surprisingly not owercrowded by tourists, also the beaches were all really clean. I'd spend a week over there if I could do it again. There were so many beautiful islands and takes a bit time to see all of them without being in a rush.

This is my first time there and I have been deeply surprised by how clean the beach is compare to some of the beaches from Taiwan. Needless to mention the clarity of the sea. You can see through the navy blue and watch small fish swimming carefreely. The sun there was scorching hot for sure. But luckily I went there just before a typhoon stoke Taiwan. Therefore, the weather was quite acceptable when I was there. As for the most unforgettable event, oyster bbq is definitely a must try. Oysters from Penghu are a lot larger than the ones I see at Taipei's markets. They are fresh and juicy. No extra sauce is needed cause the original taste of it is already good enough. I also had lots of other seafood and their local food such as fried/dried squids, seaweed cookies, brown sugar cake, etc. All of those are so yummy that my taste buds are a hundred percent satisfied in this trip!

There are many beaches in and around Penghu, and it's amazing that all of them are clean and not crowded as one would see in most beaches. There are different beaches for you to go for the sunrise and sunset. The seafood is really fresh and cheaper as compared to Taiwan. If you're not into water activities or the beach, there are many landmarks for you to visit around the island. Almost everyone we met are friendly, and a few speak English, too. Definitely a place worth visiting!

We wanted some Taiwanese beach time but didn't like the look of Kenting. So glad we made the choice to go to Penghu. Easy 50 minute flight from Taipei. Easy 20 minute drive from the airport. Great atmosphere - laid back lifestyle - excellent beaches - very safe - very affordable. Taxis are cheap and plentiful but there seems to be set prices rather than cost via the meter so understand what you'll pay before you get in. We hired a private car & driver and got round the the island in 5 hours - not that much to do ... but that is part of the charm. Favourite beach: Aimen. Probably best to stay in Makung town centre to get the best of restaurants and shops. Outside from there is very isolated