Taiwan from Above

Brand-new contributor NI brings us this fantastic drone video from the Asian island nation of Taiwan.  Filmed with a DJI Mini 3 Pro, the video will take you over the mountainous interior and rocky coastline of Taiwan, also known as Formosa.  At the :22 mark, you'll see the Bitou Cape Lighthouse in New Taipei City at the northern tip of the island, and at :53 you'll see the nearby Elephant Trunk Rock.  Just after 1:00, you'll see the Changshun Tzu Water Temple in Taroko Gorge National Park in Hualien County, on the eastern coastline.

Top contributor NI serves up another superb drone video from Taiwan, which earned her a spot as a Drone Video of the Week Finalist for her fifth time after just seven uploads to AirVuz.  The video was shot over Taiwan's mountains, which cover much of the interior of this East Asian island country.  Filmed with a DJI Air 3 drone, the video features spectacular aerial footage of some of Taiwan's tallest peaks.  Despite its modest area of about 14k square mi. (around 36k square km), Taiwan is home to 164 mountains over 10k ft. tall (3k m).  

Brand-new contributor Walter Aerial used a DJI Inspire 3 drone to create this marvelous aerial tour of Taipei, capital of the island nation of Taiwan.  The video opens with a series of nighttime shots of the city, which lies at the northern tip of the island.  At the 1:00 mark, there's a magnificent shot of the Taipei 101 tower, the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2009 and still Taiwan's tallest.  Other highlights include a fireworks display along the Tamsui River at the 2:45 mark, the city's port (3:07), and more.  

Taiwan is an incredibly diverse island country.  It is a place of large cities such as Taipei, Tainan, and Taichung, which boast gleaming skylines and some of the world's tallest skyscrapers.  Yet, at the same time, it's also a land of stunning mountains, pristine beaches, and centuries-old temples and pagodas.  Top content creator and drone pilot Thibfromabove spent three weeks traveling the length and width of Taiwan, and with this video takes us on a a whirlwhind areal tour of modern and ancient Formosa.  

While many people associate the island nation of Taiwan with its capital Taipei, the country is actually quite large in terms of land area - it covers over 36k square km (14k square mi), only a small portion of which is part of metropolitan Tapei or the other Taiwanese cities.  In this video, top contributor and pilot NAVA used a DJI Phantom 4 Professional drone to give us an aerial tour of the island, including some relatively unknown yet spectacular spots far from the skyscrapers of Taipei.  

Get a mini aerial tour of some of the top sights of Taiwan in this drone montage by Igontsyn.  Here are the spots featured: Cingjing (in the middle of the country, east of Taichung), Jinguashi (a town in the northern part of the island which is famous for its copper mines), a Shinto Shrine (a relic of the period when Taiwan fell under Japanese rule), Golden Falls (located in the Ruifang District of New Tapei City), the ruins known as the Remains of 13 Levels (also in New Tapri City), Jiufen (a mountain town in northern Taiwan).

Take in the stunning scenery of northern Taiwan in this piece by Jona Bend.  The locations featured in the video include the following, all of which are located in Greater Taipei: the Maokong area of Wenshan, the southernmost district of Taipei; Shifen and Golden Waterfalls, two of the country's most famous falls, both of which are located in New Taipei City; the Yehliu Geopark; and more.  Greater Taiwan consists primarily of the city of Taiwan and New Taipei City, an administrative area which includes most of its inner and outer suburbs.  

Check out these stunning drone views from the coast of Taiwan, compliments of former Drone Video of the Week Winner NI.  The video was filmed with a DJI Air 3 drone in the area around Qingshui Cliff, which covers a roughly 13 mi. (21 km) stretch of coastline in Hualien County, in the northeastern part of the country.  The cliffs here form the base of mountains which reach up to nearly 8k ft. above sea level (around 2.4k m), immense elevations considering the proximity of the peaks to the coast.  

Explore Taiwan in this highly cinematic first person view (FPV) drone video by AirVuz contributor and FPV pilot sharpwest.  Using an FPV racing drone, he will take you over the mountainous interior and spectacular coastlines of this Southeast Asian island nation, which is sometimes known as Formosa.  The coastal shots are particularly impressive, providing bird's eye views of the country's rocky cliffs and giant offshore rock formations. This video was tapped for the AirVuz FPV Pilots to Watch list in July of 2020.

The number of shots in this video is astounding. Filled with time-lapses, panning and tracking shots, top-downs, still shots of moving palms, close up of kids playing a variety of sports, zooms, long-range, the list goes on and on. Shot in Taitung, a city on the southeast coast of the island nation of Taiwan, contributor and pilot bitostudio wanted to bring us a look at the world through the eye of a primitive hunter that observes creatures around it. It’s an interesting and excellent take.

Check out this amazing drone view of a scenic spot on the island of Taiwan, compliments of AirVuz contributor NI.  The area filmed is called Cape Wuyan (Wuyanjiao), and it's a rocky promontory near the northern end of Taiwan's eastern coastline, in Yilan County.  It's about a two hour drive from the capital city of Taipei (which lies at the northern tip of the island) along the coastal highways.  The cape is considered the northern end of the Coastal Mountain Range, which extends southwards from here to the southern tip of the island.  

Just east of the southern coast of Taiwan lies Orchid Island.   The island covers about 45 square lm (around 17 square mi.).  What makes Orchid Island most unusual is its native inhabitants, the Tao, who came to the island from the Philippines across the Luzon Strait in the 13th century.  The small island is almost entirely mountainous, with peaks as high as 400 meters (1.3k ft).  Contributor Jakublin used a drone to create a stunning aerial video of this small but spectacular rock of an island.  

Check out this outstanding drone video of a scenic spot on the coast of Taiwan, compliments of new AirVuz contributor and pilot Walter Aerial.  It's called Cape Wuyanjiao, and it's located on the northeastern shore of the island, and it's located about an hour's drive southeast of Taipei, which is situated at the northern tip of Taiwan.  The cape sits at the northern end of the Central Mountain Range, a range of mountains which runs down to the southern tip of the island, roughly parallel to the coastline.  

Contributor and pilot BestdayEver brightened our day with this amazing drone video of a famous rock formation on the island nation of Taiwan.  The Shen’ao Elephant Trunk Rock is situated on the coast of the Ruifang District of New Tapei City, the administrative area which covers much of northern Taiwan including the Taipei suburbs.  As you can see from the video, the name of the rock is quite appropriate - it really does resemble an elephant's trunk.  The rock and nearby fishing village lie beneath Mt. Shen'ao.

AirVuz contributor LucaLuca brings us this excellent drone video from Taiwan's Mt. Jade, which is also known as Yu Shan.  Located near the geographic center of the island, the mountain has a maximum elevation of just under 13k ft. above sea level, or just under 4k m.  That makes it the highest mountain in Eastern Asia outside of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.  The mountain is part of Yu Shan National Park, which is Taiwan's largest national park and also one of its most scenic albeit one of its least accessible.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, new contributor Drone Taiwan brings us this excellent drone video of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  Kaohsiung is the main city on the southern part of the island, and Taiwan's third-largest city overall after Taipei and Taichung.  The video opens with a nice shot of the 85 Sky Tower, Taiwan's tallest building from 1997-2004 and still the second-tallest as of 2023.  Other featured locations include the Kaohsiung Port Cruise Terminal at the :25 mark, the Kaohsiung Music Center (:41), the Liugui Buddha (2:04), and more.  

Check out this beautiful video from the mountains of southern Taiwan, compliments of natureroger.  The video was filmed on a hike to Teapot and Banpin Mountains, both of which lie within the boundaries of Kaohsiung, the main city in the southwestern part of the island.   The hike to the two mountains is considered one of the best on Taiwan, a country known in part for its fine hiking trails.  As you'll see from the video, hikers are well rewarded with stunning views of an other-worldly landscape.  

Check out this stunning drone video of a cultural festival in the island nation of Taiwan, compliments of content creator and pilot BestDayEver.  The festival is held in the town of Beigang, which is situated in Yunlin County on the island's western shore, between Tainan and Taichung.  Beigang is best known as the home of the Chaotian Temple, which you'll see at about the 1:05 mark in the video.  The temple is dedicated to the Chinese sea-goddess Mazu under a faith which originated in Fujian on the mainland.  

Taroko Canyon is one of the best known natural sites in Taiwan.  It lies in a national park which sits in several counties in the west-central part of the island.  It is sometimes referred to as Marble Gorge, in reference to the large supply of marble in the area.  The area was originally designated as a national park by occupying Japan in the 1930's; when the island was taken over by the Chinese Nationalists in the late 1940's the park status was abolished, and subsequently reinstated in the 1980's.  

Contributor and drone pilot kirstycarmen created this beautiful aerial video of one of the top tourist attractions in Taiwan.  It's called the Lotus Pond, and it's an artificial lake in Kaohsiung, a large port city which is situated on the southwestern coast of the island.  The pond was opened in the early 1950's, shortly after the culmination of the Chinese Communist Revolution on the Chinese mainland, and it's known both for its lotus plants on the lake and Buddhist temples surrounding it.  

Check out this excellent video production from Taiwan, compliments of AirVuz contributor StarEye.  The video, which combines drone and ground camera footage and hyperlapse edits, was filmed over the northern part of the island, in and around Taipei.  The video opens with a shot of the Fuguijiao Lighthouse, at Taiwan's northern tip.  The highlight though is a nighttime hyperlapse sequence from downtown Taipei which starts at the :35 mark: check out the epic view of the 101 story Taipei 101 building, the world's tallest for a half-decade.

Check out this fantastic first person view (FPV) drone video of one of the world's tallest statues, compliments of AirVuz contributor and FPV pilot sharpwest.  He used his mini-drone to film the Guanyin of Nanshan, a 108 meter tall (354 ft.) landmark in the island nation of Taiwan.  Lcoated in the southern province of Hainan, the statue is dedicated to Guanyin, a bodhisattva (an important personage, in Buddhist nomenclature) associated with compassion.  Enshrined in 2005, the statue was amongst the world's dozen tallest as of mid-2020.

Taichung is a municipality in the western part of central Taiwan.  The city is the second largest on the island, after the capital city of Taipei.  A relatively young city compared to Taipei or Tainan, Taichung benefited from Japanese investment during the 50 years following the Sino-Chinese War of 1895 when the island was ruled by Japan.  In this video, contributor and pilot Will Fly used a drone to film a spectacular English manor which was built into the hillside of the area during colonial times.  

Here's a nice look at a well-known lighthouse on the island nation of Taiwan, compliments of natureroger.  It's called Cape Santiago Lighthouse, and it's located on a promontory in the northeastern corner of the island.  Built in 1935, it stands just under 17 meters (about 55 ft.) tall.  The lighthouse is situated in the Gongliao District, due east of the capital city of Taipei.  The lighthouse occupies the very northeastern part of the island and is designed to protect ships in the busy lanes in and out of the harbor near Taipei. 

While Taiwan is home to nearly 25 million pemanenet residents as of 2022, the vast majority live along the island's western and northern shorelines: Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.  In this excellent drone video by AirVuz contributor LucaLuca, you'll get an aerial view of a very different side to Taiwan: the around the town of Yuli in southern Hualien County.  Hualien, which covers roughly the middle third of Taiwan's eastern coast, is the country's largest county by area but one of its least populous.  

Taiwan's Sun Moon Lake is home to some of the finest natural scenery in this island nation.  It's located in Nantou County, near the geographic center of the island.  Taiwan's largest lake, it's situated on the western side of the mountain range that runs down most of the country's eastern half.  In this drone video by Jack Shirley, you'll get a bird's eye view of the lake as well as some of the religious landmarks which sit atop the hills overlooking the lake: Ci'en Pagoda, Xuanguang Temple, and Wenwu Temple.

Check out this excellent drone video from the northeastern coast of Taiwan, compliments of AirVuz contributor Chitchai Sripirom.  The video was filmed around the port town of Keelung, which is located due east of Taipei and is considered part of the Greater Taipei Area.  The video includes some excellent footage of the town of Jiufen, which is located in the mountains just to the southeast of Keelung.  You'll also see some great shots of the harbor of Keelung, one of the busiest on the island.  

Content creator and pilot Negraof used a DJI Spark drone to create this beautiful aerial view of the largest Buddhist monastery on the island of Taiwan.  It's the headquarters for Fo Guang Shan, a large Chinese Buddhist monastic order which was founded in the late 1960's.  While relatively young, Fo Guang Shan is considered one of the four leading Buddhist organizations on this Southeast Asian island nation.  It's part of the Kaohsiung municipality in the southwestern section of the country.

Here's a great drone video of a cruise ship leaving a port in Taiwan by AirVuz contributor LucaLuca.  The vessel is the Nippon Maru, which was launched in 1990 and is operated by Japanese carrier Mitsui O.S.K. Lines.  The ship is just under 550 ft. long (167 m) and displaces a bit over 22k gross tons.  Refurbished in 2017, the ship can carry over 500 passengers and a crew of about 230.  It's heading out to sea from Keelung, the large port city on the island's northeastern coastline which is part of the Greater Taipei area.  

Check out these stunning aerial views of Taiwan's Lanyu Island, compliments of AirVuz contributor LucaLuca.  Also known as Orchid Island and Hongtou Island, it's located about 40 mi. (around 65 km) east of the southern tip of the main island of Taiwan, just north of the Strait of Luzon which separates Taiwan from the Philippines.  Part of Taitung County, the island has a permanent population of around 5k.  Volcanic in origin, the island has mountains which reach up to 1.8k ft. above sea level (around 550 m).  

JrisYangFPV created this amazing first person view (FPV) video of one of the world's highest waterfalls.  It's the Jiao Lung Waterfall, and it runs down a cliff near the town of Alishan in Chiayi County, which is in the western part of the island.  It's a plunge-type waterfall with a drop of about 600 meters, or around 2k ft.  The waterfall is seasonal, and (as you might expect) flows heaviest during the monsoon season.  It's not easy to reach, so one can imagine the skill it takes to take it on with a racing drone!

Check out this drone video of a newer luxury hotel in the Taiwanese city of Luodong, compliments of content creator and pilot bbson52. Luodong is an urban township in an interior area of Yilan, one of the northeastern counties of this Southeast Asian island nation.  It's located on a landform known as the Yilan Plain.  The hotel is a newer property called the Cuncyue Hot Spring Resort.  The area is a popular getaway destination for residents of greater Taipei, which is located a bit to the north.  

Check out this fantastic drone video of a well-known Taoist temple in northern Taiwan, compliments of new contributor MavicAir2TW.  It's called the Wuji Tianyuan Temple, and it's located in the mountains of New Taipei City, just outside of the national capital.   Taoism, which originated in the Chinese mainland, is often synthesized with Buddhism and Confucianism; the majority of Taiwanese observe the three faiths in combination.  The temple is a major tourist attraction in Greater Taipei, particularly during the cherry blossom season. 

Check out this captioned drone video from across the island nation of Taiwan, compliments of digiotto,.  The video features footage from Valentine Lake and Waimu Mountain near the northeastern city of Keelung; Shuiwei Harbor in the Jinshan District of New Taipei City; the Taoyuan Valley in NTC's Gongliao District; Guishan Island; Taipei's Tiger Mountain; Kano Plain, Kano Hill, and Chihshang near the southerbn city of Taitung; Shimen Reservoir and the Guanyin Wind Farm in the northwestern municipality of Taoyuan;  and Shalun Beach in NTC.

Get a unique perspective of the Taiwanese city of Keelung in this excellent first person view (FPV) drone video by AirVuz contributor and pilot sharpwest.  Located just east of the island's northern tip, Keelung is considered part of Greater Taipei.  It's home to Taiwan's second-busiest seaport and is of considerable historical and cultural significance as well.  With great shots cruising the Keelung coastline and buzzing some of the city's landmarks, this video made the FPV Pilots to Watch list in November, 2020.   

Enjoy these stunning nighttime aerial views of Taipei, Taiwan by AirVuz contributor NI.  The video opens with shots of the Taipei 101 tower, which was the tallest building in the world for several years in the early 21st century.  At about the :15 mark, you'll see Shin Kong Life Tower, which was the city's tallest building when it opened in 1993 and is still among the top five as of 2023.  Other highlights include some great shots of the city's commuter trains.  This video was a Drone Video of the Week Finalist.