Jingzaijiao Tile-Paved Salt Fields and Tainan nature full-day tour

Guanziling is the peak of Zhentou Mountain, Tainan City. The mountain was the residence of Pingpu Tribe until 1898, when Japanese soldiers found a hot spring and developed the area. Guanziling Hot Spring is a famous hot spring in southern Taiwan. The spring water is dark gray and bitter, emerging from the rocks. Guanziling Tourist District is famous for the hot spring, Hongye Park, Daxian Temple, Biyun Temple and Xiangong Temple. The hot spring is on the side of the mountain, where hotels, restaurants and spring pools can be found. The natural gas and the spring water exist together in the cave, presenting a peculiar view.

Built during the Qing dynasty, in 1818, the Jingzaijiao Tiled Salt Fields were formerly known as Laidong Salt Fields. The site was originally a barren desert. Lying on the sandy beach is a small sand dune, where underground water gushes out from low-lying ground forming a well-like structure. The name, Jiingzaijiao, was essentially derived from this particular landscape formation. To prevent salt crystals from attaching to the soil, salt miners at Pottery Dish Salt Field manually laid out broken debris of pottery onto the crystallizing ponds of salt fields. This approach resulted in purer and clearer salt being mined. Under the sunshine, the Pottery Salt Pan displays a resplendent, mosaic-like pattern. These features make it a unique cultural landscape of the homeland of salt. Today, it has become an excellent site for tourists to experience salt drying.

Tainan, a city on Taiwan’s southwest coast, was the island’s capital from 1683–1887 under the Qing dynasty. Today it’s known for its centuries-old fortresses and temples. One of its most famous sites is Chihkan Tower, an 18th-century Chinese complex with gardens, intricately carved towers and a temple erected on the foundations of Fort Provintia, a Dutch outpost dating to the mid-1600s.