Tainan County’s Guanziling – Fire in Water, Stone Baked Chicken and Hot Springs

The other weekend I was feeling a bit bored, so I decided it was time to chillout in a hotspring. The closest hot springs to Tainan City are at the northern tip of Tainan County, very close to the border with Chiayi County – in Guan Zi Ling. This was my first time heading up there.

On the way, for a late lunch, I stopped at one of the many local stone baked chicken restaurants just between Baihe and Guanziling.

The locals were doing some heavy Taiwanese KTVing while I was digging in.

A short ride after Guanziling is the very interesting Fire Water grotto (水火同源) that due to some natural phenomena which I fail to understand lights a 24×7 one meter fire up from within a water pool.

The highlight was, ofcourse, the natural hotsprings. Following a recommendation I went to King’s GardenVilla, which is a 5 stars resort mini-town (7000NT$ per night) that allows visitors to soak in their hotsprings (for 450NT$ on a weekend, 350NT$ on a “peace” day). I spent four hours soaking in 15 different pools (grass, wood, mud, hot, moderate hot, regular, freezing cold, sauna, Jacuzzi, massage streams, etc.), putting all kinds of mud masks and fruit combinations on my face and skin and watching the local families.

Since it was already very dark, I’ll use the photos they posted on their website. It is that nice  :

What a terrific little town. Got to head back there soon.