Hualien is the part of Taiwan where having your own wheels helps most. The coast road and the East Rift Valley are long, and buses along them are rare. Rental shops cluster around Hualien Station. Before you book one, sort out the licence.
The licence you need
Taiwan's Highway Bureau says a visitor holding a valid International Driving Permit (IDP) from a country with a reciprocal agreement may drive for up to 30 days after entering Taiwan. Longer stays need a permit from a Motor Vehicles Office. The Tourism Administration's advice for renting a car is the same: bring a valid international licence.
- Bring your home licence and your IDP, and your passport. A rental shop will ask for them.
- For a scooter, your licence and IDP need to cover motorcycles. Check before you travel; we could not find an official page that spells out how rental shops check this, so ask the shop when you book.
- Rules differ by country, and some countries have their own arrangements with Taiwan. Check the Highway Bureau's page for yours.
Good to know: without a valid licence, a reputable shop won't rent to you, and your travel insurance won't cover you. If your licence doesn't qualify, a day charter with a driver gets you to the same places.
Scooter or car?
- Scooter: good for Hualien City, Qixingtan and short trips. It gets tiring and exposed on long highway stretches, in the rain and in summer heat.
- Car: better for the coast road and the valley, for families, and for rainy days. Parking is easy outside the city center.
The roads, as of October 2026
Earthquakes and typhoons close Hualien's roads more than anywhere else in Taiwan. Check the Highway Bureau before any long drive.
Suhua Highway (Highway 9, north to Yilan)
The upgraded Suhua Highway is complete, and a further safety project for the slide-prone stretches, including a realigned, mostly tunnelled Heren to Chongde section, is planned to 2032 (CNA, February 2026). In the meantime, closures are weather-triggered: on the upgraded sections, wind level 8 brings speed limits and level 10 a closure. The Su'ao to Chongde section was closed as a precaution for a typhoon on October 23, 2026 and reopened the next morning. In April 2026 a rockslide damaged the Daqingshui tunnel shed and cut traffic to one lane.
Highway 8 into Taroko Gorge
The road through the gorge is open only in timed windows, with an overnight closure. See Taroko, right now for the current windows before you drive in.
Highway 9 south, the East Rift Valley
Since January 1, 2026, a 560 m temporary steel bridge carries Highway 9 over the Mataian River at Guangfu, where the September 2025 flood washed the old bridge away. It has a 40 km/h limit and closes as a precaution when water upstream rises. The new northbound bridge is due to carry two-way traffic by the end of 2026.
Highway 11, the coast
We found no current notices for the coast road. It is the scenic route south, with stops along the way.
Typhoon days: don't drive the Suhua Highway, Highway 8 or the coast road during a typhoon warning. Roads close at short notice, and rockfall is a real risk.
→ All the ways to get around · Day trips by car
Sources: Highway Bureau, driving in Taiwan with an IDP; Taiwan Tourism Administration, car rental; CNA on the Suhua safety project; Focus Taiwan on the Daqingshui rockslide; CNA on the October 2026 closure; CNA on the Mataian temporary bridge. Checked October 2026.