Cingjing Farm sits at around 1,700 metres in the central mountains of Nantou County, roughly three hours from Taichung by road. It began as a government livestock and resettlement farm and has grown into one of the island's most popular highland destinations — a spread of open pasture, cool clean air, and long views across the ranges that draws lowland Taiwanese escaping the summer heat. Sheep graze on the green slopes, and the morning sheepdog show on the central pasture remains the signature attraction.
The area has been heavily developed for tourism. Bed-and-breakfasts in an incongruous Swiss-chalet style line the hillside above the farm, and weekends and holidays can be crowded with day-trippers. Look past the kitsch and the core appeal holds: the Green Green Grasslands, the Guanshan Viewing Platform, and the high-altitude walking trails that thread through pine and pasture. Mornings are best, before the cloud rolls up the valley and the tour buses arrive.
Most travellers combine Cingjing with the road that climbs beyond it to the Hehuan Mountain pass at 3,275 metres, one of the highest drivable points in East Asia and a serious mountain landscape of bare ridges and, in winter, occasional snow. The whole region rewards an overnight rather than a single long day from Taichung — the drive up is slow and winding, and the rewards of the high country come early and late, when the light is low and the air is clear.