Kenting is at the very southern tip of Taiwan, where the island narrows and the climate tips into the tropical. Banana trees, sugar cane, and rice paddies line the roads approaching the peninsula; the water is warm enough to swim year-round.
Kenting National Park covers the cape and its surrounding sea, and is Taiwan's most visited national park. Baisha (White Sand) Beach is the largest and most popular, backed by resort hotels and rentable deck chairs. It gets very crowded on summer weekends when Taiwanese make the pilgrimage south; weekdays or the shoulder seasons (April and October–November) are considerably more peaceful.
The area is good for diving and snorkelling on the reef systems, and the flat roads make it easy to explore by bicycle or scooter. Eluanbi Lighthouse at the cape's southernmost point marks where the Pacific Ocean meets the Taiwan Strait. The town of Hengchun, just north of the park, has a well-preserved Ming-dynasty walled city — one of the few intact examples in Taiwan — and a good night market. The Kenting Street night market in the resort village is the social centre on summer evenings.