Sun Moon Lake rewards those who linger past a single afternoon. The 30km cycling path around the lake is the best way to see it — at your own pace, stopping at temples, piers, and viewpoints as the mood takes you. The temples on the northern shore and the Thao indigenous village at Ita Thao on the south are the cultural anchors; the lake itself, the mist, and the tea-covered hills above it are the reason most people come.