Qixingtan Beach

A scenic bay on the Pacific coast of Xincheng, Hualien, just north of Hualien City, with a sweeping view of the coastline to the north. Its name, meaning “seven star lake”, first belonged to a lagoon shaped like the Big Dipper a short way inland, which the Japanese filled in 1936 to build the airfield that is now Hualien Airport; the displaced villagers carried the name with them when they resettled on the bay. Most visitors come to the Qixingtan Coast Scenic Area (七星潭海岸風景特定區), developed by the county with a stone sculpture park, cycle path, and other facilities, though the beach is prone to rogue waves and is considered one of the more dangerous stretches of coast in Taiwan.