Qualla: Zhaori Hot Spring

Zhaori Hot Spring: Introduction

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Most hot springs draw their water from freshwater aquifers heated by geothermal activity underground. Zhaori is different. On the southeastern shore of Green Island — the small volcanic island that rises from the Pacific about 33 kilometers off Taiwan's east coast — the hot springs at Zhaori are fed by seawater and underground water warmed by the island's volcanic geology. That makes Zhaori one of only three saltwater hot springs in the world, alongside springs on Kyushu in Japan and in Sicily. The water arrives at the pools between 60 and 70 degrees Celsius, far too hot to enter undiluted; the three open-air pools and terrace-like soaking basins mix it to a comfortable temperature as the Pacific waves break just meters away.

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Image: Suicasmo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Zhaori Hot Spring: Volcanic Origins

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Orangelioncat, CC BY-SA 4.0. Green Island, known in Mandarin as Lǜdǎo (綠島) and in the local indigenous language as Sanasai, is a volcanic island roughly 15 square kilometers in area. Its geology is the key to Zhaori's character: magma beneath the island heats both seawater infiltrating through the rock and g...

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Image: Orangelioncat | CC BY-SA 4.0

Zhaori Hot Spring: A Name That Changed With History

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Orangelioncat, CC BY-SA 4.0. During the Japanese colonial period, when Taiwan was under Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945, the spring was called Asahi Hot Spring — asahi (朝日) meaning 'morning sun' in Japanese, a name that suited the spring's eastern exposure and the way the first light of day reaches the pools...

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Image: Orangelioncat | CC BY-SA 4.0

Zhaori Hot Spring: Soaking at the Edge of the Pacific

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit P1340, CC BY-SA 4.0. The appeal of Zhaori is sensory and immediate. The pools sit at the coast's edge, close enough to the sea that the sound of breaking waves is a constant presence. Sunrise from the pools faces east over open Pacific water — on clear mornings, the light arrives in long horizontal b...

Read more: Zhaori Hot Spring on Qualla

Image: P1340 | CC BY-SA 4.0