Dahu (大湖) is a rural township in the south of Miaoli (苗栗) County. Blessed with lots of sunshine and rich fertile soil, Dahu is Taiwan’s major producer of strawberries. Also known as the ‘Strawberry Kingdom’, the fruit and its products are the township’s main income source. With two-thirds of their townsmen into strawberry cultivation, there are as many as 50 strawberry farms, of varying sizes, within a land area of 90 sq.km.
We’re lucky to be here in Dahu at the start of their strawberry season, which runs from end December to April every year.
We went strawberry-picking at one of the bigger farms we chose at random, a short distance away from Dahu Wineland Resort. Feeling sleepy from our ‘mid-night flight’, the children initially did not want to stir out of the car. But once we stepped out, the cool morning air was so invigorating, they were soon energized and enthusiastically moving about the farm with a small basket and a pair of scissors each. This early morning activity was so fun, we all enjoyed the experience.
Along the neat rows of strawberry plants against the backdrop of surrounding mountains, we played treasure hunt to search for the biggest and reddest strawberries.
When we started at around 9am, we were the only ones in the farm but slowly visitors started arriving. There were not be many strawberry farms open at this early hour. Our driver had to make a few turns before we actually found this one open for business. Nevertheless it’s still advisable to be there early to have a better chance at picking big red juicy ones.
The strawberries are sold according to weight. The farm we visited charged us NT$380 for 1 jin (or 0.5kg).
P.S. The price each individual farm charges varies. Heard from our Miaoli cab driver that some farms nearer to Dahu Wineland Resort charged within the range of NT$400-450 within the same day or two as our visit. To avoid over-paying, you may want to ask around before deciding on the farm for your strawberry-picking.
Dahu Wineland Resort (大湖酒庄) consists of shops and stalls selling strawberry-flavoured food products, alcoholic drinks and snacks.
We gave their strawberry-flavoured snacks a try.
After all, it’s not everyday we get to taste strawberry-flavoured savoury food like strawberry-flavoured tea leaves eggs (茶叶蛋), strawberry-flavoured pop-corn chicken (盐酥鸡) and strawberry-flavoured corn dog (香肠).
Verdict? The food had a hint of fresh strawberry flavour but not overpowering.
If you’re as interested in strawberries as we do, it’s worth spending some time to learn more about them in the Strawberry Culture Museum (大湖草莓文化馆) on Level 3 of the resort. The museum area is limited but with adequate displays for visitors to know more about the bionomics and health benefits of strawberry, stages in strawberry planting and planting and harvesting equipment. Information displayed are in both Chinese and English.
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Read more about our trip itinerary and the other places we visited during the trip in Taiwan 2016 – Family Trip Itinerary.
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Useful information
Dahu Wineland Resort
Address: No.24, Baliaowan, Dahu Township, Miaoli County 364, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Web information (in Chinese only): http://www.dahufarm.org.tw/wine/index.htm
(Most of the shops in our experience opens after 9am or later)
Dahu Strawberry Farms
Web information (in Chinese only): http://www.dahu.com.tw
我要六月去苗栗，还可以看见草莓吗？你可以帮我预算一辆车十个人的行程吗？去台中福寿山和苗栗。
Hi Josephine,
Based on our understanding, the peak season for strawberry is from December to April.
For the transport cost, we suggest you contact a transport service provider. Our driver’s details during our 2016 trip can be found in his Facebook page 台灣金典車旅-安適傑車旅. Hope this helps.