The main draw for hikers and history seekers is the Walami Trail, a path that follows an old Japanese administrative route into the mountains east of the valley. During the colonial period, Japanese authorities used it to maintain surveillance of indigenous villages in the high country—a history that the trail carries quietly, in the character of the path itself more than in any signage. Today, much of the trail has been reclaimed by forest and erosion, but the accessible sections offer serious hiking through subtropical vegetation, with a cabin at the highest point reachable in a day that allows for an overnight stay. The permit and police registration requirements are not bureaucratic nuisances but genuine necessities: the mountains above Yuli are remote, and the trail is a real backcountry route rather than a manicured park walk. For those who complete even the lower sections, the views back over the valley floor and its patchwork of rice fields are reward enough.

Yuli serves as one of the access points to Yushan National Park, one of Taiwan's nine national parks. Yushan—Jade Mountain—is the highest peak not only in Taiwan but in all of East Asia outside of the Himalayas and Central Asian ranges, reaching 3,952 metres. The park encompasses a vast area of the Central Mountain Range, and while Yuli is not the only approach to the park, it lies on the eastern edge of the protected zone, making it a logical staging point for hikers heading into the high country from the east. The park's designation reflects Taiwan's commitment to protecting one of the island's most dramatic natural environments—a zone of endemic species, high-altitude grasslands, and peaks that gather cloud and snow in winter while the valley below remains subtropical.

Ask for the local specialty and you will be pointed toward Yuli mian—Yuli noodles—a dish that inspires a certain gentle local pride without necessarily overwhelming visitors who expected something more dramatically different from noodles found elsewhere in Taiwan. The distinction is in the texture and the preparation, subtle enough that the experience of eating a bowl in a Yuli noodle shop matters more than the technical description of what sets the noodles apart. Alongside the noodles, the town's other food identity is in fresh fruit. The grapefruit and pomelos sold outside the station are a genuine pleasure during the hot valley summers, their bitterness and sweetness balanced in a way that makes them feel medicinal as well as delicious. Night markets in the township, though modest by Taiwanese urban standards, offer the usual repertoire of grilled things and cold drinks in an atmosphere that is relaxed and unhurried.

Yuli is a railway town, which shapes how both residents and visitors move through it. The Taiwan Railway station connects it to Hualien to the north and Taitung to the south, but the countryside around the township—the waterfalls, the hot spring, the hiking trailheads—requires a bicycle or scooter. Rental shops cluster near the station for this reason. The hot spring is about 6 kilometres southeast of the large bridge, past a sign that would be easy to miss if you were moving quickly and not paying attention. Two waterfalls and several short hiking routes are scattered in the surrounding hills, the kind of sights that reward a half-day of slow, directionless exploration more than targeted seeking. Ruisui to the north has hot springs of its own, along with the famous Tropic of Cancer marker. Hualien to the north is the county's touristic centre and the base for Taroko Gorge. Taitung to the south—the youngest city in Taiwan, developed during Japanese colonial administration, with a strongly indigenous, Hoklo, and Hakka population—is the other anchor of the valley's long axis.