What is The Charm of Beitou? Giving You The Answer from 9 Good Places to Visit!

Beitou, at the base of Yangming Mountain, is one of Taiwan’s four great hot spring areas, very much embodies the style of an old Japanese hot springs village. The geothermal resources that Beitou hot springs enjoys are the result of an eruptions by the Datunshan volcanoes. As a result, spring waters contain green sulfur, white sulfur, and iron sulfur. The white sulfur waters have also been given the nickname of the “milk spring waters!” In addition to the relaxing hot springs, Beitou also has cultural museums such as the Beitou Hot Springs Museum. The Beitou Library, which is regarded as one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, is also not to be missed. Due to Beitou’s connection to the subway, it has gradually becomes one of the most popular hot spring spots in Taiwan.

Lane 34 off Beitou Hot Spring Road has become a mecca for fans of the MayDay musical band fans, since this is where its lead signer, Ashin, once confessed his love to the girl who was the object of his affections. Here, Ashin finally had the courage to say "I love you" to the girl, but unfortunately, the sound of a suddenly passing by heavy locomotive drowned out his words. When the girl turned around and asked him to repeat himself, Ashin only said that it was nothing, and left. Since then, the two have never seen each other again. Many years later, Axin talked about the story of his first love on the program of "Ashin Returning Home," and expressed that in hindsight, if he had yelled “I adore you, my deaf one!” to the girl, then he might have changed the history of his bitter first love.

Marsal Zen Garden is hidden in the shade at the base of Beitou Mountain. It used to be an entertainment hub for members of the elite social class and celebrities during the Japanese colonial period. The Garden became famous after the "Xi'an Incident," after which Zhang Xueliang and his wife were confined by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. In recent years, the Garden has been converted into a scenic restaurant the "Marsal Zen Garden", which has become tourist attraction for those wishing to enjoy scenic, dining, and hot spring bathing. The Marsal Zen Garden is constructed on the mountainside, along wooden steps leading up the mountain. Visitors walking up the Garden will first be met by the tea house named after the young Marshal, the"Little Six Tea House." The main house in a purely Japanese style is located at the bottom. Although the building was restored, the interior furnishings are completely different from the original ones. The old master bedroom, guest room, study room, etc. were all converted into a restaurant named "Hanqing Hall"; the other main house is the Young Marshal Pavilion, which has been standing for a hundred years. In this gray-tiled wooden wall building, it seems that we can feel the young marshal’s loneliness and helplessness.

The English-style Beitou Hot Springs Museum was built-in 1913. It used to be a public hot spring bath and is now listed as a Grade-Three monument in Taiwan. The building is entirely composed of a Japanese-style wooden structure, framed by green hills covered with flowers and trees, which has quite the feel of a country house. The museum mainly tells visitors about the history of Beitou Hot Springs and its developments. There are two-story exhibition areas in the museum that provide information about how the hot springs work, the Beitou stones, volcanos (the first floor of the exhibition hall), the history of developments of the Beitou Hot Spring Township during more recent periods, the history of Beitou Aboriginal people (Ketagalan), the industries of Beitou, and the history of development of Taiwanese cinema (on the second floor of the exhibition hall). The museum is a good palace for gaining an understanding of the history of Beitou.

The Beitou Public Library is a wooden three-story building with floor-to-ceiling windows. It is hidden between lush green trees and hot spring parks. It has been voted as being one of the top ten most beautiful libraries in the world by an authoritative website. The library is divided into three levels. The ground floor has a children's reading room, the first-floor reading hall has a service desk, a journal newspaper reading area, and the second floor is for book storage. The books of various categories are neatly displayed on short wooden shelves, next to intimate reading chairs set between the shelves. Isn’t this the ideal place for a bookworm to take a seat? It is simply an enclosed private reading space.

Thermal Valley is the source of the Beitou Hot Springs, which has the highest water temperature in the Datun Mountain area, with the temperature of the water ranging from 90-100°C year-round. The strong smell of sulfur in the area immediately assails any visitor, with steam rising off the surface of the water in a surreal and beautiful manner, thus earning this site the name of "Hell Valley". Thermal valley’s extremely high water temperature is not suitable for bathing, thus visitors come here only to admire the wonders of the sulfur spring’s scenic views. However, the very hot spring exits the valley through a long canal that attracts water. As the water reaches Beitou Park though, it cools down, where visitors like to take off their shoes and socks for to take foot baths.

Takinoyu is the oldest Japanese-style pure bathhouse in Beitou. It has more than 90 years of history and it is said to be the best mineral hot spring in Taiwan. Its architecture and baths are made of stone in a natural and simple style that recalls past eras. Takinoyu is an old-fashioned semi-nude bathhouse that has separate gender bathrooms; the temperature of the spring water is very high, with an average of 42 degrees. It is recommended not to soak for more than 15 minutes per time. The guests are generally residents, and most of the elderly customers are very friendly and talkative.

The 40-year-old “Xinfeng Soft Ice Special Shop is located on Beitou Zhonghe Street. It is one of Ashin’s favorite places when he was a child. Customers need only ask for the Ashin flavor and the shop owner will serve you, with the lead singer’s favorite peanut soft ice and vanilla chocolate ice cream. Come and experience the feeling of “having the whole month of March melt in your mouth” as Ashin described the feeling!

Located on Hot Spring road, “Man Ke Wu Ramen” (formerly “Manlai Hot Spring Ramen”) is the most popular ramen noodle restaurant in Beitou and a must-try when you are in this town! However, because of its fame, there is always a long queue to get in. The Japanese-style decor provides the atmosphere of a bygone time; there is a long list of ramen noodles dishes available which is roughly summed up as different combinations of main ingredients such as assorted pork, pork ribs, hot spring white soup, oil, miso, and kimchi; in addition to ramen, its hot spring egg, hot spring tofu, and cheese croquettes are also quite popular.