Running for My Flight: Taiwan Travel Itinerary: Beitou Hot Spring, Elephant Mountain, Shilin Night Market

Day 2: Beitou Hot Spring, Elephant Mountain, Shilin Night Market

We decided to take it easy today, taking into consideration how we didn't get much sleep the first day. First destination for today: Beitou Hot Spring!

The cold January weather made it the perfect time to go for a soak in the hot spring. Chilling out in a hot spring is in fact a real Taiwanese favorite. No wonder, because apparently, they have more than 150 of them. That's a lot considering how small an island Taiwan is!

We chose to go to Beitou for convenience (and because we really wanted to see the Thermal Valley!), this is the nearest hot spring in the city and Beitou is so easy to get to.

Beitou Thermal Valley aka Hell Valley

1. Beitou

How to Get To Beitou Hot Springs

1. From Taipei Main Station (台北車站) ...or any MRT station for the matter, get on the MRT Red Line heading towards Tamsui (淡水) and get off at MRT Beitou Station (北投).

2. From MRT Beitou Station, change to the Pink Line, and alight at MRT Xin Beitou Station (新北投). To get to the platform going to Xin Beitou Station, go down one flight of stairs and up to the other side to change platforms. Just ask around or look for the signs to know where to go.

The train going to Xin Beitou Station is awesome! They remodeled the inside of the train compartments to match a hotspring/wooden/ nature theme. They even have hot tub barrels doubling as a table, with computerized touchscreens embedded in them that give out information about Beitou popular attractions.

Hotspring theme at Xin Beitou Train

Information right at your fingertips!

It’s easy to navigate Beitou, thanks to the abundance of detailed signboards.

There are lots of signs like this littered all over the place. You won't get lost

Popular sights in Beitou includes:

Beitou Public Library

Beitou Public Library

Address: 251 Guangming Rd., Beitou, Taipei

Opening hours: Tue-Sat 8:30am – 9pm, Sun-Mon 9am – 5pm; Closed first Thursday of each month

Phone: +886 2-28977682

Website: english.taipei.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=1100571&ctNode=30280&mp=100002

Can't really say much about this 'coz we skipped this. The architecture looks interesting though; if ever I'm back in Beitou this is the first place I'm going to go see. If you're a book lover you might want to check it out.

Beitou Hot Springs Museum

Beitou Hot Springs Museum

Address: No. 32, Youya Rd, Beitou District, Taipei City, Taiwan 112

Opening Hours: Tue-Sun 10 AM-6PM. Closed Mondays

Phone: +886 2 2891 2318

Website: eng.taiwan.net.tw/m1.aspx?sNo=0002090&id=211

Admission: Free

You can see hot spring relics from the past here. Visitors need to change into the provided slippers before going in. 30 minutes is enough to go around and see everything.

Beitou Garden Spa

Beitou Garden Spa aka Millenium Hot Spring

Address: No. 6, Zhongshan Rd, Beitou District, Taipei City, Taiwan 112

Phone: +886 2 2896 6939

Opening hours: Mon-Sun; The baths are open in 6 sessions with 30 minute cleaning times in between.

1st session: 05:30~07:30

2nd session: 08:00~10:00

3rd session: 10:30~13:00

4th session: 13:30~16:00

5th session: 16:30~19:00

6th session: 19:30~22:00

Admission: NT$40 for adults, NT$20 for students and seniors

Beitou Garden Spa has several outdoor pools with varying degree of temperature from super hot to freezing cold. It can get pretty crowded here especially in the evenings and weekends so plan accordingly. Bring a swimsuit or if you forgot to pack one like me, buy one there.

Plum Garden

Plum Garden

Address: 6 Zhongshan Road, Beitou, Taipei

Opening hours: Tue-Sun 9am – 5pm; Closed Mondays

Phone: +886 2-2897-2647

Website: plumgarden.taipeitravel.net/en
Admission: Free

If you were planning on going here to see plums, I hate to dissapoint you...but there are no plums here (at least I didn't see any). Nor is it a garden really. It's an ancient summer residence of famed calligrapher and former political leader Yu You-ren. It's a small place, spent about 10 minutes here.

Beitou Thermal Valley

Beitou Thermal Valley aka Hell Valley

Address: Zhongshan Road, Beitou District,Taipei City, Taiwan

Opening hours: Tue-Sun 9am – 5pm; Closed Mondays

Website: wikitravel.org/en/Taipei/Beitou

Admission: Free

This is my favorite! It's one of Taiwan’s natural beauties-- the spring contains rare sulphur that creates an almost magical looking light blue-green sheen to the water. The natural sulphuric water is so uncommon that it can only be found in two places in the whole world (the other one is in Japan). A word of caution: its waters can reach up to 100°C, making it unsuitable for bathing. Whatever you do, don't fall in!

Thermal Valley from another angle

Another one

Next stop: Elephant Mountain!

2. Elephant Mountain

How to Get To Elephant Mountain:
1. Take the MRT red line to Xiangshan Station (象山).
2. Go out Exit 2. Continue straight down the street with park on left side.
3. At Lane 150. Turn left up the hill towards the mountain.

The hike up Elephant Mountain takes a total of around 15-20 minutes to the top. The trail is paved and includes lots of stairs! It was quite tiring but the cool mountain breeze helped. Halfway up, you'll come across a fork. Remember to take the left!

Iconic Taipei 101 from Elephant Mountain at sunset

Word of advice? Avoid going during the weekends/holidays especially during sunset at all cost. Hoards of people, tourists and locals alike come here during those times. You'll spend more time trying to figure out how to take a photo without anyone cutting in front of you than taking in the beautiful sight of Taipei 101 and it's surroundings.

There was a long line of people waiting to get their pictures taken on the gigantic rocks, but by the time sunset rolled around, the line was not moving anymore because people were being inconsiderate and staking out their place for front row seats to the sunset instead of letting others have their chance on the rock :(

I repeat. Avoid. Weekends. Especially Sunset.

Taipei 101 all lit up at night

If you're looking for more adventure, from Elephant Mountain, you can easily continue on to Tiger Mountain and 9-5 Peak, which are two other renowned trails in the city.

But as for us, we decided to head straight to Shilin Night Market instead, as it was already dark by then and we were hungry for some Taiwanese food!

3. Shilin Night Market

How to get to Shilin Night Market:

1. Take any train to Jiantan MRT Station on the Red Line heading toward Tamsui.

2. Head to Exit 1, cross the street to the left to enter the night market.

Sausages at Shilin Night Market

Shilin Night Market is Taipei’s largest and most famous night market, with a huge mix of stores selling clothes, gadgets, souvenirs, random things and --what we came here for-- a plethora of food stalls and restaurants scattered about the market!