Day Trip to Beitou Hot Springs
Beitou Hot Spring off Taipei City. ts proximity to Taipei makes Beitou very convenient for visitors to the capital city looking to enjoy natural hot springs. Beitou is well known for its wonderful scenery and naturally heated water.
Japanese colonizers had this area developed into a resort destination for tourist. It boasts of inns, hotels, nice resorts, parks, tea houses, and public baths. The place was so popular that the Japanese build a railway line and station to bring in visitors from outside. This gave people from far and wide access to the immense beauty of Beitou.
Beitou is situated in the far northern district of Taipei City. As such, you don’t have to go far from Xinbeitou station to enjoy public and private baths. However, this doesn’t mean you can just enter any of the public baths. You have to, first, check the rules before venturing into a bath. Because of the popularity of private hot springs, it’s important that you book in advance. This is to ensure you are not inconvenienced by traveling all the way only to miss a place.
Expect to find three types of springs. This includes green sulfur springs which are slightly green colored. You will find this exclusively only in Beitou and Akita, Japan. White sulfur which has a milky appearance are the most common in this area. That’s in addition to iron-sulfur springs, which are transparent and found around the Ding Beitou area. Before you go into a bath check out the rules concerning gender separation. Also, find out if you are allowed to wear clothes or not as well as those to do with food and drink.
The selling point of Beitou Hot Springs is the belief that arthritis, chronic dermatitis, and muscle soreness patients can have relief.Things to do in or near Beitou Hot SpringsApart from its hot springs, Beitou is renowned for its architectural treasures and historical sites. In Beitou, you will experience timeless beauty even as you soak yourself in a hot bath. Here are the things to do in Beitou: Soak yourself in a Hot SpringThere are many public and private hot springs in Beitou. One of the most popular of these is known as Beitou Outdoor Public Hot Spring. The many hotels in Beitou will give you access to hot springs in private. You, however, have to book for this way in advance given the popularity that these springs have with both the locals and foreigners. The private spring package you get will depend on time, services offered, and the price. Sift through the variety of services available to get exactly what you want.
A visit to Hell Valley (Beitou Thermal Valley)
Beitou Thermal Valley (Hell Valley)
The other name of this place is Jade Springs Valley or Beitou Thermal Valley. It’s a volcanic crater that’s thought to be one of Taiwan’s eight natural beauties. It has rare green sulfur, which creates near magical green water. This natural sulfuric water is not common. All over the world, it can only be found in two places, Beitou and Akita in Japan. So just why would you pass through Beitou without visiting this place? As a word of caution, the waters in this spring can reach boiling point. This makes the spring unsuitable as a bathing destination. You can only enjoy the steam which earned Beitou Thermal Valley the name Hell Valley.
Taking a leisurely stroll in the Plum Garden
Sitting next to the Beitou Garden Hot Springs is the Plum Garden. It’s an ancient summer residence of Yu You-ren. He is a renowned calligrapher and former political leader. Although built in the 1930s, the building first opened its doors to visitors in 2010. While here, get to see a collection of beautiful Japanese wooden architecture. If you are looking for a design that reminds you of Mr. Yu You-ren’s works in calligraphy, ensure you visit these gardens. Part of this is the mandarin words ‘Plum Garden’ which are written in Yu You-ren’s signature calligraphy on the column next to the main entrance. You might opt to sit down and relax in the quiet house or take a stroll through the beautifully manicured garden.This piece of Japanese residential house has its value in the fact that it survived warfare and destruction that once ravaged Taiwan. It has a unique architecture that makes it an emblem of ingenuity among architects and builders globally. The walls are made of carefully constructed moisture-proof mortar walls divided into layers. Well, if you appreciate beautiful buildings, you should certainly pay these gardens a visit.
Beitou Hot Spring Museum
This was built in 1913 as the Beitou Public Baths as a replica of the bathhouses in Shizoukaken Idouyama in Japan. This handsome building is an example of the fascination among Japanese architects of this period to blend eastern and western aesthetics and architecture. The back side has a high roof and chimney that was built to mimic a British countryside villa. As you go upstairs, you will see wooden verandahs around which are tatami rooms. Here, the bathers once relaxed over a cup of tea. To enter the museum, you will have to swap your shoes for slippers, which will be provided.
Touring Guandu Temple
This Taoist temple dates back to 1161. It is a gaudy, grand, and the multi-story temple is one of the oldest in Taipei. The temple is built right inside the mountain leaving a tunnel that’s 100m or longer into the mountain. You take a flight of stairs at the back of the temple for a panoramic view of River Tamsui. You will see a riot of decorative arts in Guandu Temple. The rooftop is strewn with mosaic temple decorations with the picture completed with Qing-era stone columns in the worship hall. Get a taste of all Taiwanese delicacies served in the food court by the riverside. Like many other temples in Taiwan, Guandu is a house of worship, art house, street food market, and carnival venue.
The weather in Taiwan can be very fierce. You must, therefore, choose the right time to visit Taiwan. The weather is fiercest in the typhoon season, which lasts from July to September. You might want to avoid getting caught in a typhoon on your visit to Taipei.However, you can visit Beitou Springs any time of the year. The only thing you may have to worry about is the long queues for people waiting to access public baths. You should, therefore, be prepared for long waits on queues. If you are going in for a private bath, do the booking in time. Just why should you avoid going on a Beitou Hot Springs Vacation?
Getting there: day trip from Taipei
Travelers to Taiwan usually counts Taipei as their initial port of call, and from there, a trip to the old towns of Jiufen via Pingxi Railway or planning a short trip or 1 night stay at the Beitou Hot Springs is pretty common.
Getting to Beitou is pretty straightforward as well. From the Taipei main station, simply take the "pink line" towards Danshui or Tamsui and it takes only 30 minutes to get there!
If you are heading over for a private hot spring bath, operators provide free shuttle from the train station as well.
A customized road trip can also be considered, traveling to Beitou and back to Taipei. Taxi drivers can be booked either by searching on forums, or ownrides.com but taxis in Taipei are also easy to flag down for a day trip.