Taiwan Beitou: a nature bath just a stone's throw from the center of Taipei Taipei, Travel to Taiwan 5 (2)For our last day in Taiwan, there was one interesting area of Taipei left to visit, the Beitou district, located before Tamsui (located in New Taipei), which we visited a few days earlier. Beitou is especially known for its volcanic activity, which is reflected in particular by its hot springs.Nestled at the foot of the mountains north of Taipei, Beitou is a district where history and nature blend harmoniously. This place experienced a significant boom during the Japanese colonial era, with the introduction and popularization of hot spring baths.Today, Beitou has transformed this heritage into a real asset, making it one of Taipei's must-see destinations.Getting to BeitouYou can take the metro to get directly to the interesting part of the district, a line extension has even been added specially.Just like going to Tamsui, you can take the Red line (Tamsui-Xinyi Line) but instead of going all the way, we have to change the Beitou station for the pink intermediate line, which goes one station further, to Xinbeitou Summary hide Beitou Old Railway Station Beitou Park and Hot Springs Museum The Thermal Valley Heart village Sulphur Valley Recreation Area Zhongzhengshan Trail Beitou Old Railway StationOpening time : 10:00 a.m. to 18:00 p.m. Tuesday to SundayFreeFrom the Xinbeitou metro station, we come across our first discovery of the day: Beitou Old StationThis charming wooden building, carefully restored, dates from 1916.It was built in the middle of the Japanese colonial era, to promote hot water baths, an activity already popular in the land of the rising sun.Outside, a few metres of rails and a wagon resting on them bear witness to the region's railway heritage.Visiting the interior of the station, now transformed into a small museum dedicated to the railway history of Beitou, we discover a little more about its history, including the fact that this station almost disappeared. Indeed, when the elevated metro was built in 1988, the preservation of heritage was not yet a priority.However, the old station was located on the site planned for the new Xinbeitou station, and its dismantling seemed inevitable. Fortunately, thanks to the initiative of a local architect, the station was dismantled piece by piece and moved to the Taiwan Folk Village in Changhua, where it was exhibited for several years.Interior of the old Beitou railway station.Beginning in 2003, with increased awareness of the importance of heritage preservation, the Taipei City Government, supported by non-governmental organizations, began to repatriate and restore the old station.It was eventually reinstalled parallel to the MRT station in 2007, at the end of the newly developed Qixing Park next to Xinbeitou station.Its current form, with its porthole windows integrated into the roof, is the result of the station's expansion in 1937. Also notable are the floral engravings under the eaves, which add a special touch to this historic building that was the glory days of Beitou.Today, the space houses an exhibition and gift shop, offering a glimpse into the era when the station played a crucial role in local transport.Including the short tour of the outdoor car, which features photos, a timeline, and costumes depicting life along the former TRA Tamsui railway line, we spent a good half hour there before heading to the next stop.Beitou Park and Hot Springs MuseumOpening time : 10:00 a.m. to 18:00 p.m. Tuesday to SundayA nice thing, his access is free.Our next stop was the Hot Springs Museum (Beitou Hot Spring Museum). To get there, we passed through the pretty Beitou Park, which runs alongside the stream that has its source further upstream in the thermal valley towards which we were ultimately heading.Despite the overcast sky, we enjoyed this stroll in this pleasantly landscaped area. We came across small stone bridges, ponds filled with water lilies and passed an imposing multi-storey building.The latter blends well into the decor since it is essentially built of wood, it turns out to be a public bookstore (Taipei Public Library Beitou Branch).If you drag yourself along, it takes about 20 minutes to cover the same 400 m separating the old station from the museum. The latter is similar to a large two-storey house, the lower part of which is built of red brick while the upper part is mainly made of wood.Although the architect in charge was Japanese, the building displays a mixture of Japanese and Western styles, particularly the so-called Tudor house style.Built in 1913 by the Japanese colonial government as a public bathhouse, the Beitou Hot Spring Museum was once the largest such facility in East Asia and the very first public bathhouse in Taiwan.After being abandoned following World War II, this iconic building was restored and reopened in 1998 as a museum. Today, it documents and preserves the history and culture of Beitou hot springs.Before visiting the interior, we are invited in the vestibule to write our names, time of passage and especially to put our shoes and belongings (other than the mobile phone, photos are authorized) in a cloakroom.We started our tour upstairs. It houses various exhibition spaces, exploring the history of the Beitou area. There are photos chronicling the museum's reconstruction efforts, as well as Beitou's significant role in Taiwanese cinema.We then arrived in front of a large open space, covered by tatami mats, no doubt that the establishment was indeed built by the Japanese. Right next to it, we access a balcony with a beautiful view of Beitou Park.After about 15 minutes, we reached the lower part. This is where the pools for the famous hot water baths are located and an area with taps and a small individual wooden seat for washing.Next door, we arrive in a large room, with a large basin that is almost like a swimming pool. With a size of 9m by 6, it was even the largest bath in East Asia at its time. At the time of our visit, an art exhibition was taking place, the museum regularly hosting exhibitions of this kind.On one side of this room is exhibited a rare piece of mineral rock called "Hokutolite" weighing no less than 800 kg (a rock which turns out to be radioactive).The hokutolite block.We spent half an hour in this pleasant museum, which is a long way from the state it was in after being abandoned for decades.The Thermal ValleyOpening time : 10:00 a.m. to 17:00 p.m. Tuesday to SundayFreeBack in the open air, we continued on our way, still following the stream, towards the thermal valley.We follow the stream to access the thermal valley.By dragging our feet (knowing that I also take a lot of photos), we reached the valley 30 minutes after our visit to the baths museum. As an anecdote, the original name of Beitou means "witch" in the language of the native aborigines of the island.This term refers to the sulfur vapors emanating from the hot springs that give the region its mystical atmosphere.So here we get to the heart of the matter. The thermal valley is one of the main sources that feed the hot water baths of the region. The sulfuric steam envelops the valley all year round, creating a ghostly atmosphere around this small lake surrounded by a park.This foggy scene has earned the place the nicknames "Ghost Lake" and "Hell Valley." With an acidity level of around 1,5 and temperatures reaching 90°C, it's safe to say that this isn't where you'll be dipping a toe.As such, it's not big, the lake is not even 100 meters long, and the loop around it is barely 250 meters. But because the lingering warm mist creates a rather unreal atmosphere, we lingered quite a bit to take pictures.It took us no less than 20 minutes to go around and return to the starting point, the site being a dead end with only one access.Before leaving the place to join our next stop, we took a moment to explore the small shop at the entrance, hoping to find coffee there… spoiler alert, there wasn’t any…The shop near the entrance.Heart villageTo reach the next stage, we had to retrace our steps and cross a small park set up on the hill, then climb a little further via another staircase located right next to an art gallery housed in the Beitou Public Assembly Hall, the "village" being slightly situated on the heights of Beitou.This pedestrian crossing is very practical because it shortens the journey by almost half compared to the kilometer to be covered by road.Passing through the small park, the public toilets were welcome.Beitou Public Assembly Hall.In the same vein as the 44 South Military Village whose I was talking to you here, I wanted to see, since it was not far, another small group of historic houses, formerly inhabited by military families who arrived on the island after the Chinese civil war.I was the one who insisted on going there, because when planning our day in Beitou, I had looked for activities that complemented the thermal valley, which was our main objective. That's how I came across this part of the neighborhood, located about 500 m from the Thermal Valley.We were content to take a look at the small museum installed in an old family home (free entry), which gives an idea of daily life at the time.Luckily it wasn't too far, because it wasn't really worth the trip at that time. The site was being developed to be enhanced, so a large part of the village was inaccessible...After about ten minutes on site, we started to go back down to Xinbeitou station to continue our day.Sulphur Valley Recreation AreaAfter seeing most of what was planned in Beitou, it was around 14pm. That still left us all afternoon to explore further.Jitima wanted to return to the "Bopiliao Historical Block", near the Longshan temple, which we had visited a few days earlier (see here). However, since we still had time, I negotiated to extend our visit to Beitou.What I didn't mention until now is that the previous two days we had left Taipei a bit to explore the north of Taiwan and its mountain villages. So we had a rental car, which I had kept for this day in order to give us more freedom of movement to visit the surroundings.Xinbeitou Metro Station.It was in this context that we returned to the car, parked in an underground car park (Qixing Park Underground Parking Lot), located right next to Xinbeitou station, and headed towards the sulfur valley, located 2 km away.As such, it is a popular site for its hiking trails and its hot pools to soak your feet in. But apart from that, there is not much to do there. I won't hide from you that the miss was not super excited, even preferring to wait for me in the parking lot after having taken a look at the view of the lake.General view of the Sulphur Valley.Basin for soaking your feet.For my part, I opted for a short walk to a viewpoint about a hundred meters further. From there, you have a view of the whole area, which looks like an old quarry. It is hard to imagine that it is actually a dormant volcano.I saw various facilities, with pools and pipes, connected to the surrounding hotel complexes. The valley supplies thermal water to Beitou's hotels and spas. I also observed the fumaroles, saw a small geyser, and yellowish spots, a sign of the presence of sulfur that gives this valley its name.This quick tour took me just 20 minutes. Nothing spectacular, but it was free to enter and the valley was on our way to the next stop I wanted to explore: the Zhongzhengshan hiking trail.Zhongzhengshan TrailIn the vicinity of Beitou, you will find a multitude of walks to do in the mountains, with hiking trails sometimes offering superb views of Taipei and New Taipei (Beitou is particularly known for its Yangmingshan National Park). Taking advantage of the fact that we had the rental car, I had spotted a walk to do near the sulfur valley.Before reaching the parking lot to reach the viewpoint of this hike, I stopped to see a small local attraction, a waterfall called "Lover Waterfall". I don't know what gave it this nickname, because if in the photo you can see a certain bucolic aspect, its layout is quite different.The view from the road in front of the “lover waterfall”.There is indeed a footbridge with a terrace overlooking the waterfall, but it is all located "haphazardly" on the side of the road, with no real parking... So I parked on the side of the road and made my photo stop in 5 minutes.The waterfall being only less than 200 m from the crossroads I had just passed (and had to take to get to the parking lot for the hiking trail), it did not require a huge detour.To reach the car park, located 5 km from the waterfall, we took a hell of a hairpin road at the end, going from an altitude of about 240 m to over 500 m. When we arrived it was empty and for good reason, the weather was not really on our side that day.As you can see from the photos so far, we were treated to a rather overcast sky, with low clouds. Needless to say, it was not easy to have a view once at the top… But since we were good at timing and I am stubborn, I insisted on going all the way and we set off towards the belvedere, located less than 500 m from the car park.A small shrine is located near the parking lot, at the start of the hike.That's also what motivated me to do this little hike, I said to myself, "it's okay, it's only 500 m"... so yes... except that, there is a height difference of almost 150 m. It doesn't seem like much in itself but suddenly, it's still a 500 m route in continuous ascent.So if in pure distance I thought it was a matter of 10 minutes, in reality it took us a little over 20 minutes to reach the objective, namely the viewpoint obtained on the wooden structure near the local summit (the path continuing further afterwards, to join other paths and accesses behind the mountain).This is the goal to be achieved.Jitima being clearly more of a city girl on this point, she was a little grumpy, because this kind of climb is clearly not her cup of tea… However, the walk allowed us to see a beautiful forest, in bamboo at the beginning, then trees covered in moss higher up. Halfway, I was surprised to see an isolated house with a garden visible on the sides of the mountain.As for the view, it was predictable given the weather, it was quite cloudy... We even had a bit of rain, but it was still less bad than I thought, because we could still see something down below.On one side, you can see the center of Taipei in the distance normally, with a part of New Taipei. You can clearly see the urban area crossed by the Keelung River, as well as the wider Tamsui River. Moreover, on the other side, besides the thick forest covering the mountain, you can see the bay where Tamsui, which we had seen a few days earlier.The round trip will ultimately take us less than an hour and we left the parking lot shortly after 16 p.m., giving us time to return to the city center, park and visit the "Bopiliao Historical Block" as planned to end this last day in Taiwan. Did you like the article? Vote on the article Note globale 5 / 5. Number of votes: 2 No votes yet. Be the first to rate this article! Did you like the article? Follow me on social media Museum Nature and landscapes Point of view Hiking Historic site Volcano 0 0 Roman 11/07/2024
