Having taken in our fill of Formosa’s spectacular landscapes over the last few days, we’re headed back to the capital for our last full day in Taiwan. We’re rooming in a different area this time, to see a bit more of the city after our hyper-central first stay. Crucially, this should also put us closer to two quintessential Taiwanese experiences which we are still missing: hot springs, and dinner at a night market.
We’ve booked a comfortable mid-morning train back to Taipei, and this time, we luck out having chosen seats on the reserved express (instead of the more pared back commuter trains we’ve used so far). It’s an incredibly luxurious experience compared to our recent travels in Vietnam or Thailand: wide reclining seats, plenty of legroom, charging points, and all the storage you could dream of. Between that and the lovely views of the sea and mountains as we go back up the coast, we’re sad our journey time is only just over two hours!
Having regretfully left the comfort of the train behind, we easily drop our bags off at our hotel in Shilin before heading over to today’s main event: the natural hot springs of Beitou. A wealth of sulphuric warm water springs out of the mountains just north of the city, and a whole neighbourhood has been built here around the culture of public baths. This isn’t recent - as attested by the old, carved wood historic station building on display next to the more modern one. As soon as we step out, we’re greeted by a stream of lukewarm, dubious-smelling water flowing through a park: we just have to follow it to find the bathhouses!
The park itself is rather pretty and as we meander through, we admire the well-integrated modern library, an all-wood building with pretty views over the greenery, and the ornate historic red-brick baths, now turned into a museum. We decide not to stop yet and continue following the stream uphill - we’re curious to see Beitou’s mini “hell valley”, a boiling hot lake where the water comes out of the ground. The water is visibly warming up as we progress, and the brook’s course over green mineral-covered rocks and little waterfalls is now punctuated by plumes of steam.
There’s quite a few sightseers near the lake - and it looks like it used to be a whole attraction, with a little information shed and even a spot to boil eggs in the scorching water. The latter has been closed however - probably to avoid injuries! This is the source of the stream we’ve been following so far, which happily gurgles away in a stone channel. The last few meters take us to the lake itself: a large expanse of eggy-smelling water covered in thick white clouds of steam. It’s rather impressive in the hot mist, although the sulfur is well-contained, and the surroundings are lush and green, not volcano-looking at all.
Our exploration complete we head a bit further up the hill to our actual goal: a soak in the hot springs at one of the fancy neighbouring hotels. The Spring City Resort opens its spa-like facilities to outside guests for a very reasonable fee, and we are looking forward to a luxurious afternoon sampling the various types of hot pools. Every detail is taken care of: we are given a handy basket including flip-flops, bath robes, hair net, and several towels. The changing rooms have lockers and shower facilities, as well as a nice dressing room area with free toiletries. Once we’re in our robes and swimsuits (luckily we’re not in Japan yet, where the custom is to bathe naked!) we stroll through the bathing area: there’s nine different pools, with various types of massaging jets, bubble jacuzzis, a hot stone to lie on, and even a couple of cold baths to mix it up.
We spend a very relaxed few hours trying it all and happily soaking in the hot water. Apparently, the sulfur is good for your skin - although my swimsuit definitely comes away smelling eggy! It’s a nice, crisp day in Taipei, which is the perfect weather for this, and the spa area has nice views out over the city on top of its many amenities. All in all, a lovely place for a bit of a pamper!
Once we’re done and changed back, we return to Shilin: one of the biggest night markets in Taipei is within walking distance from our hotel, and since we’ve managed to avoid this local custom entirely until now, we’re keen to sample it. Foodies lists of what to eat in Taiwan are a dime a dozen on the internet and we’ve got a whole selection of street food to try. It takes a little bit of exploring to find the right place, and we first wander down a very disappointing street with more clothing shops than food stands before finally spotting a promising side alley full of appetising smells.
Almost immediately, we’re into a crowd of dinner-goers. We expected the market to be busy but this is literally a solid flow of people shuffling in both directions along the alley, while stands do their best to keep queues narrow. Everything looks amazing though, and as we’re not too bothered about finding the best stand for any item, we soon procure a little collection of dishes: pepper buns, a cornet of various sausages, a couple of skewers, and some very lovely blowtorch-grilled beef - almost as worth it for the taste as for the spectacle of its blue-flamed cooking method. Incredibly, as we get further into the alley, the crowd becomes even more packed, but it’s easier to bear now we’ve had a bit of a snack.
Around the mid-point, small red lanterns suddenly surround the alley, extending on both sides: we’ve reached the Shilin Cixian temple, right in the middle of this nightly madness. It’s still a working shrine, with a few people coming to pray as we watch - but with the crowds surrounding it, its courtyard is currently mostly used as a momentary refuge to pause and eat. Still, along with the rather impressive food, it does lend this night market an aura of exoticism that none of the other we encountered on our trip came close to.
Just a few minutes’ rest and we jump back into the flow to grab some sweets for dessert, including a papaya milkshake for me - yummy! By then we’ve both had enough of the crowds though, and, quite full, we head back to our hotel extremely satisfied with our last couple of local experiences.
For a country we tacked onto our trip at the last minute, mostly since we had some spare time after Vietnam, we absolutely loved Taiwan. After nearly four months in backpacker-centric South-East Asia, it was refreshing to be in a country with modern, working infrastructure - and used to a very different class of travellers too, as we realised when a few curious people asked where we were going camping after seeing our big backpacks! Within hours, we were wowed by the sleek efficiency of every system we encountered - and as we spent more time on this friendly island, by the unfailing kindness and helpfulness of everyone we met. We also had no idea that rather small Formosa packed in so many sights: from megacity to wild nature, from pretty mountain streams to boiling volcanic valleys - this place has it all, within easily accessible distance of each other. For us Europeans, it’s a long way to come for a holiday - but we’d definitely recommend adding Taiwan to any longer-term trip.
What a magnificent recommendation!