Steam rising from a jade-green lake, a 1913 bathhouse turned museum, a timber railway station brought home after nearly three decades away and a hillside of Japanese-era inns where the Young Marshal, Zhang Xueliang, was held under house arrest.
The best things to do in Beitou fit into one compact district at the northern edge of Taipei, and most of them cost nothing. We walked Beitou from Xinbeitou Station up to Thermal Valley and the old inns on Youya Road, then out to the trails beyond.
This guide covers all 14 stops, grouped by area, with the location, opening hours and entrance fee for each.
Read also: 5 Best Hot Springs in Beitou, Taipei for Ultimate Relaxation
Things to Do in Beitou Park and Xinbeitou Station
Beitou Park Outdoor Hot Spring Bathing Pool
Opened in late 1999, the Millennium Hot Spring is Beitou’s public open-air bath: six Japanese-style pools of stone and wood set at different heights in Beitou Park, four hot and two cold, fed by green sulphur water from Thermal Valley.
The hot pools run from 38°C to 42°C, and swimwear is compulsory.
Book a stay at Beitou Hot Spring Resort
- Address: No. 6, Zhongshan Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Temporarily closed for renovation. When open, six daily sessions run from 05:30 to 22:00.
- Entrance fee: NT$60 before closure
Xinbeitou Historic Station
Xinbeitou Station opened in 1916 at the end of a branch line built purely for hot spring visitors.
When the old railway closed, the timber station was sold to Taiwan Folk Village in Changhua for NT$1 and moved away in 1988. Taipei brought it back, reassembled it in Qixing Park beside the MRT, and reopened it in April 2017.
Read also: 12 Amazing Attractions in Southern Taiwan You Must See
Inside, displays and short films tell the story of the railway that made Beitou a resort town.
- Address: No. 1, Qixing Street, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, with last entry 10 minutes before closing. Closed on Mondays.
- Entrance fee: Free
Plum Garden
Calligrapher Yu Youren built this two-storey wooden house in the late 1930s as a summer retreat, mixing Japanese and Western styles over a ground floor reinforced as an air raid shelter. Taipei listed it as a historic site in 2006.
Buy tickets to Spring City Hot Spring
After two years of restoration, the Plum Garden reopened on 18 September 2026 with a reading-themed exhibition running until 31 December 2026, plus occasional weekend book markets and talks.
It works just as well on a rainy Tuesday as a sunny weekend, which is why it ranks so highly among things to do in Beitou year-round.
- Address: No. 6, Zhongshan Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00. Closed on Mondays.
- Entrance fee: Free
Beitou Hot Spring Museum
Completed in 1913 as the Beitou Public Baths, this brick-and-timber Tudor-style building was the largest public bathhouse in East Asia at the time.
Local preservationists saved it from demolition, and today you can walk through the old bathing hall with its Roman-style arches, the tatami hall and displays on hokutolite, the radium-bearing “Beitou stone” found only here and in Tamagawa, Japan.
Shoes come off at the door, and you check them in before going inside.
- Address: No. 2, Zhongshan Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 17:45. Closed on Mondays.
- Entrance fee: Free
Ketagalan Culture Center
Opened in 2002 and named after the Ketagalan people of the Beitou area, this was Taiwan’s first multifunctional culture centre for Indigenous cultures. It covers Taiwan’s Pingpu plains peoples through permanent exhibitions, an art gallery, performances and classrooms.
The hot springs alone would justify the trip, but the best things to do in Beitou go well beyond a soak.
- Address: No. 3-1, Zhongshan Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00. Closed on Mondays.
- Entrance fee: Free
Taipei Public Library Beitou Branch
Opened in November 2006, the Beitou Library was the first building in Taiwan certified as a green building. Solar panels on the roof generate electricity, collected rainwater flushes the toilets and waters the plants, and vertical wooden railings on the balconies cut the heat from the sun.
It is a working library, so keep your voice down and leave your camera in your bag inside. This is one of those things to do in Beitou that locals will tell you about only if you ask.
- Address: No. 251, Guangming Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 08:30 to 21:00. Sunday and Monday, 09:00 to 17:00. Closed on the first Thursday of each month and on national holidays.
- Entrance fee: Free
Things to Do Along Wenquan Road and Youya Road
Marshal Zen Garden
This black-tiled Japanese building opened as the Xintaka Inn in 1920 and served as a guesthouse for kamikaze pilots during the Second World War.
From 1960, it held Zhang Xueliang, the “Young Marshal” behind the Xi’an Incident, under house arrest, and a pavilion in the garden now carries his name.
Today, the garden has a restaurant, a tea house, a small museum and hot spring baths. Add it to your list of things to do in Beitou and give it more time than you think it needs.
- Address: No. 34, Youya Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Daily, 11:00 to 21:00
- Entrance fee: Varies, with meals, tea and hot spring baths charged separately
Beitou Thermal Valley
Thermal Valley is one of the sources of Beitou’s hot spring water, a steaming lake of green sulphur water that reaches 80°C to 100°C.
During the Japanese era, it was named one of the 12 great sights of Taiwan. Visitors once boiled eggs in the water, but the practice is now banned to protect the springs and prevent falls.
Book a stay at Beitou Hot Spring Resort
A newer streamside area has stone benches beside the warm outflow, which is the best place to linger. It pulls its weight against anything else on a list of things to do in Beitou, and then some.
- Address: Zhongshan Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00. Closed on Mondays.
- Entrance fee: Free
Yinguang Lane
Yinguang Lane takes its name from two neighbours: “Yin” from the bank staff dormitories that once lined it, and “Guang” from Shanguang Temple at the bottom of the lane. Lava rock formations, a creek and a mix of tropical, temperate and cold-zone plants make it a good walk for spotting ferns.
In cherry blossom season, the entrance steps of Shanguang Temple are a little-known viewing spot. The S39 bus stop “Yinguang Lane Entrance” is the closest stop to Thermal Valley.
Most guides to things to do in Beitou skip this entirely, which should tell you something about how well the neighbourhood guards its favourites.
- Address: Yinguang Lane, Wenquan Road, Beitou District, Taipei. Shanguang Temple is at No. 20.
- Opening hours: The lane is open access. Shanguang Temple opens on Saturdays from 09:00 to 16:30 and is not open to the public on weekdays.
- Entrance fee: Free
Puji Temple
Begun in 1905 and completed in 1915 with donations from railway workers and local gentry, and first known as Tesshin-in, Puji Temple is one of the few Japanese-era Buddhist temples left in Taiwan and the country’s oldest Japanese-style Shingon temple.
It is dedicated to Guanyin, seen locally as the guardian of the hot springs, and Japanese-style ceremonies are still held here.
Reach it through a wooden gate and up a staircase through the trees off Wenquan Road. Of all the things to do in Beitou, this is the one that sticks with people long after they leave Taipei.
- Address: No. 112, Wenquan Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: 09:00 to 17:00
- Entrance fee: Free
Beitou Museum
Built in 1921 as the Kazan Inn, a high-end hot spring hotel, the Beitou Museum is Taiwan’s last surviving two-storey all-timber Japanese building.
It was declared a municipal heritage site in 1998, and today it houses exhibitions on Beitou history and folk culture, a tea ceremony space and a kaiseki restaurant.
Free guided tours run at 11:00 and 13:30 on Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays, and free audio guides are available in Chinese, English and Japanese.
- Address: No. 32, Youya Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00. Closed on Mondays, open on holidays.
- Entrance fee: NT$120 during the current special exhibition, with student, senior and group discounts suspended
Hiking and Nature Beyond Xinbeitou
Sulphur Valley Recreation Area
Inside Yangmingshan National Park on Quanyuan Road, Sulphur Valley is a wide open pit of steam vents, turquoise pools and yellow sulphur deposits.
A flat path with pavilions climbs gently to viewing platforms over the valley, and near the lower car park there is a free foot bath fed by white sulphur water at 40°C to 60°C.
Book a stay at Beitou Hot Spring Resort
Take minibus 7 or 9 from the Beitou Park stop to Mituo Temple (Sulphur Valley). Half a day is enough to do it justice, though the best things to do in Beitou have a way of making you lose track of the afternoon.
- Address: Quanyuan Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Recreation area, 08:00 to 18:00. Foot bath, Tuesday to Sunday, 07:30 to 18:00, with a midday cleaning break. Foot bath closed on Mondays.
- Entrance fee: Free
Junjianyan Hiking Trail
Junjianyan, or Battleship Rock, takes its name from the large white rock at its 185 m summit, which looks like a battleship. The top looks out over both rural and urban Taipei, and the path passes mid-altitude plants such as Taiwan pieris and rough-leaved holly.
From the Yangming University campus research building, around 800 m from MRT Qilian Station, the climb takes about 30 minutes.
Other trailheads start behind Veterans General Hospital near MRT Shipai Station, beside General Chen Ji-tang’s Mausoleum on Qiyan Road and at Zhaoming Jing Temple on Chongyang 7th Road.
Think of it less as a detour and more as the reason the rest of your things to do in Beitou fall into place.
- Address: Junjianyan Hiking Trail, Datun Mountain System, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Open 24 hours
- Entrance fee: Free
Guizikeng Soil and Water Conservation Education Park
Guizikeng was once a major source of kaolin clay and quartz sand for Taiwan’s ceramics industry.
Mining damaged the land so badly that locals gave it a grim name, later swapped for the homophone used today. After debris flows hit homes downstream, mining was banned, and the site became an outdoor classroom in 1995.
Today, a geology boardwalk crosses the Wuzhishan Formation, the oldest stratum in northern Taipei at around 24 to 30 million years old. There is also an artificial lake with bald cypress trees, a free campground and the 2.5 km Guizikeng Hiking Trail, lined with cherry trees on its uphill stairway.
- Address: No. 161, Xiushan Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Opening hours: Volunteer-guided tours run daily, 09:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 16:00, for groups of 15 or more booked two weeks ahead. The interpretive classroom opens on Saturdays and Sundays, 09:00 to 16:00.
- Entrance fee: Free
How to Get to Beitou From Taipei
Take the Taipei Metro Tamsui-Xinyi Line (red) to Beitou Station, then change to the Xinbeitou branch line for one stop to Xinbeitou, the terminal station. The ride from the city centre takes about 30 minutes, and Beitou Park, the Hot Spring Museum and the library are all a short walk from the station.
Book a stay at Beitou Hot Spring Resort
For the hills, the S39 bus runs every 30 minutes from beside Xinbeitou Station Exit 1 on Fridays to Sundays, minibus 25 climbs to the Beitou Museum, and buses 216, 218, 223, 266 and 602 from Beitou Station stop near Guizikeng.
Best Time to Visit Beitou, Taipei
The best time to visit Beitou is from October, when the Taipei Hot Spring Season begins with discounts and events and cooler weather makes a soak more appealing.
Avoid Mondays: the Hot Spring Museum, Beitou Museum, Thermal Valley, Plum Garden, Xinbeitou Historic Station and Ketagalan Culture Center are all closed.
Buy tickets to Spring City Hot Spring
In cherry blossom season, head to the steps of Shanguang Temple and the stairway on the Guizikeng Hiking Trail.
Is Beitou Worth Visiting?
Yes. Beitou packs hot springs, Japanese-era architecture, Indigenous culture and easy hiking into one district 30 minutes from central Taipei by MRT.
Most of its best sights are free, and a full day covers the area around Beitou Park and Wenquan Road, with a second day for Sulphur Valley, Junjianyan and Guizikeng.
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