Bath powder made from the crystals that form in hot spring water, mini cakes shaped like the sulphur bricks Beitou once mined, scarves dyed with hill indigo and wooden lunchboxes printed with a 1916 railway station. The best Beitou souvenirs are made from the district itself: its springs, its farms and its history.
We shopped our way from Xinbeitou Historic Station up to Thermal Valley. This guide covers six gifts worth bringing home, with the address, contact number and opening hours for where to buy each one.
Read also: Beitou Food: 9 Best Places to Eat in Beitou, Taipei
What Souvenirs Is Beitou Known For?
Beitou souvenirs are best known for hot spring products, such as bath powder and soap made from hot spring flowers, the sulphur crystals that form in local mineral water.
Food gifts include sulphur brick cakes filled with Yangmingshan tankan orange, alongside blue-dye scarves and railway keepsakes from Xinbeitou Historic Station.
Read also: 14 Things to Do in Beitou, Taipei: Best Hot Springs & Parks
Beitou Souvenirs From the Hot Springs and Local Farms
Hot Spring Flower Powder and Soap
The high-sulphur crystals that form in the mineral water of Beitou are known as hot spring flowers. Collected and ground into bath powder or pressed into soap, they keep the texture and smell of the springs, and some blends add mugwort, lavender or chamomile.
It is scarce: it takes about 2 tonnes of hot spring water to yield roughly 1 g of white sulphur powder. Look for them at the Thermal Valley store and the shop inside Xinbeitou Historic Station.
- Address: Thermal Valley store, 2F, No. 30-10, Zhongshan Road, Beitou District, Taipei.
- Contact number: (02) 2895 0556
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 16:30. Closed on Mondays.
Sulphur Brick Cakes
Beitou Provence Bakery & Café shapes these mini cakes like the sulphur bricks Beitou produced in large quantities in the 17th century.
The pastry is streaked yellow with turmeric and black with bamboo charcoal powder, and the filling is Yangmingshan tankan orange, seeded, then boiled for about two hours with maltose and cane sugar into a soft, rich paste.
Read also: 5 Best Hot Springs in Beitou, Taipei for Ultimate Relaxation
The bakery uses local produce from friendly farming and avoids chemical additives. Its tankan jam and tankan liqueur were developed with Quanyuan Farm, so a gift box covers several Beitou flavours at once.
- Address: No. 43, Lane 9, Daxing Street, Beitou District, Taipei
- Contact number: (02) 2897 2112
- Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 11:00 to 19:00. Closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
Handmade Cookies From Sheme House
Sheme House, the café inside a former Japanese-era grain warehouse on Datong Street, bakes handmade cookies with herbs and fruit from several Beitou farms. They make an easy gift to pick up with a coffee.
- Address: No. 1 Warehouse, No. 153, Datong Street, Beitou District, Taipei
- Contact number: (02) 2892 2800
- Opening hours: Daily, 12:00 to 19:00
Cultural Beitou Souvenirs Rooted in Local Heritage
Blue-Dye Scarves
Hill indigo once grew in abundance in the Beitou mountains and was the main source of blue dye for Yangmingshan.
The pits where locals turned the leaves into indigo paste were called jingque, and they live on in place names such as Ding Jingque, Zhong Jingque and Xia Jingque, meaning upper, middle and lower pits.
Hand dyeing faded after synthetic dyes arrived, but the Peitou Culture Foundation has revived it. To buy blue-dye scarves or dye your own at one of its workshops, which run on dates the foundation announces, contact the foundation directly.
- Address: Peitou Culture Foundation, No. 45-1, Section 1, Zhongyang South Road, Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan
- Contact number: (02) 2891 7453
- Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 09:30 to 17:30
Xinbeitou Historic Station Souvenirs
The shop inside Xinbeitou Historic Station designs its souvenirs around the 1916 station itself. Look for wooden lunchboxes printed with the station, a 3D DIY station-building kit, cloth towels, wooden bookmarks, train-themed paper tape and EasyCards for the Taipei Metro.
Pair it with a visit to the station, which is free to enter. It opened in 1916, was moved to Changhua in 1988 and was reassembled in Qixing Park in 2017.
- Address: No. 1, Qixing Street, Beitou District, Taipei, next to MRT Xinbeitou Station
- Contact number: (02) 2891 5558
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00. Closed on Mondays.
Thermal Valley Creative Souvenirs
The Thermal Valley store sells souvenirs made by local creative workshops together with the Tri-Service General Hospital Beitou Branch Sheltered Workshop.
Designs draw on the hot springs, landmarks, architecture and customs of Beitou, and the range includes jigsaw puzzles, hand-painted postcards and handmade soaps. It is the easiest place to pick up Beitou souvenirs after a walk around Thermal Valley.
- Address: 2F, No. 30-10, Zhongshan Road, Beitou District, Taipei
- Contact number: (02) 2895 0556
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 16:30. Closed on Mondays and during Lunar New Year.
When Are Beitou Souvenir Shops Open?
The Thermal Valley store and Xinbeitou Historic Station open from Tuesday to Sunday and close on Mondays, while Sheme House opens daily.
Beitou Provence Bakery & Café works the other way, opening Monday to Friday only, and the Peitou Culture Foundation office also keeps weekday hours, so plan a weekday visit for sulphur brick cakes and blue dye.
Why Buy Local Beitou Souvenirs?
Buying local Beitou souvenirs puts money back into the district. Beitou Provence Bakery & Café developed its tankan jam with Quanyuan Farm, Sheme House bakes with herbs and fruit from Beitou growers, and the Thermal Valley store sells pieces made with a hospital sheltered workshop.
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