Hot Spring Hotels
Taking a nice bath in hot spring water is so nice after you’ve traveled around Taiwan for a few days. The trip to Beitou from Taipei is relatively easy. From the Taipei 101 station, it is a 31-minute ride on the Tamsui-Xinyi line. After you get to the Beitou stop, you get on a hot spring-themed train to Xinbeitou stop. Beitou, Taiwan’s northern district, is known for its hot springs.
The first time I visited, I just went for the evening, but I ended up taking the train back to Taipei and after spending a couple of hours at a very nice spa that had hot springs and showers. It was the most relaxing feeling to soak in warm waters after a journey in the cold rain to Beitou. The second time I visited, I went with my husband and we decided that we wanted to enjoy a hot spring bath in the privacy of our hotel room, which is why we ended up staying at Beitou Hot Springs Resort. Each room has a tub that receives water from the nearby thermal valley hot spring. After a few days of walking around Taipei in the damp and chilly air, a warm soak was exactly what I needed.
Walking Around Beitou City
You can easily explore Beitou city in couple of days since it is small. We visited the tourist attractions along the main road in Xing Beitou the first day we got there. During our stay, we visited the Beitou Hot Spring Museum, which is a repurposed historical bathhouse. The first floor of this building is an exhibition of the bathhouse and its appliances. We also visited the Plum Garden Museum, home of calligrapher and politician, Yu Youren, wknown for developing a standard Chinese cursive script.
As we kept walking up the hill along the main road, we also passed by the Beitou public library which was substantial in size. At the end of our walk, we arrived at “Hell Valley” geothermal spring which is known for its steamy, misty, turquoise-blue water. The water temperature is very high even though it looks serene. There are some websites online that say that young Taiwanese people frequently boil their eggs in hot spring water. There are several stores near the spring that sold thermal eggs.
