Beitou Hot Springs

I’m back from my little beach getaway and I haven’t had chance to clear the 300+ emails (minus spam) yet. So my dear friends, readers and so on, please have some patience with me as I slowly work my way through. Meanwhile, let me share more of my Taiwan trip with you.

One of the nicest things about Taipei is that you are simply a train ride away to many world class hot spring resorts. There are several choices from Yang Ming Shan (Jin Shan), Xin Beitou or Wu Lai. We decided to head to the Xin Beitou area.

From the Beitou metro station we had to change to this colorful train for another stop to get to Xin Beitou, where all the hot spring hotels and resorts are gathered.

As you walk uphill towards the area with a huge concentration of hot springs, you’ll see many pools with lots of steam rising. The smell of sulphur envelopes the air. You may want to stop by the hot springs museum which is free and explains how this area was mined for sulphur during the Qing dynasty and later developed into a hot springs area during the reign of the Japanese Imperial.

For a mere NT$40 you can try out their outdoor public hot springs. The public outdoor has several pools with different temperatures. The hottest ones are located higher up. This area was featured in the Chinese movie “Turn Right, Turn Left” starring Takeshi Kaneshiro and Gigi Leung.

As you can tell from the photos, the choices of hotels and resorts are endless! I was told that I-Tsun Hotel and The Whispering Pine Inn offers a rather old school feel. We decided to go to Spring City Resort as it was newly opened 5 star resort and offered choices of both indoor or outdoor pools.

Spring City is located almost at the summit of the hill! So it was quite a walk up! When we got there, mum felt that she would be more comfortable in an indoor pool so we booked a huge Japanese themed tatami family room.

They had a nice little family bathtub that you could fill up with the spring waters and soak in privacy. Here’s the address of Spring City Resort.

18 You Ya Road, Beitou.

Tel: 2897-5555

After soaking in nice warm hot spring waters, we pulled out some of the nice mattress to rest and just relax. It was so comfortable we felt too lazy to make our way back to our hotel. I should have arranged one night stay over at the hot springs instead.

After a nice bath and a change of clothes we were ready for some dinner and then back to our hotel to rest for the day! Here we are signing out at the hotel lobby!

And the journey downhill to the Xin Beitou station with the crisp smell of rain.