Hotels near Beitou Hot Springs

Beitou sits on a geothermal field at the northern end of the Taipei MRT Red Line, and the Japanese built the first bathhouses here in the 1890s. The Millennium Hot Spring public baths charge TWD 60 (about EUR 1.75) for a timed session in terraced outdoor pools running from 38 to 45 degrees. Swimsuits and caps are required in the public pools, unlike the private single-sex baths in the older guesthouses further up the hill.

Thermal Valley, five minutes uphill, is a milky green lake steaming at close to 90 degrees. You cannot swim in it, but the walk explains the sulphur smell hanging over the whole district. The Beitou Hot Spring Museum, housed in a 1913 Japanese bathhouse with a tatami lounge upstairs, is free and worth twenty minutes. Bring a towel from your accommodation rather than renting one.

Pro Tip: Turn up on a weekday morning and you may share the hottest pool with two retirees and nobody else. Sessions are strictly timed and staff clear the water between them, so read the posted schedule board before you pay at the kiosk.