Hotels near Jiufen

Jiufen is a former gold-mining town stacked up a hillside above the Pacific, and it is the one entry here that needs a full day. Jishan Street is a narrow covered lane of tea houses, taro ball shops and souvenir stalls, while the Amei Tea House and its red lanterns on the Shuqi Street steps supply the image everyone has already seen. Hayao Miyazaki has denied that the town inspired Spirited Away, which has stopped nobody from saying so.

Stay for dusk, when the lanterns come on and sea fog rolls up the valley. Taro balls in hot ginger soup run about TWD 60 (roughly EUR 1.75), and a tea house pot with refills and a view over Keelung Bay costs around TWD 300 per person. Weekends make the main lane close to impassable. The Gold Museum at Jinguashi, ten minutes further by bus, is far quieter and covers the mining history properly.

Pro Tip: Take bus 1062 from Zhongxiao Fuxing instead of the train-and-bus route via Ruifang. It costs roughly TWD 100 (about EUR 2.90) on an EasyCard and drops you at the top of Jishan Street, so you walk downhill. Head back before 20:00, when the return queue on the main road gets long.