Seaside Day-trip from Taipei

Hello from Taiwan! We’ve been spending our first few days over here exploring, recovering from jetlag, and eating all the delicious food. I am currently on the high speed rail now finally with a bit of downtime to write about our recent day trip to the northeast coast of Taiwan. 

Our first stop of the day was Yehliu Geopark, about a 40 minute drive from Taipei. It was kind of like a huge rock garden measuring a few kilometers out the long way, but with most of the rock features formed naturally. There were some really interesting mushroom and checkerboard rocks shaped by the wind and waves. It’s a neat attraction worth at least a quick stop.

Yehliu Geopark

Mushroom rocks in the park

Most of our afternoon was spent 30 minutes east in Jiufen, a picturesque seaside town that was also the inspiration for Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”. The town itself is pretty small, with mostly small streets and shrines and a few larger buildings. Looming over the town is Mt Keelung, a tall peak from the top of which you can see panoramic views of the ocean and Taipei 50 miles away on a clear day. We didn’t hike all the way to the top, but even from the lower platforms you can get some great views of the surrounding area. 

View of Jiufen from Mt Keelung

Top of the main food street

As the sun started going down, we made our way over to Shifen, another small town farther inland known most for being the tourist destination for lighting sky lanterns. All along the main Old Street were stores selling lanterns. They were pretty cheap, only about 200 NT per lantern, and really big with plenty of space to write all your hopes and wishes for the future.

Lighting sky lanterns in Shifen

This day trip was a nice contrast from the big city sightseeing of Taipei. For anyone in the area looking for something different and relatively close by, I’d recommend checking these places out.