A Market of Alleys, Jiufen, Taiwan

Jiufen 九份

View from Jiufen at night

This mountain top market town is well known for its small, winding alleys, delicious local Taiwanese snacks, and beautiful views from which to sip afternoon tea.  The early morning (around 6am) or early evening (after 6pm) is the best time to go if you want to avoid the heavy crowds and the powerful scorching sun.

Jiufen was founded during the Qing Dynasty with 9 families (the name literally means 9 parts) who always requested 9 shipments of goods from town (one for each family).  This village was mostly left alone until the Japanese colonial period when gold was found in 1893 in the surrounding mountains and caused a massive influx of gold seekers.  During WWII, the Japanese opened a POW camp in the village that housed foreign military officers from around the world.  After WWII, however, Jiufen was mostly forgotten and was left abandoned by the Japanese when they departed the island.

A movie called A City of Sadness, released in 1989, used Jiufen as its backdrop to chronical the 228 incident and rekindled an interest in the village.  The 1990s saw a dramatic increase in tourism due to the charming persona portrayed in A City of Sadness, and when the movie Spirited Away also modeled its setting on Jiufen in 2001, tourism again increased even further!  The result of this publicity has been a rush of tourism to the town, and during the weekend there are so many people it is almost impossible to move down the small streets.  It's reminiscent of being in a sardine can.  Not at all pleasant.  In fact, because of an increase in tourism from Mainland China, even weekdays are super-packed with tourists.

For this reason, Jenny and I decided to arrive in Jiufen in the evening around 9pm.  Because most shops are closed at this time, it was wonderfully eerie to walk around the silent and mostly dark alleys, lit only by the traditional red lanterns and the twinkling of nearby towns.  It was a really surreal experience I would highly recommend- the town might be lively during the day, but it is absolutely beautiful and other-worldly at night; right out of Spirited Away.  We even spent some time at one of the tourist look-outs, staring out into the vast ocean and all of the twinkling lights of the surrounding mountains.  Gorgeous.

After a good night's sleep at our old school- Old Taiwan hotel, we got up extra early to wander the streets as the shops began preparing for the day.  We watched snack shops begin to prep their food; we watch rice dumplings being made (tangyuan 湯圓), small cakes, steamed buns, etc.  It was like watching the town come to life as the sun rose- and without the crowds!  Although there we definitely more people wandering the streets in the early hours of the morning, it was still a pleasant experience to meander among the traditional shops and handful of tourists.

Warm tangyuan (above) is not as photogenic as iced, but is every bit as delicious!

By about 8-9am, however, the bus loads of tourists had arrived, and it quickly became difficult to walk down the streets.  In fact, it became downright unpleasant almost immediately, so Jenny and I ducked out of the crowds and into a tangyuan shop we took mental note of several hours earlier.  There I grabbed a spot by the window while Jenny ordered for us, and we nibbled on our freshly made tangyuan (Jenny had one over shaved ice; I had one hot) and various toppings while enjoying the beautiful view overlooking the mountain's edge and the ocean.

Stray cats of Jiufen need your help!  Please consider donating while you're there!

After our mid-morning snack, we made our way back to the bus depot at the edge of town and took a bus down to Ruifang train station.  Normally we would have just taken the bus straight back to Keelung, but the seats were broken and sliding around at every pothole, so we got off early and treated ourselves to Jenny's favorite thing: TRAINS!  We were able to use our yo-yo cards so we were able to scoot on a little faster (no waiting in line to buy a ticket!) and snag seats in the first car.  Best decision we ever made- we were able to watch the conductor direct the train and watch the changing scenery out of the front and sides of the train; every little kids' dream.

If you have the time, I would recommend taking the train at Ruifang in at least one direction- it's a really fun experience.  If it's not an option, the bus is great too- you get to watch the scenery unfold in front of you as you make the twists and turns around the mountain roads.  Either way, I strongly recommend visiting Jiufen in the early morning or late evening if you don't like being a sardine; Jiufen has incredibly narrow roads (no vehicles allowed- they're that narrow) and with thousands of tourists, it gets cramped very quickly!

Jiufen Street: 7am vs 9am

Getting there: From Taipei, there are regular local buses (1062- Keelung bus) that run out to Jiufen from Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station.  The ticket is about $100nt (cheaper if you have a rechargeable yo-yo card), and the trip takes about 60 minutes.

From Keelung, we took a bus bound for Jiufen outside of Keelung train station for about $45nt (cheaper with yo-yo card!) and it took about 40 minutes.

From Ruifang Train station (with cool old-school trains), take the TRA train from Taipei to Ruifang (make sure it's not going directly to Keelung as it will skip this stop!) and then get on a bus going up to Jiufen.  This bus ride will be about 15-20 minutes as Ruiang station is just at the bottom of the mountain, ticket costs between $15-21nt; weekends are cheaper!