Beitou (北投) is Taipei's hot spring town, at the foot of Yangmingshan in the far north of the city and still on the MRT. The springs made it a resort in the Japanese era, and the main sights line a wooded valley and park a few minutes' walk from Xinbeitou Station: a 1913 bathhouse that is now a museum, a steaming sulphur lake, and a beautiful green library in the park. It is an easy half day, and a soak at a hot spring hotel is the way to finish.
- MRT Xinbeitou Station (Red Line branch, R22A), changing at Beitou Station (R22)
- Best time a weekday, from late morning; cooler months are best for soaking
- How long half a day
Getting there
Take the Red Line toward Tamsui to Beitou Station (R22) and change to the short branch line for one stop to Xinbeitou (R22A). The station opens onto Beitou Park, and everything below is within walking distance, uphill along the valley.
What to see
Beitou Park (北投公園). The wooded park along Beitou Stream that links all the sights.
Beitou Hot Spring Museum (北投溫泉博物館). Built in 1913 as the Beitou Public Bathhouse, once the largest public bath in East Asia. It fell into ruin after the war until local schoolchildren and teachers rediscovered it in 1994; the community campaigned to save it, and it reopened as a museum in 1998. Inside, the exhibits tell how the hot spring town grew. It is at No. 2, Zhongshan Road.
Thermal Valley (地熱谷). One of the sources of Beitou's hot spring water: a steaming, sulphurous pool in a hollow at the top of the park, sometimes called Hell Valley. Beitou also gave its name to hokutolite (Beitou stone), the only mineral named after a place in Taiwan. Stay behind the railings: the water is far too hot to touch.
Beitou Library (臺北市立圖書館北投分館). The Taipei Public Library's Beitou Branch, a wood-slatted building in the park and Taiwan's first green-building library, with a light planted roof, solar panels, deep balconies and vertical wooden louvres that keep it cool. Visitors are welcome to look around quietly.
- Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 08:30 to 21:00; Sunday and Monday 09:00 to 17:00. Closed on national holidays and on the first Thursday of each month.
- MRT: Xinbeitou Station (R22A), a few minutes' walk through the park.
Ketagalan Culture Center (凱達格蘭文化館). Across the road from the park, the city's center for Indigenous culture, opened in 2002, with three floors of exhibits on Taiwan's Indigenous and Pingpu peoples.
Soaking and eating
To actually bathe, most visitors book a public bath or a private hot spring room at one of the hotels on the hillside above the park; some offer soaks without an overnight stay. Prices and rules vary by hotel, so compare before you go. Beitou is not a food destination in itself, so plan a meal back in the city: our food guide has the best of it.
A short walking order
- Come out of Xinbeitou Station into Beitou Park.
- Visit the Beitou Library, then the Ketagalan Culture Center.
- Walk up to the Hot Spring Museum.
- Continue uphill to Thermal Valley.
- Walk back down for a soak at a hotel before the MRT home.
Good to know: we could not confirm current opening hours for the Hot Spring Museum and Thermal Valley from an official source, so check locally before a special trip. For a longer Tamsui day, Beitou Station is on the way. → Tamsui
→ All neighborhoods · Taipei's museums
Sources
Hot Spring Museum history, Beitou Library and Ketagalan Culture Center from the Beitou Hot Spring Museum official site. Library hours from Taipei Public Library. Thermal Valley and hokutolite from Taiwan News. Station codes from the Taipei Metro station list. Checked October 2026.