Exploring Jiufen Old Street 九份老街


Jiufen is a little town in the mountains where you get to see Japanese tea houses and great views of the sea. They have great food and lots to explore in the area as well.

jiufen 九份老街 a mei teahouse

Getting there

A convenient way to get there would be to take a shuttle bus that also takes you to Shifen and maybe Yehliu Geopark.

If you would like to visit on your own, many guides say to take bus 1062 from Zhongxiao Fuxing station but getting there by bus depends on your starting point. 1062 also goes to Songshan bus station after Zhongxiao Fuxing Station so you can save some travel time if you're nearer to Songshan instead. The bus frequency is about 10 minutes so there isn't a long wait. The bus takes about an hour from Songshan bus station to get there.

Things to do in Jiufen Old Street

1. Peanut Ice Cream

jiufen peanut ice cream

One of Jiufen's famous food is the peanut ice cream. I was so excited to eat I forgot to take a picture of the roll. This was really good though, the cilantro really adds another flavour to the fragrant peanut!

2. Ah Gan Yi Yu Yuan 阿柑姨芋圓

ah gan yi yam balls 阿柑姨芋圓

This is a yam balls with soybean dessert! If you’re lucky you get to sit near the window and look at the view while you eat. The yam balls are really chewy too. It's such a nice dessert to have on a hot summer's day.

3. Check out the views

jiufen views

You'll get to see different parts of this town and the sea from various viewpoints around the old street. 


There are also teahouses like these that allow you to appreciate the views of Jiufen in the area.

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The views of the area are very picturesque too.

4. Check out the small alleys

jiufen old street

Each alley is different and you get to see quite a lot exploring these alleys too.

5. Visit A-mei teahouse

a-mei teahouse

This is the tea house that inspired Spirited Away and it looks pretty magical indeed. 

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I would love to have tea here one day maybe in the autumn or winter. It's too hot outside in summer for tea there for me.

no face

This is also the reason why you see so many no face and ghibli items in the main street too.

Apart from all these, there are many other food places that you can eat at and other places to explore too. This was a nice break from the city indeed.

TravelEthel TanTravel, Taiwan, Food