jiufen & shifen || the only guide you’ll need!🚂🏮

planning to go both jiufen (九份) and shifen (十分)? this post is for you!

🚞 transportation (public transport)

we chose to go by public transport as it’s more affordable and surprisingly easy too! i recommend starting your day earlier as it does take more time than traveling by car. shifen was our first stop since we wanted to explore jiufen at night when the lights can be seen.

shifen 🛤️:

to get to shifen, you’ll need to go to ruifang (which can be easily reached by taiwan’s tra or hsr trains). do download these apps to get the routes and timings of trains and buses in taiwan. they really helped us lots with our planning. the tra app helps you book and collect your train tickets beforehand, preventing the need for rushing.

after getting to ruifang, buy a one way ticket/day pass if you’re planning to get on the train a few times, for the pingxi small railway line! remember to check the timing of the train on the apps as the intervals between each train is around an hour. get on the train towards jingtong and drop off at the shifen station! (around a 30 min ride)

jiufen🏮:

there’s no direct transport from shifen to jiufen, so you’ll have to take a train back to ruifang station again. from there you can take a bus outside the station up to jiufen. there are a few buses you can take (#788 , #827 , #1062) these will take you right up to the entrance and with a short walk, you’ll be able to enter the old streets!

🛵 what to do at shifen?

fly some sky lanterns of course! there are many stores offering the same lantern service so make sure to take a walk and compare prices first before deciding on one. they all should provide photo taking services too! if you’re done with the lanterns, you can explore the short street and shop for souvenirs or buy food to snack on! we tried the peanut ice cream rolls and xiao long baos 😋

lastly, visiting the waterfall. we heard that it takes about an hour to walk to the waterfall viewing area. in the 33 degrees heat, that seemed impossible. so we decided to rent a scooter (no license needed) to get to the entrance of the trail! thank god we did as it was such a thrilling experience + it only took less than 15 mins. one thing that i did not expect was the walk that we had to take before reaching the actual waterfall. it took around 25 mins in the heat, but the view made it all worth it.

🎑 what to do at jiufen?

at jiufen there are many food and drink stalls lining the streets. we took our dinner at a random stall which sold beef noodles and rice, for a quiet stall it was surprisingly delicious! the entire area is pretty big. after walking for awhile you would probably see more restaurants and tea houses including the famous A-MEI Tea House. right outside it, there a a platform that overlooks the beautiful lanterns which is such a good photo spot!

**do note that both places involve a lot of walking and climbing of stairs on very uneven flooring. don’t be like me and wear actual comfortable shoes!!!

if y’all have any questions, feel free to comment 🫶🏻

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