Jiufen Old Street (九份老街) | Visit this AMAZING place when you're in Taiwan!

Hi everyone!

First of all, let me say Happy Chinese New Year 2018 for all of you :)

Today, I would like to share about Jiufen, one of the favorite and must-go place in Taiwan. Jiufen itself is located in Ruifang District of New Taipei City (east of Taipei).

▼ How to get there:
1. Direct bus from Taipei City to Jiufen (I think this is the most convenient way)
First, you need to go to MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Station (Brown Line and Blue Line interchange) and go to Exit #2. Then, take Keelung Bus No. 1062,  the bus ticket is NT$98 for one trip (the trip takes about 1 hour 15 minutes), and I recommend you to pay using Easy Card (悠遊卡) for convenience.

While you're waiting for this #1062 bus, you'll be greeted by many taxi drivers, which brings us to another means of transport!

2. Taxi!
For those of you who don't mind to spend extra bucks in order to save time. The taxi drivers at the bus stop at Zhong Xiao Fuxing station will offer you a taxi service going directly to Jiufen for NT$200/person, but they will only depart when they have 4 people, so be prepared to share the cab with strangers if your group is less than 4 people. Also, they somewhat exaggerate by saying that it will take around 2 hours by bus, and it only takes around 40 minutes by taxi.

Lastly, you can take the:
3. Train to Ruifang Station, then take bus to Jiufen
From Taipei Main Station (台北車站), purchase a ticket to Ruifang Station (around NT$60). After you exit the station, the bus stop heading to Jiufen is located next to the police station, and you can take bus #827 or #788. From there, the bus trip is roughly 15 minutes, and the fare is NT$15.

And here we are, at Jiufen! This is where the fun part begins!


Jiufen is famous for its old street and you'll see whole kinds of traditional Taiwanese street food sold there, such as fish ball, oyster omelette, rice cake, BBQ squids, mushrooms, grilled Taiwanese sausages, noodles dishes, bubble milk tea, etc. You name it, they have it!

This shop is one of my favorites, they're famous for the fishball, but all they're dishes are delicious, and very affordable!

 Each dish only costs you NT$30!

▼ Other shops that you should try:

This shop is famous for selling a different kind of meatballs. If you have trouble choosing, like we do, you could just order the mix meatball menu where they serve a bowl of 5 different types of meatball. The meatball's good, but I'm not really a fan of the rice cake, but you're welcome to try.

五種丸仔 (5 kind of meatball) NT$60

油蔥粿 (Rice Cake) NT$35

You will also see a stand that sell many flavours of fish ball on stick. There are original, curry, kimchi, spicy and miso flavour.

1 stick = NT$35, 3 Sticks = NT$100

Not only foods, but you can also buy a LOT of great souvenirs, bags, clothes and accessories. Jiufen is a very famous tourist destination after all, you can grab any Taiwanese souvenirs here to bring back home, at a very reasonable price.

Small shop selling many traditional souvenirs

This unique shops sells different kinds of Ocarina (A type of musical instrument, similar to a flute). The Ocarinas are made into different kinds of shape like dogs, owls, cats, etc, and it seems like they're hand made, cool!

Jiufen, or Taiwan in general, have a lot of influence from Japanese culture, so you could find some Japanese looking stuffs all around Taiwan.

You need to climb up a fair amount of stairs, so make sure you wear a comfortable shoes :) Also, depending on the season, it rains quite a lot in Jiufen, so make sure you bring your umbrella.

After you climb up, you'll still see some shop on both sides of the street. Near the top of the stairs, you could find a very famous Taro Ice (芋圓冰) Shop. Don't worry if you're not a fan of ices, they also serve warm taro balls soup, perfect for the cold weather, yum!

阿柑姨
Open Hour : 09:00AM-8:00PM
(Weekend/public holiday: open until 10:00PM)

Because that day was cold, so I order the hot one. This one is Taro Balls with Mixed Beans Soup (綜合豆) - NT$50

▼ After that, you can try some Taiwan's traditional clothes at the opposite of 阿柑姨

You just need NT$100/person to try traditional clothes as many as you want!
(You take the pictures by yourself)
And, if you just want to look around, you need to pay NT$20.

The last time I went there, there was  heavy rain and fogs, but trust me, coming here on a good weather will make the scenery even more beautiful. Even though I think the rain and fog gives Jiufen a different kind of atmosphere, which I still love!

Thank you for reading Jennels blog! Say hi to us by leaving comments down below and you can also follow our blog and instagram (@jenn_els) to keep up with new stories! :)

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九份 Jiufen Old Street

Location : Ruifang District, New Taipei City