Keelung (Taipei) Cruise Port: The Complete Guide for 2026–27

Why Keelung is worth getting off the ship for

Keelung is the port for Taipei, and for once that is not a polite fiction: the cruise terminals sit at the head of a working harbour in the middle of a real Taiwanese city, the railway station is a few minutes' walk from the gangway, and the capital is 42–51 minutes down the line. Fourteen kilometres up the coast, Jiufen — a gold-rush town of stepped lanes, teahouses and red lanterns on a hillside above the sea — is the picture that sells this port, and on most calls it fits comfortably. And at the bottom of the gangway, more or less, is Miaokou, one of Taiwan's best-known food markets: more than 200 stalls in about 400 metres around a temple.

That gives you three good days, not one. The skill is in choosing. Jiufen and Taipei lie in opposite directions, the bus up to Jiufen is slow and the hill is crowded by the afternoon, and the train runs two or three times an hour, not every few minutes as many pages say. This guide is built from the port operator's own call schedule, Taiwan Railway's timetable, the bus operator's timetables and the attractions' published hours, checked on 30 September 2026. Taxi fares and bus ride times are our estimates, and say so.

What Keelung is not: a dry port. October to March is its wet season, with 17–20 rain days a month, and it gets nearly five times Taipei's November rain. Bring a proper umbrella, and keep in mind that a wet day in Keelung is often a drier one in Taipei.

First: which berth are you at?

Keelung has two cruise terminals, one on each side of the harbour head, about 450 metres apart. Unlike most ports, it hardly matters which you get: both are downtown and walkable.

The port operator's schedule for October 2026 to March 2027 lists 129 calls, but 83 of them are ships starting or ending a cruise here — mostly Star Navigator, which is based in Keelung, plus MSC Bellissima. Of the 46 port-of-call visits, 22 are at West 3, 23 at East 2 and 1 at East 4. The pattern in the list is clear even though no rule is published: Princess, Royal Caribbean, MSC, Costa, Carnival, Norwegian and Viking ships use West 3; Silversea, Oceania, Holland America, Celebrity Millennium and the Japanese ships mostly use East 2. On 13 of the 23 East 2 calls, West 3 was already taken that day, usually by Star Navigator or MSC Bellissima. On 26 days of the season two or more ships are in port.

One 2026 cruise guide says MSC Bellissima and Spectrum of the Seas use the East terminal; the official schedule has every one of their calls this season at West 3. Check the terminal in your ship's daily programme the night before — but either way, your plan barely changes.

Neither the port nor the city publishes a shuttle bus, and you will not need one. All TIPC cruise terminals offer wheelchair service, accessible toilets and lifts.

Getting from the cruise terminals into Keelung and beyond

Everything starts on foot. Keelung Station (trains to Taipei) is 4–8 minutes away; Keelung Transfer Station, the bus station for Jiufen, Yehliu and the Taipei buses, is about 300 m from the West terminal and 450 m from the East.

Taxis run on the official Keelung tariff, the same level as Taipei's: NT$85 for the first 1.25 km, then NT$5 per 200 m, with NT$5 a minute added in slow traffic and NT$20 at night (23:00–06:00). The fares in this guide are worked out from that tariff and map-routing distances with no traffic, so treat them as a floor: real journeys often take 1.3–2 times as long, especially on weekend afternoons on the Jiufen hill road and on the Taipei freeway. Freeway tolls are extra.

Trains need no booking. Keelung is the terminus, so every train starts here. Tap an EasyCard, iPASS or icash card in and out, or buy a ticket. Cards are not valid on a few express types (Tze-Chiang 3000 series, Puyuma, Taroko) — on the Taipei run, simply take a local train. The senior half fare is only for Taiwanese nationals aged 65 and over, so plan on paying the full NT$62.

Kuo-Kuang buses 1813 and 1800 also run from Keelung Transfer Station to Taipei; the train is the simpler choice.

Starting or ending your cruise here? Most of Keelung's calls are ships embarking or disembarking passengers, and Taoyuan International Airport is on the far side of Taipei. By rail, take the local train to Taipei Main (42–51 minutes, NT$62), then the Taoyuan Airport MRT from its station A1: expresses leave every 15 minutes and take 38–39 minutes to Terminal 1 or 2, with commuter trains taking about 50 minutes; the full fare is NT$160. Allow about two hours from the terminal (our estimate), plus time to get luggage between the two stations. A taxi is about 65 km and 55 minutes without traffic; the meter on the Keelung tariff comes to from about NT$1,680–1,690 plus freeway tolls (our estimate), and traffic adds to it. The airport metro operator reminds passengers to be at their airline's check-in 2–3 hours before the flight.

Keelung to Jiufen: what is actually possible

Jiufen is close — about 14 km by road — but the road climbs, and the bus is slow. The honest options:

• Bus 788. From Keelung Transfer Station via Ruifang to Jiufen Old Street and on to Jinguashi (the Gold Museum); some trips continue to Shuinandong. Weekday departures from Keelung in the useful window: 07:40, 08:00, 08:35, 08:50, 09:05, 09:25, 09:45, 10:00, 10:20, 11:00, 11:20, 11:40, 12:00 — every 15–40 minutes. At weekends: 07:00, 07:20, 08:10, 08:30, 09:00, 09:40, 10:10, 10:40, 11:20, 12:00. Jiufen Old Street is more than 40 stops along; allow 40–55 minutes (our estimate), more on weekend afternoons. It is a two-section fare; the operator's page does not print the amount.
• The return. On weekdays buses leave Jinguashi for Keelung at 10:00, 10:30, 10:50, 11:20, 12:00, 12:20, 12:40, 13:00, 13:15, 13:35, 13:55, 14:15 and 14:45, plus 11:30 from Shuinandong — every 15–40 minutes. At weekends: 10:10, 10:40, 11:00, 11:30, then not until 12:30, 13:00, 13:30, 13:45, 14:00, 14:20. Jiufen Old Street is eight stops after Jinguashi on the way back, so the bus reaches you a few minutes later.
• Taxi. About 20 minutes and from about NT$405–415 each way without traffic. By taxi both ways, Jiufen takes about 3–3½ hours ship to ship. Some passengers agree a fixed round-trip price with a driver; we have no official rate for that.
• A tour. The private north-coast loop in our catalogue adds Shifen and Yehliu, but it needs an 11-hour call (see the tours below).

How long it takes: by bus, plan on about four hours ship to ship — roughly an hour each way including waits, and two hours on the stairs. That makes Jiufen a fit for every call of 8 hours or more, and for a 6-hour call only by taxi on a weekday.

Jiufen and the Gold Museum: how to do them well

Jiufen is an open street, not an attraction with a gate: there are no official opening hours, and shop and teahouse hours vary. The main lane is Jishan Street; the steep stairway crossing it, Shuqi Road, is where the lanterns and the famous teahouse views are. It is all steps and slopes, slippery after rain — think carefully if you have trouble with stairs. Crowds build through the day and are heaviest at weekends and in the afternoon; 12 of this season's 46 port calls fall on a Saturday or Sunday. Small stalls generally want cash.

Eat what Jiufen is known for: taro balls, warm and chewy in a sweet soup, at a teahouse with the sea below. A-Gan-Yi is one well-known shop.

Two kilometres further on, the Gold Museum at Jinguashi, where most 788 buses turn back, tells the story of the mines. It opens 09:30–17:00 on weekdays and 09:30–18:00 at weekends and on holidays; admission is NT$80, payable in cash or by credit card. It closes on the first Monday of every month, which hits Norwegian Jade's call on 7 December 2026 and Mitsui Ocean Sakura's on 1 February 2027. On 1 March 2027 (Sapphire Princess) the closure may move to the Tuesday if that Monday becomes a substitute public holiday — check the museum's notices nearer the time. The museum's free entry for over-65s is written for Taiwanese nationals.

Keelung to Taipei: one or two sights, by train

The train makes Taipei easy and predictable: walk to Keelung Station, take a local train to Taipei Main (42–51 minutes, NT$62), and use the MRT from there. Weekday departures from Keelung in the morning: 07:13, 07:24, 07:45, 07:55, 08:19, 08:41, 08:57, 09:19, 09:37, 09:58, 10:18, 10:38. Useful afternoon trains back from Taipei Main: 13:27, 13:41, 14:23, 14:42, 15:17, 15:38, 16:07 — arriving in Keelung 43–47 minutes later. Saturday's timetable is almost identical.

Door to door, allow about 1¼ hours each way to most central sights (our estimate, with the walks and waits), and 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes to the National Palace Museum, which needs a bus or taxi beyond the MRT. That means about six hours for one or two sights: comfortable on the 9–11-hour calls that are the norm here, too tight to be worth it on less than 8.

What to pick:

• Taipei 101 Observatory. Open 10:00–21:00 every day. Adults NT$600; priority entry NT$1,200; the 101st floor costs NT$380 more. Discount and senior tickets need a Taiwanese ID, so foreign seniors pay full price, which you can pay online in advance.
• The National Palace Museum. The great collection of Chinese art, open Tuesday–Sunday 09:00–17:00, closed on Mondays. Tickets NT$350; free entry for over-65s is for Taiwanese citizens only. It also closes for typhoons. Whether a particular piece — the famous Jadeite Cabbage, say — is on display on your date is up to the museum's rotation, so check before you build a day around it.
• The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Longshan Temple and Dadaocheng (the old merchant quarter around Dihua Street) are all on the MRT and pair well with Taipei 101.

Not on a Monday: five port calls this season fall on a Monday — 7 December 2026 (Norwegian Jade), 18 January 2027 (Sapphire Princess), 1 February (Mitsui Ocean Sakura), 22 February (Westerdam) and 1 March (Sapphire Princess). On those days, the Palace Museum is out.

A taxi to central Taipei costs from about NT$755–760 to the main station, plus tolls; a secondary guide quotes NT$1,000–1,200 as a typical flat price and warns that rush hour can stretch a 40-minute drive to 90. The train's 42–51 minutes do not change.

Miaokou and the harbour on foot

Miaokou — literally "temple mouth" — fills Ren 3rd Road between Ai 2nd and Ai 3rd Roads around Dianji Temple, with more than 200 stands in about 400 metres. Keelung City lists the dishes to look for: fish tempura, ding bian cuo (a rice-noodle soup), the deep-fried "nutritious sandwich", butter crab, paopao ice and small sausages. It is cash only. The market has no fixed hours; Keelung City recommends dusk to about 21:00 as the time it is busiest and best stocked, and the stalls trade until about 02:00–03:00. Some stalls open by day — a local guide says it gets busy from about 15:00 — but if you arrive at 10:00 expect only part of it. Allow an hour to ninety minutes of grazing.

The evening and late-departure calls are the ones that see Miaokou at its best: Spectrum of the Seas on 9 December (13:00–23:00), Costa Serena (10:00–20:00) and MSC Bellissima on 17 November (12:00–20:00). On those, do Jiufen or Taipei by day and come back for dinner.

In the same block, at 90 Ren 3rd Road, Lee Hu Bakery is the century-old Keelung shop for pineapple cakes and pastries.

Zhongzheng Park climbs the hill east of the harbour in three levels: the gate on Xin 2nd Road and the Martyrs' Shrine; the altar used at the Ghost Festival; and at the top the white Guanyin, 22–25 metres high by different official counts, with two gold lions, eighteen arhat statues and the Great Buddha Temple. It is free and open around the clock; Keelung City suggests an hour. From the berths it is only 600–900 metres in a straight line, but uphill; a taxi is about 5 minutes. The Keelung Tower lift that carried people up from Yi 2nd Road closed for renovation on 1 April 2026; the city's own page still says the reopening date will be announced (one news site reports it reopened on 22 August), so do not count on it. The Ghost Festival Culture Hall on Xin 2nd Road is closed on Mondays and national holidays, and its own listing says it is under renovation.

Further afield but cheap by taxi: the Zhengbin Fishing Harbour colour houses (free; 6–7 minutes, from about NT$155–170) and Heping Island Geopark (08:00–18:00 from November to April, NT$120; 10–11 minutes, from about NT$205–215), whose sea-water pool is closed from November to April. Maritime Plaza, the open waterfront between the two terminals, needs no planning at all.

The best things to do in Keelung on a port day

Our full list, with the time each takes from the berth, is on the Keelung top 10. In brief:

1. Jiufen lantern town — about four hours ship to ship by bus; go early, before the crowds.
2. A Miaokou Night Market crawl — on foot from both terminals; cash only, best from dusk.
3. Yehliu Geopark — the Queen's Head and the mushroom rocks; NT$120, NT$60 for anyone 65 or over.
4. The north-coast loop, guided — Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu in one private car; long calls only.
5. Taro balls above the sea — Jiufen's dessert, with the view.
6. Zhongzheng Park and the Guanyin — the harbour from above; a 5-minute taxi up.
7. Taipei, door to door — a private driver from the quay, for anyone who would rather not manage trains.
8. A xiao long bao class in Taipei — soup dumplings by your own hand, a train ride away.
9. Lee Hu Bakery — pineapple cakes from the Miaokou block.
10. Taipei 101 and the city — by train, NT$62 each way, two sights at most.

For more ways to spend the day, see our Keelung day plans and guided options.

How to think about your hours

Work backwards from the ship. Your all-aboard time is usually 30 minutes before departure (check the daily programme), you want to be back at the gangway an hour before that, and the first half hour after arrival goes on getting off. So the time you can actually use is the call length minus about two hours.

The two terminals are 450 metres apart on the same harbour, so nothing on this table changes by more than 5–10 minutes between them.

Of the 46 port-of-call visits from October 2026 to March 2027, 26 are 9–10 hours and 10 are 11–12 hours; only 2 are 8 hours or less. The commonest patterns are 07:00–17:00 (seven calls) and 07:00–18:00 (six), then 08:00–18:00. Four ships stay overnight — Silver Moon (6–7 November, 32 hours), Celebrity Millennium (8–9 November, 35 hours), The World (12–15 November, 82 hours) and Mitsui Ocean Sakura (30–31 December, 40 hours) — and on those you can do Jiufen one day and Taipei the next.

Tours worth booking, by how many hours you have

Every pick opens our own page first — what the operator actually includes, who should skip it, and which upcoming Keelung (Taipei) calls it fits. Prices are the operator's "from" price as of 26 Sep 2026.

7h+Taipei food at a class table

Both classes are in central Taipei, with no transport. You take the train from Keelung (42–51 minutes) and the MRT or a short walk; allow about an hour or more each way door to door, and check the class start time against your arrival before booking.

Food lovers · per person · meets near Taipei MainStreet Food Cooking Class in Taipei: Gua Bao/Lu Rou Fan/Boba TeaTwo hours making gua bao, braised pork rice and bubble tea, six minutes' walk from Taipei Main's north exit — the easiest Taipei booking from the ship. The listing gives no class times.5.0★ · 25 reviews · From US$79 per person · needs a 6h callWhy it is on this site →Dumpling fans · per person · Da'an classroomXiao Long Bao, Pork thick soup, Bubble milk tea. Taiwan Traditional Light Meals Experience-B (Taipei Cooking Class)Soup dumplings, pork thick soup and bubble milk tea; the listing says it is wheelchair accessible. It is further from the station, and the inclusions say only 'all fees and taxes', so check what the price covers.5.0★ · 25 reviews · From US$65 per person · needs a 7h callWhy it is on this site →

7h+Old Taipei on foot, with a guide

Dadaocheng and Dihua Street are the old merchant quarter by the river, reached by MRT to Beimen. Transport is yours to manage.

Couples · shared, max 12 · meets at Beimen MRTTaipei: Disappearing Flavors of Taiwan Food Tour with 12+ TastersThree hours and twelve or more tastings of older Taiwanese dishes. The route ends at Ningxia night market and the listing gives no start time — check it against your all-aboard, and remember Miaokou is ten minutes from the ship.5.0★ · 21 reviews · From US$55 per person · needs a 7h callWhy it is on this site →Families & groups · private, max 10 · per person2-Hour Private Dadaocheng Walking TourA two-hour private walk with a licensed English-speaking guide, from US$35 each. Entirely on foot, meals excluded — and Dihua Street is easy enough with a map if you prefer.5.0★ · 17 reviews · From US$35 per person · needs a 6h callWhy it is on this site →

10h+Taipei with a private driver from the quay

The only tour in our catalogue written for a Keelung cruise day. Its pickup list shows only Taoyuan Airport, so get the quay pickup confirmed in writing when you book.

Limited mobility & first visits · private, max 15 · per personPrivate Cruise Tour from Keelung: Trip to TaipeiDoor to door by car: the memorial hall, Taipei 101, lunch at Din Tai Fung, Longshan Temple and Dihua Street 'if we still have time'. No Palace Museum, and the 101 deck (about US$18) and tips are extra.5.0★ · 18 reviews · From US$210 per person · needs a 10h callWhy it is on this site →

11h+Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu in one private loop

The three north-coast sights lie in three different directions from Keelung; only a private car makes all three possible in one port day.

Groups up to 8 · private · per personPrivate Day Trip to Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu ParkYehliu's rocks, Shifen Waterfall and three hours in Jiufen, entry tickets included; 31 reviews at 5.0. Written for Taipei hotel pickups and 8–9 hours long — agree a Keelung quay pickup and drop-off in writing.5.0★ · 31 reviews · From US$190 per person · needs a 11h callWhy it is on this site →

Tours are booked through Viator (a Tripadvisor company). If you book, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never decides what we recommend — which is why each tour page has a "think twice" note.

About the return to the ship. None of the eight Keelung tours we list promises in writing to get you back on time. The private Taipei day (57320P4) is the only one written around a cruise call, and even it says only that the last stop happens "if we still have time (depending of departure of your cruise)". The private north-coast loop (57320P1) is written for Taipei hotel pickups and says nothing about ships. The classes and walks meet in Taipei and leave the train to you. So: get any quay pickup confirmed in writing, tell the guide your all-aboard time when you meet, and plan to be at the gangway an hour before it. On a train day, the 42–51-minute ride and the published departures are your safety margin — keep to them.

Money, cards and the practical stuff

Taiwan uses the New Taiwan dollar (NT$). Taipei is card-friendly; Keelung's market and Jiufen's stalls are not.

Getting cash. The East terminal has an ATM, a staffed currency-exchange counter and a convenience store on the ground floor. The terminal exchange machines take only US dollars, Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, and need your passport — no pounds, Australian dollars or euros. The West terminal's plan shows no ATM; Keelung Station is 4 minutes away. If you hold pounds or Australian dollars, use a card at the ATM.

Entry formalities. US, UK (British Citizen passports), Australian, Canadian and New Zealand nationals can visit Taiwan visa-free for up to 90 days, with a passport valid for six months (for Americans, valid for the stay). Visa-exempt visitors must complete the online Taiwan Arrival Card within 7 days before arrival; your cruise line will tell you whether to file it yourself for a port-of-call stop.

Closed days against call dates. The ones that matter:

The opening hours of Lee Hu Bakery, the Jiufen teahouses and the Taipei restaurants are not published officially; if a shop matters to you, ask the ship's port talk or check close to the date.

When to go: seasons and crowds

Every port call this season falls in Keelung's wet season, when the north-east monsoon brings rain off the sea. The Central Weather Administration's 1991–2020 normals:

• Rain. November is Keelung's wettest month, with nearly five times Taipei's rain. On a wet day, Taipei by train is the better plan: Taipei 101 and its mall, the National Palace Museum (not Mondays) and the Gold Museum (not first Mondays) are all indoors. Jiufen's stone stairs are slippery in rain.
• Temperatures are mild all season: highs of 26 °C in October falling to 18 °C in January.
• Typhoons mostly hit Taiwan from July to September, but October storms happen; the Palace Museum closed for one on 2 October 2024. Yehliu and the Gold Museum also close on typhoon days.
• Busiest months for calls. March 2027 has the most port calls (11), then February (10) and October (9); January has 4. There are no port calls from 3 to 16 February, around Lunar New Year.
• Holidays. The Lantern Festival falls on 20 February 2027, the day of Asuka III's call and the day before Costa Deliziosa's; expect crowds at Shifen, famous for its sky lanterns. Taiwan's public holidays in the season include 10 October, 25 October, 25 December, 1 January and 28 February.
• Crowds. Jiufen is busiest at weekends and in the afternoon; go early. On 26 days of the season two or more ships are in port.

For wet-weather plans across all our ports, see the rainy-day guide; for the winter season, which ports work in winter.