1 / 10Jiufen lantern townPhoto: Another Believer / CC BY-SA 4.0
Tap a photo to see it large. 10 photographs, every one credited.
Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
Gold-rush lanes stacked on a sea cliff, red lanterns lighting the teahouses at dusk — the town that launched a thousand postcards. Weekday mornings dodge the crush.
- Our number 1 for Keelung (Taipei), out of ten. It is the first thing we would spend the hours on.
- Free; teahouse NT$300+ to visit.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "A gamble" — weekend traffic can double the drive. only with a private car.
- It is not only a photo stop: a gold-rush town that emptied, then filled again because of a film.
- Shops ~9:00–20:00 — lanterns lit at dusk.
- 5 hr door to door needs a 7-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
Why Jiufen lantern town is famous
A gold-rush town that emptied, then filled again because of a film
Jiufen grew on gold, discovered here in the 1890s, and was abandoned when the mines closed in 1971. It was rediscovered as a film set for A City of Sadness in 1989 and is now lit with red lanterns down a stepped alley. Its resemblance to a Studio Ghibli film is much argued over and officially denied.
Jiufen was a mining settlement that boomed on gold under Japanese rule, collapsed when the mines closed, sat nearly empty for decades, and then became one of the most visited places in Taiwan because a Taiwanese film used it as a location in 1989 — and because a great many people are convinced, wrongly, that a Japanese animation was based on it.
A gold-mining town that boomed under Japanese rule, emptied when the mines closed in the 1970s, and came back after Hou Hsiao-hsien filmed A City of Sadness here in 1989. Two lanes: Jishan Street, covered and full of food, and Shuqi Road, a long stone staircase with teahouses and red lanterns.
Studio Ghibli have said Spirited Away was not based on it. Almost nobody believes them, and the town has an entirely amiable relationship with the misunderstanding.
Mining expands hugely under Japanese rule
Teahouses, cinemas, and a dense stepped town
For roughly two decades
Golden Lion at Venice; Taiwanese visitors follow
Sit down in a teahouse on Shuqi Road and pay for the hour. Standing in the crowd photographing lanterns is the lesser version.
Things worth knowing
- Weekday mornings are markedly better. The trade-off is that the lanterns are not lit.
- Sit down in a teahouse and pay for the hour. Standing in the crowd photographing lanterns is the lesser version.
- Shifen, in the Pingxi valley, is where sky lanterns are released from the railway tracks — trains still run through.
- Jinguashi next door has the gold museum, a preserved mine, and the site of a Japanese-era Allied POW camp.
- Jiufen九份 — "Nine portions" — from a story about supplies split nine ways.
- Shuqi Road豎崎路 — The stone staircase with the lanterns. The photograph.
Jiufen lantern town and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 5 hr goes
Counted from the moment you step off the gangway, about 30 minutes after the ship arrives. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.
about 50 minutes each way is the measured figure for bus 788 ~40–55 min (taxi ~20 min), not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 3 hr 25 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions people send us
Is Jiufen worth it from a Keelung cruise call?
On a call of eight hours or more, yes — go on a weekday morning when the stairs are walkable, accepting that the lanterns will not be lit. Under six hours it is a genuine gamble: the taxi is about twenty minutes each way at best (bus 788 is 40–55) and considerably longer in weekend traffic.
What should I do in Jiufen?
Sit down in a teahouse on Shuqi Road and pay for the hour — a pot, a burner and a wooden balcony over the sea is what the place is actually for. Walk Jishan Street for food, and if you have time, add Jinguashi next door for the gold museum and preserved mine.
Routes that already include it
Each one is a finished day timed from the official timetables, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
Eat · ~1.5h, walkableMiaokou Night Market crawl
Taiwan’s street-food canon ten minutes from the gangway — crab thick soup, one-bite sausages, the "nutritious sandwich" fried to order.
See the detail
See · ~5hYehliu Geopark
The Queen’s Head and a shoreline of mushroom rocks carved by wind and sea — geology doing sculpture.
See the detail Do · ~9h privateNorth coast loop, guided
Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu in one private 8–9 hour day with entry tickets included.
See the detail