Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu in one private 8–9 hour day with entry tickets included. The listing is written for Taipei hotel pickups and says nothing about ships, so it suits only calls of 11 hours or more, and only if the operator confirms in writing a pickup and return at the Keelung quay.
- If you would rather be guided, the operator here holds 5.0★ across 31 reviews.
- It is not only a photo stop: spain, the dutch, the qing, france and japan all took this harbour, and it is only a few kilometres wide.
- This needs 9 hr, so it only fits an 11-hour call or longer. On a shorter one it will cost you the ship, not the view.
- Book it before you sail. There is no tour desk at the pier and walk-up places are not a thing here.
- No single published ride covers this one. Budget for a taxi both ways, or fold it into a guided day.
Why North coast loop, guided is famous
Spain, the Dutch, the Qing, France and Japan all took this harbour, and it is only a few kilometres wide
Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu are in three different directions from Keelung and none of them connect usefully by public transport. The guided loop exists because that is the only way to hold all three inside a port call, and because the road to Jiufen is not one to drive yourself.
Keelung is a deep natural harbour at the northern tip of Taiwan, facing the shipping lanes to Japan and the Chinese coast. Between 1626 and 1945 it was taken by the Spanish, the Dutch, the Qing, the French and the Japanese — and each of them left something you can still see.
On what is now Heping Island
Back again 1664–68, then gone for good
And loses ~700 men, mostly to disease
Keelung becomes the gateway to Japan for fifty years
Walk up to Ershawan Fort and look down at your own ship. Every power that took this harbour wanted that view.
Book it with a guide
Booked before you sail — there is no tour desk at the pier. Booking through this link supports the site.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
See · ~5h round tripJiufen lantern town
Gold-rush lanes stacked on a sea cliff, red lanterns lighting the teahouses at dusk — the town that launched a thousand postcards.
See the detail
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