Beitou sits at the northern end of Taipei's metro system, about twenty-five minutes from the main station, and it has volcanic hot springs. Not near the city — in it, on a branch line, with a station called Xinbeitou at the end of it.
The Japanese developed the area as a spa district during the colonial period from 1895, building bathhouses in a hybrid Japanese and Western style, and the tradition never stopped. The water comes in three types here: white sulphur, green sulphur and iron. The green sulphur spring in Beitou's Thermal Valley is one of only two known deposits of hokutolite in the world, a radioactive barium-lead mineral named after the district.
Why it changes what Taipei is
Most large Asian cities offer food, shopping and a temple or two. Taipei offers those and a functioning hot spring quarter on the metro, which means you can spend a morning at the National Palace Museum and be in mineral water by four in the afternoon.
That is unusual enough to organise a trip around, and it splits the hotel decision cleanly.
Beitou for the springs: a quiet residential valley of bathhouses and hotels, most with private in-room spring baths as well as public pools.
Central Taipei for everything else: Xinyi with Taipei 101 and the department stores, Da'an with the tree-lined streets and the best restaurants, Zhongshan with the boutiques, and the night markets spread across all of it.
The two are half an hour apart on the red line.
The nine below are grouped that way.
Beitou
The hot spring district, on the metro.
Villa 32 occupies a small property in the valley with five suites, each with a private spring bath cut from stone, and a level of restraint that has made it the address in Beitou. It is the most refined hot spring hotel in Taiwan.
The Gaia Hotel Taipei sits on a hillside above the valley with private spring baths in every room, a public bathhouse and a design that references the Japanese period.
The Gaia Hotel Taipei
Yuanshan · 4★ · $$
A 1952 Chinese palace with a dragon on the lobby ceiling
Check availabilityGrand View Resort Beitou occupies a large property with mountain views, several public pools and full facilities, and it is the family answer in the district.
Grand View Resort Beitou
Beitou · 5★ · $$$
Several public pools and full facilities with mountain views
Check availabilityRadium Kagaya Taipei sits in the valley as a Japanese-style ryokan with tatami rooms, kaiseki dinner and private baths. The staff wear kimono and the format is the real thing rather than a theme.
Radium Kagaya Taipei
Beitou valley · 5★ · $$$$
A genuine Japanese ryokan with kaiseki and tatami
Check availabilityCentral Taipei
The city, half an hour south on the metro.
Mandarin Oriental, Taipei occupies a building on Dunhua North Road with a rooftop pool, a very large spa and the most polished service in Taiwan. It is the best hotel in the city.
Mandarin Oriental, Taipei
Dunhua North Road · 5★ · $$$$
Rooftop pool and the most polished service in Taiwan
Check availabilityRegent Taipei sits in Zhongshan with a shopping arcade downstairs, several restaurants and a long-standing position as the city's business address.
Regent Taipei
Zhongshan · 5★ · $$$
A shopping arcade downstairs and the city's business address
Check availabilityHotel Proverbs Taipei occupies a converted building in Da'an with a rooftop bar, a small room count and the best restaurants in the city outside the door.
Hotel Proverbs Taipei
Da'an · 5★ · $$$
A rooftop bar with the best restaurants outside the door
Check availabilityKimpton Da An Taipei by IHG sits in Da'an with a design-led interior, a good ground floor and rates below the landmarks.
Kimpton Da An Taipei by IHG
Da'an · 4★ · $$
Design-led with a good ground floor below landmark rates
Check availabilityYuanshan
Between the two, on the hill.
The Gaia Hotel Taipei occupies a fourteen-storey Chinese palace-style building on a hillside north of the centre, built in 1952 with a red-columned lobby and a dragon on the ceiling. It is the most recognisable building in Taipei after the tower.
What we have left off
The public bathhouses in Beitou are excluded from the list because they are not hotels, and they are also the cheapest and most local way to use the springs. The Millennium Hot Spring public bath costs almost nothing and requires a swimsuit.
What to do
Bathe properly. Japanese-style bathing rules apply at most public pools: wash first, no swimwear in the segregated ones, and note that some Beitou baths are mixed and require a swimsuit while others are not.
Eat at the night markets. Shilin is the largest and the most visited; Raohe and Ningxia are smaller and better. Beef noodle soup, oyster omelette, stinky tofu, and the pineapple cakes to take home.
Do the National Palace Museum, which holds the collection the Nationalists moved from Beijing in 1949 and is among the greatest collections of Chinese art anywhere. Half a day minimum.
Go up Elephant Mountain at dusk for the view of Taipei 101, which is a twenty-minute climb and free.
Take the gondola to Maokong for the tea houses on the hillside, and the train to Jiufen, an old mining town of stepped lanes and lanterns an hour northeast.
Practical notes
Taoyuan airport is 40 minutes from the city by express train. Songshan, in the city, handles regional flights.
October to April is the best window: cooler and drier. Summer is hot, humid and inside typhoon season, which runs roughly July to October. Winter is mild and grey and is the best hot spring season.
The metro is excellent, cheap and signposted in English. An EasyCard covers it and the buses.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Taipei Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Are the hot springs really in the city?
Yes. Beitou is on the metro, about 25 minutes from the main station, with a branch line to the spring district.
Beitou or central Taipei?
Beitou for the springs and quiet, central for the museums, food and shopping. Half an hour apart on one line.
Do you need a swimsuit?
For mixed public pools, yes. Segregated Japanese-style baths are unclothed. Private in-room baths avoid the question.
How many nights?
Four. Three in the city and one in Beitou, or split evenly.