Jiufen
九份老街（基山街・豎崎路）
A gold-rush hill town where red lanterns light the stairs at dusk
⚠ Weekend evenings: huge crowds
- Hours
- Streets always open; shops roughly 10am–8pm, varying by shop
- Tickets
- Free
- Address
- Jishan St and around, Ruifang District, New Taipei
Gold turned up here in the late 1800s and a town grew straight up the hillside. Jishan Street is a narrow, roofed alley packed with taro-ball and peanut-ice-cream-roll stalls; crossing it, the steep stairway of Shuqi Road is strung with red lanterns. The A-Mei Teahouse halfway down became famous because people say it looks like the bathhouse in Spirited Away. As the sun goes down the sea and Keelung Mountain fade below and the lanterns flick on one by one; that half hour is what everyone comes for.