Tamsui

淡水老街

Sunset over the river mouth, a bowl of A-gei, a red Spanish fort

Hours

Old street always open; Fort San Domingo weekdays 09:30–17:00, weekends 09:30–18:00, closed the first Monday of each month

Tickets

Old street free; Fort San Domingo, Little White House and Hobe Fort combined ticket NT$80 (official site)

Address

Old street and riverside promenade along Zhongzheng Rd, Tamsui, New Taipei

Ride the red line to the end and you reach a harbour town where the river opens into the sea. The riverside promenade runs with water on one side and old-street shops on the other. The local snacks are A-gei, fried tofu stuffed with glass noodles and sealed with fish paste, fish-ball soup, and iron eggs braised until chewy. On the hill, the red walls of Fort San Domingo went up under the Spanish in 1628, then passed to the Dutch, the Qing and finally served as the British consulate. The main event is sunset, when the sun drops beside Guanyin Mountain across the water and the river turns orange.