Is The Popular Jiufen A Must-Visit In Taiwan?

Located in the Ruifang District of New Taipei City, Jiufen is a former goldmining village located in a seaside mountain area with the famous Jiufen Old Street as its main attraction.

It’s a very popular tourist spot in Taiwan and offers some incredible views of the sea. Jiufen itself, specifically the Old Street area, is very photogenic with the narrow alleyways and numerous red lanterns hanging all over the place. It’s a totally different vibe than Taipei.

Why Is Jiufen Popular?

Located in the mountains, the town of Jiufen became extremely popular amongst tourists due to its similarity to the magical town in the famous animated movie Spirited Away. The similarities include the numerous illuminated red lanterns found in the movie which strongly resemble those found in Jiufen.

The movie’s famous director Hayao Miyazaki, has repeatedly shot down this rumor and insists the village found in Spirited Away is not based on Jiufen. This hasn’t stopped tourists from coming here in droves to witness it, since it does have similar vibes to what’s found in the movie.

Jiufen Old Street

Besides being known for looking similar to the village in Spirited Away, Jiufen Old Street in general is quite well-known. The street (it’s more of an alley) is chalk full of souvenir shops, food stalls, restuarants, teahouses, and even pottery stores. It branches off into other narrow alleyways with even more shops and various stores and stalls. You’ll encounter numerous steps going up and down while exploring through these alleys, so you will 100% get a workout in. Be ready for the steps!

The street and the numerous alleyways are fun to meander through, get lost in, while embracing the uniqueness of the atmosphere and the surroundings. Spirited Away may not be based on this wonderful village, but if you’ve seen the movie you can see the similarities.

The Food

There’s a ton of food options on Jiufen Old Street. It all comes down to preference and what you may be either looking to try or craving. So far during my trip I hadn’t had the famous braised pork rice bowl, that’s one of the most popular dishes in Taiwan. I figured why not give it a try while exploring Jiufen?

I came across a place serving braised pork rice pretty early on while walking into the Old Street. I was quite hungry so decided to stop by and get my first taste of this famous dish.

With this being my first bowl, I wasn’t sure if all the toppings and trimmings included on this bowl were the standard or not, but this had spinach, tofu, egg, braised pork, and mustard greens over a bed of rice. The bowl was only (110 NTD, $3.12 USD), so certainly a solid price for a meal in a super touristy area.

The food itself was pretty solid. Nothing too mind boggling good, but this is a tourist area, so can’t complain too much. The bits of pork were pretty fatty and juicy and melted in my mouth. There wasn’t too much of the pork though. The sauce that covers the pork is slightly sweet, but not an overwhelming flavor. The rest of the toppings added different textures, the egg and mustards greens were my faves of the bunch, overall the toppings were enjoyable and added value to the bowl as compliments to the braised pork.

After eating the braised pork bowl, I was still a little hungry and wanting a little snack to fill me up. Luckily, there’s no shortage of snack related food pretty much everywhere in Jiufen Old Street.

I settled on getting a Taiwanese sausage on a stick. Seemed like a “light” snack, which was exactly what I was looking for.

It literally is a sausage on a stick, which pretty much resembles a hot dog. It definitely had a crispy outside to it and was super juicy on the inside. It was a little sweet and savory and quite tasty. Super cheap snack as well (45 NTD, $1.40 USD) that really hit the spot.

The Views

There are views aplenty in Jiufen and the atmosphere makes you feel like you’re in a fantasy mountain side village. One of the most popular locations within Jiufen is the Jiufen Teahouse. It’s an iconic teahouse which offers a very unique building and an awesome view of the coast. It’s a very popular place. I didn’t end up grabbing a tea here (I was short on time unfortunately) but definitely would love to grab one whenever it is I come back.

Just walking around Jiufen you are going to run into some awesome views. This was just at the end of one of the many offshoot alleys of Jiufen Old Street. There are a lot of teahouses or places where you can grab a beer and some finger foods that look out on the coast like this as well. Plenty of great places to take a breather either from all the stairs or the crowds or both and relax and enjoy some truly beautiful views.