The hot springs village of Jiaoxi is one of our favorite getaways from Taipei. Here’s the details on what do, where to go (for the best fish pedicure and family style hotsprings), and how to get there!
Getting to Jiaoxi:
You can get to Jiaoxi by train or by two different bus lines. Although, surprisingly, the train is the slowest option! Busses and cars get to take advantage of a very long tunnel (the xueshan tunnel) which goes through a mountain and provides a short cut from Taipei to Jiaoxi.
- By TRA Train
- costs between $130 – $200 NT
- takes about 90 minutes from Taipei Main
- By Kamalan bus 1915
- costs $104 NT
- takes about 60 minutes
- Departs from Taipei Main or Technology Station (pictured here). Buy a ticket from their counter in advance to assure that you have a seat! Bus departs from the street in front of the ticket office.
- By Capital-bus 1572
- costs $92 NT
- Takes about 40 minutes
- departs from City Hall Bus Station. Buy a ticket at the ticket counter and then proceed around the corner where the lines for the different buses are clearly marked
Both bus lines run frequently between Jiaoxi and Taipei late into the night (every 15-30 minutes) The Kamalan busses are a bit fancier than the capital-bus. They even have usb chargers at each seat. But then again, the Capital-bus station at City Hall Bus Station is the nicest station to depart from (it’s clean, well marked and extremely easy to get to). Both bus lines bring you to the same bus terminal in Jiaoxi and depart from there back to Taipei. From the Jiaoxi bus station its an easy 5-10 minute walk to the main square. For more travel information check out Jiaoxi’s tourism website.
Jiaoxi’s Hot Springs:
Jiaoxi’s main draw for many is its hotsprings! The springs water here is clear and odorless. And there are so many different ways to enjoy the water!
- Public Foot Baths:
I suggest you go straight to this area of town when you arrive in Jiaoxi (well unless you’re making a bee-line for the waterfalls). This is a great spot to get a feel for the town. Enjoy watching locals young to old dipping their feet in the hot water. Google maps doesn’t do a great job of making clear which area of the park has the foot baths, but if you just follow googles pin for the Chili Hunter, then you’ll be there. In the evening the street next to the footbaths is filed with various food vendors. Feel free to buy some fried bread or a cilantro-peanut ice-cream wrap to eat while you soak your feet!
- Communal Japanese Style Hotsprings:
To be honest, Josh and I haven’t give these a try yet. I have done the naked hotsprings thing a couple of times in Taiwan, but it’s not my favorite. Still it’s definitely a cultural experience! And here its very cheap – just 80NT per person. So its certainly worth mentioning. And we might still try it out yet. But even if you don’t decide to try it out, you should still make a point to take a stroll through Tangweigou Hot Spring Park . It’s a really sweet little park with fun pubic artwork and some other little foot-baths tucked here and there.
- Chuang Tang Spring Spa Hotel (川湯春天溫泉飯店)
The hot springs village of Jiaoxi 礁溪 is one of our favorite getaways from Taipei. Here’s the details on what do, where to go (for the best fish pedicure and family style hotsprings), and how to get there! Chuang Tang Spring Spa Hotel is definitely on the list of favorites!
There are lots of private hotels and hotspring “resorts” to chose from. But Josh and I have two favorite family style hotspring spas we go back to again and again, Chuang Tang Spring being one of them. We love Chuang Tang for its colorful scented pools and their flavored steam rooms. The “flavors” or scents for the steam rooms change daily but some we’ve enjoyed are lavendar, omanthus and menthol (well, actually that one was a little strong for me!).
They also have a pool where little fish will gladly help exfoliate your feet for you! And there’s a nice center food service area where you can buy snacks and beverages including big steaming bowls of ramen. Oh another feature we love (at both places) is the heated stone slab, where you’re invited to stretch out and take a nap.
- Art Spa Hotel (中冠礁溪大飯店)
Art Spa hotel is our other favorite place to spend an afternoon “brewing in hot springs” ( the literal translation, as I understand it, in Chinese for spending time in hotsprings 泡温泉 ). Unlike Chuang Tang, Art Spa Hotel’s hotsprings are mostly open air and is beautifully landscaped Of course, this al fresco setting can be a plus or minus depending on the day and your point of view! I love sitting in the hot springs in the rain. But not if its a complete deluge!
The pools here are beautiful and vary in temperature but are only very lightly scented. They also have a steam room – but just the plain kind. And they boast a large variety of aqua massage machines (Chuan Tang also has a nice aqua massage area, just not as big)
Both places have a nice play area for kids, but Art Spa also seems especially welcoming to families with children. There’s a great fountain kids can play in. And you can’t miss the huge 4 story water-slide! It’s super fast and really fun for adults and kids alike (so long as their tall enough to ride! 🙂 ) The water-slide isn’t open continuously throughout the day but there’s a schedule posted and its open approximately every other hour. Employees here are also more relaxed about letting you take pictures and gopro shots – which they frown on at Chuang Tang.
Don’t forget your swimcap!
Swimsuits may not be needed depending on which hot spring option you chose! But swim caps are always a must in Taiwan. Any private hot springs will happily sell you a swimming cap. Although we suggest hitting this hole in the wall swimwear shop – their prices (for swim caps AND swimsuits) are fantastic! Oh and towels aren’t included in your entry either, so bring or buy one of those as well.
Jiaoxi’s Fish Pedicures (Pesca-pedi)
There are lots of fish foot spa spots in Jiaoxi! Some places, like Chuan Tang Spring, include a fish foot bath as just one of the pools in their hot springs. But there are many stand alone little fish-pedicure shops. Many of them are in or around the public hot springs foot baths. Where ever you go for your fish pedi, don’t forget to wear shorts, or pants you can roll up! And don’t do it if you have open wounds or scabs on your feet or legs. Oh and if you have ticklish feet… well good luck!
- Our Favorite Spot (礁溪湯圍溝重口味溫泉魚) Most of the little fish pedicure places offer just one or two different types of fish to expose your feet too.But then there’s this place! It has at least half a dozen pools each filled with different fish of all different sizes, colors and bites. Some feel like being bitten by large mosquitos, others give more of a scraping sensation, others have more of a gentle nibble. Yeah, its strange. But its really funny to try with friends! You’ll get some great reactions from friends when you post the pics. And it doesn’t cost more than $5US.
Jiaoxi’s Waterfalls:
- Wufengchi Waterfall
Entrance to this waterfall is about an 8 minute cab ride from town or a 40 minute walk (we’ve done both). We’ve also read that there’s a tourist shuttle bus that goes every there very hour, but we’ve never figured out where that is.There’s a large free parking area at the base of the hike plus public bathrooms (bring your own toilet paper) and a few stands of local vendors, selling everything from hats to honey. From there the nicely paved path is clearly marked and not too steep! And you can get to the first two waterfalls easily within 20 minutes. We’ve read that there’s also a third waterfall that is supposed to be particularly stunning but unfortunately over the last year and half both times we went that path was closed off.
- Yuemeikeng Waterfall
We haven’t been to these falls yet but hope to the next time we’re in Jiaoxi on a clear day. This one sounds like its more of a real hike – not like the relaxing stroll on a paved path that you get for wufengchi waterfall. That said though, its still a relatively short hike reported to be no more than 2 hours round trip. And you can get to it starting from Wufengchi’s parking lot. Check this blog for more details on how to get to the falls.
For more information on some great food options and our favorite souvenir snack shop in Jiaxo, check out our first blog in this series on Jiaoxi.
https://yesyoucan.info/2018/08/20/jiaoxi-waterfalls-hotsprings-dr-fish-and-chili-icecream/