Jiufen and Shifen day trip from Taipei

What the tour covers

This is a guided day out of Taipei, not an entry ticket. You travel with a licensed guide, and transport and insurance are included. The itinerary goes to Shifen Waterfall, then Shifen Old Street, where you release a sky lantern, and finally Jiufen, the former gold-mining town, as the sky is getting dark. It finishes back in Taipei, with Raohe Street Night Market listed as the main drop-off. The booking page gives the duration as seven hours and calls that an estimate, because traffic and weather can change it. When you book you choose between a shared tour and a private tour for you and your group.

What's included, and what isn't

Read the inclusions before you book, because several things people assume are covered are not. A licensed guide, transport and insurance are included. Food and drinks are not, and neither are lantern expenses, so you pay for your own lantern at its stall in Shifen. Hotel pickup and drop-off also sit on the not-included list, although the booking page says pickup is available with some options, so check the option you choose. The booking page suggests comfortable shoes, rain gear and cash.

• Included: licensed guide, transport, insurance
• Not included: food and drinks, lantern expenses
• Hotel pickup: depends on the option you select
• Bring: comfortable shoes, rain gear, cash

Guide language and group size

The guide works in Chinese, English or Japanese, and you pick a language when you book. If too few travellers choose a language on your date, the tour runs with Chinese or English guides instead. That matters if you read German, French, Dutch or Portuguese: no guiding in those languages is listed, so plan on following in English. Small groups are listed, and a private tour is available if you would rather have the day to your own group. The booking calendar shows what is running on your date.

How the day runs

The order of stops is fixed: Shifen first, Jiufen last. The itinerary lists Shifen Waterfall and Shifen Old Street at about fifty minutes each, and Jiufen at about two and a half hours. Those figures are marked as for reference only, and itineraries can change, so treat them as a guide to proportion rather than a schedule. Jiufen comes at the end because its red lanterns and stepped lanes are the point of the town after dark. Your confirmation shows the departure time for your date, which is why this page gives none.

Read next: Jiufen and Shifen: what to expect

Meeting point and drop-off

The meeting point on the booking page is MRT Taipei Main Station, exit M3, but the same page says the starting location depends on the option you select. Follow the instructions in your confirmation, not this page. The tour can end at Raohe Street Night Market, which is listed as the main one of two drop-off locations. Wikipedia describes the market as about 600 metres long, in Songshan District, with Ciyou Temple at one end and Songshan Station on the Taipei Metro nearby. Because food is not included, plan to eat there or in Jiufen.

Tour or train and bus

You can reach both places without a tour. Shifen is on the Pingxi line, a 12.9 km single-track branch of Taiwan Railway, so a train can set you down in the middle of Shifen Old Street. Jiufen has no station of its own. The nearest are Houtong, Ruifang and Badouzi, so you finish the trip by bus. The tour gives you a guide and a fixed order. The train gives you your own pace and a timetable to read. Either way you see the same places. The difference is who plans the day.

• Tour: one booking, a guide, transport included
• Train and bus: your own pace, timetables to plan
• Same places either way

Doing it yourself, step by step

On your own, the pieces are these. Take a Taiwan Railway train to Ruifang, which is served by the Yilan Line and is one of the nearest stations to Jiufen. Wikipedia notes that most Pingxi line trains terminate at Houtong or Ruifang, so Ruifang is also where you board for Shifen. The line runs Dahua, Shifen, Wanggu and on to Jingtong. For Jiufen you take a bus from Ruifang, on roads that are steep, narrow and winding. Nothing rail-linked connects Jiufen and Shifen, so you return through Ruifang. Check the current Taiwan Railway timetable before you plan the day.

• Ruifang: where you change
• Shifen: on the Pingxi line
• Jiufen: by bus, with no station
• Houtong Cat Village: an optional stop on the line

How to choose

Choose the shared tour if you want one booking, a guide and the order of the day set for you. Choose the private option if you are a group that wants the day to itself. Choose train and bus if you like reading timetables, want longer in one place, or want to add a stop such as Houtong. None of these changes what you see, so the question is who handles the planning and the pace. If a particular language matters, check the booking form for your date before anything else, because the guide languages are limited to Chinese, English and Japanese.

Booking, cancelling and busy days

When you book through GetYourGuide you can reserve now and pay later, and cancel up to 24 hours before the start for a full refund. The calendar shows the starting times for each date, and your confirmation is the document to follow on the day. Dates for the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival follow the lunar calendar: New Taipei City holds releases on Lantern Festival day and the weekend before it. Festival days draw large crowds around Pingxi and Shifen, and for the 2023 festival the city urged visitors to use public transport and shuttle buses. Check the city's tourism site for the year's dates.

Who this isn't for

The booking page lists the tour as not suitable for people with mobility impairments, heart problems or high blood pressure, and says it includes a lot of walking. Jiufen's lanes are stepped and its approach roads are steep. If you want to choose your own hours in each place, skip the tour and use the train. If you need a guide in German, French, Dutch or Portuguese, this tour does not list one. And if you want a meal built into the day, it is not included, so look at a food tour instead.