Where to Stay in New Taipei City, Taipei

What is New Taipei City known for?

New Taipei City is known as the ring of towns and hills that encloses Taipei in northern Taiwan, part of the wider Taipei Metropolitan Area. It surrounds the capital entirely. The special municipality gathers the old port of Tamsui with Fort Santo Domingo, the ceramic kilns of Yingge, and the temple town of Sanxia around Zushi Temple, and it stands as the second largest special municipality by area, behind Kaohsiung.

The Lin Family Mansion and Garden anchors its seat at Banqiao District. Museums such as the Ju Ming Museum spread the arts across its many districts.

What are the main landmarks in New Taipei City?

New Taipei City keeps its landmarks scattered through the towns that ring Taipei. Forts guard its old coast. Fort Santo Domingo and Hobe Fort stand above the port of Tamsui beside Tamsui Church, while inland the Lin Family Mansion and Garden holds its walled courtyards at Banqiao District.

Zushi Temple rises over Sanxia, and the kilns of Yingge feed the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum. Sculpture fills the hillside grounds of the Ju Ming Museum, and the Museum of World Religions and the Remains of the 13 Levels round out the municipality's spread of heritage.

What is the history of New Taipei City?

New Taipei City took its modern form in 2010, when the county surrounding Taipei was raised to a special municipality enclosing the capital. Its towns are far older than that. The Spanish built Fort Santo Domingo above Tamsui in the seventeenth century, and the port grew into the north's chief harbour before Keelung and the capital overtook it.

Trade came in through the river mouth. Merchant families like the Lins raised the Lin Family Mansion and Garden at Banqiao District as their fortunes rose. Around the older core the settlements each kept their own trade and temple.

Sanxia gathered around Zushi Temple, Yingge fired its kilns for ceramics, and the mining hills above the coast left the Remains of the 13 Levels standing over the sea. The many towns joined under one name in 2010, and the seat settled at Banqiao District, the biggest commercial area of the new municipality. Tamsui Church and Hobe Fort still mark the old port.

Through it all the ring of towns held its place around Taipei in northern Taiwan.

Where is New Taipei City?

New Taipei City rings the capital in northern Taiwan, wrapping Taipei on every side. Coast meets hills here. The port of Tamsui sits at the river mouth on the sea, while the seat at Banqiao District lies on the flat river ground beside the Lin Family Mansion and Garden, and the mining ridges above the coast hold the Remains of the 13 Levels.

Keelung borders it to the northeast, with Taoyuan to the southwest and Yilan County to the southeast. The municipality covers the second largest special municipality by area, behind Kaohsiung.

What is the climate of New Taipei City?

New Taipei City has a humid subtropical climate in northern Taiwan, warm and wet through much of the year. No season in New Taipei stays dry for long. Rain comes most months.

Summers turn hot and heavy, with typhoons blowing in off the sea past Tamsui and the northern coast, while winters stay mild but often grey and damp along the ring of towns around Taipei. The hills above the coast catch a good share of the cloud. Long green seasons hold across the river ground at Banqiao District and the valleys inland.

How do you get to New Taipei City?

New Taipei City is reached most easily through Taipei, which its districts enclose on every side in northern Taiwan. The metro ties the two together. Lines from the capital run out to Banqiao District, to the old port of Tamsui, and along the branch railways that thread the hills to Jingtong Station.

Mainline trains stop at Banqiao District, the municipal seat and its biggest commercial area. From there the routes fan out to Sanxia, Yingge, and the coast, so the whole ring around Taipei stays within a short ride.