Taiwan · Taipei · New Taipei City
Danshui, New Taipei City — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Where to stay in Danshui
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Rooms along the Tamsui River give Danshui its obvious answer, with Tamsui Old Street, the low evening sun and the Tamsui Customs Officers' Residence inside a single walk and the Tamsui Line running in from Taipei. Weekends are loud. The Tamkang University side pulls the other way, quieter ground where the Tamkang University Maritime Museum and the Mackay Memorial Museum suit a stay built on collections rather than on the promenade.
Choose that side if you want the crowd at arm's length.
About Danshui
What are the main landmarks in Danshui?
Danshui keeps its landmarks close to Tamsui Old Street: Tamsui Church, the Tamsui Customs Officers' Residence, 得忌利士洋行 and the Tamsui Historical Museum all stand above the water. 姑娘樓, 牧師樓 and the Mackay Memorial Museum hold the old mission ground, with the Drop of Water Memorial Hall and the Teng Feng Fish Ball Museum behind. The rest sit further out. The Tamkang University Maritime Museum keeps to the campus, Tamkang church stands north of the old town, and the Taipei Metro Tamsui Line Workers' Cenotaph marks the railway.
One name belongs elsewhere: the Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology stands across the river in Bali District.
What is the history of Danshui?
Danshui means fresh water in Chinese, and the Ketagalan called the river mouth Hobe long before that. Spanish settlers built the mission of Santo Domingo here in 1629, the Dutch took it in 1642 and raised the fort still called 紅毛城, and the Qing opened the port to foreign trade in 1862 under the Treaty of Tientsin, sending out tea, camphor and sulfur. Then the river silted.
Trade moved to Keelung, the town became Tamsui Township under Taipei County, and in 2010 it entered New Taipei City as a district, keeping the spelling Tamsui alongside Danshui, Danshuei and Tamshui.
Where is Danshui?
Danshui holds the north bank at the mouth of the Tamsui River, with the Taiwan Strait to the west, Bali District across the water and Taipei upriver.
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Updated September 2026