Taiwan · Taipei · New Taipei City
Sanxia, New Taipei City — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Where to stay in Sanxia
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Sanxia divides sharply between a walkable old quarter in the north and forested hills in the south. The old quarter is the base. Sanxia Old Street, Zushi Temple and the Sanxia History Museum stand a few streets apart, reached by the buses that run out from Taipei.
South of that the district climbs, and Manyueyuan National Forest Recreation Area is a day out rather than a doorstep. The nearest railway station is at Yingge, over the Dahan River. If you want museums more than shophouses, the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum and the New Taipei City Art Museum sit over in Yingge District, not in Sanxia.
About Sanxia
What are the main landmarks in Sanxia?
Sanxia gathers its landmarks around Sanxia Old Street and Zushi Temple. The street is a run of brick shophouse arcades built under Japanese rule, now given over to ceramics and food stalls. The temple is older.
Zushi Temple was first raised in 1769 and rebuilt three times, the last effort begun in 1947 under the painter Li Mei-shu. His work is kept close by, at the Li Mei-shu Memorial Gallery and the Professor Li Mei-shu Memorial Museum. The Sanxia History Museum holds the local record, the New Taipei City Hakka Museum is the largest Hakka cultural centre in Taiwan, and the Yuanshan Bell hangs apart at Yuanshan Village.
What is the history of Sanxia?
Sanxia was known as Sa-kak-eng, the triangular surge, a name from the 1780s for the confluence where the Sanxia River and the Hengxi River join the Dahan River. Dye made the town. Settlers from Anxi planted Strobilanthes cusia on the slopes, large-scale indigo production is recorded from 1822, and Lin Tzu-tzeng opened the first dyeing workshop in 1830.
The Japanese administration renamed the place Sankyō in 1920. Sanxia Township became Sanxia District on 25 December 2010, when Taipei County was raised to New Taipei City. The Sanxia Indigo Blue Dye Festival still marks the older trade.
Where is Sanxia?
Sanxia fills the southwestern corner of New Taipei City, bounded by Yingge District over the Dahan River and by Wulai District, the only larger one, to the east.
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More areas in New Taipei City
Updated September 2026