Bitoujiao Taiwan travel blog — Explore Bitoujiao – Jiufen – Shifen in 1 day

Not much travelers know about Bitou Jiao because this destination seems to be a secluded place. It is located one hour drive from the central of Taipei to the Northeast; Bitou Jiao (Bítóujiǎo) is Taiwan’s farthest point to this direction. There is a one-hundred year-old white lighthouse named Bitou Cape Lighthouse. From this lighthouse, it is possible to observe large and small ships entering and leaving, so it is also considered to be the “eyes” of the Taiwanese. So, what’s hot in Bitoujiao Taiwan? Let’s joining Living Nomads to expore Bitoujiao, Jiufen and Shifen in 1 day with best tips to visit to find out the answer!

Who will love Bitou Jiao the most? Living Nomads think that travelers who have the passion for taking photos and filming, especially who have flycam (drone) will crazy about this destination. It is due to the fact that Bitou Jiao viewed from above is extremely beautiful and peaceful. We say it is ‘peaceful’ because the beauty of Bitou Jiao can calm us down, like when we meditating, bringing the feelings of peaceful and relaxing. Let’s look at some photos of Bitou Jiao and let’s see if it can make you too excited to immediately list this place as your next destination for travelling. ^^

Have you been totally impressed by the majestic and poetic beauty of this site? Let’s plan the trip to not miss this place!

Usually, hardcore travelers can go to both Jiufen (either Shifen) and Bitoujiao in one single day because these two places are closed to each other. For hardcore crazy travelers, you can go to even three places: Jiufen, Shifen and Bitou Jiao, but it is necessary to rent a private car, since going by public transport may not keep your schedule on time and you will get tired very soon due to longer moving time.

How to get to Bitou from Taipei?

Public transport

Departing from Taipei City Hall Bus Station, you need to catch bus no. 2088, route National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, and get off at Diaohe Market stop. From here, you need to walk 2 minutes to Badouzi bus stop. Please see the following map for your walking direction.

From Badouzi, catch bus no. 791 to get to Bitou Jiao, get off right at Bitou Jiao bus stop. Total time to travel by bus, change bus and walking is about two and a half hours (2.5 hours).

Alternatively, from Taipei West Bus station, catch bus no. 1811 (there are only three trips at 08:20, 09:20 and 10:20) to get to Bitou Jiao

Take a private day tour from Taipei

We go there by renting a 10-hour private car to sight visiting Taipei countryside. With this option, the driver picke us up at Ximen area, we drive straight forward to Bitou Jiao in just only 1 hour, then we drive to Jiufen, drop by Shifen and go back to Taipei. It is quite a rush trip, but it worth because we can visit all three destinations. In addition, sitting inside the car is pleasing, the car also has wifi and air-conditioner so we enjoy the trip a lot.

• Link to book this tour: Taiwan’s Northern Coast.
• Or you can refer another day tour: Northeast Coast Scenic Day Tour.
• Or Yehliu, Jiufen, and Shifen Day Tour with Taiwanese Pastry Making.

After getting off the car, you walk a little ahead then turn left, you will see a small elementary school, and this is also the starting point of the path leading to the top of the hill.

In the distance, there are…graves. The local customs prescribe that one grave is allocated for one household. Local people do not bury but cremate and gather the ashes of all the deceased of one household to one single grave so that they can conveniently take care of the grave and it is less expensive.

It often takes 45 minutes in order for climbing up to the top of the hill. The more we climb up, the more we can view and enjoy the beautiful landscapes. For your information, this path has been paved, there are clean and firm handrails, so it is also safe for kids to climb up the hill. ^^

 

The driver is very nice and friendly, he can speak fluently in English. He goes first and presents the landscape just like a real tour guide; we just need to follow him and take as much as photos that we want. We also bring our drone (flycam) so that we can film the impressive landscapes.

Then, we come to a military base area surrounded by fences and barbed wire and there are CCTVs everywhere. We walk a little ahead, the road splits into two paths, one goes to the observatory, and the other path goes to the lighthouse. We go to the observatory first, then we use our flycam to view around the hill. After that, we go back to the crossroad, turn to the other path to come to the famous lighthouse. The perfect time to see Bitou Cape Lighthouse most prominent is on a sunny day when the ocean and sky is intertwined in blue color. In addition, here we can find a small road leading down to the rocky beach. Local fish men often go fishing here and when our flycam goes through this area, they all waved very friendly, this is so nice, right? ^^

The most special thing about climbing up to the top of the hill and looking down to the deep blue sea is the feeling of satisfaction and refreshment, the feeling that is more touching than when your girl say “yes” ^^ The wind blow in your face, the whole view is blued with the color of the ocean and sky.

Lost in the world of blue ocean and sky, we stay there for 1 hour, and then we climb down to head to Jiufen. Driving from the Bitou Cape Lighthouse to Jiufen is not so far. Let’s explore Jiufen with us now!

How to get from Bitou Jiao (Bitoujiao Taiwan) to Jiufen Village?

Driving by private car of Living Nomads from Bitou Jiao to Jiufen is the best option, you just need to get on the car, the driver will bring you to Jiufen in just a moment.

If you go by bus, take bus no. 856, the earliest trip is at 10:42, the last trip is at 17:42.

We will not go further on the topic of Jiufen (or Nine Parts Village), you will surely know it in details since Living Nomads also already had a separate post about Jiufen. You can see the post here.

To explore and walk around Jiufen, we think you need to spend for around 2 hours. For those who want to take photo with unfamiliar angles, you can go to the corners of the old village. It is recommended to come to Jiufen on weekdays and bring along an umbrella in case of sudden rain; in Taipei, this happen sometimes.

How to get from Jiufen to Shifen?

If you go by public transport, we suggest that you should not try to go to Shifen on day after visiting both Bitou Jiao and Jiufen because a long and tired trip is waiting there. You can get exhausted by several times of changing bus, 2 times of changing train and walking distance. However, we still guide you how to visit Shifen from Jiufen.

Shifen’s specialty is raising lanterns on train tracks. The tracks are still in operation, if you sit on the moving train, you will see on both two sides of the railway, there are always full of eager young people holding lanterns, waiting for the train to leave to raise the lanterns up to the sky, and wishing for romantic hopes.

How to get there?

Bus and train: From the beginning of Jiufen Old street, you will see a 7-Eleven, look across to the right is a bus stop. You need to walk to the bus stop and catch bus no. 1062 route to Taipei. Get on the bus and remember to get off at RuiFang train station. From Ruifang Train Station, buy a train ticket to Shifen. Note: the train is always crowded, for several times, we can’t find a seat and we have to stiffly stand on the train all the way to Shifen.

Taxi: Another option is catching a Taxi, price is around 200TWD from Jiufen to Shifen.

Private day tour: Best option ever is to charter a 10 hours-private car for route from Taipei – Bitou Jiao – Jiufen – Shifen as we mentioned from the beginning because only with this option, you can visit all three places on one day. ^^

1 hour staying at Shifen is enough, after that, “10 hours-private car team” will get on the car and go straight back to the hotel. “Bus” team have to go back to Ruifang train station, catch bus no. 1062 or no.1061 to go back to Taipei (get off at Zhongxiao Fuxing stop), it will take around 50 minutes. The last trip is at 7pm.

*Note: from September 01, 2017, the 10-hours private car rental to Taipei – Bitou Jiao – Jiufen – Shifen will cost extra 500TWD fee due to longer distance. Please take note of this.

What you waiting for? Book the flight and 10-hour private car to explore all these fantastic places right now! ^^. Or Northeast Coast Scenic Day Tour.

Some best day tours, trips, activities and transfer services, tickets in, to and from Taipei you can refer to

• Taoyuan Airport Private Transfers (TPE) for Taipei
• Sedan Taoyuan Airport Transfers (TPE) for Taipei
• [SALE] Taoyuan Airport MRT Ticket & Exclusive Shopping Coupon
• Yehliu, Jiufen, and Shifen Day Tour with Taiwanese Pastry Making.
• Explore Taipei City
• Taipei Free Walking Tour Historic Route
• Taipei Double Decker Bus Tour
• Taipei Popular Sightseeing Private Car Charter : Jiufen, Pingxi, and North Coast (Chinese/English/Korean)
• Northeast Coast Scenic Day Tour
• Jiufen Shuttle Bus from Ximen
• Yehliu, Shifen, and Jiufen Day Tour with Korean and English Speaking Guides
• [10% Off + 1 Extra Free Day] 4G SIM Card (TW Airport Pick Up) for Taiwan from Chunghwa Telecom
• 4G SIM Card (TPE Airport Pick Up) for Taiwan from Far EasTone Telecom
• 4G WiFi (TW Airport Pick Up) for Taiwan
• 4G Portable WiFi for Taiwan from Uroaming (Unlimited Data)
• 4G Portable WiFi for Taiwan from WiFiBB (Unlimited Data)
• 4G LTE WiFi (TW Airport Pick Up) for Japan
• [Sale – Taiwan Food Promo] Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) Discounted Ticket from Taipei
• Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) Consecutive Unlimited Pass (2 or 3 Days)
• Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) Discounted Ticket from Taoyuan
• THSR Exclusive Discount One Way Ticket from Taoyuan (Two Tickets for the Price of One)

Are you finding more top things to do in Taipei: Tours, activities, attractions and other things? Read more: Taipei travel blog — The fullest Taipei city guide for a wonderful trip to Taipei for the first-timers.