Heping Island Geopark (和平島地質公園) is a compelling scenic attraction on the edge of Keelung city on the northeast coast of Taiwan.
The coastal park features wind and sea-eroded geological formations, a unique-to-Taiwan collection of family-friendly seawater swimming pools, Keelung Islet views, and a social-media-famous lookout pavilion.
Heping Island Park is included on some popular organized day trips from Taipei. Below I’ll tell you how to visit it on your own and how to combine it with other worthwhile spots in the area, such as Zhengbin Harbor Colorful Houses, Shen’ao Railbike, and Keelung Night Market.
Heping Island Geopark Quick Visiting Tips
- Day tours: this one, which includes Jiufen Old Street and Keelung Night Market, or this one, with Bitoujiao Trail, Zhengbin Fishing Harbor, and Keelung Night Market.
- Public transportation: take a bus (30 min) from Keelung, which has local train connection to Taipei (45 minutes). You may need to walk 10-15 minutes from the bus stop to the park.
- Entrance ticket: TWD 120 (60 for kids age 6-12, free for 0-5). Purchase it in advance on Klook. If you get a Taipei Unlimited Fun Pass, Heping Island Geopark is included.
- Opening times: Daily from 8 AM to 7 PM (including sunset).
- Saltwater swimming pools: Open from May 1 to October 31 (officially, but some people still swim in colder months). Bring bathing suits, towels, and swimming shoes (rocky bottom), but locals ask visitors not to use sunscreen before swimming, as it can damage the reef. Check the pool opening times here, and note that they are closed for cleaning from 1-2 PM daily.
- Time needed: One hour to do the main walking trail (easy) around the Geopark and another hour (or more) if you plan to swim.
Introduction to Heping Island Geopark
Heping Island (和平島, literally “peace island”) is a small (1.9 km2) island just off the coast from the eastern edge of Keelung city, home to Taiwan’s second-largest harbor. The island is connected to the mainland by a short bridge.
Heping Island has rock formations going back 20 million years. Over time, the island’s coast has been pummelled by wind and waves.
This has result in a variety of interesting geological formations, including pedestal rocks, marine caves, potholes, wave-cut platforms, and chessboard rocks (the Taiwanese call these tofu rocks, while the Japanese described them as “a thousand tatamis”).
According to local legend, the island has 10 Guardian Rocks, which are shaped like a sea hare, mudskipper, seal, crocodile, boar head, sphinx, King Kong, leopard, pharaoh, and black kite.
All of these are made of layered sedimentary rock – look closely to see the differently-colored layers.
In colonial times, Heping Island (called Sheliao Island or 社寮島 at the time) was a battleground between the Dutch and Spanish for Northern Taiwan.
The Spanish arrived in 1626 and built Fort San Salvador in the island. In 1642, the Dutch arrived from their settlement in the south (Fort Zeelandia in today’s Tainan) and booted the Spanish off the island.
Later, the Qing Dynasty rulers and Japanese built coastal defense fortifications on the island, some of which remain to this day.
Today, the island’s residents mostly work in the fishing industry. The Geopark has been attracting tourists since it first opened in 2012, while many Keelung locals come to swim in the seawater pools.
Getting to Heping Island Geopark
Coming from Taipei, start by riding the local train to Keelung Station (45 minutes, non-reserved, buy ticket in cash or swipe EasyCard).
From there, proceed to this bus station and take a bus to Heping Island. There are around half a dozen different buses going there, so I suggest you just use GoogleMaps directions to find the next one. Swipe EasyCard to ride them. Buses to the Heping Island include:
- Bus T99 (Taiwan Tourism Shuttle Coastal Keelung Line, also swipe EasyCard) for 30 minutes to this bus stop right at the Heping Island Geopark entrance. This shuttle bus unfortunately has recently been reduced to running only on weekends from May to September, and doesn’t run at all from November to April.
- Bus 791 is the most frequent bus. It will get you to this bus stop near Zhengbin Port Color Houses, from where you’ll cross the bridge to the island and walk 20 minutes to Heping Island Geopark. Buses 103 and 104 will get you to the same bus stop.
- Buses 101 and 102 will get you a little closer, to this bus stop, from where it’s a 7-minute walk to the park entrance.
If you drive to Heping Island Park like we did, you’ll find there’s free scooter parking and paid car parking. See my guides to renting a scooter or a car in Taiwan.
Combining Heping Island Geopark with Other Attractions
Popular day tours from Taipei allow you to easily combine Heping Island Park with Jiufen and Keelung Night Market (this tour) or Bitoujiao Trail, Zhengbin Color Houses, and Keelung Night Marke (this tour).
On your own, an obvious addition to Heping Island Park is Zhengbin Color Houses, which are in a small harbor here right before the bridge to Heping Island. The T99 (on the way to and from Heping Island Park) plus several other buses from Keelung also stop there.
You may also want to take a check out the cool ruins of an industrial complex here, next to the bridge to Heping Island.
Another fun addition would be Shen’ao Rail Bike, which is 15 minutes past Heping Island Park on the T99 route or 10 minutes past Zhengbin Color Houses (on multiple bus routes). The rail bike goes from Badouzi Station to Shen’ao Station and needs to be booked in advance.
Badouzi Station is also the starting point of the Pingxi Line, which can get you to Ruifang (for access to Jiufen Old Street), Houtong Cat Village, and Shifen Old Street.
To visit Bitoujiao Trail, another beautiful (and slightly harder) coastal trail after Heping Island Park, walk or take the bus to Zhengbin Color Houses then take bus 791 for 30 minutes to Bitoujiao.
It makes sense to finish your day at the excellent Keelung Night Market before riding the train back to Taipei.
My Visit to Heping Island Geopark
I’ve been to Heping Island Geopark twice. Once in spring to do the main trail around the park, and another time in summer with my kids just for the swimming pools.
The Main Walking Trail
The main walking trail at Heping Island Geopark does a circle around a hill, thus it is called the Huanshan Trail (“Round-Mountain Trail” or 環山步道, here).
In total, the trail is around 1.4 kilometers from park entrance gate and back. It is mostly flat, with one section that requires a gentle uphill climb. There are a few stairs, so it wouldn’t be wheelchair or stroller accessible.
There’s also a short, steeply uphill side trail called the Mountain Trail (環山步道), which adds 400 meters.
In total I spend about one hour to walk both of these at a leisurely pace. I went in a counter-clockwise direction, which seemed to be the typical route most people follow.
After showing my entrance ticket QR code (purchased here on Klook) and entering the site, I found myself standing on the Shower of Spring Balcony (沐春眺台).
I was facing a small bay with an “Island in the Island” (島中島). This bay is what remains of a channel that once separated the coastal park from the rest of Heping Island.
Unfortunately, I saw lots of sea trash here. There’s even a sign explaining that it’s not from tourists but rather gets carried in from other parts of Asia, as evidenced but the specific products that are found.
From there, I turned right to do the main circuit trail in a counter-clockwise direction.
I walked along the bay and past a small temple called Wanshan Gong (萬善公, here), also called Sheliao Waidao Jishan Temple (社寮外嶋集善堂).
The temple commemorates the spirits of the many who have died in the island’s colonial history.
Next, I spotted the picturesque zig-zagging boardwalk across the bay called Nine Curves Bridge (九曲橋 or Jiuqu Qiao), which most visitors don’t get to walk on.
The bridge provides access to Alapowan (阿拉寶灣), a longer coastal walk which can only be visited on a guided tour from May to September, with helmets and life vests.
Below is a photo of a sign on site with more info about how to join one of those tours.
On the left side of the main trail, opposite the bridge, I took a small detour up the Mountain Trail (環山步道).
The trail goes steeply uphill, first up a car road then a staircase through the forest, to Radar Station Coffee (禾口丘咖啡, here), which as the name suggests is housed in an old radar station.
I would say only bother with this side trail if you want to visit the café. Otherwise, you’ll get a better view if you just continue along the main trail.
Back down to the main trail, just past the zig-zag bridge, the trails ends at a viewpoint where the Ryukyuan Fisherman’s Monument (琉球漁民慰靈碑, here) used to stand (it’s currently being refurbished off site).
The statue was donated by Japanese fishermen from Ryukyu Islands who used to live in Keelung, were forced to leave after 1945, and were homesick for Taiwan so they sent it over.
Going back a few steps, Huanshan trail goes up a slanted slope – the only uphill section of the whole trail. There’s only about 20 meters in elevation gain.
Once I neared the top, I was able to spot Dutch Cave (番字洞), a 20-meter-deep cave on the cliff opposite the bay.
The cave supposedly used to contain some Dutch words carved into its sides by Dutch forces escaping from forces of Zheng Cheng-gong (also known as Koxinga), the Ming loyalist-pirate who expelled the Dutch from Taiwan in the late 1600s.
From here, I was also able to appreciate some geological formations that the island is known for, including pedestal rocks, potholes, and “tofu rocks” while looking down on the coastal shelf.
Next, I reached a small turnoff to Heping Island Lookout (和平島公園等嶼亭, here), which is the Geopark’s most iconic sight and the one you are most likely to have seen in social media photos.
The pavilion is on a rocky ledge called the Thousand Layers (千疊敷). A set of photogenic stairs lead up to it, while the triangular Keelung Islet dominates the view off the coast.
Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of people here when I visited (late morning on a holiday). If you come on a weekday, you might be lucky enough to have it to yourself.
The pavilion isn’t open early enough for sunrise, unfortunately. You also won’t get a direct sunset view from here, but the lighting is typically gorgeous in the late afternoon – that’s when the nicest photos on social media tend to be taken.
After the pavilion, I followed the main trail along the island’s north coast. Looking back towards the pavilion, I noticed another cave, directly below the stairs leading to it.
There doesn’t seem to be any information about it, but this cave looked more modern and intentionally dug out – my guess is for military/defence purposes during the Japanese period.
The path along the north coast includes some of the best views of the island’s signature geological formations.
I had to use some imagination, and guidance from the signs posted, to make out the animal-shaped rocks below.
The pig feet rock and mudskipper were my two personal favorites, but there were many others.
Looking ahead, I could see distant views down the mainland coast, including the port entrance and factories of Keelung city.
Below me, the natural swimming pools also came into view.
Finally, the path descended down to the pools, went past them, and forced me to go through a visitor’s center with gift shop and restaurants before returning to the park entrance.
The Seawater Swimming Pools
On a previous summer visit to Heping Island Park, my family had gone there specifically just to go swimming in the seawater swimming pools.
The pools are located here. There are two ways you could reach them. If you want to do the hike, too, then do it first, in the counter-clockwise manner I described above, so that you finish at the pools.
If you only want to visit the pools like we did, then you can walk directly to them (clockwise direction) in only 5-10 minutes from the park ticket gate. You’ll go through the Visitor’s Center and they are just on the other side of it.
When we arrived, we found changing rooms next to the pools, including paid showers.
There are three different pools on site. The first, we were amused to find, is a dedicated Pet Pool (寵物池). By pets, I’m sure they mean dogs, even though we didn’t see any swimming there that day.
The second is the Blue Sea Pool (藍海泳池), which ranges from shallow enough for my kids to touch the bottom to 2.5 meters at the deepest.
The pool feels semi-natural – with cement walls on the sides and ladders to get in, but the bottom feels like the natural seafloor, with areas of reef, sand, and so on.
This one is really the main swimming pool here and the one we spent most of our time at.
There’s also a narrow channel of water next to it that serves as a toddler water playing area, as you can see in the below photo.
The third pool on site, and actually the largest in square footage, is the Children’s Pool (兒童池).
Even though I was there with my kids, we actually didn’t spend much time in this one because it is quite shallow. It would be perfect for younger children.
There is also a sandy “beach” near the pools. It’s not what you see in the above photo, but rather a large sandy area to the west of the swimming area. In summer, they offer small canopies for shade.
Overall, we really enjoyed our swim at Heping Island Geopark. It’s the perfect antidote to the summer heat. You won’t find anything else like it anywhere in Taiwan!