Jianshi district (尖石鄉) is a remote, mountainous district of Hsinchu county in northwestern Taiwan.
One of my family’s favorite weekend trips from Taipei is to drive to Neiwan Old Street for delicious Hakka foods then go camping or stay in one of several hot spring hotels in nearby Jianshi. We’ve done variations of this trip about half a dozen times.
We love Jianshi because it’s off-the-beaten-path (even for locals!). It has beautiful scenery, cherry blossoms, streams to swim in, hot spring resorts, quaint B&Bs, and a campground where we got to play with bunnies, see tons of crazy bugs (see end of article), and had our best firefly experience ever in Taiwan.
Even if you ride the Neiwan Line to the area, you could still experience Jianshi by staying at the gorgeous Hui Lai Hot Spring Resort (Booking / Agoda), which offers a free shuttle from the old street.
Otherwise, you’ll need to rent a car or scooter to visit most of the places I’m going to introduce in this article.
Jianshi Introduction
Jianshi is the largest and most remote district of Hsinchu county. Its primary inhabitants are Atayal (泰雅族) aboriginals. (Related: read these ways to experience aboriginal culture in Taiwan.)
Neiwan, which is just outside the district, was the center of booming forestry and mining industries during the Japanese colonial period and the decade just after it.
The resources would come from the mountains of Jianshi and be sent out by train from Neiwan.
See my guides to Taipingshan, Alishan, and Houtong, also known for their past logging and mining industries.
My family has by no means explored much of Jianshi district. The area is huge but only has a few main roads penetrating into its high mountains.
For example, we have yet to visit Smangus, a cooperative aboriginal tribe considered to be the most isolated in all of Taiwan.
The part of Jianshi that we always go back to is roads 竹60 and 61. Just five minutes’ drive past Neiwan Old Street, a bridge across the Youluo River is the start of the 竹60.
Two minutes down from there is the excellent Hui Lai Hot Spring Resort, which I’ll introduce in more detail below.
Further down, the 60 veers to the east, which is the start of the long and very winding 1 hour 45 minute drive to Smangus. At that point, we connect to road 竹61, which follows the pretty Jinping Creek (錦屏溪) south towards its source.
The valley formed by this creek is filled with lovely swimming spots, waterfalls, hot spring hotels, minsus (B&Bs), and campgrounds. This is our secret happy place in Taiwan, but after going there for years, I’ve now decided to share it with you!
Main Highway from Neiwan Old Street
If you plan to visit this region, Neiwan Old Street is an absolute must. We always stop there for food before and after visiting Jianshi. Read my Neiwan Old Street guide to find the best Hakka specialties on the street.
After Neiwan Old Street, continue heading east on the 120. If you’re looking for a hike, cross the bridge to reach Matai Historic Trail (馬胎古道) here, a 1.5 to 2-hour return hike with some cool rope bridges.
The highway will soon pass Beijiao Suspension Bridge (北角吊橋), which has space to park and cross (see our photo above), and then a FamilyMart here.
The FamilyMart (last chance to buy beer or snacks!) is directly opposite the bridge (竹60) which leads south into Jianshi.
I want to mention here that if you continue driving east on the main highway (120), you can find countless other campgrounds in the far east of Jianshi district. This is another area we have yet to explore.
If you’re visiting in winter (specifically mid-January to late-March), then you can drive 10 minutes past the FamilyMart to Lavender Forest Jianshi (here, official site, tickets on Klook) to see gardens of blooming lavender.
Hui Lai Hot Spring Resort
Shortly after crossing the bridge at the start of road 竹60, you’ll come upon the large Hui Lai Hot Spring Resort (會來尖石溫泉渡假村, here, official site, see on Booking / Agoda).
This is the only one in the area that you’ll find on 3rd party sites like Booking and Agoda (which are easier for foreign visitors to book).
In our opinion, after visiting several but of course not all, this is the best hot spring resort in the region.
The large resort includes regular rooms in a main block by the hot spring pools plus some lovely riverside cabins. We had a wonderful stay in one of the cabins, which we accessed by crossing a suspension bridge across the river.
The hot spring facility includes multiple outdoor hot and cool pools by the river, with ample vegetation, giving it Balinese vibes.
There’s a children’s water play area, but it’s non-heated so only usable in warmer months. There are also saunas and pools with fish that nibble the skin off your feet.
Even as a non-guest, you can stop in for a soak for TWD 300/400 (weekday/weekend) for adults or 300/200 for kids (under 110 centimeters free).
Besides the excellent outdoor pools, there are also private hot tub rooms (900 for 90 minutes) for couples and a women’s only (nude) onsen (550) on site. The hotel also has a shabu shabu restaurant.
The resort also has plum blossoms and cherry blossoms in winter.
If you take public transportation (the Neiwan Line) to Neiwan Old Street, you can arrange a free pick-up from the hotel three days in advance (call 03-584-1000 or 886-3584-1000 from abroad).
The pick-up location is just across the highway from the 7-Eleven here at the southern end of Neiwan Old Street.
Turnoff for Roads 60, 61, and 62
Five minutes past Hui Lai, you’ll pass Bilin Bridge, and just after it, Bilin Falls (比麟瀑布, here). The waterfall and swimming spot is on private land, but the owner offers parking and access for TWD 100.
Shortly after that is the intersection of three roads: 60, 61, and 62. The 60 is the long (1 hr 45 min) winding drive to Smangus.
We’ve driven a little ways up the 60 to take a hot spring bath at Nature Valley Hot Spring (天然谷溫泉會館, here, official site), which is decent, but not as good as Hui Lai.
We also took a look at Frog Rock (青蛙石, here), which is a narrow and scenic section of the Naluo Creek (那羅溪) with a boardwalk providing access to it.
Someday we’d like to go deeper into this region, including spots like Lidong Lodge (an abandoned lodge built by the Japanese to monitor aboriginals in the region), Yulao Lookout, Kongxi Suspension Bridge, and of course Smangus.
We’ve also never explored the 62, which seems to provide access to tons of campgrounds.
Continuing South on Road 61
Going south on the 61 as we usually do, the road passes some riverside campgrounds (such as here) where we’ve stopped to take a swim.
Trash Problem in Jianshi: Unfortunately, many local people in Jianshi have barbecue picnics by the river and leave tons of trash behind. We saw so much of it in Jianshi that we made a formal complaint to the local government.
The highway soon passes Asahi Hot Spring Hotel (新竹朝日溫泉民宿, here, official site), which we’ve stayed at once. We found the hotel to be older but budget friendly.
Our room lacked a view but had a private tub inside, while the outdoor public springs were decent but nothing so special. What you see in the above photo is pretty much it.
Just past it, Jin Ping Resort (錦屏美人湯館, here, see official site) is nicer but more expensive.
We’ve also stopped here to take a hot spring bath. The hot spring is a step up from Asahi’s but still not as nice as Hui Lai’s.
Just past the small resort, there’s a suspension bridge across the river. 10 minutes’ walk past that is Jianshi Waterfall (here), which has a small pool you can swim in at the bottom.
Just past Jinping Waterfall is a lovely B&B that we’ve also stayed at, called Zhanshi Yuan Hot Spring Area Coffee B&B (暫時園溫泉區咖啡民宿, here, see Facebook page).
This quiet B&B in the forest doesn’t have hot springs of its own but is within walking distance of Jinping.
We took my Taiwanese father-in-law here for a Lunar New Year getaway. It’s a peaceful location and nice place to just chill on the large patio of balcony outside our room.
There isn’t a whole lot to do, but we spent our time walking to the nearby creek, waterfall, and hot springs.
The owners here raise Chinese sturgeon (鱘龍魚), which we saw in huge tanks. For dinner there, they prepared the fish is various ways (sashimi, fried, etc). Make sure to let them know earlier in the day if you want this.
Past this B&B, road 60 continues to its end at Xiaojinping Waterfall (小錦屏瀑布, here), Xiaojinping Suspension Bridge, and Xiaojinping Wild Hot Spring.
Due to landslide damage, it’s not always easy or possible to access the wild springs.
Camping in Jianshi
There are dozens of campgrounds in Jianshi district. Search 露營區 on GoogleMaps to find them.
They range from bare-bones ones to nicer ones that have covered platforms for tents and simple swimming pools and even some luxury campgrounds like this one and this one.
If you’ve never done Taiwanese-style camping, it’s quite different than where I come from (Canada). They rarely have campfires – most people bring small portable barbecues instead.
The tent pads are often covered with a makeshift canopy (due to the intense elements in Taiwan) and may have cement pads – you’ll need a good mattress.
It can brutally hot in summer, and there are tons of bugs (see my photos of them at the end), so be prepared for that.
The campsite we’ve been to twice now because we liked it so much is Xiangshan Campsite (香杉露營區, here, Facebook page), which is up a small road from around Jianshi Waterfall.
To be clear, this is a very typical and basic Taiwanese-style campground.
This hilltop campground has gorgeous mountain views, cherry blossoms in winter, a small pool that’s filled in summer, covered tent stalls, and a short hike through bamboo forest to a small waterfall.
If the bamboo forests look awesome to you, also read my guide to Fenqihu, which has some of the most beautiful bamboo forests in Taiwan.
When we lasted visited, the campground had a dozens of rabbits in a pen. The owners asked us if we wanted to borrow a few of them to play with at our campsite. Note: as this was years ago, I can’t guarantee that the bunnies will still there now.
The kids of course were thrilled about this and played with the bunnies for hours. I couldn’t stop taking photos of the cuteness overload:
The owner would ride her scooter around the campground to do little chores with a dog riding along between her legs. My kids also found this very funny.
When we camped here once in spring, we had our best firefly experience ever in Taiwan. We didn’t even expect it, but shortly after sunset, the forest around the campground filled with fireflies. It was a surreal experience!
Last but not least, around the times we camped here, I was getting into macro photography. I had just purchased a new macro lens and flash unit for taking super close-up photos of tiny things.
I mentioned above that there are tons of bugs when you go camping in Taiwan. Well, this campground proved to be the absolute perfect place to test out my near gear.
So I’m going to finish this article with some photos I took of crazy bugs at this campsite. If you don’t love bugs, so may find these photos terrifying, so feel free to bail before you scroll down!
Hello!
I absolutely love your blogs. By far the highest quality and most comprehensive ones I’ve found on Taiwan. My husband are going there for three months and your blogs are basically the main source I’ve used to plan it haha.
We are on a very tight budget so we will be camping a lot. I have noticed so many campsites on google maps, but there’s hardly any reviews or pictures.
Question- Do you know if most sites costs to use, like the one your family stayed at above? Do they normally also have bathrooms?
Also does Taiwan have their own booking site, or do people just go to the hotel’s website to find prices and book? Booking and Agoda don’t seem to be missing many places….
Thank you!!!
Hey Jessie,
Camping in Taiwan is very different than what I’m used to in Canada. One notable difference is no campfires at most in Taiwan. You’d also maybe want to avoid peak summer when it gets unbearably hot and steamy in a tent. Many campsites in Taiwan will require a car to reach, so if you are shoestring traveling, that could be an issue too. The campsites in Taiwan vary a lot. There are some very big ones with full facilities that could include pools or hot springs, restaurants or BBQ service (they provide all the food and equipment you need). Many of these will even supply tents and sleeping bags for a fee, but I assume you would have your own. Then there are some more basic ones with minimal facilities, but you’ll always get at least a bathroom. For food, most locals either pay for the BBQ service or bringing everything they need, including a small grill for cooking. It’s possible to find campsites which are only a short walk from towns, so they you can just walk into town for food or convenience stores. Overall, with all the costs involved (equipment, camping fee, food, getting there), camping in Taiwan isn’t always necessarily cheaper than just staying in a low budget hotel or hostel. As for how to book, Taiwanese people don’t use 3rd party platforms like Booking to book things, even hotels. They typically call the hotel/campground or contact them on LINE (the app universally used in Taiwan) to book. Hotels or campgrounds will then often ask for an e-transfer to hold the booking. This is easy for locals, as they can do it at any ATM or in their online bank account. But for foreigners who don’t have a Taiwanese bank account, this is much more difficult. If they ask for it, then you can often tell them that you are a foreigner so it’s not possible, then they will tell you that you can just pay the full amount in cash when you arrive. Another challenge you may face is that many campsite owners won’t speak any English, so communicating with them during booking can be tough.