Ten Drum Cultural Village in Tainan is a truly one-of-a-kind attraction in Taiwan.
Imagine yourself in my shoes: I’m strolling through an abandoned sugar factory when suddenly a Taiwanese youth zip lines over my head, then another free falls off the factory roof and lands beside me.
Next, I meander through a glow-in-the-dark hall of horrors with robotic monkey-faced flowers, a Harry Potter library with flying books, and finally I take seat on a “Demon Throne”.
On the way out, I catch an inspiring drum performance by a Grammy-nominated percussion group. Then I head next door to Chimei Museum, which looks like it was transplanted directly from Europe.
If you have a lot of questions, I’ve got all the answers below, so please read on!
Introducing Ten Drum Village
Ten Drum Village (十鼓文創園區, official site) was originally a Japanese-built sugar factory (Chekulan Sugar Refinery or 車路墘製糖所) dating to 1910.
This is the largest of several former sugar refineries across Taiwan – one smaller example is now an underground music and arts venue in Dulan, Taitung.
Ten Drum Village is reminiscent of the more famous Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei (a former sake distillery) – but Ten Drum is even larger (and I would say much more fun!)
After the Japanese left, the factory was taken over by the Taiwan Sugar Corporation. At its peak in the 1970s, it could crush 2600 metric tons of sugar cane per day.
The factory official closed in 2003, and in 2007 it reopened as “Asia’s first drum-themed art village.”
The name comes from the Ten Drum Art Percussion Group (十鼓擊樂團), which was nominated for a grammy award in 2010 under the category Best Traditional World Music Album.
Ten Drum Art Percussion Group founder Hsieh Shih (謝十) began drumming at age 3 and composed all five songs on the album.
The “Ten” (十) in Ten Drum comes from the same character in his name, which can also mean “energy from all directions.”
The Ten Drum Cultural & Creative Co. (十鼓文創股份有限公司) opened Ten Drum Village to “build Tainan into the homeland of drumming and Taiwan into the island of drums,” says Hsieh.
The park includes 22 warehouse buildings spanning 7.5 acres. Visitors can not only watch Ten Drum Art Percussion Group performances but also go on over a dozen rides, have meals, or wander factory floors turned into fantasy-oriented creative spaces.
Together with the adjacent Chimei Museum (also worth visiting!), Hushan Forest Park (虎山林場), and Tainan Metropolitan Park (臺南都會公園), it makes up the Rende Cultural Park (仁德文化園區), also called 86 Art Village (86藝術聚落), an expansive recreational space that is the pride of Tainan.
If Ten Drum’s performances seem interesting to you, also consider seein a traditional Taiwanese opera performance at TaipeiEye!
Get Your Tickets Online!
I purchase my Ten Drum village ticket here on Klook before my trip. It costs TWD 489 per adult and gives access to all the rides and activities inside.
While it’s the same price as paying in person, it allowed me to use credit card, reducing how much cash I needed on my trip. I also got a discount by using a promo code and got to accumulate Klook points for even more future discounts.
Have the e-ticket also meant I could skip the line at the ticket office when I arrived.
Getting to Ten Drum Village
Ten Drum Village lies in Rende district just south of the Tainan city center. It is conveniently located between Tainan Airport and Tainan HSR station
By Car
Ten Drum Village is just off Provincial Freeway 1 and National Highway 1. Wherever you are coming from in Taiwan, and whichever highway you take, GoogleMaps will get you there. See my guide to renting a car and driving in Taiwan.
When I drove to Ten Drum Village, I actually started my day with an early morning visit to Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum.
Arriving at Ten Drum, I found the main parking here on the north side of the facility. After I found a space, I parked and visited the attraction right away.
Upon leaving, I found the payment box, entered my license plate number and payment, then drove out.
If you’re visiting Chimei Museum nearby on the same day, you can consider just parking at one of them to visit both. Chimei’s Parking Lot 4 (at the back side of the museum) is only a 10-minute walk from Ten Drum’s parking lot.
However, I wanted the experience of arriving at Chimei Museum from the grand front entrance, so I drove over and parked in P1/P2.
By Public Transportation
From Tainan HSR Station (see my HSR booking guide), take a taxi (15 minutes) or ride a local train from Shalun Station (connected to the HSR station) to Bao’an Station (15 minutes, swipe EasyCard).
It’s a 15-minute walk from Bao’an Station to Ten Drum Village entrance.
From Tainan city center, take the same local train but in reverse. Ride it from Tainan Station to Bao’an Station (7 minutes) then walk 15 minutes to the entrance.
Opening Times and Best Time to Visit
Mornings at Ten Drum Village are quieter but not all the rides will be operating. Afternoons are busiest, with longer lines for everything, but everything will be open.
There’s also a short evening opening, when the park will have a spookier atmosphere but the fewest rides.
Make sure to time your visit with one of the two daily drum performances.
- The morning slot at Ten Drum Village is 10 AM-12:15 PM, with the drum performance 11 AM.
- The afternoon slot is 1:10 to 5:10 PM, with the drum performance at 3 PM.
- The evening slot is 5:10 to 8:15 PM, with no drum performance.
One idea is to spend the morning at Ten Drum and the afternoon at Chimei Museum. The front of Chimei has the best lighting in the late afternoon.
However, the reverse also works if you want to catch the most rides at Ten Drum – do Chimei in the morning then Ten Drum Village in the afternoon.
It will be noticeably more packed on weekends and holidays. I went on a weekend afternoon, and while it was fine for visiting the grounds, I skipped most rides because the lines were simply too long.
Weekdays are much quieter, but not all rides will be open. Here’s the detailed list of what’s open on which days and times.
Main Attractions in Ten Drum Village
Ten Drum Village is a huge and sprawling factory complex. It’s practically inevitable that you’ll get lost once or twice while visiting, but you’ll probably find some cool and unexpected things along the way.
I’ll reference the above map as I describe attractions below. From the parking lot (if you drive there), you’ll enter from ticket booth 2-1 or 3-1on the left side.
But I’ll describe the attractions in order from ticket booths 1-1 and 1-2 at the bottom, which is where visitors who take public transportation (or a taxi) will arrive.
Ten Drum Pond, Prayer Hall, and Smokestack Slides
After entering Ten Drum Village from the south side, you’ll find a couple small ponds with boardwalks.
This is where you’ll get your first view of Ten Drum Village’s signature Smokestack (we’ll visit it later below).
Just past the ponds is the Prayer Hall (祈福館), where large drums are arranged on pedestals like gods. Hanging above are lanterns reminiscent of the famous sky lanterns in Shifen.
And just past the ponds and to the left, there’s a warehouse connected to the Smokestack (煙囪), which contains several awesome slides.
These include the Magma Speedy Slide (大流瀑滑梯) and Chimney Orbit Slide (煙囪滑梯).
Children’s Play Area and Drum Experience
To the right after entering the grounds, there are some long rows of warehouses with a canopy of lanterns between them.
In one of these warehouses (here, #8 on the map), there’s an indoor Children’s Playcenter and ball pool, ideal for toddlers or younger kids.
If you continue north from there, you’ll also find the Drum Experience (摩鼓體驗) in Grass Square (草原廣場, #10 on the map).
Here kids (or adults!) are free to bang on any of the many drums as they wish.
Sugar Refinery
The Sugar Refinery, also called the Dream Sugar Factory (夢糖工廠, here, #1 on the map) is the largest and main building at Ten Drum Village.
This building contains some of the best rides and artistic features, so don’t miss it. I have to say that my jaw dropped multiple times while visiting here.
At the south side entrance, I found the atmospheric Sugar Bar (糖Bar子, here), which is more of a restaurant than bar. Right next to it, passengers were alighting from a locomotive ride (we’ll get to that below).
This is also where I found the stairs up to the Time Traveling Magic Flowers (時空魔花) on the second floor, which is where things got really weird.
After taking my shoes off and leaving them in a cubby, I wandered through a magical, glow-in-the-dark space with robotic, moving monkey-faced flowers. According to the sign,
“The time traveling magic flower traverses the vast and mysterious cosmic desert, blooming with industrial mechanical vitality…It crosses the boundaries of time and space, creating an artistic setting or story that is both poetic and fantastical.”
Needless to say, this is not AT ALL what I expected to find in a drum-themed park!
After the creepy flowers, there were some cute dragons, more fantasy realms, and various stations with old fashioned chairs meant for taking selfies.
Finally, I entered a grand library with Demon Throne. Sitting in the throne, I definitely felt transported to a set of Game of Thrones.
The unusual journey didn’t stop there, either.
After I put my shoes back on and exited the dark area, I found my self in a central factory area where children climbed up the Transparent Rock Climbing Wall.
On the sides, groups of teens lined up for a Laser Tag activity, while a small bar sold drinks like “Mermaid Tears” and “Requiem Water”.
At the far end, I entered a Magical Library straight out of Harry Potter. There was an elongated table with bottles of Dragon’s Blood potion, walls of books, and oversized books with wings flying above.
Related: Harry Potter fans should also check out Miyahara Eye Clinic in Taichung!
On the third floor, I walked past factory equipment and storage containers with lines of hanging votive strips like you’d see in a Japanese temple.
At the end, I took a door to an outside ramp, where youths were literally jumping off the building in the Free Fall activity.
Below me, others were taking off on a wild Zip Line ride to another factory building across the park.
And further up, I saw a rooftop ramp called the Heavenly Road (天堂路) which leads to the Sky Swing (天堂上的鞦韆), a tall swing on top of the refinery with awesome view of the smokestack.
Skywalk and Century Old Banyan
On the north side of the Sugar Refinery there’s a Skywalk (天空步道, letter C on the map). You can access from the 2nd or 3rd floors of the refinery or from the ground.
The skywalk encircles a 100+ year-old banyan tree. It reminded me very much of Anping Treehouse, which is also in Tainan.
If you arrived at the parking lot entrance like I did, this may be the first place you’ll see in the park.
The Three Distillation Towers, Extreme Swing, and Archery
The skywalk also provides access to three distillation towers (see the zip lining photo above) for a shot of all three.
The first one contains Ten Drum Exhibition (鼓博館, letter b on the map), the second one Children’s Wonderland Slide (兒童體驗館, #2 on the map), and the third one Honey Bridge Café (蜜橋咖啡館, letter a on the map).
Outside the towers is a white sand area that kids can play in.
On the ground to the right of the distillation towers, I watched people flying back and forth into the air on the Extreme Swing (極限大擺盪).
At the far north of the site, there’s also an Archery Area (戶外射箭場), marked with an archery symbol on the map.
Magic Steam Train and Rainbow Street
The Magic Steam Train (魔法列車, #9 on the map) runs north-to-south through the middle of the park.
The short ride starts at the Ice House (鼓找冰屋) at the north end of the park, passes through Magic Rainbow Street (魔法彩虹節), and ends right next to the Sugar Refinery.
The street looks like a set out of a children’s fantasy.
Percussion Performance at Dream Sugar Theater
It made sense to finish my visit by watching the famous drum performance. This takes place daily at 11 AM (for morning visitors) and 3 PM (for afternoon visitors).
The performance takes place in the Dream Sugar Theater (夢糖劇場, here, labeled in English on the map). The entrance is on its north side, near the Century Old Banyan Tree.
For my weekend visit, the theater was totally packed. Some people even had to sit on the stairs on the sides. You aren’t supposed to take photos, but I did sneak a few, with no flash of course.
The roughly hour-long event includes two performances. The first is the Ten Drum Art Percussion Group, who were nominated for a Grammy Award.
The second performance is by Cross Metal (手合鐵鼓樂團), which infuses Taiwanese drumming, jazz, and heavy metal.
What Just Happened?
Overall, my Ten Drum Village experience was truly like a dream marked with unexpected experiences. I left with my head spinning. What did I just experience?
Next door at Chimei Museum, the fantasy would continue, as I stepped into a European garden filled with Romanesque statues, art gallery with thousands of ancient weapons and musical instruments, and a main building that looks like a cross between the White House and the Palace of Versailles.
And all of this in a city that is supposedly known for its heritage temples and forts!