Taiwan’s Hot Springs: A Guide to the Island’s Bathing Culture

Taiwan sits where two plates of the earth’s crust meet, and hot water comes out of the ground all over the island. There are more than a hundred springs, one of the highest concentrations in the world. They are of unusual variety, and the habit of bathing in them is part of ordinary life.

A Japanese inheritance

The springs were noted in a Chinese account of 1697 but were little used. A German merchant set up a small spa at Beitou, north of Taipei, in 1893. Two years later Taiwan passed to Japan, and the Japanese brought their bathing culture with them. In March 1896 a businessman from Osaka, Hirado Gengo, opened the first hot-spring inn at Beitou, the Tenguan. Bathhouses, inns and a railway branch followed, and other springs around the island were developed in the same way.

The resorts declined after 1945. From 1999 the government promoted them again. The old bathhouses were restored and new hotels built, and the Japanese forms were kept, including the wooden architecture, the outdoor pools and much of the etiquette.

Where to go

Beitou. The best known resort is half an hour from central Taipei on the metro. Its water is sulphurous and comes in two kinds, a milky white and a clear, acidic green. The green water rises in Thermal Valley, a steaming pond at the head of the town. The public bathhouse built by the Japanese in 1913 is now a museum, and the wooden library beside it is one of the most admired modern buildings in Taiwan. Hotels range from old inns to modern resorts with private baths in each room.

Yangmingshan. The volcanic park above Beitou has simpler springs among fumaroles and silver grass, used by walkers.

Wulai. An hour south of Taipei, in a gorge inhabited by the Atayal people, the water is clear and odourless, a sodium bicarbonate spring that leaves the skin smooth.

Jiaoxi. On the north-east coast, forty minutes from Taipei through a tunnel, the town has warm springs at street level, free foot baths in the parks and many family hotels.

Guanziling. In the hills of Tainan, in the south, the water is grey with fine mud, one of very few such springs in the world. Bathers coat themselves with the mud and let it dry before rinsing.

Guguan and the east. Guguan lies in a mountain valley inland from Taichung. The east coast and its rift valley have many small springs, and Green Island, offshore, has a rare saltwater spring on the beach.

How to bathe

There are two kinds of bath. In pools separated by sex, bathing is naked, as in Japan, after a thorough wash at the taps. In mixed outdoor pools, swimwear and usually a cap are required. Most hotels also let private rooms with a tub by the hour, which is the choice of many couples and families. Enter slowly, stay ten or fifteen minutes at a time and drink water between soaks. The season runs from October to April, when the air is cool.

Fitting it into a journey

Beitou can be an afternoon from Taipei, where Capella Taipei opened in 2025 and the Michelin Guide lists restaurants across the island. Guanziling fits with a visit to Tainan and with the Alishan Forest Railway, which starts from Chiayi nearby. For the Japanese original, see our piece on onsen culture.