Forest Bath — Attraction in Jiaoxi Township

This Onsen ♨️ or Hot Spring is located in the middle of a small forested 🌳 area. Hence, the name Forest 🌳Bath 🛁. Let me put it here, right at the front that this is a full naked Onsen / Bath house. No 🚫bathing suits 👙🩱🩳 or whatsoever. I didn’t do enough research to read this bit up and my children 👧 were in for a rude shock 🤯. However, after a Taiwanese 🇹🇼 granny 👵 told them nicely that it is an all lady site and no bathing suit is allowed, it convinced them to enter 🔛 and they truly had a great time with their mum 👱‍♀️.

Ok, my side….. Nice walk 🚶leading to the front counter 🛂 . On the way in, meet the Bath 🫧 House Cat 🐈. This very friendly cat is the Mascot 🐱 of the place. Payment 💵 to enter 🧾 is NT$200, no time ⏳ limit, no towel provided. Women will need to have shower caps 🛀.

Beautiful set up! A lot of wood 🪵 was used for construction to give it a nice Japanese 🎌🎏🏮🎐🎎 sensing. The pond ⛲️ outside is nicely constructed but the inside dull, greyish and no fishes 🐟. It is because they pump the hot ♨️overflow water to the ponds outside. Given that temperature 🌡️, I’m always surprised that the flowers 🌸or plants 🌱are alive! Lol 😆 I guess some do adapt to the changes.

Men 🙋‍♂️ Side: Walk in, on the left-hand ⬅️ side, place your shoes / slippers on the rack. Enter further and you will find 2 locker 🔐 rooms. Each locker will cost NT$20 🪙 to store your things and the key 🔑 have a cord 🪢 for you to place around your wrist ✋. No 🚫 shower 🚿 = No 🚫 entry ⛔️ is a constant practice with most Onsen. (which is good 👍) Proceed directly to the middle shower pavilion and you should take a shower there. (I find this Square set up identical in Thailand, Korea and Japan.) Seat on a stool 🪑, face the shower head 🚿 and shower. Soap 🧴is provided.

From the middle where the shower station is, you then proceed to the first pool 🛁 in an Anti-Clockwise 🔄 direction. It will bring you into a pool at about 40°C then to another pool at 42°C then to the hottest of about 44-45°C ♨️♨️♨️. From there, reverse temp starts. 2nd last pool is 37°C 🌡️ and finally a cool 🆒 pool. All pools have a temperature display. Follow it…. Lastly, return to the shower station, shower then walk 🚶back to the locker room to get dressed 👔. At the exit 🔚, you will find a room with a hair dryer and lastly a water cooler 💦.

I have a picture that shows the flow direction for the men's side. 🔄

I see a lot of complaints but when I was there, it was clean 🚮 and there were no mosquitoes 🦟. I had a great time…. 😎 All the elderly uncles were friendly. They made way to accommodate everyone when the pool got crowded. Mostly all locals Taiwanese and it was truly enjoyable. Due to the good and poor respond you read here, I suggest you should just go with an open heart 💖 and Mind 🧘 to enjoy the...

This is one of my favorite hot spring in this town. The design is amazing! You really get to experience hot spring outdoor in nice landscape and beautiful wooden structures. However, since new owner take over from government last year, they had made some changes that’s in wrong direction. Cost of enter the hot spring has gone more than double, but the overall quality is worst than before. Really sad to see that.

Cleanse: the water is not as clean. I found hair stings that stuck on my legs with lots dirts, it seems like it’s been there for awhile. And in one spot, there are 4-5 clumps like that. It was hard to stay longer. there used to be a cleaning crew there in all times to make the environment neat. For past 2 times I was there, there is trash in different places.

Decor: they replace entrance fabric curtain to something cheesy. It used to be simple and classy, now it’s cute and cheesy. There are also some ugly foot mat inside the hot spring floor. Try to keep floor dry, but it actually made me scare of step on it. They need someone with better sense of esthetic. For example, changing those plastic chairs and tables into something nature, not going the other way around.

I’m hoping they step up their game, it will be a shame to destroy such...

A relaxing and beautiful onsen experience right inside Jiaoxi hot springs park. This is a naked Japanese-style onsen, segregated for men and women. Being a trans man in the men-only quarters did not turn any heads. You pay at the counter, then you go to the changing rooms where you can store your clothes in a locker. First you take a shower, and then you choose one of the hot spring pools: the coldest is a cold pool, then there are pools of 38, 41, and 43 degrees Celsius. The temperature is always posted above the pool. As two white foreigners in this onsen we got a few looks here and there, but there was no gawking and we surely didn't feel like we weren't welcome. We spent about 1.5 hours going from pool to pool. We could barely stand the hottest pool! We felt refreshed and relaxed afterwards. The onsen is situated beautifully, you're surrounded by nature while steaming away in the pool, and the general atmosphere is relaxed with some people having chill conversations with each other. Some people brought their kids...