Wulai Old Street — Attraction in New Taipei

This is a unique place. I'd argue the ”Old Street” name is misleading, but that might be a translation issue. I felt it was modern enough it could just be named ”Main Street”. I was hoping WOS would relinquish it's secrets in some ancient Taiwanese Indian tradition, but alas, it's really another place to buy assorted nick-nacks, un-competitive bland street food, and alcohol. The latter part is a nice takeaway from your usual alcoholic beverage options. There is a nice coffee shop that has excellent lattes and above average cheese cake, offering abundant seating with a view, at least on a week day, that's a different review though.

However, as I've established in other Taiwan specific reviews, 99% of the people here walk around like soulless zombies, awake barely enough to avoid bumping into things like: stray dogs laying on the open road, cars and trucks whizzing by in crowded alleys, motorcycles noisily squeezing through the lines of people waiting for that not-so-special homemade bbq sausage, and not drowning or be swept away in the adjacent river.

There was a time when homemade was meaningful. But with the world's overpopulation crisis even Wulai cannot escape the eventual transition towards commercialism and product placement. I get it. People gotta make a living. Surviving is getting harder. Governments don't actually care about its citizens other than the imposition of rules and regulations that absorp every last dollar they can from them. But, I'm not here to complain...so I digress.

Overall, I guess...this place makes me sad. I'm sure most of the locals and some tourists won't be bothered at all by the modern changes or mostly, not be aware of it to begin with, and will enjoy what is here at Wulai. I only hope you can. YMMV. (your...

Cool spot outside of Taipei that is much quieter and more remote than the busy city center.

There is a strip maybe half a kilometer long line with shops, restaurants, hot springs, hotels, and food vendors. At both ends of the street are bridges that cross the river to the even quieter other side where you can find a temple and more hotels.

If you’re looking for a half day trip outside of Taipei, you can get here by taking a train to a bus. It’s pretty remote so it can take quite a while, maybe 2 hours one way from central Taipei.

That said, if you want something quieter and in the mountains and forests of Taipei, but still has accessible food and tourist stuff, this is the place. It’s not super busy with tourists either. You can comfortably stroll down the street, snacking on food and buying trinkets from shops.

Absolutely be sure to visit the nearby waterfalls. There is a mini-train you can take there or you can walk about one kilometer. It is at the end of the street across the bridge to the left up the road. If you have gone that far from Taipei, you should absolutely see the waterfall as well.

This area is known for having native Taiwanese people as well as some sausages that are native to the area and super delicious.

Take a walk to the falls, come back, grab a bite, and maybe even spend some time in a hot spring hotel nearby. Alone or with friends are ok...

It is beautiful scenic place outside of Taipei, an easy drive of 50 minutes. According to Google map, you can also take the green line (Xindian direction), and from Xindian to take a bus, Uber, or Taxi to old town. There was a large parking structure by the Old Street though we were able to find street parking.

We took the little logging train (50 NT per person) near the Old Street to go up the hill and see the water fall. There were quite a few restaurants up the hill as well. From there, you can also take the cable car ride which takes over the Wulai Waterfall and stop at Yun Hsien Resort (250 NT per person). We didn’t go since we weren’t able to convince our 7 year old to go.

We ended up walking downhill back to Old Street because it was a cloudy day and wasn’t hot. It ended to be a very pleasant and easy walk. Along the way, there were many small boutique hotels that offer hot spring soaking experience. Overall, it a nice day trip to get out of the concrete jungle and get...