Getting Spirited Away in JiuFen

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
6
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
3
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
4
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
7
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
57 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
311th/454
Top 70%
continent
Asia
country
Taiwan
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$70 ($50-$150 in 2016 prices)
Time of year visited
May
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Hiking Hilltop towns Local villages
All Tags
Old town
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐
Summary

Jiufen is very cute.  With its narrow lanes, ornamental crafted roofs and whimsical tea houses, it’s no wonder Hayao Miyazaki was inspired to make the famous Japanese animated movie Spirited Away here.  Very much worth the time to make a day trip from Taipei.  Just two main tips:

 

  1. Try to stay overnight, or at least arrive super early in the morning – the place gets very crowded, especially considering the narrow streets, by around mid to late morning.  Yet you’ll have it to yourself in the early morning and evening
  2. Make sure to climb nearby Mount Keelung – its only half an hour or so to reach the summit, and the walk through the long flowing grass and views down on Jiufen and the surrounding area from the top make it a great option.  Plus, it is less busy once the day tourists arrive in Jiufen
Highlights
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#1 The sheer cuteness of the place that inspired the movie Spirited Away

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#2 Walking to the summit of nearby Mount Keelung. Only 30mins to the top and great views of Jiufen and its surrounding areas

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#3 The food! Perfect place to sample endless dumplings in a variety of tea and dumpling houses

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#4 Wandering through the atmospheric street in the evenings, when most of the crowds have gone and you feel a bit more of the charm of this super cool spot

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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