臺北市政府文化局

As you walk from the Beitou to Xinbeitou metro station, you’ll pass by a number of hot spring resorts and a popular public bathhouse loved by locals. When winter comes, this area is the top choice for Taipei residents seeking to ward off the chill.

As far back as the Japanese colonial era, people loved to soak in hot springs in Beitou. The present-day Beitou Children’s Amusement Park was originally part of the public baths, allowing parents to enjoy a springtime soak while their children played in the park next door. Almost a century later, the children who once slid down the terrazzo slide are now whitehaired senior citizens. Yet the very same slide they once enjoyed can still be found in the park, faithfully serving the newest generation of Beitou residents every weekend.

In keeping with the park’s century-old history, tropical plants dating from the Japanese colonial era surround the park. Full of tropical charm, the exotic plants were chosen to fit the Japanese colonial image of Taiwan as a “country of the South”. Today, the colonizers are long gone, but the scent of the greenery they planted still wafts through the air in Beitou.