Beipu Old Street 北埔老街

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Beipu Old Street is a popular old street in Beipu Township of Hsinchu county. Once an economic center for tea production, as well as coal mining in the area, later it became well-known for its traditional Hakka cuisine. Currently, the old street is crowded with tourists on weekends who come for treats such as Persimmon cakes and Taro Mooncakes.

Background:
The area around Beipu was first inhabited by Saysiyat Aboriginal peoples and was first settled by Han Chinese farmers in 1835. A wall of bamboo was built around the city to ward off attacks from Aboriginals. Later during the Japanese era, Beipu housed an experimental tea farm. Later in the ROC era, coal mining became the main economic activity nearby. Also, provincial highway 3 was built to skirt around the town, which meant that many shops decided to move off the old street. However, due to the many delicious Hakka snacks sold and restaurants on the old street, Beipu still attracted many tourists.
Famous historical buildings along the old street include Jinguangfu Mansion, Shui A-Hsin Mansion, and Beipu Citian Temple.
A period TV drama series called "Gold Leaf 茶金" was filmed here, based on novel by Huanh Kuo-hua, filmed in 2021. It went on to receive 16 nominations at the Golden Bell Awards. Maybe you have heard of it. It's on Netflix. 
Now Beipu Old Street has become a popular tourist location and can be very crowded on weekends. 

Hours:
9 AM to 5:30 PM every day.

Price:
Free

How to get there:
By car/scooter: Take highway 122 or expressway 68 to Zhudong, then turn south on Provincial Highway 3. The Old Street is hard to miss in the center of Beipu. There is free parking on the side of the road outside the old street. 
By bus: From Zhudong TRA station, you can take the 5700 shuttle bus to the old street, which takes about 20 minutes. 

Map:
​Please see below:

Our Journey：

We have been to Beipu Old Street once and had a wonderful time. It is one of the largest old streets in Hsinchu and has both many intact historical buildings and great food. 

There was a parking lot here, but there was still free empty parking along the side of the road, so we parked along the side of the road. 

Looking down into the ravine near Beipu Old Street.

Crossing Provincial Highway 3 over to Beipu Old Street.

Map of the area.

Shops line the streets from the very beginning of the street.

First view of Citian Temple. 

The main square with a big ad for boiled dumplings. 

Very busy main street.

Looking closer into Citian Temple, which was built in 1840. It is the religious center of the area. 

The main God worshipped at this temple is Mazu, but other Gods such as the Wenchang Emperor and others are also worshipped here. 

Looking out from the temple at sunset. 

Fruit for sale. 

Mantou and beef noodle soup. 

Another view of the main square. 

Another view looking at the temple. 

Duahua and other snacks. 

Dried Persimmon Cakes, a delicacy here. 

Another view from the old street. 

Walking toward the Jinguangfu Mansion.

Old stone wall. 

The Jinguangfu Mansion.

The Jinguangfu Mansion is one of the first residences built here during the Qing Dynasty  in 1835.

Chiang A-hsin Western Style Mansion, built in 1949.

This place is only open at certain times and it's 100 NT per person to visit. 

Another old home. 

Walking near the A-hsin mansion. 

A period TV drama series called "Gold Leaf 茶金" was filmed here, based on novel by Huanh Kuo-hua, filmed in 2021. It went on to receive 16 nominations at the Golden Bell Awards. Maybe you have heard of it. It's on Netlfix. 

Sunset at the old street. After 5:30 everything closed pretty fast.

Also near Beipu Old Street you will see SRC Beipu Impression  (SRC北埔印象景觀庭園), which is a coffee shop and homestay with dinosaur and transformer decorations.  At 100 NT just to enter, it looks like a tourist trap. 

More photos of the old street above. 

​Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more posts to come!

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