CC Travel Blog

Mar, 2008

Hot spring water has lots of benefits. I remembered when I was a teenager and travelled to Hainan Island in mainland China during a hot summer. My skin was oily and stuffy under hot and humid weather and pimples were popping here and there. One day we reached a town where the entire town’s water supply was hot spring mineral water. I bathed in those water during the night and the next few days my skin was smooth and oil-free that I hardly needed to press those oil absorbant paper onto my face. From then on, I felt in love with hot spring water.

So going to Taiwan, I insisted on having a hot spring bath. And unlike European hot spring where water temperature is close to human body temperature, Taiwan’s hot spring is HOT!

As far as I know, there are hot springs in Taipei and there are hot springs in Eastern Taiwan.

In Taipei, taking metro can lead you right to the heart of the hot spring district, Beitou (北投). In Beitou, there are hot spring hotels and also hot spring museum.

You can have hot spring on a day trip. Some hot spring resorts offer hourly rate indulgence. The one in picture even posted pictures of President of Taiwan Yin-Jeou Ma taking hot spring in their facilities. We took a peek inside, the ambience was nice but most of the customers were middle to old aged men.

At the end along the hot spring main road, there was also a hot spring for display. The water temperature was over 100 degrees celsius; even the steam can cook me up.

In Eastern Taiwan, there are hot springs an hour to 2 hours drive south of Hualien (花蓮). They are not accessible via public transportations but renting a taxi is not expensive. Due to limited time, we tried the closest one in Rui Shui (瑞穗), called Red Leaf (紅葉). It was recommended by the taxi driver as the most local and authentic around that area.

Since we did not bring swimming gear, we booked a room for 2 people with a tub. The price was 120NT per person with no time limit. We were told that this was the low season’s price; had it been in peak season, the price would be 120NT per person for 45 minutes. At the day we were there, there was nobody else and we had a great time! So if you want to enjoy hot spring without the crowd and the rush, try week days and avoid public holidays.

The water was extremely hot at over 60 degrees celsius. We started by wiping water on our body to get used to the high temperature but ended up mixing the hot water with the cold; which was the right way for it.  For the healthy way to enjoy hot spring, one must get up and leave the hot water in about every 3-5 minutes to cool down the body. At some point, I stayed in the tub for a bit too long and I felt my heart was pumping very fast, my lungs were ran out of air, my face was blushing red and getting up became dizzy. I knew that was pushing the limit.  So I got up, slowly sat on the side of the tub and rested for about 10 minutes to calm myself down; luckily no accidents happened.

An hour’s bath went by fast; but the joy and relaxation remained in my body for a long time.