Taiwan Hiking Journal: Zhengbin Colorful Houses and Heping Island Geopark

This is a nice day trip from Taipei that can be made into an easy walk. From the colorful houses at Zhengbin Fishing Harbor its about a 15-20 minute walk to Heping Island Geo Park and there is a path around the park. Expect to spend about 2 hours or less walking. Of course the total length of your visit depends on how long you spend in the park. There are many points of interest, including salt water swimming pools, phantasmagorical rock formations and a hill top former military radar station that is now a cafe. In order to protect the environment and rock formations, some features of the island are off limits without a guide. There is a visitor center with showers and changing rooms and there are restaurants on the second and third floors. Another nearby attraction is the huge, crumbling ruin of a former shipyard just next to Heping Bridge.

Distance/duration: About 5.5 km/ 2 hours. This is an estimate of the distance and the total walking time --not the entire time we spent on the island. When we stopped for lunch in a cafe I turned off my tracking app. After lunch we walked back to the bus station by the houses.

More details as well as a map and GPX file can be found here on ramblr.

Walk Overview: All of this walk is on roads or surfaced paths and is mostly level and easy. It's easy to find your way from Zhengbin Fishing Harbor to the park. Just follow the signs and other people.

The buildings lining Zhengbing Fishing Harbor were painted in bright colors in 2018 and since then have become a popular tourist destination. There are cafes and restaurants. Some visitors go at night when the houses are lit up. The fishing harbor was built by the Japanese in 1934.

Heping Island Park is known for its unique coastal geology and cultural and historical significance. Heping Island, located off the coast of Keelung, has a history shaped by maritime trade and colonial influence. It was originally inhabited by indigenous people and later became an important port when the Spanish established a settlement and built Fort San Salvador in 1626. The Spanish were expelled by the Dutch, and the island came under the control of the Qing Dynasty and later the Japanese during the colonial period.

There is a visitor center with a gift shop and restaurants (on the second and third floors), a former military radar station turned into a cafe at the apex of a hill (the cafe is simply called The Hill), salt water swimming pools, a walking path and numerous rock formations all of which have imaginative names. A sampling of names: Sphinx, Seal, King Kong, Sea Hare. To cross the footbridge called Zigzag Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Nine Turns, and tour Alabao Bay you need to go with a guide. They understandably want to keep tourists from wandering off the path and damaging the environment and rock formations.

The park is open from 8:00 to 19:00 from May to October and from 8:00 to 18:00 from November to April. The pool, however, is only open until 18:00 from May to October and until 17:00 from November to April.

The posted rules for the swimming area say that you must wear swimming footwear to avoid injury on the natural bottom and wear reef safe sunscreen or no sunscreen. The pools are closed from 1-2 pm.

There is a children's swimming area where the water is shallow, a deeper (2.5 meters) Blue Ocean Pool and a "pet friendly" pool. There are fish and other marine life in the pools.

There is also a play area called the Toddler Waterway where kids can play in ankle deep water and sand.

Park admission for adults is NT$120 but there are student and senior discounts (NT$60). Children under six are admitted free.

The Agenna Shipyard Ruins are next the bridge which takes you to the island. The site was used for coal storage starting in 1919 and then used as a shipyard from 1966 to to 1987. It gained some brief fame and popularity in the twenty teens when Chris Evans, the actor who played Captain America, did some filming for Call of Duty here.

There is also an old fort, Sheliao East Fort. It is on the island but not in the park. We did not go there but I read that it is at the top of a hill and has good views. The fort was first built in 1626 and later modified in 1886 and 1903.

What to bring: There are lots of stores in Keelung near the Train Station and near Zhengbin Fishing Harbor.

We didn't take any food since we planned to eat lunch in the park. If you plan to swim take swim wear and a towel. I just carried water. I wore sandals.

Transportation: We took a train from Taipei Main Station to Keelung Station. Trains to Keelung are frequent and most take 50 minutes or slightly less.

On the train I was reading, Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon.

At Keelung station we took the North Exit (though you can take either) and walked to the Keelung Transit Station. We walked through the station and following signs for city buses went to an outdoor transportation platform.

We took bus 104 to the Old Zhengbin Police Office stop which took about 25 minutes. Lots of buses go there. You can also take bus 101, 102 and 791.

You can take the T99 tourist shuttle directly to Heping Island Park but it only runs 6 times per day.

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The Walk

On the side of the Keelung city buses I noticed the city's mad-lib-like tourist slogan: Keelung: A city full of_______. I guess they gave up trying to think what the city was full of and just decided to let people fill in the blank by themselves. I can imagine some jokesters or perhaps disgruntled residents coming up with funny options for filling in the blank.

The driver of our bus was a maniac. He drove like he was in a rush to get to the toilet; roaring off from a dead stop and then braking so suddenly that everyone was thrown around. It's typical of Taiwan's go along to get along culture that no one complained, even me. Going around one curve in a long stretch where he had been able to build up some speed I really felt like we might tilt up on two wheels. An old lady with a cane fell and four of us had to help her up. We passed some cyclists riding in the right lane and I feared for their safety.

We got off at the Old Zhengbin Police Office station. It was a typical commercial street.

It was Dragon Boat Festival and a really hot day. Dragon Boat Festival is thought to mark the beginning of summer weather in Taiwan. In addition, there were tropical storms nearby bringing hot, humid weather. I had brought my Gossamer Gear Lightrek hiking umbrella for shade. I love it because it is super light weight. When I'm not using it I hardly notice I'm carrying it. In addition, it has a reflective upper surface for sun My wife did not bring an umbrella because she said she thought we could "share" mine. In practice what that meant was I gave her my umbrella and I suffered in the hellacious sun. Luckily I had a hat, as well.

We walked straight down the road and followed it around a sharp curve. (Now I think we could have gone straight at the curve and walked to the harbor but did not know that at the time). We were above the harbor and could see it through the gaps in the buildings. 250 meters from the bus stop we turned left on Zhengbin Road. There was a brown sign over the intersection pointing the way to Heping Island Park.

Almost immediately after turning left we turned into a narrow alley that led down to the harbor and the Zhengbin Colorful Houses.

Colorful fishing boats floated in the harbor and fingerlings wriggled in the water. We walked back and forth in front of the houses and took some pictures. It was relatively early and not many people were there. There was an ice cream place, some cafes, a ramen restaurant and a tapas restaurant.

The other side of the harbor is a better vantage point for photos.

We walked to Heping Island Park. We crossed the bridge and followed signs. There was quite a bit of traffic but it was mostly slow moving. Lots of other people were walking that way. There was one turn but there was a sign.

In my opinion, if you are able-bodied and don't mind walking, it is more convenient to go to the park by public transportation -- particularly on a weekend or holiday. The parking lot nearest the park was full and people were parking in a further lot and walking anyway. We strolled past a line of cars that were waiting for a parking space to become available.

We arrived and paid for our ticket. Despite the parking lot madness the line at the ticket booth was short.

Just inside the gates there was a view of the inter tidal zone and the skerry that is called Island In the Island.

We bore left and came to the path. First we went straight ahead into the visitor center.

The first floor of the visitor center was mostly a gift shop full of the usual touristy bric-a-brac and frippery. We didn't linger long. We passed through and walked out the other side to check out the swimming pools.

children's pool

blue ocean pool and the pet friendly pool

We went back out to the path and walked counter-clockwise around the island. We passed Wan Shang Temple and Heping Rock and walked to a scenic pavilion with a view of the rock formations, the ocean and Keelung Island.

Heping Rock

After the viewing platform we took the Mountain Trail. Don't let the name mislead you. There is a steep climb at first but its just a small hill and it's a short walk around the side of the island, past a campground and back to the visitor center.

We were getting hungry and I wanted to check out the cafe on the hill in the middle of the park. We walked back out to the path and this time instead of continuing straight to Heping Rock we turned left onto a path up a hillside. There was a sign for the cafe. This was a nice little walk, at first on a paved track and then up shaded steps.

The cafe is in the site of a former military radar station. It's a great location and worth checking out but unfortunately they do not serve food other than some cake. I was pretty hungry so we went back down to the visitors center where we had a margarita pizza, apple pie and ice cream and some cold drinks.