The Taipei that is not a night market

Ask anyone what to do in Taipei and you will hear about night markets, Taipei 101 and hot springs. All fine. But the district I keep going back to is Dadaocheng, on the west side along the Tamsui River, which was the city's main trading port in the nineteenth century and still looks like it.

It is a good half day, it is almost never crowded, and it is about twenty minutes from the centre by metro.

Start with the old streets

Dihua Street is the spine of the district. It is a street of narrow shophouses, many of them more than a century old, with ornate facades and deep interior courtyards that once held warehouses.

What is in them now is the interesting part. Traditional Chinese medicine shops selling dried herbs, ginseng and roots by the jar. Tea merchants who have been in the same family for generations. Shops selling dried mushrooms, nuts, pickles and sweets in bulk, which is what locals actually come here for before Chinese New Year.

Then there is the newer half: small independent shops, cafes in restored buildings, a couple of good design stores. The mix works, and it has not gone the way most heritage districts go, which is to say it has not been completely taken over by souvenir stalls.

The tea houses are the reason to come

Taipei has a serious tea culture, and Dadaocheng is its historic home because this is where tea was graded and shipped out. There are still several tea houses in the area where you can sit, be served properly, and learn what you are drinking.

Look for a shop that offers a tasting. You will be given three or four Taiwanese oolongs, usually including a light, floral high-mountain tea and a darker roasted one. Expect to spend an hour and to leave with a bag you did not plan to buy.

If you are short on time, the old tea shops on Dihua Street will let you taste at the counter for free. That is not a lesser experience. It is just faster.

The riverside at sunset

Dadaocheng sits right on the Tamsui River, and the riverside park is where the district really delivers. There is a wide promenade, bike paths, and a view west across the water towards the hills of Bali.

Sunset here is genuinely beautiful, and it is where local families come with dogs and picnics. It costs nothing. Bring something to drink and sit on the steps.

Where to eat while you are here

The food in this district is more old-fashioned than in the rest of Taipei, and that is the reason to eat here. Look for the stalls and small restaurants that have been on the same corner for decades.

• Rice noodle soup with pork, a Dadaocheng breakfast staple.
• Oyster omelette and fried rice noodles at any of the older street kitchens.
• Traditional cakes and pastries from the old bakeries on Dihua Street, including the chewy mochi-like ones sold by weight.
• Sesame oil chicken noodle soup in the cooler months, which is what locals actually queue for.

Most of it is cheap and most of it is served fast. Eat twice. Once at the start of the walk and once before sunset.

The route I would walk

• Metro to Dadaocheng station or Shuanglian, then walk to Dihua Street.
• North to south along Dihua Street, stopping at tea shops and the temple at the Xiahai City God Temple, which is one of the busiest matchmaking temples in Taiwan.
• Coffee or lunch in one of the restored shophouses.
• Walk west to the riverside park and follow it south towards Dadaocheng Wharf.
• Stay for sunset, then eat nearby before heading back.

When to go

Weekday afternoons are ideal. The street is busiest in the run-up to Lunar New Year, when the whole city comes to buy provisions, which is spectacular but chaotic. If you are in Taipei in the weeks before the holiday, come anyway and treat it as an event.

Otherwise: go at 2pm, stay till dark, and you will have seen a side of Taipei most visitors miss entirely.

Originally published on 71Asia Tours blog.