On my third day in Taiwan, I was set to go on a tour of the North Coast, which is located outside of Taipei City. Originally I was planning to DIY this part of the tour but I figured that it would take too many bus rides which I have to time perfectly for me to be able to follow the itinerary so I ended up booking a group tour via Klook. It was the best decision ever as I was able to visit all the places on the list with ample time to spend on each destination minus the hassle of going from one bus to another.

For the tour, we met up in front of a pastry shop in Ximending, which was just a ten minute walk from my hostel. We then boarded the bus that would take us to all of the destinations. 

First up was the Yehliu Geopark located in the village of Yehliu. This tourist attraction is know for its honeycomb and mushroom rocks eroded by the sea. The Yehliu Geopark stretches for 1.7km. Here you can find rock formations with names based on random objects that they resemble. The most popular one was the Queen's Head. I didn't have my photo taken with it though because there was a long queue for it and it was too hot that day, so I couldn't be bothered joining the queue. 

Our second stop is Jiufen, which is a mountain town located in Ruifang District in New Taipei City.  It is known for the narrow alleyways of its old town, which is littered with souvenir shops, street food carts, and tea houses.

One of the most popular tea houses in Jiufen is the A-Mei tea house as this place was one of the inspirations for the animated movie Spirited Away (a must-watch, btw). I loved that movie so this place was easily my favorite one during the tour.

During the tour, we were given a couple of hours to go and explore Jiufen on our own. It was a great opportunity to try the teahouses in the area. One of which is Skyline Teahouse, which offers amazing views of the area.

We had lunch at a tea house in Jiufen, where I joined two other girls from my tour group. We ordered dimsum and local Taiwanese beer.

Next stop was Shifen Waterfalls. About 40m tall, it is considered as Taipei's most scenic waterfalls, cascading into a lake. From the main road, it takes roughly fifteen minutes on foot to get to the waterfalls. 

Our last stop for the day was Shifen Old Streets. It's known for its old railway lined with souvenir shops and food places left and right. This is where the famous Sky Lantern Festival is being held. On usual days, tourists can buy a traditional Chinese lantern to write their wishes on and set it into the sky.

After the tour, we got dropped off at the same pastry shop where the pick-up point was. It was a hot day and I was so tired from the tour that I didn't have enough energy left to go out that night. Plus my feet had some blisters because of too much walking. So I just had a quick dinner at the nearby Family Mart before retiring for the day.

Up next: more walking tours in the city.