Free: All time
The Plum Garden is a historical building that was once a summer house of a calligraphy master / political leader Yu Youren. Built in the late 1930s, it wasn’t until 2010 that the Taipei City Government renovated and opened it as a public tourist attraction. The characters “Mei Ting”, meaning Plum Garden, were written by Yu and reprinted on a plaque at the entrance. To promote tourism in Beitou, the city government set up a visitor information center in the building. Stop by to relax in this traditional Japanese wood-framed structure where you can also find a small exhibit of Yu’s calligraphy works. Other free sites worth checking out while in Beitou district: Beitou Park, Ketagalan Culture Center, Puji Temple, Beitou Geothermal Valley, Taipei’s first “green” public library, Beitou Quanyuan Park Foot Bath Area and the world-famous Yangmingshan National Park.
Address: 6 Zhongshan Road, Beitou, Taipei
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 9am – 5pm; Closed Mondays
Direction: Subway Danshui Line to Xinbeitou Station; Bus No. 216/217/218/223/266/269 to Xinbeitou MRT Station Stop
Phone: +886 2-2897-2647
Website: plumgarden.taipeitravel.net/en
Photo credit: 沐小川 (Flickr CC), tc.tao1 (Flickr CC), 黃毛 a.k.a. YELLOW (Flickr CC), David Chu (Flickr CC)
