- Beitou Hot Springs
- Thermal Valley
Hours verified August 2026
Beitou Thermal Valley, the free hot spring you cannot get into
A jade-green lake steaming at up to 100°C, ten minutes uphill from the MRT, costing nothing. It is the source of everything else in this valley — and the one place in Beitou where getting in the water would put you in hospital.
The short answer
Free, 09:00–17:00, closed Mondays. Allow twenty minutes to walk the loop and take photographs. You cannot bathe, paddle or boil eggs here — the lake runs 80–100°C. It is a ten-minute walk uphill from Xinbeitou station, and it is genuinely worth the walk.
The visit · 01 — everything that costs you nothing
Hours, price and how long it actually takes
This is a short, free, outdoor stop. The most common way to get it wrong is turning up on a Monday, and the second most common is allowing an hour for something that takes twenty minutes.
| What | Answer | The part people get wrong |
|---|---|---|
| EntryTaipei Water Department site | NT$0free, no ticket | There is no booking, no queue system and no ticket office. Walk in. |
| HoursOfficial attraction listing | 09:00–17:00 | Last entry is not the same as closing — arrive by 16:30 to walk the loop unhurried. |
| ClosedEvery week | Mondays | The single most common wasted walk in Beitou. The Hot Spring Museum is shut on Mondays too, so a Monday trip loses both free sights at once. |
| Time neededLoop trail plus photographs | 20 min | It is one lake with a path around it. Thirty minutes if it is steaming hard and you keep stopping. |
| Walk from XinbeitouThrough Beitou Park, uphill | 10 min | Continuous gentle climb. Fine in trainers, unpleasant in August at midday. |
| Water temperatureAt the source | 80–100°C | Not a bathing pool at any point. The railings are there for a reason. |
| Step-free accessListed as wheelchair accessible | Yes | The approach road from the park is the climb; the site itself is flat and railed. |
Hours and temperature from the Taipei city tourism attraction listing, read August 2026. A 2022 city news release announcing the renovated park quoted 09:00–18:00; the current listing says 17:00, so we print 17:00 and tell you both existed. If you are making a special trip late in the day, the later hour is not one to gamble on.
The rock · 02 — the reason this valley is in textbooks
There is a mineral at the bottom of this lake that exists in two places on Earth
Almost every guide describes Thermal Valley as a pretty green lake and moves on. The interesting part is underneath it.
In 1905 an engineer named Yohachiro Okamoto found crystalline sediment in Beitou Creek that turned out to contain radium. In 1912 Professor Kotora Jimbo of Tokyo Imperial University presented the specimen at an international mineralogy conference in St Petersburg and named the new mineral hokutolite — 北投石, after Beitou.
It is a barium–lead sulfate, and what makes it unusual is the radium locked into the crystal as it precipitates out of this specific water. After a century of looking, mineralogists have found it forming in exactly two places in the world: here, and the Tamagawa hot spring in Akita, Japan.
Why it matters when you are standing there
It means the green is not algae and not a filter. You are looking at strongly acidic sulfur water carrying dissolved minerals down from the volcano, and the colour comes from what is suspended in it. The same water, cooled and piped, is what fills the bathhouses at the bottom of the hill.
It also means the sediment is protected. You are not permitted to take rock from the site, and the collectible specimens live in museum cases rather than the creek.
Beitou is the only place in Taiwan with a mineral named after it. That is the fact worth carrying down the hill, and it is the one almost nobody tells you at the railing.
HOKUTOLITE 北投石
1905 — crystalline sediment containing radium found in Beitou Creek by the engineer Yohachiro Okamoto.
1912 — named "hokutolite" by Professor Kotora Jimbo at an international mineralogy conference in St Petersburg.
BaSO₄ · PbSO₄ — a barium–lead sulfate; the distinguishing feature is the rare element radium held in the crystal.
Two sites worldwide — Beitou, and Tamagawa Onsen in Akita Prefecture, Japan. Nowhere else.
The railings · 03 — what you cannot do here
No bathing, no paddling, and no eggs
People arrive at Thermal Valley expecting a hot spring they can get into, because everything else in Beitou is. This one is the source, and it will scald you.
Not permitted
- Bathing or paddling — at 80–100°C this is not a rule about etiquette.
- Boiling eggs — once the signature Beitou souvenir, now banned. The city's own wording is that it protects the water quality and stops tourists falling in and boiling themselves.
- Climbing the railings — the ground near the edge is hot and the crust is thin in places.
- Taking rock or sediment — protected material.
- Drones — it is a water-department site, not a park.
Worth knowing
- Your glasses and camera will fog the moment you reach the rail. Give them a minute.
- Silver jewellery tarnishes in sulfur air, not just in the water. Take it off before you come up the hill.
- The smell follows you for an hour or so. It is harmless and it fades.
- There is a hand-washing spring fountain at the entrance — thermal water at a temperature that will not hurt you, which is as close as you get to touching it.
- Free foot baths are back down the hill in Beitou Park. That is where you put your feet in the water.
The steam · 04 — when it actually looks like the photographs
The valley photographs well on cold mornings, badly at noon in July
Steam is a temperature difference. The lake sits at the same 80–100°C in February and August; what changes is the air around it. On a cool, still, damp morning the whole basin disappears into white. On a hot dry afternoon you get a green pond and a faint shimmer.
Best: opening time on a winter weekday. December to February, 09:00, before tour groups arrive and while the air is coldest.
Also good: the last hour before closing in any cool month, when the light is low and side-on across the water.
Worst: midday between June and September. You will have walked uphill in 33°C to look at a hot lake, which is a strange thing to do to yourself, and there is very little shade at the rail.
Rain is not the problem people expect. Drizzle makes the steam heavier and the colour deeper, and the loop is short enough to do under an umbrella.
A SENSIBLE ORDER
- 0 minXinbeitouleave the station
- +4Foot bathsfree, in the park
- +6Museumfree, closed Mon
- +10Thermal Valleyfree, closed Mon
- +35back down to a bath
Against our own interest — the best thing here is the one we earn nothing from
Three cases where Thermal Valley is not worth your walk
We make no money when you come here — there is nothing to book and no ticket to sell. We still think it is the best twenty minutes in Beitou for most visitors, and we would rather say so plainly than bury it under something we get paid for.
Questions · 06
Beitou Thermal Valley, answered
Is Beitou Thermal Valley free?
Yes. There is no ticket, no booking and no entrance fee. It is open 09:00–17:00 and closed on Mondays.
Can you bathe in Beitou Thermal Valley?
No. The water runs 80–100°C at the source and the site is railed off. Bathing, paddling and boiling eggs are all prohibited. The bathhouses at the bottom of the hill use the same water after it has cooled and been piped; that is where you get in.
What time does Thermal Valley open and close?
09:00 to 17:00, closed Mondays, according to the Taipei city tourism listing we checked in August 2026. An older city news release quoted 09:00–18:00 after the 2022 park renovation, so do not rely on the later hour for a special trip.
How long do you need at Thermal Valley?
Twenty minutes covers the loop trail and photographs; thirty if the steam is heavy and you keep stopping. It is a single lake with a path around it, not an afternoon.
How do you get to Thermal Valley from Xinbeitou station?
Walk up through Beitou Park, past the free foot baths and the Hot Spring Museum, and keep climbing. About ten minutes, continuous gentle uphill, signposted the whole way.
Why is Thermal Valley green?
Mineral load, not algae. It is a strongly acidic sulfur spring carrying dissolved minerals down from the volcano. The same water deposits hokutolite, a radium-bearing barium–lead sulfate that forms in only two places on Earth — here and Tamagawa in Japan.
Why is it called Hell Valley?
From the Japanese-era name for the same feature — a steaming, sulfurous, boiling basin. You will see Hell Valley, Geothermal Valley and Thermal Valley used for the same place, including on official signage.
Can you still boil eggs at Beitou Thermal Valley?
No. It was once the signature thing to do here and it is now banned. The city's own explanation is that it protects the water quality and stops visitors falling in.
Is Thermal Valley worth visiting?
For most people, yes — it is free, it takes twenty minutes, and it is the source of everything else in the valley. Skip it if it is a Monday, if it is a hot afternoon and you would rather be in water, or if you are managing a toddler at a railing.
Next · 07
The rest of the survey
Verified August 2026 · Thermal Valley is free and earns us nothing. We earn a commission only on the bath you book afterwards, at no cost to you.