Jinguashi is an abandoned gold-mining town on the northeast coast of Taiwan, right next to Jiufen, sitting between the mountains and the sea. It is one of the best-known tourist destinations in northern Taiwan. It has the bleakness of derelict industrial ruins and a strong Japanese atmosphere left over from the colonial era, and it is surrounded by the most beautiful group of ridges on the northeast coast. Hiking, historic ruins, cafes, a day out with the kids: Jinguashi serves very different kinds of trips. On foot, you can take in this mountain town’s landscape and its history at your own pace.
Most visitors to Jinguashi only see the Gold Museum. This article is about a route my son and I walked in a single day: start at Buyan Pavilion, the highest point above Jinguashi; follow the road and a former military track down to Jinguashi Geopark; drop past Jinguashi Shrine to the Gold Museum; after lunch, walk down the No. 6 Tunnel incline to the Hill of No Return; and finally make a steep descent to the Golden Waterfall by the sea. Four to five hours, downhill the whole way, linking the places I think are the best of Jinguashi.
The Jinguashi route at a glance
There are walks of every grade around Jinguashi. If you want a challenge, there is Stegosaurus Ridge, the most beautiful and most exposed hill ridge in northern Taiwan. If you want something easy, there is Teapot Mountain. The ridges around the town, known locally as the “ten golden ridges,” give keen hikers plenty to work through. If you want history, there are the Gold Museum, Jinguashi Shrine, abandoned tunnels and factory ruins. These sites are scattered around Jinguashi with the Gold Museum at the center, and one or two days is not enough to see them all.
I had long wanted to string the spots I consider the most beautiful into one route: some walking, close to the mountains and close to the sea, but nothing exhausting; time to look at the ruins properly rather than just ticking them off; first-class views of mountains and ocean, without having to edge along a ridgeline the way you do on Stegosaurus Ridge. This is what I came up with: start at the highest point, Buyan Pavilion, and walk down to the Golden Waterfall near the coast. The parts I was most looking forward to were Jinguashi Geopark (the Benshan mine) and two places very few people visit, the No. 6 Tunnel incline and the Hill of No Return. The whole route takes 4–5 hours, but because it is downhill all the way, it is not tiring.
In terms of difficulty, the route splits in two. Above the Gold Museum you are on a road, a paved military track and well-maintained stone stairs; anyone can walk it. Below the No. 6 incline it is different: the incline itself is a 45-degree slope of loose gravel, and between the Hill of No Return and the Golden Waterfall there is a steep descent with fixed ropes. I would not call this section dangerous, but it needs a little experience on mountain trails, and it is not a place for someone who has never hiked to walk alone.
Getting to Jinguashi from Taipei, and getting back from the Golden Waterfall
This route does not suit driving. The start, Buyan Pavilion, is on a mountaintop and the finish, the Golden Waterfall, is by the sea, a long way apart; leave a car at either end and you still have to find a way back to it. The buses to Jiufen and Jinguashi are convenient anyway, and on weekends they spare you the traffic jams and the hunt for parking.
From Taipei, the first choice is bus 965. It starts in Banqiao, stops at MRT Beimen Station near Taipei Main Station, then goes straight onto the freeway with no stops until Ruifang, and climbs from there to Jiufen and Jinguashi. The first bus is at 6 am (7 am on weekends), the last at 9 pm, and they run roughly every 15–30 minutes; the journey takes about as long as driving. You can also take a Taiwan Railway (TR) train to Ruifang Station and change to a bus up the hill.
No bus goes to Buyan Pavilion, the start of the route. We took the bus to Jiufen Old Street and hailed a taxi from there. Plenty of tourists take taxis from Ruifang up to Jiufen, so finding one at Jiufen Old Street is not hard. Our driver asked NT$300 from Jiufen Old Street to Buyan Pavilion, a bit more than the meter, but I thought it was reasonable.
Several bus routes pass the Golden Waterfall at the finish (788, 826, 856 and 891), which looks like plenty, but most of them run only a few times a day. The useful one is 891, a community bus that starts at the Gold Museum, runs past Cyuanji Temple and the Golden Waterfall down to Shuinandong on the coast, then loops back up to the Gold Museum. It runs one way around the loop, daily from 10 am to 5 pm, roughly hourly on weekdays and more often on weekends (about every 30 minutes). Because it is a one-way loop there is no “return” direction: you board at the Golden Waterfall heading downhill, ride the loop back to Jinguashi, and change to the 965 for Taipei.
The walk: Buyan Pavilion to the Golden Waterfall
Buyan Pavilion: starting on “Taiwan’s most beautiful road”
Buyan Pavilion sits at the highest point of County Route 102, on the mountain boundary between Jiufen and Shuangxi. Its name comes from a line by the Tang-dynasty poet Li Bai about never tiring of a view. But what made the place famous is not the pavilion; it is the road beside it. Here Route 102 runs dead straight across the ridge between two hills, with nothing but open space on either side and a single road stretching away into the distance. It is said a car commercial was shot here and made the spot famous. Today it is a popular attraction, nicknamed the “Lonely Highway” and “Taiwan’s most beautiful road,” and on weekends there is even a sausage cart.
After a summer thunderstorm, with mist still hanging on the hills and the last of the sunset, this would make a beautiful picture. Most people come by car or bicycle; arriving by taxi, as we did, is unusual. We were not there at the best time of day for photographs either. For us, starting at Buyan Pavilion was more of a ritual: the way to walk the route from end to end.
Route 102 and the Caoshan military road: Jinguashi from above
At about 10:30 am we set off down Route 102 from Buyan Pavilion. This stretch is already the high ground above Jiufen and Jinguashi, and the view from up here, over Jiufen and Jinguashi down to the coast at Shuinandong, is excellent. Walking downhill on the road is no effort, and the mild March sun and temperature made it a pleasure.
On the way down you pass the trailhead of the Dacukeng historic trail and the Xiaojingua outcrop. The road has wide views, and from a long way off you can see the ruins of Dashan Elementary School in the Dacukeng settlement down in the valley. Dacukeng was once one of the most prosperous villages in all of Taiwan thanks to mining, with 300–400 households; together with Jinguashi and Jiufen it was one of the “three gold towns of Ruifang.” In 1976 the ore ran out and the whole village emptied. Today only the ruins in the valley remain.
At the Shumeiping viewpoint we joined the Caoshan military road. This is a road of about 6 km linking Route 102 to the summit of Caoshan, built for the military when there was a radar station on the mountain. It lost its military function long ago and is now just a paved road. Several hiking trails branch off it, the best known leading to Mt. Canguangliao, the highest peak around Jiufen and Jinguashi, and to Banping Mountain, the most scenic; both trailheads are on this road. With first-class views and hardly anyone around, it is also where people drive up in the evening for the sunset and the night view.
The military road runs directly above Jinguashi Geopark, and several trails connect the two. One of them, the “Ocean View Trail,” is a side trip many visitors take when they come to the Benshan mine; it is in fact the connecting trail between the geopark and the military road. That is the way we went down into the geopark.
Jinguashi Geopark (the Benshan mine): a gold mine with its summit cut away
Jinguashi Geopark, also known as the Benshan mine or Benshan mining area, sits directly above the Gold Museum and was the most important gold-mining area of its day. Gold was discovered here in the 1890s, and the name Jinguashi is tied to that discovery. “Benshan,” literally “the main mountain,” held the principal gold vein, which ran from the summit down to below sea level; nine tunnels were driven into it from top to bottom, Benshan No. 1 to No. 9.
Where the geopark is now was once Benshan tunnels No. 1, 2 and 3. Later the mine switched to open-pit extraction and the summit was leveled: not only did the tunnels disappear, but Benshan, which once stood higher than Keelung Mountain and Teapot Mountain, lost more than 100 meters of elevation and became what you see today. For specialists it is a valuable outdoor geology classroom; for visitors, the main draw is the “Stonehenge” of the mine, rows of standing black rocks that look as if aliens had been here. In fact the rocks were arranged by people, and the arrangement was controversial at the time.
The Benshan mine feels bleak and cut off from the world. The surrounding rock walls look as if sliced with a knife, and the exposed rock is black. It takes a short walk to reach, but it is the kind of place you can walk to without any preparation, in your nice clothes. Most people walk in from the geopark car park on Route 102, about 800 meters or 15 minutes; you can also climb up from the Gold Museum, or come down from the military road above as we did.
Jinguashi Shrine: Shinto ruins under cherry blossom
A well-built stone stairway that anyone can manage links the Benshan mine to the Gold Museum, the busiest part of Jinguashi, passing Jinguashi Shrine (also called the Gold Shrine) on the way. In March the cherry trees are in full bloom along this very Japanese-feeling path, with Teapot Mountain in the distance, the shrine’s commanding view, and the carefully restored shrine ruins. Walking here, you could think you were in Japan.
Jinguashi Shrine was built in 1898 (Meiji 31) and rebuilt in 1937. During Japanese rule the shrine, like the many small Earth God temples in the area, was a center of faith for miners doing dangerous work. After World War II it was vandalized; today only two torii gates, a few stone lanterns, and the foundations and pillars of the main hall remain. It was listed as a New Taipei City historic site in 2007. Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), which owns the land, began a restoration project in 2017. During the work the torii and stone lanterns of the first-generation shrine were unearthed, and more than a hundred cherry trees were planted along the approach following historical records. The restored site opened in 2022.
The Gold Museum: lunch and supplies
The area around the Gold Museum is the center of Jinguashi. Whether you come by bus or by car, this is where you arrive. The museum opened in 2004 and its grounds are large, preserving the whole mining settlement: a visitor center, rows of Japanese-style residences, the Crown Prince Chalet, the Benshan No. 5 Tunnel walk-through, a gold-panning area, and the Gold Building with its world-class giant gold brick.
We arrived just after noon. On a weekend the museum is busy but not crowded. We ate a miner’s lunchbox at the Miners’ Canteen inside the grounds, then had ice cream and bought a Coke at the convenience store. On a day that sits somewhere between a hike and a long walk, sitting down to a proper lunch beats chewing on bread. The No. 5 Tunnel walk-through and the Gold Building were both places I wanted to see, and there are a few good restaurants and cafes nearby, but we still had to walk down the mountain and there was no time this trip. Fortunately none of it is hard to reach; it can be another day. The Crown Prince Chalet, one of Jinguashi’s important historic buildings, was closed for renovation when we visited in March 2023.
Leaving the Gold Museum, we followed Qitang Old Street toward Cyuanji Temple, a walk of a little over ten minutes. Cyuanji Temple is a familiar name to hikers: the well-known Teapot Mountain trail starts here. The No. 6 Tunnel incline we were about to walk also starts beside the temple.
The No. 6 Tunnel incline: an abandoned mining railway plunging toward the sea
Benshan No. 6 Tunnel lies below Cyuanji Temple. Rebuilt in 1930, it was once the busiest entrance in the whole mine for workers going in and out. Its transport system had two parts: the No. 6 incline, from the tunnel up to Cyuanji Temple, and the Wuji rope haulage, from the tunnel down to Shuinandong. The incline is the better preserved and is still clearly visible today. In 2012 a group of old Jinguashi miners, unwilling to let it disappear, went in with sickles and tools, cleared the undergrowth and brought the incline back into the open. In 2013 New Taipei City listed the “Shuinandong Benshan No. 6 Tunnel entrance and haulage system” as a historic building.
The incline starts right beside the Cyuanji Temple car park. The abandoned red-brick ruin there is the winch house at the top of the incline, and it is where a lot of people now come to take photos. From here the incline drops in a dead-straight line at 45 degrees, as if it were about to plunge into the Yin Yang Sea below. It is a little over 300 meters long and takes 10–15 minutes to walk down. It is not difficult, but the slope is steep and the surface is loose gravel, so watch your footing. To me the No. 6 incline is not only a piece of history; the views from it are first-class. At the bottom it feels like a hidden world, with none of the crowds around Cyuanji Temple.
At the bottom of the incline there is a fork. A few minutes to the right brings you to the mouth of Benshan No. 6 Tunnel, now derelict; straight ahead, through an abandoned building, it is two or three minutes to the Hill of No Return.
The Hill of No Return: a film location above the Yin Yang Sea
The “Hill of No Return” is a small plateau above the Golden Waterfall and below the No. 6 incline. The 1992 Taiwanese film Hill of No Return tells the story of Jinguashi’s poorest miners and was shot on location here; it won Best Feature Film, Best Director and several other awards at the Golden Horse Awards. The “yellow-flower slope” in its opening and closing scenes is this plateau, which is why it now carries the film’s name.
From the Hill of No Return you can see the sea, with the Yin Yang Sea directly below, and beside you a tall, steep peak: the east peak of Keelung Mountain, also known as Thunder Peak. The afternoon we were there turned overcast and there was no one around. The surroundings are very beautiful, yet there was also something of the resigned, heavy mood of the film. The hill is not hard to reach: you can walk up from the Golden Waterfall, or come down the No. 6 incline as we did. It is quiet here in a way most tourists never find, and you can explore Benshan No. 6 Tunnel and the mining relics scattered all around.
The steep descent to the Golden Waterfall
From the Hill of No Return to the Golden Waterfall is a steep descent with fixed ropes. The Golden Waterfall is one of Jinguashi’s major sights, close to Shuinandong. Most visitors park by the road and admire the multi-tiered falls from below, but beside the waterfall a small path climbs the hill straight to the Hill of No Return. This path is not suitable for someone without hiking experience to walk alone; it is not what I would call dangerous, but it does involve ropes. For regular hikers it takes about 20–30 minutes either up or down. If you find yourself at the Golden Waterfall, it is worth taking the path up to feel the solitude of the Hill of No Return.
Hiking is simple: if you can walk, run and jump, you can hike. But hiking is also hard, because technique comes from experience and is difficult to teach. For a lot of people, that technique is learned by falling over a few times. On this route, only the section after the No. 6 incline needs some hiking experience; the rest is for everyone.
Difficulty and final thoughts
My son and I set off just before 11 am and finished at 4 pm, about five hours from Buyan Pavilion down to the Golden Waterfall. Five hours sounds like a lot, but we walked slowly, stopped for photos everywhere, treated it as a stroll, and took a long break at the Gold Museum. And because it runs from top to bottom, it is not very tiring. Whether it is the geopark at the top, the shrine and the Gold Museum in the middle, or the No. 6 incline and the Hill of No Return at the bottom, every part of this route is Jinguashi at its most beautiful. Apart from the stretch from the No. 6 incline down to the Golden Waterfall, where you need to take a little care, the whole route is an easy walk for anyone.
For a harder day out from Taipei, see my Datun Mountain traverse, which includes the hardest stretch of hill trail inside Taipei City.
