Tainan Summer Guide • A tour of the old city’s ice
Tainan ice shops we recommend
A bowl of ice holds a city’s summer
Tainan, a city with centuries of history, has preserved a rich human story and also grown the most distinctive ice culture in Taiwan. From old-fashioned shaved ice handed down through generations in the markets, and the banana ice locals grew up with, to the Japanese kakigori and fruit snow ice of recent years, every ice shop is a piece of civic memory recording the summers of a different generation.
This time, let’s set out from3 Door Hotelon a tour of ice that belongs to summer alone.
The hotel is in the centre of Tainan, close to the railway station and the West Central District shopping area – an important starting point for exploring the city’s food. From here you can walk the lanes of Guohua Street, ride out to the Anping Canal, or plan a longer trip to Madou, Houbi and Liujia, taking in Tainan’s most representative ice shops along the way.
This article gathers more than thirty popular ice shops in Tainan, with addresses, opening information and travel advice, along with the story behind each one. Some have held to traditional ice-making methods for over a century; some combine fruit and dessert into entirely new flavours; some became national pilgrimage sites after appearing in a television drama. Whether you prefer old-fashioned shaved ice, mianmian ice, snow ice, banana ice, gelato or seasonal fruit ice, you will find your own summer favourite on this list.
Old flavours in memory: Longquan Ice Shop and banana ice culture
Any discussion of Tainan’s ice culture has to begin withLongquan Ice Shop, beside the central market in Madou.
More than a century old, Longquan is not only a childhood memory for locals but became widely known as Grandma Mo’s ice shop in the popular drama Someday or One Day. Step inside and time seems to slow: old photographs on the wall and a plain, unfussy space speak of memories shared across generations. Regulars who know the place often skip the popular mixed ice and order brown sugar fenguo jelly with mian-cha instead. The chewy jelly is coated in rich brown sugar, then dusted with old-fashioned mian-cha powder for a faint note of sesame and grain – simple, and hard to forget.
Tainan’s ice landscape also holds a memory that belongs to the south alone:banana ice, beside the central market in Madou.
. Unlike ordinary ice cream or snow ice, banana ice has its own banana fragrance and a fine, soft texture, and is the flavour many Tainan people know best from childhood. Some like it simply with syrup and plum powder; others prefer red bean, condensed milk and fruit. Everyone has their own classic combination.
The most distinctive way to eat it is the southern-only “moon-viewing ice”.
On Jingliao Old Street in Houbi,Hexing Ice Shopkeeps that tradition alive. A raw egg yolk is dropped into the centre of the banana ice, and the cold slowly sets it into a texture somewhere between liquid and solid. First-time visitors are usually startled, but one taste and the richness and silkiness win them over. This shop of more than eighty years was also a filming location for the drama The Making of an Ordinary Woman, and at weekends it draws visitors who come especially for this southern Taiwanese taste.
Tainan ice shops: the full list
※ Swipe left and right to see the whole table and take in the range of the city’s ice at a glance.
| Shop | District | Signature | What makes it special |
|---|---|---|---|
| A-Chuan Old-Style Tapioca Ice | West Central | The off-menu red and white rice ball ice | A bowl heaped with brown sugar and red and white rice balls: chewy and comforting |
| Huang Huo Mu Old-Style Ice Shop | West Central | Nostalgic shaved ice | The old-fashioned shaved ice of childhood |
| Doufu Yanghang · Almond Tofu Ice | West Central | Handmade almond tofu ice | Old-style tofu ice that melts on contact |
| Lily Fruit Shop | West Central | Mixed fruit ice | Seasonal fruit in abundance; more than ten kinds in one bowl |
| Babao Bin Yuanzai Hui | West Central | Old-style babao ice | Generously loaded babao ice with honest ingredients |
| A-Hsin Mango Ice | West Central | Affordable mango ice | Budget-friendly mango ice; essential on a street food crawl |
| Chengfeng Ice Shop | West Central | Late-night snow ice | Late-night-only shaved ice made from handmade ice blocks |
| Nanchengnongshi | West Central | Gelato | A refined gelato shop with an artistic atmosphere |
| Shuangli Bingzhuan | West Central | Fruit ball snow ice | Extravagantly heaped fruit ball snow ice; a social media favourite |
| Meixue Ice Room (branch 2) | West Central | Preserved tomato milk ice | A design-minded ruin-style old house known for preserved tomato ice |
| Dawan Gong Ice (Fuqian branch) | West Central | Enormous portions | A feast of ice for anyone with a serious appetite |
| Ninao Family Sweets | West Central | Japanese soft-serve | A different flavour every day and an endless queue |
| Sun Brand Ice | West Central | Caohu taro ice, red bean milk cream | Sixty years of red bean milk cream and Caohu taro ice |
| Bingzijiao | North | Preserved tomato milk ice | Distinctive preserved tomato ice, refined and refreshing |
| Tomotomo No.2 | North | Mount Fuji shaved ice | Charming Mount Fuji shaved ice; the first choice for photographs |
| Rongshuxia Mianmian Ice (Xiaobei) | North | Old-style mianmian ice | Traditional mianmian ice in many flavours |
| Nanquan Ice Room | Anping | Seasonal fruit snow ice | Fresh fruit in abundance and old-fashioned caramel pudding |
| Xiaodao Yinbao | Anping | Anping sunset snow ice | Japanese snow ice down a hidden lane, with a sweet-savoury pong-bing twist |
| Bing De Kakigori | East | Mian-cha rice ball shaved ice | Japanese-style invention with rich mian-cha and rice balls |
| Xingnomachi Snow Ice | East | Japanese snow ice | Small, refined snow ice; a design-led dessert and afternoon tea |
| Ice Tower Artisan Snow Ice | East | Artisan handmade snow ice | Skilfully made snow ice with colourful, layered toppings |
| QQ Tian Dessert Workshop | East | Japanese-style snow ice | Japanese snow ice and red bean soup, generously topped |
| Rongshuxia Mianmian Ice (Dong’an) | East | Old-style mianmian ice | A design-minded mianmian ice hut with plenty of flavours |
| Meixue Ice Room (Huweiliao) | East | Design-led snow ice | An old house in Huweiliao; cool snow ice that photographs well |
| Hexing Ice Shop (Houbi) | Houbi | Banana milk ice, moon-viewing ice | A century-old banana ice shop that sets an egg yolk with cold |
| Longquan Ice Shop (Madou) | Madou | Mixed shaved ice, rice balls | A century-old shop: handmade, generous and never cloying |
| Xianyu Sweets (Shanhua) | Shanhua | Japanese shaved ice | A traditional Japanese ice house with rich dessert character |
The heart of the food West Central District recommendations
A-Chuan Old-Style Tapioca Ice
A-Chuan Old-Style Tapioca Ice is just outside Kangle Market in West Central District, open roughly 10:30-21:00. Handed down from the last century, it still keeps the old bicycles outside and the equipment once used to sell tapioca from a cart, and the old-fashioned atmosphere is thick. Its best-known item is the off-menu rice ball ice: a whole bowl of shaved ice heaped with small red and white rice balls under brown sugar syrup, plump and glossy. The rice balls are chewy and carry the scent of brown sugar; with rich brown sugar shaved ice beneath, the texture is fine and smooth. If you like it sweeter, ask for extra condensed milk. Beyond the rice ball ice, tapioca ice and douhua are popular and classic. The shop is small but turns tables quickly, so even weekend queues are short. There is a paid car park at the door; by bus, get off at Tainan Spring and walk about 3 minutes. With its plain old-fashioned style, friendly prices and a bowl full of handmade rice balls, A-Chuan has won over customers of every age – an essential local stop in Tainan.
Huang Huo Mu Old-Style Ice Shop
This brand was founded jointly by Huang Huo-mu, the second-generation heir of the long-established Tainan shop Jiangshuihao, and Huang Zhi-wei, the second son of the third generation. The shop is named after Huang Huo-mu. Jiangshuihao was founded in 1931, in the Japanese colonial era, starting at West Market, Tainan’s first public market, and has been in business for over eighty years.
Distinctive texture and freshness are Huang Huo Mu’s greatest strengths. Ingredients change with the season; the signature taro is simmered until soft, with a fine, smooth texture, and the freshly cooked rice balls become chewier when chilled. There is also peanut soup and a rice congee simmered with glutinous rice, borlotti beans and dried longan – each with its own character hot or cold.
Doufu Yanghang · Almond Tofu Ice
Doufu Yanghang is a long-established dessert shop on Hai’an Road, known for almond tofu and almond soup, with almond tofu ice in summer. The almond tofu ice is smooth, the tofu base full of almond flavour, and the presentation neat, usually with diced fresh fruit or syrup – sweet and clean rather than heavy. The interior is retro, with wooden window frames and handwritten menus giving a sense of old Tainan. Doufu Yanghang stays open into the evening, so you can have hot almond soup late at night too. Guests with pets should check about using the outdoor arcade seating; there are few seats inside. We suggest going on a weekday before dusk to avoid the rush.
Lily Fruit Shop
Founded in 1947, Lily Fruit Shop (No. 199, Sec. 1, Fuqian Rd) is a long-established Tainan ice shop with more than seventy years of history, and the seats out front are never empty. Its signature is mixed fruit ice: a bowl under syrup for NT$65 with more than ten kinds of seasonal fruit – lemon, orange, watermelon, pineapple, apple, banana, guava, tomato, cantaloupe and more. The fruit is chosen for sweetness and firmness in season, and with finely shaved ice and rich condensed milk, every mouthful is full of fruit. In summer the queue is often long; seating is mostly in the arcade with simple tables and chairs, and the crowd is a mix of individuals and families. Beyond fruit ice there are freshly pressed juices (watermelon NT$50, papaya NT$55, both without added sugar) and desserts such as pudding milk ice. Closed Wednesdays, open 11:00-22:00. As a well-known destination, it is worth finding parking in advance or taking a taxi. With its generous fruit and honest prices, Lily Fruit Shop has become a byword for old Tainan flavour, and is a lovely place for couples or small families to share a bowl.
Babao Bin Yuanzai Hui
Babao Bin Yuanzai Hui is an old-style shaved ice shop on Guohua Street, known for traditional babao ice and rice ball soup. The toppings are generous – red bean, mung bean, peanut, taro, fenguo jelly, rice balls – and a bowl costs only about NT$55. What sets it apart is how finely the ingredients are cooked and how well they take on flavour, with a mellow syrup that is never too sweet, giving a clean overall taste. Seating is limited, and most people eat at the roadside or take away.
A-Hsin Mango Ice
A-Hsin Mango Ice on Guohua Street is an essential summer stop. Prices are friendly, with a large mango ice from about NT$60: fresh Irwin mango sliced over shaved or snow ice and finished with condensed milk. The mango is cut thick, so every mouthful has fruit, and the sweetness is judged well – a lifesaver in mango season. The shop is small, mostly takeaway with a little seating, and suits students and families.
Chengfeng Ice Shop
Chengfeng Ice Shop is a late-night snow ice specialist on Youai Street. Its signature is snow ice shaved from its own handmade ice blocks, finer than ordinary shaved ice. Toppings are generous – mango, strawberry, berries – and the syrup and condensed milk are specially blended so nothing is cloying. The atmosphere is relaxed and it stays open late, making it ideal for night owls in search of something cold and sweet.
Nanchengnongshi
Nanchengnongshi is an ice cream shop and cafe that keeps the baroque shophouse facade, on Fuqian Road Section 1, tucked beside an old street. Designed by an internationally known architect, the interior has a European feel, so you can enjoy gelato while taking in an artistic space. The signatures are classic milk, matcha and black sesame gelato, fine and smooth. It suits art lovers, couples and anyone who enjoys photographing their dessert.
Shuangli Bingzhuan
Shuangli Bingzhuan on Xinmei Street is known for extravagantly presented fruit snow ice and appears constantly on social media. The snow ice is piled with balls of sliced fruit – mango, strawberry, kiwi – colourful and deliberately over the top. Portions are large and the toppings generous, and it is refreshing in the heat. Seating is limited and most customers photograph their order and take it away. Prices are reasonable and queues are common in summer. It is about 15 minutes by car from 3 Door Hotel (navigate to Xinmei Street). Good for younger visitors and families looking for a feast for both eyes and palate.
Meixue Ice Room (2.0)
Hidden down an extremely narrow lane, reached only by passing through an alley and climbing a retro staircase. The interior has the nostalgia and faded grandeur of 1980s Tainan, and is warm and comfortable. The signatures include the whole peach ice (visually striking, with sweet and juicy peach) and seasonal items such as Irwin mango pudding milk ice. Old-fashioned handmade pudding is the topping most people recommend adding, and there is a good range of Japanese-style puddings (plain, milk tea, matcha red bean, coffee with a hint of liqueur), all rich and fragrant.
Dawan Gong Ice
Dawan Gong Ice is a long-established shop built around enormous portions of shaved ice. The name refers to the oversized metal bowl: the signature large ice piles shaved ice, toppings and condensed milk into one bowl for several people to share. The toppings are the same as ordinary shaved ice, but the volume is far beyond the norm, making it ideal for a group. The interior has Chinese-style wooden tables and chairs like a traditional ice shop, and in summer you often see large tables surrounded by groups. Prices remain modest and the value is considerable.
Ninao Family Sweets
The soft-serve at Ninao Family Sweets, Zhengxing branch, is famous across Tainan: a different limited flavour each day, served simply in a cup or cone. The flavours are inventive – oolong tea, roasted sweet potato, taro and others have all been well received. Quantities are limited, so queues form most evenings; in winter there are hot drinks and seasonal desserts. The space is small with few seats and most people take away; the shop front and the creative old street nearby are popular for photographs.
Sun Brand Ice
Sun Brand Ice was founded in 1957 and has accompanied Tainan through countless summers. It began as Xin Liangliang Ice Shop, founded by Yeh Tien-lung, who learned ice-making from his father’s generation and made his name with taro ice, working mainly as a wholesaler at first. At its height, it is said that most of the soft-serve sold through the lanes of the old city and the taro ice in every canteen came from Sun Brand. Later it became an ice parlour and moved from behind the scenes to the front. The shop still keeps its old look, with vintage glass freezer cabinets and yellowed photographs on the wall as evidence of time standing still. The signature red bean milk cream is made by whipping milk, freezing it into blocks and shaving it finely, then topping it with fine condensed milk and plump candied red beans – it melts on contact and is sweet, fragrant and satisfying. Other classics include Caohu taro ice and red bean milk ice. The taro ice is handmade from local taro, with a firm texture and a faint taro fragrance.
A quiet lane North District recommendations
Bingzijiao
Bingzijiao sits down a lane in North District and is known for its distinctive preserved tomato milk ice. The preserved tomato is made in-house, with a perfect balance of sweet and sour, and against clean milk shaved ice it makes a uniquely refreshing sweet-sour flavour. There is also papaya milk ice and barley dessert. The shop is small and welcoming, with a few wooden tables, and the regulars are mostly locals and younger people who like trying something new.
Tomotomo No.2
Tucked inside the century-old Xindongya Hotel building in a lane off Chenggong Road in North District, Tomotomo No.2 is one of Tainan’s most distinctive Japanese shaved ice shops. Inside, a terrazzo counter, tall stone columns and retro window frames preserve the old hotel’s character completely, and it feels like stepping back in time.
The shop’s most popular signature is a Japanese shaved ice shaped like Mount Fuji, building the mountain’s outline from fine, smooth Japanese-style ice, with fresh fruit, house syrup and generous toppings. It looks wonderful and is deeply cooling. The ice melts on contact and the sweetness is clean rather than heavy – the most comforting dessert for a hot day.
Rongshuxia Mianmian Ice
The Rongshuxia Mianmian Ice branch in the Xiaobei area is equally known for old-style mianmian ice. Every bowl is fine and smooth, andthe ice is made without artificial flavourings or emulsifiers and with no chemical additives at all, so it tastes clean and light – overturning the idea that shaved ice must be cloying and leave you thirsty.The texture is fine and smooth, with more than twenty flavours to choose from. The fruit flavours, made with fresh local fruit, are especially popular and wonderfully cooling in their sweet-sourness.The summer-only mango mianmian ice is a particular favourite, the sweet mango and silky ice merging perfectly. The interior is simple, mostly wooden tables and chairs, with a strong sense of nostalgia.
Anping District recommendations
Nanquan Ice Room
Nanquan Ice Room at No. 270 Anping Road has a nostalgic fit-out, air conditioning on both floors and large windows looking onto the Anping Canal. Its signature is seasonal fresh fruit ice, and in summer strawberries, watermelon and grapes spill over the top, each bowl heaped like a jewel. The caramel pudding deserves a mention: handmade, soft, with a rich caramel flavour, and a perfect finishing touch alongside the fruit ice. Seating is limited and there are queues on weekend afternoons, but tables turn quickly. At the till you can add condensed milk yourself, letting it run between the fruit and the ice for extra sweetness and body. Open daily 12:00-18:00, closed Wednesdays. It is in the busy part of Anping and easy to reach: about 20 minutes by car from 3 Door Hotel, straight along Anping Road; there are city buses nearby, and scooters can park beside the shop. With its retro style and generous toppings, Nanquan Ice Room is a favourite among younger visitors and an essential stop after a meal in Anping.
Xiaodao Yinbao
Hidden in a lane off Yunhe Road in Anping, Xiaodao Yinbao is a Japanese snow ice specialist and the creative ice shop run by the Manbu Xianglong guesthouse. The exterior is an old red brick house; inside, tatami seating and warm lighting create a quiet, welcoming space with a strong design sensibility. Alongside several handmade snow ices there are teas, coffee, craft beer and handmade snacks. The most distinctive signature, island brown sugar with Anping pong-bing, is built on an Okinawan brown sugar sauce, topped with a sweet-savoury cheese mousse foam, dusted with soybean powder and finished with a large piece of Tainan’s classic pong-bing pastry. Pong-bing is an old Tainan sweet and pairs beautifully with the brown sugar sauce; candied red beans and black tea jelly hide in the ice for extra depth. In summer the shop is full, and the resident cat Songsong greets guests. Many people go out of their way to visit on both weekdays and weekends. Xiaodao Yinbao closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and is generally open otherwise (check the shop’s page before setting out). We suggest arriving by scooter or car, as parking nearby is difficult; it is about 20 minutes from 3 Door Hotel. Tucked into this quiet lane, creative shaved ice combining Japanese elements with local ingredients makes an excellent way to experience Tainan’s hidden design-led ice shops.
East District recommendations
Bing De Kakigori
Bing De Kakigori, which can be read as “ice kakigori”, is an inventive shop combining Japanese shaved ice with Taiwanese character; its main branch is on Chongshan Road in East District. The space is small with limited seating, so at mealtimes you often have to put your name down first. The decor is warm and Japanese in feel, with charming little animal ornaments in the corners. The signature mian-cha rice ball ice (NT$40) makes an impression: a bowl of shaved ice covered with rice balls simmered until soft and chewy, then dusted with fragrant mian-cha powder. The powder carries notes of sesame and flour and gives the ice a distinctive character, and eaten with the chilled rice balls it combines old flavour with invention. If you prefer something fruitier, try the matcha snow ice or the fruit snow ices – generously made and good-looking. Bing De Kakigori opens daily 11:00-20:00 and is about 15 minutes by car from 3 Door Hotel. There is no car park, so a scooter is easier. The Chongshan branch is very popular, so a weekday or mid-afternoon visit will get you seated sooner.
Xingnomachi Snow Ice
The space is small and elegant, and refined Japanese snow ice alongside design-led handmade desserts makes it a lovely place to spend a quiet afternoon with a friend – a leading choice in East District for refined ice and afternoon tea.
Ice Tower Artisan Snow Ice
Ice Tower Artisan Snow Ice has a branch on Dongning Road in East District, known for artisan handmade snow ice. The Dongning branch is bright and spacious, with a range of seasonal fruit snow ices and inventive pairings such as matcha snow ice with red bean or mango milk snow ice, with adjustable sweetness and portion size. Its strict control of ice block quality and its fine texture draw loyal crowds in mango and strawberry season. There is plenty of seating and the fit-out is new, making it good for students and couples.
QQ Tian Dessert Workshop
QQ Tian Dessert Workshop is on Dong’an Road in East District, surrounded by a food-heavy shopping area. The interior is Japanese and design-led, with wooden accents creating a bright, comfortable space. The menu is extensive, covering close to a hundred desserts: as well as Japanese snow ices there is hot grass jelly, red bean soup and douhua. The shop sticks to generous toppings, and every snow ice and grass jelly is properly loaded. Its popular itemsare known for how good they look, and the signature“Arashiyama Snowfall”series, inspired by Arashiyama in Kyoto, is a social media favourite. What makes this snow ice distinctive is the way it combines the vivid natural colours of its ingredients – butterfly pea, matcha, dragon fruit – with differently flavoured ice blocks, topped with a rich milk foam so that it looks like snow on a mountain peak. The texture is fine and the sweetness restrained.
Meixue Ice Room
A Japanese, design-led ice shop hidden in a quiet lane. The name Meixue comes from the owner’s grandmother, and the interior combines the character of an old house with industrial design. It is known for affordable, honestly made handmade toppings and a very popular pudding.
Recommendations further afield
Xuesen Guotang (Shanhua)
Xuesen Guotang in Shanhua District is a Japanese-style specialist in handmade desserts and shaved ice. Built around the idea of building a small forest out of ice and sweetness, it handles everything from ingredient selection to hand-making and packaging in-house, producing refined, light and seasonal desserts. It is a much-loved local favourite.
Longquan Ice Shop (Madou)
Longquan Ice Shop is at No. 2-4 Pingdeng Road in Madou, a shaved ice institution with more than a hundred years of history. Founded in 1912, in the Xuantong era of the Qing, it is now run by third-generation owner Wang Rong-xing, who keeps to traditional handmade methods. The shop still uses an antique chain-driven ice shaver, and all the toppings – mung bean, red bean, fenguo jelly, peanut, rice balls – are made by hand in the traditional way; the fenguo in particular is still made with brown sugar and sweet potato starch, chewy and fragrant. The signature mixed shaved ice is generously topped, and the owner uses Taiwan Sugar’s number two sugar for the syrup, so the sweetness is judged well and carries a faint fragrance. In winter there are hot rice balls, handmade and soft outside with a chewy centre, served in a rich mian-cha broth. Longquan was a filming location for the popular drama Someday or One Day, which brought both the shop and its old-style shaved ice wide recognition. Bowls start at NT$30, which is very reasonable. Open roughly 7:00-18:00 (closed Mondays and Tuesdays). It is inside Madou Central Market, so park at the nearby public market car park and walk; it is about 50 minutes by car from 3 Door Hotel. A visit offers handmade old-style ice and a sense of a century-old business and the people around it.
Hexing Ice Shop (Houbi)
Hexing Ice Shop is on Jingliao Old Street in Houbi District, with eighty years of history, and is one of the birthplaces of banana ice and moon-viewing ice. The signature banana milk ice is made by marinating fresh bananas, freezing them and grinding them finely, giving a soft, fine texture carrying the fragrance of banana. The distinctive moon-viewing ice places a raw egg yolk on top of banana ice and lets the cold slowly set it – a way of eating found only in the south. Hexing also serves handmade rice balls and douhua hot in winter. Walking into this small red brick shop feels like returning to Jingliao eighty years ago.
SPECIAL FEATURE • Slow travel with depth
An extra route from our butlers | A day in Houbi’s Ordinary Woman village
Into the rural hours of The Making of an Ordinary Woman
If central Tainan is a stage where history and food are woven together, then heading north to Houbi is like pressing pause on time.
There is no urban noise here – only the sound of rice fields moving in the wind, the marks of years on old red brick houses, and the most genuine rural daily life. Since the drama The Making of an Ordinary Woman aired, Houbi’s Ordinary Woman village and Jingliao Old Street have become a restorative hideaway for many travellers – not so much a pilgrimage to a drama as a trip to recover the pace of living.
What the village offers | not just a filming location but a way of life
Houbi’s Ordinary Woman village takes the drama’s settings as its core, combining local regeneration with rural culture so that a simple settlement is seen anew. Walking in, you find:
- Red brick courtyard houses and century-old shophouses
- A traditional rural living environment preserved intact
- Distinctive shops run by young people who have returned home
- Rural tours and cultural experiences
- An old rice mill and displays of traditional industry
There is no over-packaged tourist atmosphere here, but a real rural settlement where people live, and the bond between land and people is felt everywhere.
JINGLIAO ATTRACTIONS • Seven sights on Jingliao Old Street
Jingliao Old Street 1 | Houbi Ordinary Woman village: into the drama’s locations
The most popular stop on Jingliao Old Street is the drama’s main filming location. The family home of the protagonist Chen Chia-ling – the Jindexing herbal medicine shop – stands on the old street. Walk along and you recognise scene after scene, as though you have stepped into the programme. Beyond the photographs, you can experience rural life, visit the old rice mill, the herbal medicine shop and the creative spaces, and feel the warmth of the Taiwanese countryside at its most genuine.
The Ruan family house (Jindexing pharmacy): a two-hundred-year-old house and pharmacy
More than two hundred years old, the Ruan family house is one of the most representative monuments on Jingliao Old Street. The timber building is intact, and inside are displays of early herbal medicines and traditional pharmacy equipment, so that you feel transported to an older Taiwan. Stepping in, you see not only an old house but the continuity of a traditional trade and a family’s culture.
Molin Rural Artefacts Museum: indigo dyeing in a Japanese house
Originally a doctor’s residence from the Japanese colonial period, the Molin Rural Artefacts Museum retains a strong Japanese architectural character. As well as early farm tools, household objects and old photographs, its most popular offering is indigo dyeing. Dyeing a piece with your own hands introduces you to a traditional craft and gives you a memento of Tainan to take home.
Jingliao Holy Cross Church: a white church in the countryside
Deep along the old street, a pure white church stands quietly among the fields. The Jingliao Holy Cross Church is distinguished by its four spires, each paired with different religious symbolism, creating an architectural style of its own. White walls against green fields make it a favourite with photographers and travellers.
Wumile Jingliao dowry street
Jingliao Old Street was once known as the dowry street. From bicycle shops and fabric shops to watchmakers and tailors, almost everything a couple needed for a wedding could be bought here in one go. Times have changed, but many of the old shops still trade, offering a glimpse of the prosperity of rural Taiwan in the past.
Yichang Rice Mill: a hands-on milling experience
Yichang Rice Mill was built in 1948 and preserves its century-old cypress milling machinery intact. Here you can learn how rice travels from field to table and try milling for yourself. For families, it is a vivid and enjoyable lesson in food and agriculture.
Bugu Agricultural Centre: the best place to start with rice culture
Bugu Agricultural Centre brings together agricultural education, local regeneration and creative design. The enormous rice bucket installation at the entrance is one of the most photographed sights in Houbi. Inside, interactive displays and produce experiences reintroduce visitors to rice, Taiwan’s most important staple.
LOCAL EXPERIENCE • The thing to make
Essential experience | Make your own red turtle cake, and a taste of Tainan
The most popular activity in the Ordinary Woman village is making red turtle cakes. From kneading the rice dough and pressing it into moulds to placing them in the steamer and waiting, every step carries the appeal of traditional rice culture. Holding a hot red turtle cake at the end brings a satisfaction that is more memorable than you might expect.
Getting to Jingliao Old Street
[ Train and bus ]
Route 1
Train to Xinying Station → transfer to the Yellow 6 bus (towards Baishatun) → alight at Jingliao → about 20 minutes
Route 2
Train to Houbi Station → transfer to the Yellow 6 bus (towards Xinying) → alight at Jingliao → about 10 minutes
[ By car ]
Leave National Freeway 1 at Xinying → join Provincial Highway 1 towards Houbi → about 15 minutes to Jingliao Old Street
We suggest planning half a day or a full day here, then returning to central Tainan to stay at 3 Door Hotel, for a complete rhythm from countryside to old city and from exploring to coming home.
The last stop on a journey is really “home”
3 Door Hotel – welcome home
Once a day of rural scenery, hands-on making and walking an old street has settled, the most comfortable ending is not a rushed journey back but a return to somewhere you can genuinely relax. Coming back to 3 Door Hotel in Tainan is like placing a soft full stop at the end of this trip to Houbi. The lighting is warm and the space is quiet – from city to countryside and from countryside back to the centre of life. The journey does not end; it returns you to your most comfortable self.
Sometimes the best plan for a trip is not how far you go,
but this: go out to see the world, then come home properly.
RESERVATION • Book now
Welcome back to a home where our butlers are waiting
Book now and begin your Tainan holiday
Jenny
3 Door Hotel • your own butler
We value every meeting, and look forward to welcoming you home.
Web: www.3doorshotel.com.tw
