Dubbed a “hot spring village,” Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) is renowned for its many hot spring hotels and resorts, mostly centered around the Xinbeitou MRT Station and Beitou Park.
The most common type of hot spring in the area is the white sulfur hot spring, which hails from the Liuhuangku Geothermal Scenic Area, a 16-hectare mountain-surrounded area southwest of the Yangmingshan National Park, followed by the blue sulfur hot springs emerging from the Thermal Valley, or Hell Valley, and iron sulfur hot springs.
According to locals, the Liuhuangku scenic area, or Sulfur Valley, was originally a mining area for sulfur minerals that were shipped mainly to China for the manufacturing of gunpowder. It was not until the Japanese colonial era that the hot springs industry flourished in the area.
Photo: Huang Chi-hao, Taipei Times
Formation of the white sulfur springs is the result of oxidation of vaporized sulfur, strata minerals on the earth’s surface, and surface water, which subsequently condenses into acidic water after making contact with cold surfaces.
The temperature of the blue sulfur hot springs from Hell Valley, which contain a wealth of sulfate minerals, can reach up to 90°C — the highest among hot springs located within the Tatun volcano group — and the spring in Beitou district is one of only two of their kind in the world.
This type of hot spring is formed by the heating of underground water by volcanic lava that mixes with surface water.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
Speeding and badly maintained roads were the main causes of a school bus accident on a rainy day in Taipei last year that severely injured two people and left 22 with minor injuries, the Taiwan Transportation and Safety Board said. On March 11 last year, a Kang Chiao International School bus overturned inside the Wenshan Tunnel (文山隧道) on the northbound lane of the Xinyi Expressway. The tour bus, owned by Long Lai Co, exceeded the speed limit after entering the tunnel, the board’s investigation found. Sensing that the rear of the vehicle was swaying, the driver attempted to use the service and exhaust
Central and southern Taiwan are to see increasingly heavy rainfall from last night through Friday due to the effects of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said Tropical Storm Co-May had weakened into a low-pressure system on Saturday, but that it strengthened again into a tropical depression (TD 11) near the seas around Japan's Ryukyu Islands due to favorable environmental conditions. The tropical depression is expected to persist for two to three days, moving west-northwest by this afternoon and reaching China's Zhejiang through the East China Sea tomorrow,
RSS